Dribble and Drool

Blog has Moved

2007-05-03T15:33:00.000-05:00

This blog has moved and changed it's name. It can now be found at AbbilyEverAfter.com. Come on over!

John Francis Bongiovi

2007-05-02T08:36:00.000-05:00

Am I the only one that thinks Jon Bon Jovi is still hot? Did you see him on American Idol last night? Could he be any cuter? Plus has the man aged at all? Maybe it's great plastic surgery but he looks as young as he did 20 years ago! And his hair, it looked so soft I wanted to reach thru the TV and touch it. Let's not forget that he really is a nice guy (and if you know anything to contrary please don't burst my bubble today!). He does a lot of charity work and did you know his band gave $1 million to Oprah's Angel Network last year? Anyhow, that man is H.O.T. I think I'm in luv. Looking forward to seeing him perform on Idol tonight! Am I alone here?

(Edited to add: In the middle of all my Jon Bon yummy thoughts I forgot to mention Blake rocked last night. I loved his rendition of You Give Love a Bad Name.)

Book Binge

2007-05-01T09:41:00.000-05:00

See that little Book Binge button in my right hand column? Over there ------->, yes that one! I participated in Mary P's Book Binge and today is the day all participants post what they read in April. So without further ado, here are the books I read:

NINETEEN MINUTES by Jodi Picout: A lot has been blogged about this book - which is part of the reason I wanted to read it. I finished this one before the tragedy at Virginia Tech but those events made me think even more about the book. I know for some that were bullied as kids, this book was painful to read. I really enjoyed it and thought it was a really good read - despite it's potentially painful subject matter.

LIFE'S A BEACH by Claire Cook: This was a really fun read. The main character was really quirky and funny and I found myself picturing her in real life. I really enjoyed this and was lucky enough to have a sneak peak at it - it's not available until June 5. It's fluffy but fun fluffy. A great beach or pool read.

ABSOLUTE FEAR by Lisa Jackson: In March I read my first novel by Lisa Jackson and liked it so much I decided to read her latest. I really enjoyed it as well. Her books are very fast paced and while graphic (violence) at times, they really grabbed my attention.

JOHNNY ANGEL by Danielle Steele: I'm actually somewhat embarrassed to list that I actually read this book. It's typical Danielle Steele - lots of fluff and you can check your brain at the door before reading it. Anyhow, apparently I'm not too embarrassed as I have just told the world I read it.

SAMMY'S HOUSE by Kristin Gore: Yes, Kristin Gore as in daughter of Al Gore is the author. She is a really funny writer. This is her second book in the series - I now have to go back and read the first one. The main character is Sammy (Samantha) a White House aide who is somewhat socially challenged but brilliant. It was a very fun read. Again, I was lucky to have an advance copy as it is not available until July 3. This would be another fun vacation, beach or pool read.

Check out Mary P's site for more book reviews! Happy reading!

Creepy Van in the Neighborhood

2007-04-30T20:13:00.000-05:00

The creepiest thing happened to us tonight. I was outside watering our plants and Emily was with me. Bill happened to come out and while he was chatting with us a suspicious looking van S.L.O.W.L.Y. crept past our house. Not, we're lost and trying to find an address slowly, more we're casing the neighborhood or worse kids, slowly. I had my back to it most of the time but Bill got a good look at it. It was one of those Ford Econoline passenger vans. The kind often used as a work truck but this was one was painted black. Best Bill could tell there were two people in the van and the passenger stared him down as they drove past. Now, we're not ones to call the Sheriff but Bill was wigged out by the passenger and how slow they were driving that he did. Turns out he was not the only one freaked out by the van. At least the 2 other residents had called in similar suspicious about the van. Unfortunately nobody got the plate but the Sheriff's Department had 3 cars patrolling for it.

Of course we don't know for sure the passengers were up to no good and we probably never will. It was just a very sobering reminder about the world we live in. You just never know who is lurking nearby.

My Girlie Girl

2007-04-30T08:50:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a great weekend. The weather so great we spent pretty much the whole weekend outside - I've got the suntan to prove it! I have to give a shout out to my girlie girl Abby. You see, Abby is one of those girls that is more concerned with keeping her clothes, hands, hair, etc. clean than getting down and dirty while playing. Not this weekend though! She spent the weekend climbing on anything and everything she could - the playground equipment, rock walls and even trees. She rode her scooter, dug in the mulch and even rolled down the grassy hill in our backyard (and developed a rash to prove it). Yes, I know this is typical kid behavior but if you know Abby, you know this is not typical for her. It may sound silly but I'm really proud of her and was thrilled to see the ring of dirt she left in the bath tub Saturday night! : )

P.S. I'm trying to win my girlie girl some of the cutest hair clips ever. Check them out on Madison's Room. You can try to win some too at 5 Minutes for Mom!

A Well Timed "Well" Visit

2007-04-27T12:44:00.000-05:00

Remember yesterday, how I said I had nothing really interesting to post about? And how maybe, just maybe, the most exciting thing to come from Emily's well visit would be her head circumference (19 inches by the way)? Well my friends, I've learned my lesson - be careful what you wish for! Turns out Emily has the makings of a double ear infection and this mother of the year had no clue. I haven't seen her pulling on her ears and she's been sleeping thru the night no problem. Either the painful part hasn't really begun or she's one tough cookie. Or so I thought. Apparently everyone but ME has noticed her pulling on her ears but neglected to mention it. Her daycare teachers, after telling them what the Dr. said this morning, both chimed in that she has pulling on her ears all week. When I relayed the ear infection information to my husband he said well that makes sense, she's been pulling on her ears the past couple of days. Hello? Was anyone going to speak up? Am I that oblivious to my child's health? Thank goodness she had a "well" visit today - who knows when I would have noticed. Maybe I need to get my eyes checked!

What's going on?

2007-04-26T15:50:00.000-05:00

My last two posts have been terribly lame and I apologize. It's just that I really don't have all that much going on these days - that I can blog about. I don't blog about work but man, I wish I could. Nothing bad going on for me but just crap that I get the pleasure of dealing with. I've been dealing with it for weeks now and it's all coming to an end soon - thank god. I'm also working on a big surprise for someone. That someone knows about my blog, although I don't think they read it but I can't be sure, so I can't share that information here. Anyhow, it's taking up a bit of my free time these days. (And yes, I know I'm a big tease but I swear it's not intentional. If you want to know about either drop me an email and I'll probably spill the beans.)

Perhaps the most interesting thing, that I can share without getting fired or ruining a surprise, is that I'm working on a new blog and blog design. Ok, I'm not working on the design myself but I've hired a designer. That counts as work right? Along with the custom design, I've decided to rename my blog and move to the Wordpress platform (thanks for all your advice). Stay tuned - hopefully my new, way cool blog will be up in the next few weeks. Until then you are stuck with this boring looking one.

Maybe something interesting will happen tonight and I'll have something good to post manana. Come to think of it, Emily does have her 18-month well check in the morning. If all else fails I'll post some riveting information about that - like her head circumference or whether she picked out an Elmo or Blue's Clues sticker on the way out. I know you can't wait now!

The Wild Octopus

2007-04-25T12:03:00.000-05:00

We just planned our annual trip to the beach and I'm already beginning to worry. The house we are lucky enough to stay at has a backyard pool. We lovingly refer to Emily as the "wild octopus". And not because she is the "good" kind of octopus that can swim and survive under water. She's the "bad" kind of octopus - the one with grabby arms and legs that get her into everything and anything. I'm sure you can understand when I say I fear for her safety, and my sanity, around the pool. My mom suggested we buy her one of those floatation swim suits as an extra precaution. Myself, I was thinking a dog crate would be better (I kid people I kid!). Anyhow, if I buy this, or something similar, will...

1. She be able to move?
2. Actually float if she fell in the pool?
3. Require therapy one day?

Dr. Perky

2007-04-24T08:44:00.000-05:00

Bloom's generic Dr. Pepper drink is called Dr. Perky. I saw it yesterday on the shelf right next to the 12-packs of Mountain "Lion". Am I the only one that finds this amusing?

How Lazy Can One Woman Be?

2007-04-23T08:34:00.000-05:00

Saturday evening I took the girls to Nordstrom. Emily's sneakers had gotten too small and she needed a new pair. I prefer going to Nordstrom vs Stride Rite - same basic shoe selection but none of the zoo like atmosphere Stride Rite has on the weekends. Anyhow, we got her a new pair of shoes, checked out the big fish tank and headed to the car.

A little background information on this particular Nordstrom/mall. It's never crowded - even at Christmas - you can always find a parking spot pretty close to the door.

I pushed the stroller up to our car and began the process of unstrapping Emily. I noticed a woman pull up in an SUV and put her blinker on - she clearly was going to wait for my spot. Fine whatever - happens all the time even though there were probably 25 empty spots a short distance down the row. Anyhow, as I pulled Emily out of the stroller and tried to put her in her car seat she broke out the "I'm going to arch my back and you will never be able to strap me in" move. Accompanied by screaming of course. The fact that the lady was waiting for my space made me more anxious to get her buckled and seemed to make Emily arch more. The lady in the SUV honked her horn. I didn't look up but I thought to myself "I KNOW she's not honking at me."

Finally I got Emily strapped down and Abby secured in her booster. I then still had to fold up the stroller and stow it and my package. As I open my back hatch to do that, the lady honked again. This time I looked up and she made one of those hand waving motions like "are you leaving or not?". I couldn't believe it. First of all, it's not like I was dilly-daddling around, second she saw me with 2 kids and a stroller, hello we ALL know that takes a little while to deal with and third, there was an empty parking spot 5 spaces down. If she was in such a hurry she should have parked there.

I totally wanted to then take my time getting into the car and make a phone call or two before leaving my space, but my kids were tired and I wanted to get home. But really, how lazy was that woman - honking at me to hurry up when there were plenty of spaces available down the row? Plus, how rude was she to honk at me to hurry up in general? Was shopping at Nordstrom a life or death matter for that woman? I swear while some of the nicest people live in Northern Virginia we have more than our fair share of bitches as well!

Hokie Nation

2007-04-20T10:25:00.000-05:00

(click to view larger)

Healing

2007-04-19T11:54:00.000-05:00

Thanks for all your advice on switching from Blogger - I think I'm going to go for it. And while I'm at it possibly get myself a new blog design. Anyhow, stayed tuned.

Last night I went out for dinner with two friends, who happen to be sisters. I have known them forever - like over 20 years. They both live in the NYC area so when I come up for work, I usually catch up for dinner with them. Last night we went out for dinner in the Tribeca area of NYC at The Odeon, which apparently was quite a hot spot in it's hey day. Anyhow, the place was hopping last night as well - yummy food and cool area of NYC.

To get there I took the subway with one of my friends. The stop we got off at was the World Trade Center stop. I figured I couldn't be at ground zero and not take a look around so I dragged her over with me. As I looked at the land where the Twin Towers once stood a few things came to mind:

I never saw the Twin Towers and didn't realize how much land they occupied. My friend thought it was about 6 - 10 acres.
Ground Zero is no longer a desolate space, the rebuilding process has started. That was encouraging to see.
As I stood there I wondered what it was like that day. Not only for people in the Twin Towers but for people in the surrounding buildings and neighborhood. Horrific for sure.
And of course I thought of all the people that perished in the attacks. How they lost their lives so suddenly. But yet how they would be proud that rebuilding was going on. That the people of NY were so resilient.

Thinking about those that perished led me to think about those that were senselessly murdered this week at VA Tech. Of course part of our dinner conversation focused on the events at Tech and the recently released manifesto/photos from the shooter. All three of us grew up in the Washington, DC area and know people that went to Tech. We talked a lot about how the school spirit at Tech is unbelievable. Rarely will you see a college or university with more loyal and dedicated students and alumni. Seriously, come to Northern VA and you'll see what I mean. Tech stickers on cars, flags flying on houses, VT sweatshirts, t-shirts, hats, logos on desks at work, etc. - seriously it's everywhere you look. And this was before what happened this week. I know the Tech community is reeling but they, like the people of NYC did after 9-11, will see this tragedy thru together. Their love for the school, and fellow Hokies, will help them heal.

A Little Help from My Friends

2007-04-18T13:38:00.000-05:00

I am considering moving this blog to Wordpress. If you blog on Wordpress, or have moved from Blogger to Wordpress, do you have any advice for me? Was it easy to do? Are you happy with Wordpress? Glad you made the move?

P.S. I know that is a terribly boring post. I hope to have something interesting to post about tonight or tomorrow. Today I've got nothing to say that doesn't involve a lot of whinning. My flight to NYC last night was delayed and it took me 6 hours to get here. WAH!

Number 11

2007-04-17T09:38:00.000-05:00

I am happy to report Abby is registered for Kindergarten. My friend picked me up at 6:45a and we got in line by 6:50a. There were 3 registration lines - First Grade, Kindergarten and Second - Fifth grade. We were numbers 11 & 12 in the Kindergarten line. By 7:30a there were easily over 60 people in the line and when registration opened I would guess there were around 100.

The first grade line was another story. There were about 10 people in it when we arrived at 6:50a. The first few had been in line since 4:00a. Yes, that's 4:00a. I'm not sure how many first grade slots (for new students) are available for next year but I heard only a few. I hope getting there at 4am really paid off for those moms. They were freezing - their faces were red and they looked pretty miserable. Those moms really should be up for Mother of the Year!

Anyhow, back to me. So, while at first I felt a little silly for getting up so early and standing in line, I am very glad it's over and done with. Sure, I stood outside for 1 1/2 hours in the cold but I was registered and out the door by 9am. Those parents who got in line at 8:00a or later may still get a slot, but they will be waiting in line for hours. The registration process was so slow - close to 10 minutes per person assuming you had all your papers filled out correctly. And when I was there they only had 2 people taking registrations. So, in hindsight, while I don't think I had to be there so early, it was well worth the effort and a much better use of my time.

This afternoon I'm off on another business trip. No game this time as I'm heading to the same destination - NYC. Let's hope the wind dies down - I'm not really interested in flying in a puddle jumper in 30 mph wind gusts.

K-day

2007-04-16T10:44:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is D-day, or maybe K-day is a better name for it. Tomorrow is the day I brave the lines to register Abby for Kindergarten. I called our elementary school to get the low down on where I actually need to go and get their advice on how early I should plan on arriving. Registration starts at 8:15am so imagine my surprise, and horror, when the secretary said I recommend you get here as early as you can. I asked if that meant 5:30am or just meant come when it starts (registration lasts until 2pm). Here comes the horror part - they said they have heard rumors about parents planning to CAMP OUT overnight in line. WTF? This is PUBLIC school registration we're talking about, not a rock concert. I REFUSE to camp out - how ridiculous is that?! Thank God for this freak wind/rain storm we've currently got going on - that should keep those campers away tonight. Probably means they will all line up freakishly early though - like 4am. So what time am I supposed to get there? I feel like I'm going to have to be there by 6:30am or somewhere around there to get a spot. Because oh yeah, by the way the school will cut the line off when it gets too long and all slots are first come first serve. Anyone want to bring me donuts and coffee?

(Edited to add: This is for PUBLIC school.)

Is it chicken or tuna? Oh, it's just my raw toes.

2007-04-13T14:03:00.001-05:00

Ladies, and Mr. Warrior, my Jessica's are killing me. They are totally rubbing my pinky toes wrong. My little piggies are red and raw now. Of course I don't have any Band-Aids at work - that would be too responsible of me. You know, to bring Band-Aids the day I break in new shoes and know I'll probably get blisters. Just think, if the ballet flats hurt, how comfortable can the rest of her shoes be? Especially the 4 inch stripper heels?

Deep Thoughts on AI

2007-04-12T09:53:00.001-05:00

Did you watch American Idol last night? I did (go Blake!) and have to say I'm kind of pissed about something. For those of you that don't watch, the contestant that was kicked off last night had a habit of wearing revealing clothes. Short shorts and low cut or halter tops. Flaunt it if you've got it is definitely her motto (and would be mine if I had her figure!). Anyhow, for the past few weeks Simon has been commenting on her legs and outfits as his way of giving her positive feedback. Quite frankly, I've always found his comments sort of creepy. Last night when she was kicked off, she was asked her if she found Simon's comments inappropriate. Damned if she didn't say no. I so wanted her to say yes, that his comments have made her felt uncomfortable. That they were inappropriate and, to quote Simon from earlier this season, American Idol "is a singing competition" not a beauty contest. Instead I think she played nice, probably as the AI marketing machine wanted her to. To me it came across like Simon was thinking of her as a piece of meat and she was OK with that. Plus he was totally contradicting himself. If this truly is a singing competition why should he be commenting on appearances? Did anyone else see this last night? Agree? Disagree?

Interview

2007-04-11T12:06:00.000-05:00

CPA MOM sent me some interview questions which I agreed to tackle. Today is as good as a day as any to answer them, since I have nothing really interesting to write about. I could bore you with more whining about Kindergarten registration but it's a whole week away, there is plenty of time for that later.

Here are the questions and my answers:

1) What do you like most about being a mom? What do you like least? What surprised you the most about motherhood? I don't know if I like one thing best about being a mom - there are a lot of perks. The unconditional love from a baby, watching my girls get excited about something, toddler hugs and slobbery kisses, seeing my girls interact and play with each other, etc. etc. What do I like least? Picking up after them everywhere we go. That and when they are throwing up or have/had really nasty diaper blow outs! What surprised me most about motherhood was how much patience I really do have. I never would have expected that.

2) Do you play any musical instruments? If not, do you wish you did? As I child I took many, many years of piano lessons. I hated it but my parents thought it was important. Why I don't know. Probably because we owned a piano and since nobody could play it they figured I'd be the one to learn. I dropped the lessons as soon as they let me. Now of course I wish I could still play.

3) What is your favorite way to spend a Saturday? a Sunday? Both of my weekend days are pretty much spent the same way these days. My favorite way would probably include sleeping in, shopping (possibly to Target), eating lunch out, going to the park (or some other activity with the kids) and then getting together with friends in the evening.

4) How is your favorite movie star? Why? This is hard. I don't watch movies all that much and there isn't one actor/actress who's every movie I love or would flock to. Movie stars that I do like include: Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, Kevin Costner, Robert Downey Jr., Leo DiCaprio and Vince Vaughn. Sort of a random list, I know.

5) If you have leisure time, what do you do with it? Hobbies? When I get downtime I either watch tv, read or scrapbook. I really should watch less television than I do and am tryiing to read more at night. I can't help it - I heart television. Scrapbooking is also a great excuse to get together with friends to chat, eat M&Ms and just hang out.

6) Where is the farthest from home you have traveled? Where do you want to travel, if money were not object? While in college I did a semester in London. I lived there for 6 months and traveled to Europe and all around the UK. The furthest from home I've actually been would be Germany though - that's as far East in Europe as I went. If money were no object I'd like to go to Fiji and vacation at one of those luxury resorts in a bungalow over the water. I'd also like to go to Asia.

7) Starbucks or McDonald's? Discuss. Yes, let's discuss. I am definately at Chez Macs more often than Starbucks. They have delicious, bad for you foods and the best fountain sodas around. Starbucks is more of treat to me since I don't go there often. Usually it's a weekend stop and only during cold weather months. ALTHOUGH I have recently discovered they have a delicious half tea half lemonade drink that rocks. It's a cold drink so I may be in there more now that the weather is going to, one day, turn back to Spring. So hmmm, I guess I would have to say McDonald's.

So there you have it. More useless information about moi! Any other questions?

Competitive Registering - A New Olympic Sport?

2007-04-10T10:51:00.000-05:00

For the last 18 hours I have been stressed to the max. Remember when I proclaimed I had solved my daycare/public school dilemma for next year? Apparently I either jinxed myself or jumped the gun with that announcement. Turns out the daycare center I was planning on moving the girls to may not be able to accommodate Abby for after school care. Yes, that would mean as of 2:30p she would have nowhere to go until I, or my husband, get home from work. Our county's parks and recreation division offers an after school program at the elementary school so I called to look into that. As of 4:45pm yesterday, when I called, they had exactly 2 slots still available for the program we need. Their offices closed at 5:30p and that didn't give me enough time to get there last night. Best I could do was be there when they opened this morning at 8:30am. I just prayed that nobody else would sign up before I could get there today. Needless to say I didn't sleep well last night. I was to stressed to sleep. I finally feel asleep around 1:30am and my alarm went off at 6:15am. I gave myself plenty of time to get there and actually arrived at 8am. The building didn't open until 8:30am so I parked right by the front door and read a book while waiting. I was the only care in the parking lot so I figured I was good to go.

The Parks & Rec Division shares it's offices with a Center for Aging Adults. Around 8:15am a couple of seniors pulled up - gearing up for the day at the center I suppose. Then around 8:20am two mini-vans pulled up with what I only assumed were mothers driving them. Mothers coming to compete for my after school care slot no doubt! Yes, I know I'm crazy. Where those mother's going to line up at the door or remain in their warm cars? Determined not to loose out I felt it was time to move. I quickly gathered all my documents, purse, coat and phone and stealthy opened my car door. I didn't want to draw attention to myself for fear they could beat me in a foot race to the building door. Of course I'm crazy. They didn't move out of their cars and probably laughed at me while I stood in the cold, outside the building door for 10 minutes. But, when the doors automatically opened I was the first one thru - take that ladies! Then I had to wait for the elevator. For. A. Long. Time. And those ladies were now making their way towards me. The elevator door opened, I jumped in and started hitting "door close". No way were they getting in the elevator with me. That would give them priority exiting the elevator - since I would be stuck in the back. The elevator door shut right as they began to step in - SCORE!

The rest of my story is anti-climatic. I got Abby registered no problem. She got the second to last slot. Those women who were there to "steal my spot"? Yeah, the never even came into the office. They must have been in the building for another reason. So while I felt a bit like an ass for all my competitive registering tactics, I feel like they might come in handy next Tuesday - when it's time to actually register for Kindergarten. Sadly, I fear, that will be a whole other competitive adventure.

Easter in Pictures

2007-04-08T16:24:00.000-05:00

It was a busy Easter weekend in our house. We dyed eggs. We hunted for eggs. We ate candy out of eggs. We had friends over. We had family over. We went to church. And now we're all ready for an early bedtime! Here are a few pictures from our weekend:

Dying eggs

Who is that hiding in the Easter lilies? It may have been freezing cold and flurrying but that didn't dampen Abby's spirits, Saturday at a local egg hunt.

My favorite Easter Lilies!

The girls in their matching Easter dresses.

And the icing on the cake, literally, the bunny cake that Abby decorated for Easter dinner dessert. Hope you had a great weekend too!

Mortifying Lunch

2007-04-06T12:36:00.000-05:00

Today our daycare is closed - apparently even the littlest kids need Spring Break! I took the day off to spend it with the girls. We started the day off early - driving to the Honey Baked Ham store to pick up our Easter dinner - and then met one of Abby's friend's, and her mother, at our local nail salon. Around the holidays the nail salon does a kid's manicure complete with nail decals (flowers, hearts, etc) and I had promised Abby we would go for a treat. The friend we met there - I really enjoy the mother and our girls are good friends, but they are the kind of friends who are best friends one minute and can be worst enemies the next. Basically if the wind changes direction, watch out! The nail salon went well - so well that we thought we'd treat them to lunch also.

Both girls love Moe's (yes, we are there all the time) so off we went. Everything was going smoothly until I heard my friend ask the girls what they wanted to drink. If you haven't been to Moe's, the soda dispensers are self serve. My friend was about 15 feet away from the girls when her daughter yelled "DIARRHEA, I want diarrhea!". Of course Abby had to chime in as well. I was paying for my food at the time and thought, that sounded like "diarrhea", but there is no way they would have yelled that - right? Never under estimate a 5 year old. Let's just say yelling "diarrhea" in a semi-crowded restaurant draws some very dirty looks. Totally mortifying.

Why am I tired today you ask?

2007-04-05T09:02:00.000-05:00

Last night one of my biggest fears became a reality. Around 12:30am our home security alarm went off. Both Bill & I were in a dead sleep but the sound of the alarm woke us up immediately. Bill grabbed the baseball bat he keeps in under our bed (fair warning robbers, you will be clubbed with a Louisville Slugger if you break in our house!) and headed downstairs to look around. Within seconds the phone rang, it was the alarm company calling to check that everything was OK. The system told us the breach was at our family room door but best we could tell, it was a false alarm. The door was locked and firmly shut. Nobody was outside. Our backyard gates were shut and locked. It was very windy out and it's possible the wind could have set it off. I was OK with buying into that theory until Bill mentioned he had heard the neighbor's dog (annoying little thing behind us with a doggie door) barking it's head off around 12:15am. Ummm, maybe there really was someone out there? Or maybe the dog was barking at the wind? My mind unfortunately settled into the "maybe there was someone out there" theory and wouldn't shut off. I watched the clock for the next 3 hours, jumping at every damn noise the wind made. I think I finally feel asleep somewhere around 3:30am - only to have my alarm go off at 6am. Needless to say I'm a little tired today.

On the bright side, I must give props to our alarm company - they were on top of it asap. That was comforting to know!

Time for a Cute Break

2007-04-04T08:39:00.000-05:00

This is quite possibly the cutest site I have ever seen on the Internet. And this bunny, I want him for Easter!

The Bitch on the Playground and Slap Happy Landscapers

2007-04-03T10:18:00.000-05:00

Thankfully my computer is playing nice today so I'm back up and running. Let's start with the bitchy playground mom shall we?

Friday night the weather was perfect. My husband went out with some friends and I took the girls out to dinner. We went to Moe's, sweet, delicious, Southwest, Moe's. (BTW, you can help Moe's pick new menu item names.) and then to one of our neighborhood playgrounds. This was the first time little Emily had been to the big playground - usually we play on our swing set in our fenced in backyard. The playground is quite large and half has big kid equipment and the other half little kid equipment with the swings in the middle. I was pushing Emily on a swing and Abby was playing in this train/house thing by herself. I had been watching a couple of rowdy boys race around and acting like little shits to another kid on the playground. Unfortunately they ran over to where Abby was playing, got right up in her face and screamed at her "GET OUT!" Abby burst into tears and started sobbing. As I was pulling Emily off the swing to go over to Abby I then heard the boys tease her that she was a cry baby. I yelled at the boys (I was probably 25 feet away) to knock it off and that it wasn't nice to tease her. As I yelled at them I looked around for the little shits' parents. Finally a mom wandered over and said what happened. I explained what her "angels" had done, she asked them if it was true - they nodded yes. She didn't make them apologize, she didn't say she was sorry to Abby (who was still crying a foot away from her) or to me. She just told them to play somewhere else. This royally pissed me off so as she walked away I said "Gee, thanks for your help". She just looked at me and said "Whatever." What a bitch! Great parenting skills.

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We moved into our house just over a year ago. It was a resale and we've been slowly making changes to it, as finances allow. When we bought it we knew there were a couple of dead trees and some plantings we would want to remove (ugly tall bush/tree things that flanked the front of the house). Thanks to the refund we got from the great Commonwealth of Virginia, we decided to go ahead with the landscaping project this Spring. Yesterday the landscapers we contracted with began the job. I was working from home so I had a chance to watch some of their work. I was interested in their progress so I peeked out now and then. Usually when I would look out they were hard at work, digging up dead trees, digging out new beds, etc. At one point I looked out and seemed to have caught the end of some horse play between two landscapers. Lucky me had the pleasure of watching one slap the butt of another. Which in turn resulted in a reciprocal butt slap. Then they both cracked up laughing! Guess you have to make your own amusement when you spend most of you day digging in the dirt!

No Post Today

2007-04-02T13:45:00.000-05:00

My computer sucks and apparently is hungry. It has eaten many of my documents, emails, etc today. I cannot risk it eating one of my all important, riveting posts! You know, the one I would have written about the lovely weather, witnessing one of our landscapers slap/pinch the butt of one of his male colleagues or about the bitchy mother I encountered, Friday night, on the playground. I will be back as soon as my computer decides to play nice!

I Present My Jessicas...

2007-03-31T14:22:00.000-05:00

Who would have thought a post about Jessica Simpson brand shoes would have matched my all time high comment number? You ladies out there are up on your fashion no doubt! (And your MTV tv shows I might add!)

I fear you may be terribly dissappointed to see that my Jessicas (in saddle) are really quite tame - the are ballet flats afterall. Won't they look cute with capri pants and jeans? I was tempted to buy these but resisted. I kid people, I kid - 4 inch heels?!? I wouldn't, couldn't, even attempt to stand in those let alone walk in them. Plus I'd look like an ass wearing them to all my high class functions - daycare, the playground, grocery store and Target.

The second pair I bought - my non-Jessicas (in black patent) - are work shoes. Like I said, I needed something flat to wear when I go to NYC for work. Something that will go well with black slacks and won't kill my feet as I walk around, wishing I were in my car. I'm not sure I love the little bow on them but my first choice black patent peek-a-boo pair was not available in my size.

So there you have it, my new shoes.

Please forgive me

2007-03-30T12:02:00.000-05:00

Blogging sisters, and occasional brother, please forgive me for I have sinned. It's bad enough that I still think I am in my 20s and watch MTV shows like they are going out of out style. The Real World, Underage and Engaged, Bam's Unholy Union and True Life to name way too many. But today my friends, I stooped to an all new, age inappropriate low - even for me.

You see, I have to go back to NYC again next month for work. Seeing as how my foot still hurts from falling down the subway steps on my last trip, I decided I need a new pair of flats for my April trip. I was trolling around on the Internet this morning, doing a little shoe research. I found myself on my favorite shoe site - Nordstrom.com. Free shipping! I found two pairs I loved and put them in my shopping cart. One is a brown pair of ballet flats and the other a pair of black patent leather "peek a boo" toe flats. It wasn't until I had checked out and received my email confirmation that I realized it. One of the pairs I bought are Jessica Simpson brand shoes! Good Lord, how old do I think I am?

Little Devil

2007-03-29T10:40:00.000-05:00

About a week ago Amy posted about how excited she was that her girls were finally playing together. I understood Amy's excitement, my own little princesses have also begun playing with each other. Playing usually involves Abby telling Emily to do something or Emily copying Abby but hey, they are amusing themselves so it counts as playing right?

Unfortunately my sweet little princesses can also turn on each other in a flash. Like last weekend, when Abby was laying on the floor and Emily jumped, intentionally, on Abby's hand. Or when Abby thinks I'm not looking (she hasn't learned us moms have eyes in the back of our heads) she'll shove Emily out of the way. Quite surprisingly it is the littlest princess who usually starts the mischief. Yesterday's drive home from daycare was no exception.

By the time I usually get to daycare both girls are hungry. To fend off their starvation, I keep snacks in the car for the ride home. I try to keep two of every snack on hand so they both get the same thing. Yesterday I dug into the snack bag to find a pack of Ritz Peanut Butter Minis and a pack of Scooby Doo Fruit Snacks. Abby, being obsessed with Scooby Doo, imediately went for those which left the Ritz for Emily. Abby scarfed down her crackalicious fruit snacks and found that she was still hungry. Quite frankly I was suprised, you know with all the good nutrition and protein in those snacks - haha.

Abby asked Emily for one of her crackers. Emily shook her head no. Abby continued to ask and Emily continued to shake no. Then Abby got smart and tried to grab the pack away. Let's just say Emily has lightening reflexes and pulled the bag just out of Abby's reach while laughing of course. I watched this little dance over and over again in the rear view mirror, snickering like any mother of the year would. At first Abby thought it was funny - which of course only egged Emily on. Then Abby got annoyed and angry. No matter how she tried, Emily would not give Abby one of the crackers. Finally, just as we pulled into our development Emily smiled and offered the pack to Abby. Wouldn't you know it, the pack was empty! That little booger knew exactly what she was doing!

The Big C

2007-03-28T09:18:00.000-05:00

We belong to a Methodist church and try to attend at least a couple times a month. It's a relatively small church and one that we're very comfortable with. It's traditional but still quite relaxed and low key. One of my favorite parts of the service is when the pastor asks the congregation for "Joys & Concerns". During this time people will raise their hand and mention either a joy or a concern in their life. On any given Sunday there are usually a few funny ones which get the congregation snickering. Like last week, a little boy stood up and said he had a joy. His joy was that Easter was coming and he couldn't wait to eat chocolate bunnies. Another member announced both a joy and concern - that his in-laws were coming to visit. Unfortunately on most Sundays, the joys are always outweighed by the concerns.

Over the past few months the majority of the concerns seem to be for friends and family battling cancer. I know cancer is everywhere, and I don't live in a bubble, but I am constantly shocked at how many young people are battling it. And by young I mean children. While my heart aches for those kids, and their families, it reminds me how lucky I am that my own girls are healthy. But it also scares me too. Sure, my girls are healthy now but who knows what the future brings? I mean nobody is born with cancer right? It just rears it's ugly head sometime later in life and unfortunately for some it's sooner rather than later. Cancer doesn't discriminate based on race, age, gender, geography or economic background. It's an equal opportunistic disease and one that just plain sucks.

This past weekend was the anniversary of my father's death. He lost his battle with bladder cancer 5 years ago. While I am still angry that he was taken from us I have always accepted his death. His health declined so quickly at the end that, even though he was with us, he really wasn't with us for the last month or so. It was actually a relief when he finally passed. He was no longer in pain and finally at peace. Cancer not only took away his health but it also stripped him of his dignity. It does make me sad that he only knew the first 6 months of Abby's life and never got to meet Emily. He would have loved them both so much and had such a good time with them. Abby has no memory of him of course and we have only a few pictures of the two of them. He was very ill when she was born and was buried on her sixth month "birthday". I miss him throughout the year, especially during holidays and vacations when I feel he should still be with us. F'ing cancer!

I'm not really sure where this post is going. I guess cancer has been on mind my recently and I just needed to let it out. I know many of you, unfortunately, can probably relate to my thoughts. If you, and your family, have your health be thankful!

A Big Milestone

2007-03-27T09:18:00.000-05:00

Today is one of Abby's good friend's 6th birthday. Abby has been a little jealous of her friends who have recently turned 6. She's in a big hurry to grow up unfortunately. In fact at dinner last night she asked us when she could she have a baby? I thought Bill was going to faint and fall off his chair! I explained to her that she needs to first finish school, go to college, get married and then she can have a baby. Her response was "OH MAN! That's a long time."

Anyhow, this morning on the drive to daycare she brought up her friend's birthday again. It suddenly dawned on me that Abby is celebrating her own special day today - it's her half birthday! Today Abby is 5 1/2, going on 27 apparently!

Are we surprised?

2007-03-26T09:50:00.000-05:00

The cause of Anna Nicole's death was just released - accidental overdose. Why is that not-surprising?

And now I must be catty for a minute.

Perhaps more interesting than the actual cause of death is the fact that I SWEAR our local newscaster dropped the "S bomb" live on air. The medical examiner was giving information during the Anna Nicole press conference and Babs must have thought her mic was off. When the medical examiner mentioned a specific drug name, the newscaster clearly said "shit". Too funny! Especially since this newscaster always seems to portray herself as the perfect, model citizen with perfect hair, perfectly manicured nails, snazzy clothes etc. I would have paid money to see her face when she realized she was on mic. Those of you that are, or were, local will know exactly what I mean! : )

Update from the Sick Bay

2007-03-25T16:06:00.000-05:00

Since I'm on the computer uploading a bunch of CDs into husband's iTunes account I thought I would take a few minutes and blog.

Thankfully our weekend turned out to be ok. Emily finally succumbed to taking the pink eye drops without having to be pinned down. Abby's cheeks are still quite red (looks like a sunburn) but the rash on her arms & legs has subsided. Luckily the rash never really bothered her nor caused her to itch much. Everyone seems to be on the mend and I'm hoping, and praying, for a normal week this week. No sick visits to the Dr. or days home sick - please!

With the goal of getting everyone well we laid low this weekend. I did sneak out Saturday night to see Zodiac with a friend. The movie was really good and really long (170 minutes!). As long as it was though it flew by. I never knew the full story of the Zodiac killer and found it fascinating. Robert Downey Jr and Jake Gyllenhal were both very good. Robert's character was actually really funny and Jake played the nerdy "boy scout" very well. Anyhow, if you have 2 1/2 hours to kill I'd recommend it.

I also hit Target today by myself for TWO HOURS. It was heaven! I actually shopped for myself - imagine that! Also picked up Easter basket goodies for the girls. We had an egg hunt at church this morning so Emily has now learned that plastic eggs are filled with candy. I bought her some Elmo Bunny plastic eggs to fill and Hello Kitty ones for Abby. Also bought some Peeps - it's not Easter without them! I only like the traditional yellow chicks though. I know all Peeps are made the same but the yellow chicks seem to taste better. Anyhow, now the Easter Bunny is ready at our house!

What's that I hear? The garage door opening. Guess that means husband & Emily are back from the grocery store. And we all know what that means. I wonder what great impulse buys have returned with him?!

Guess who's daycare just called?

2007-03-23T15:33:00.000-05:00

For the 3rd time this week daycare's number appeared on my caller ID at work. Now it's Abby that is sick. Apparently Fifth's Disease has been going around her class. Guess who has it now? Can't I catch a break this week?!? Actually, now that she has the rash she is probably no longer contagious but the rash can last 10 - 14 days. Looks like we're in for an itchy couple of weeks.

Spring has sprung & I look like a turd.

2007-03-23T09:10:00.000-05:00

The weather here in Virginia is lovely right now - high 60s/low 70s. While I'm stoked about the early Spring weather, I'm a little perplexed at what to wear. I go thru this little "dilemma" every time the seasons change. After months of wearing wool slacks, sweaters, turtlenecks, jeans and my favorite "uniform" sweat suits the warmer weather has forced me to change my dressing habits. Quite frankly, I'm out of practice dressing for Spring. Today I settled on a pair of jeans, t-shirt and lightweight "jean jacket". Sounds ok right? My problem is the jacket is a chocolate color and I've paired it with a coral colored t-shirt. I thought brown was the new black (or was that so yesterday?) and that pairing it with aqua, coral and other bright colors was in? Am I wrong? I feel like I look like a giant Spring turd!

Real Moms....

2007-03-22T10:21:00.000-05:00

Happy Working Mom tagged me for the following meme: Put up a post "Real Moms [insert what you do here]", followed by an explanation, a picture, and a "Real Moms. Making ....". Then tag five people.

Real Moms do some things differently than their parents did.

Growing up my father never allowed us to put posters or things on our bedroom walls. He would flip if he found tape on the walls or god forbid, thumb tacks. I remember always wanting to hang posters from Tiger Beat on my walsl. The other day at the grocery store I bought Abby a Bop magazine - featuring posters of all her favorite Disney Channel stars. Yesterday we hung up some of her favorites.

Zac Efron (from High School Muscial) and Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana)

Ashley Tisdale (from High School Musical and Suite Life of Zac/Cody)

And yes, they are on her bedroom walls!

Real moms. Making kid's rooms rock, one poster at a time.

Now the hard part, tagging 5 people: Catwoman, Emma, Jodifur, The Delany Diaries & Catching Light.

Fever and Pink Eye

2007-03-21T13:17:00.000-05:00

Yesterday at 4:50pm my phone rang at work. I have caller ID so right away I recognized the number most working mom's dread - daycare was calling. Turns out Emily had a 101.5 temperature. It was the end of the work day, which meant super crappy traffic, so it was close to 6pm before Bill could pick her up (I got stuck in craptacular traffic on the highway and couldn't get there faster.) Anyhow, I ran to the grocery store to stock up on Motrin as we thought we were in for a long night. Bill said Emily looked pretty miserable and was exhausted so she went to bed before I even got home. Again, we thought we were in for a long night. Let me tell you, that little girl slept from 6:45pm until 8:30am this morning - and didn't make a peep! We checked on her twice to make sure she was ok - she was sawing logs.

This morning she woke up bright eyed, bushy tailed and ailment free - except for the fact that both her eyes were crusted shut. So off to the pediatrician we went - sure enough she has pink eye. Ever try giving Vigamox eye drops to a 17 month old? Not so fun! I almost broke a sweat pinning her down and getting the drops in. And yay me, I get to do this 3x a day - joy of joys!

Of course I had to take the day off as husband is on day 3 of a new job and clearly couldn't take off. I'm not complaining, I have used my "sick day" wisely. Kitchen cleaned, dishwasher unloaded and reloaded, three loads of laundry, picked up around the house, paid bills, made appt. for carpets to be cleaned and now a little blogging time. To tell you the truth, other than the fact Emily is sick, I am enjoying being off today. I was beginning to wonder when I was going to get all that stuff done this week!

A little public service announcement....

2007-03-20T09:38:00.000-05:00

Today my office has organized a passport fair. The use of the word fair is somewhat misleading as it is really just 2 men from USPS sitting in a conference room processing passport applications. Not necessarily a festive environment, although the men were nice and chipper. Anyhow, I headed down to apply for a new passport as mine had expired. The whole process was very smooth and took about 10 minutes including getting my new photo taken (which surprisingly wasn't awful). Here is the kicker. The processor told me the state department is quoting 8 - 10 weeks for passport delivery but not to be surprised if it takes quite a bit longer. With the new rules in place, passport applications have skyrocketed. So, and here is the little public service announcement part of my post, if you are planning on traveling this summer anywhere that requires a passport you should high tail it to the post office stat!

P.S. I am super behind on my blog reading so if I haven't commented in a while it doesn't mean I don't care. I was hoping to catch up yesterday and last night but Emily got sent home early from daycare sick. (Sort of sick - she has a bad cold and they claimed she was coughing non-stop and having a hard time catching her breath. Yeah, when you let a kid with a cough run around on the playground the coughing tends to get worse - imagine that! Of course she acted normal for me all afternoon.) Hopefully later this week I'll be back to my normal reading schedule.

Trust me, you don't want me to blog today.

2007-03-19T09:54:00.000-05:00

I'm tired, cranky and have a headache. I'm still feeling out of whack from being gone last week and out of my usual routine/work schedule. And unfortunately this week, my usual routine is not happening either. I spent a good part of the weekend running errands, doing laundry and such - things I usually would have accomplished during the week. I did manage to squeeze in a few appletinis for St. Patty's Day with some friends. That was pretty much the highlight of my weekend - until I woke yesterday with a headache. Can you be hungover from just 2 drinks? Guess I'm out of "practice"! Oh, and last week when I was on business travel, Abby learned to tie her shoes and Emily learned how to say Hi. So much for being around for all the milestones! Anyhow, I don't really have anything interesting to say today so I will end this post here. I know I know, I'm a grump. I'll be back tomorrow with a better attitude! : )

And the winner is....

2007-03-16T08:40:00.000-05:00

Hello All. I'm back from my trip a day early. One of my appointments cancelled yesterday so I was able fly home last night, before the snow hit today. As most of you guessed correctly I was in NYC and clue #3 was in fact St. Patrick's Cathedral. How's that for timely - seeing how St. Patty's day is tomorrow and all?

Here are two pictures from my trip to Top of the Rock, sponsored by none other than Target. Gotta love how Target worked their bulls-eye into the whole experience.

Kellie, CPA Mom's husband, Suburban Warrior's husband & Beth all guessed NYC and St. Patrick's correctly and have 2 entries in the drawing. And who said men are bad with directions - not only did the husbands correctly identify the church but they both provided it's exact location as well! Rachel guessed NYC correctly and has 1 entry in the drawing. All entries were put in a tupperware bowl this morning and the winner was drawn by a neutral party.

And the winner of a craptular prize from Target, and a little souvenir purchased in NYC, is: Kellie! Please email me your mailing address and I will send your prize out next week (or can wait a week or so until you move.)

Thanks for making my trip a little more interesting!

The Third Clue

2007-03-14T19:18:00.000-05:00

Most of you have submitted guesses and many of you were right. Kellie, CPAMom's HP, Rachel and Beth have all been entered into the drawing for a prize. Because I finally got some time to head out sans co-workers and snap some real pictures, I've offered up another clue for those of you still guessing.

If you guess right, you'll still be entered into the drawing. You'll get an extra entry if you can correctly identify the building above by name. Email your guess to dribbleanddrool@hotmail.com.

I'm ready to go home but have two more nights in the hotel. The novelty is wearing off and my pillows suck. They are too squishy. I miss my bed. Anyhow, one more day of meetings tomorrow for me and then I'm done. Unfortunately I'm done too late tomorrow night to fly home so I'll leave Friday instead.

Oh, and did anyone catch pretty boy Sanjaya on last night's Idol. The boy cannot sing and easily could have been mistaken for a girl - with that curly do the stylist gave him and hoop earrings in both ears. If he isn't voted off tonight I fear I may have to boycott the show.

I leave you with a wise piece of assvice. Never eat JellyBelly jellybeans by the handful. I've brushed my teeth and still can't get rid of the taste of sour apple/chocolate pudding/buttered popcorn. FOUL!

Clue #2

2007-03-13T17:54:00.000-05:00

I realize that yesterday's clue wasn't much help and it unintentionally led many of you a stray. You ladies know where your airlines are based though! : ) I tried my best to make today's clue a little more helpful, without giving away my location completely (which is actually very hard to do). When I thought up this little contest I neglected the fact that I am with work colleagues pretty much 24/7. They don't know, and won't know, about this blog so it is a little hard to snap photos without them asking what's up. Anyhow, I managed to eek one off that I think will be helpful. So, without further ado, here is clue #2:

Feel free to guess as often as you'd like. Email your guess to dribbleanddrool@hotmail.com. And now I must be ready for dinner. Did I mention my hotel has Outback room service? Delicious!

And from the" Karma is a Bitch" file, I fell down a few stairs today and my foot is killing me. My foot slipped off the top step and I tumbled a few. It's not sprained - I can put weight on it - just feels like the top is totally bruised - but without a visible bruise. Guess I'll be making another visit to the hotel ice machine. Too bad I don't have a margarita that needs ice also!

The Eagle has Landed

2007-03-12T19:07:00.000-05:00

I am here safe and sound. Where is here you ask? Well, that is for you to figure out. If you missed yesterday's post we are playing a little game. Well, I am and I hope you are playing along with me. Remember, there is a prize! Below is your first photo clue to my whereabouts. I promise the clues will get easier. If you want to take a guess, email me at dribbleanddrool AT hotmail dot com. And now I am off to the hotel ice machine for some, well, ice so I can enjoy my caffeine free Diet Coke and Cadbury Mini-Eggs while I watch House and 24.

Clue #1:

Making Business Travel Fun

2007-03-11T15:20:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow I leave on a business trip. 4 nights in a hotel by myself, can we say hello room service? Sure, I am somewhat looking forward to the trip, but mainly because I don't travel often. Frankly, I think business travel is highly over rated. Sounds really glamorous right - jetting off to a new destination - expense account in tow? Reality is you are still working, eat a lot of fast food and would rather sleep in your own bed. But I can't complain, my job doesn't require me to travel that often so when I do, it is nice to stay in a hotel for a few, kid less, husband less nights. I can leave my clothes on the floor, watch whatever I want on TV and even drink milkshake in bed, for dinner. Anyhow, I digress. My slobbish habits are not the focus of this post.

To make my trip, and blog, a little more interesting I am going to attempt to run a little contest. If I can figure out how to email myself pictures from my camera phone, we'll play "Where did is Julie?". I will post a picture, from my destination city, each day starting tomorrow night. The names of all who correctly guess where I am will be entered into a drawing for a craptacular gift from my prize closet (aka Target b/c I don't have a prize closet). If you win you must be willing to email me your mailing address for prize fulfillment purposes.

Sound fun? Let's hope I can get my camera phone working properly! Feel free to tell your friends - the more that play the merrier.

P.S. "real life" friends who know where I am are not eligible. Please refrain from playing - I know it will be extremely difficult. HaHa!

The Grocery Store Movie Reviews

2007-03-09T11:17:00.000-05:00

Many people find going to the grocery store a hassle. Not in our house, we "fight" over who gets to go! I love walking the aisles, looking at new foods, carefully selecting exactly which can of soup I want, which bunch of grapes look best, etc. Call me crazy but I find it relaxing. Plus I am terribly anal about expiration dates on food and check every single one before I put it in the cart. I never take the first item on a shelf, always dig behind it for the ones with later expiration dates. I'm sure the stock boys love people like me.

Bill loves going because, quite frankly, our grocery store is also pretty much a video, book and toy store. You send him to the store with a list and he comes back with 80% of the items plus movies, magazines and a toy or two (if Abby is with him). This drives me a bit nuts as we all know those items cost like 50% more at the grocery store - than the Target 5 minutes away. Sometimes his impulse buys are a big dud and sometimes they are a big hit. On a recent trip Bill came home with two movies: Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Open Season.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith was the first Angelina Jolie movie I had seen. I don't get what is so great about her? Sure, she's beautiful but I wouldn't consider her an actress extraordinaire. Maybe I was tired but I found the movie pretty boring. A number of people we know told us it was a really funny movie. Yeah, I feel asleep half way thru waiting for the funny part to start. Am I missing something about her? That movie was a dud in my book.

Now Open Season, that was a funny movie. Smart ass deer (voice of Ashton Kutcher) and a grizzly bear (voice of Martin Lawrence) who lives as a pet in a garage. Funny stuff - seriously. Especially when they broke into a convenience store and trashed the place. Abby laughed so hard she almost peed in her pants. And when the deer pooped in the woods - she was in hysterics. Now this grocery store purchase was a hit!

So he's 50/50 on recent impulse buys. If I could only get him to pay as much attention to the expiration dates as to the movie selection!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

America, you got it half right last night. At least Antonella is gone but what's with your love of hula boy? He must go next week. I fear he will have an emotional breakdown if he stays much longer. He looked like he was about to loose it when he found out he made it into the final 12. Less excited than freaked out he still has to keep performing.

Problem Solved

2007-03-08T09:29:00.000-05:00

This was part of my conversation with Abby this morning on the car ride to daycare.

Abby: I really want my own pet.

Me: What kind of pet would you want?

Abby: Not like a tiger or lion. They might break the house or bite me.

Me: Good thinking, tigers and lions are too dangerous to keep as pets.

Abby: A bunny would be good. But some bunnies have really big teeth and might bite me.

Me: Where would you keep a bunny?

Abby: In a cage in my room. I'd play with it and give it little toys.

Me: And who is going to clean the poop out of the cage?

Abby: Poop in the cage? That's gross. I don't want a pet.

That issue resolved itself rather nicely don't you think?

Not a Proper Post

2007-03-07T09:50:00.000-05:00

I don't have time for a proper post this morning but I must get two things off my chest.

1. Schools are closed today in my county. Snow on the ground you ask? Ice storm going on? Nope, NOTHING on the ground or coming down. The roads are dry with barely a flake on them. You see our stellar meteorologists think it might snow today, therefore schools are closed. Thank God daycare doesn't follow the county school system but it means Abby's dance class tonight is cancelled (two LLs people!). (Edited to add: Ok, it finally did start to snow around 1pm. It's now almost 3pm and still snowing but nothing is sticking. The kids could have had a full day of school and Abby could have had dance class. She said bitterly.)

2. That pretty, hula dancing boy better go tomorrow night. He is AWFUL. I actually rocked the vote last night, 3x for Brandon and 3x for Blake. They are my favs and I heart them. Plus if Hula boy made it thru tomorrow night and one of them didn't I'd be super pissed.

Ok, that's it for now. Carry on!

Weekend Highlights & Lowlights

2007-03-05T09:20:00.000-05:00

Highlight: Friday night I went out with a couple of friends for dinner, drinks and to listen to live music. It was awesome to get out of the house without toting a diaper bag and children. The band was really fun and there was fabulous people watching at the pub.

Lowlight: The majority of the pub patrons were college kids which meant I felt old. Also, one guy was wearing this shirt. Classy right? I'm glad I'm married and out of the single scene. Unfortunately I didn't keep that thought to myself and said it out loud. Oh, did I forget to mention one of the friends I was out with is having marital problems. Yeah, great timing for me and my big mouth. Thankfully she knows I'm just an idiot.

Highlight: Saturday my friend & I took our 5 year olds to watch a local cheerleading competition. Both girls take pom classes at our local dance studio. They thought the cheerleading competition was super cool. We then took them out for lunch afterwards. A nice mommy/daughter outing.

Lowlight: OMG, competitive cheerleading! If Abby keeps going with her classes we could be entering that world in a few years. The make-up, uniforms, parents with signs, etc. It looks fun but wow, competitive.

Highlight: Yesterday I went to a brunch for one of my friends, who is having her second baby.

Lowlight: It was an all-you-can-eat buffet. I had two plates of food PLUS 2 desserts. I probably gained 5 lbs.

Hope your weekend had more highs than lows!

Angry at TV

2007-03-02T10:33:00.000-05:00

Last night I did some heavy duty TV watching. I watched this week's Prison Break and got all caught up on the almost 5 hours of American Idol - and I'm angry. Let's start with Prison Break shall we? (Spoiler warning: If you are behind on your TV watching this week and watch either show you may not want to read.)

I'm not sure how many of you, other than Mrs. Squirrel watch this show. If you are not watching, you should - it's awesome. And yes you're probably wondering if it's so awesome why am I angry about it? You see, some of the characters need a good slapping around. First up Agent Mahone. He is your quintessential bad cop/mental patient. This guy is evil. And when he went back on his offer to help C-Note I could have screamed. He's a bad guy, I get it, but to threaten C-Note like he did - force him to commit suicide or have his family's life ruined forever - I think he goes beyond bad. My only hope is that the noose, Mahone so nicely gave to C-Note, is faulty and he lives. While I was getting tired of his storyline, having C-Note go out like that is just wrong.

And then Michael and Linc. For supposedly being so smart they acted like morons this week. Trusting a man they never met, seen a picture of and KNEW was being followed by Feds, with information that could save their lives. Oh please! You boys are smarter than that.

Onto American Idol. Last night's American Idol results show totally confirms for me that it is so NOT a singing contest. There is no way that Antonella should have made it thru to next week. It clearly shows that sex sells and that there is no such thing as bad publicity. I don't think she is a good singer - period. And that dude Sanjaya, he so should have been outta there last night. He was awful this week. He didn't sing, he whispered his song. I swear teenage girls must love him for his hair or something. Clearly not for his singing ability.

But yet, after all my complaining I'm sure I will be watching both shows again next week. Thanks for letting me vent - even if you have no clue what I'm babbling about!

Big girls night out tonight - heading to a Irish pub to blow off some steam. Clearly I have plenty! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Happy Anniversary to Me!

2007-03-01T11:13:00.000-05:00

Today is my anniversary. No, not that anniversary, that isn't until May. Today marks my 8th year at my job. Holy crap! 8 years seems like forever, especially in my line of work. Maybe I'll take myself down to the cafeteria for a celebratory lunch? Or maybe I'll bang my head against the wall! Sometimes I feel like I should look for another job, mainly because I wonder if I'm just being lazy staying here. Then I think about all my job has to offer and realize how lucky I am. I stay because I love it here. It's about as perfect as a job can be.

I think I will go for the celebratory lunch after all. I wonder if today is beef taco salad day? OLE!

The Final Vacation Post - The Lowlights

2007-02-27T16:26:00.000-05:00

Aside from the tears shed on the airplane and the tantrums thrown at bedtime (by both my children and I), a few events stand out as true vacation lowlights.

1. Upon arriving at the hotel I went to unpack my suitcase. Immediately after unzipping it I noticed a strong smell and found many of my clothes to be wet. After some investigating, turns out my brand new can of hairspray had deployed all over my clothes. During the flight, or transport, something must have rubbed up against the spray button just right. Hairspray was EVERYWHERE. Thankfully I had access to my aunt's washer/dryer and could do wash.

2. We rented a mini-van thru Avis. Nothing was wrong with the rental - in fact everything was perfect. The problem was my brother, thinking he was so funny, told Abby we were borrowing the van from his friend Avis. That of course spawned a lot of car rental jokes - father is named Hertz, uncle is Dollar, etc. All week Abby would ask him questions like where is Avis? Why are we using his car? This kept her entertained until we got on the flight home and Abby realized she had left her sunglasses in the van. Of course since the van belonged to Uncle Jimmy's friend, he should be able to mail her the sunglasses right? Yeah, for 4 days now she's been asking when Avis is going to send her glasses.

3. My mother left her suitcase at the hotel front desk while we ate breakfast the day we were flying home. It wasn't until we got to the airport, and unloaded the van, that she realized her suitcase was still at the hotel - 1 hour away. After a few choice words for herself, she left a message for a friend who lived near the hotel and arranged for her to pick up the suitcase and ship it to her.

4. Still preoccupied with the fact that she left her suitcase, my mother almost caused a major security breech at the airport. Just as we were taking off our shoes, unloading our pockets, etc at the security checkpoint her cell phone started ringing. More concerned with making sure her suitcase was ok than holding up the security line, she proceeded to walk thru the security machine TALKING on her CELL PHONE while WEARING her SHOES. Ummm, hello but those are both major no nos. She might has well have been drinking water and carrying a box cutter as well. Thankfully the screener took her for an idiot and not some terrorist and did not detain her. Secretly that might have been kind of funny if he had!

Well, there you have it - the lowlights of my vacation. Now on to more important things, like American Idol. Will Antonella be kicked off tonight for her risky pictures? I feel a little bad for her. I mean didn't we all do something stupid in college that we probably regret now? This one time, at band camp....(I kid people I kid!)

A Wild Time

2007-02-26T14:31:00.000-05:00

While on vacation we took a break from the pool to visit a couple of animal parks. The first was the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, where a good friend is a volunteer. Loggerhead is a rehab center for sea turtles who have been injured. For example, Jonah the turtle who, on his birth day, was eaten by a fish and then spit out. How's that for a pisser of a day? Jonah will recover at the center until he is big, and strong, enough to go back to the sea. I'm no turtle expert but he looked pretty good to me!

And then there was Belle, the turtle who lost one of her fins after it was caught in a fishing net. With only 3 fins she was cruising around the tank no problem.

From there we headed south to Lion Country Safari, smack dab in the middle of Palm Beach - who knew? Lion Country is one of those drive-thru safaris and since we were in a rental car, I was game to try it. It was actually pretty cool and both girls loved it. We saw lions, rhinos, giraffes, monkeys, zebras and more. The highlight of the outing was when this HUGE ostrich tried to eat the antenna off our car.

Another highlight of the safari park was feeding a giraffe.

Perhaps though, the most rare, and wild, animal we saw that day was the abbigatorious sunbathious!

A Vacation from My Vacation

2007-02-24T20:55:00.000-05:00

I'm baack. We had a nice vacation but let me tell you, I need a vacation from my vacation! I know this goes without saying but traveling with two kids is no vacation for the parents. In a nutshell we had a really nice time, weather was awesome, kids had fun, great to see relatives, blah blah blah but LORD, how exhausting it all was. I have so much to blog about, but as they say in The Sound of Music, "Let's Start at the Very Beginning".

As you remember, I was very worried about flying with Emily (aka, the wild octopus). To add to my apprehension we were flying jetBlue, right about the time they had a major operational brain fart. Anticipating long lines of angry passengers, we arrived at the airport extra early, and were pleasantly surprised to find no lines. We did, however, find a local TV news crew in the line - looking for those angry passengers for a morning broadcast - they were out of luck as well.

We boarded the plane with no issues and I got Emily settled into her harness. At the risk of sounding like a commercial, it was really easy to install and Emily seemed pretty comfortable using it. A few of the flight attendants questioned the use of the harness - mainly because they had never seen one on board before. Everything seemed to be going smoothly - until the plane took off. Emily immediately started crying and grabbing her ears. She cried for a good 15 minutes, squirming around in her seat. Unfortunately, due to the combination of the squirming and leather/pleather airplane seat, Emily kept slipping down in the harness. Next time I would pack a non-slip pad or something to seat her on, as opposed to putting her directly on the seat. While Emily fit within the harness' age/weight requirements, I think SHE would have been more comfortable in a traditional car seat. I, of course, was much more comfortable carrying the 1 lb. harness vs lugging the car seat! Anyhow, all in all the harness worked quite well. On a 1 - 10 scale I'd give the harness an 8. Here is a picture of Emily all strapped in:

In all my worrying about flying with a 16 month old, I never really gave any thought to staying in a hotel with a 16 month old. Within minutes of checking into our room Emily was trashing the place like a rock star. She had the phone unplugged, the roll of toilet paper unrolled and pages ripped out of the phone book.

We then proceeded to take her to my Aunt & Uncle's condo and let both kids run wild with their cousins. And that was day one of my vacation. Up next, the story of Jonah the turtle or the ostrich that tried to eat our antenna?

On Vacation

2007-02-17T21:08:00.000-05:00

Off to Florida for some fun in the sun. Figures they are experiencing a cold spell but at least there isn't any snow or ice on the ground! I leave you with plenty of reading material - here is the first and second half of my big ass meme. Catch you on the flip side!

Big Ass Meme Part 2

2007-02-16T09:42:00.000-05:00

Just got back from Target - spent way too much $ but enjoyed a kid free leisurely look around the store. While I was on the computer paying bills, I thought I would go ahead and finish up the meme. So without further ado, here is part two (if you missed it, here is part one) of the Big Ass Meme:

(Start time 9:40p)

38. Aisle or window seat? Aisle. As much as I don't enjoy other people's butts in my face as they get in and out of their seat, I loathe the idea of my butt in someone else's face.

39. Ever met anyone famous? While studying abroad in London, Eric Clapton sat directly BEHIND me (he had the cheap seat!) at the theatre. I said hello during intermission and then froze. Also, a few years ago Bill & I scored free tickets to a fundrasier given by Robert Duvall. The event took place at his estate - unfortunately not in his house but in a large, fancied up tent on his massive acreage. We met him - he seemed bored. He's a good tango dancer - as that was the theme of the event. Last summer I sort of met Rick Springfield - click here for the story.

40. Do you feel you've had a truly successful life? That's sort of a hard one to answer - I mean I hope my life is only 1/3, ok maybe 1/2, over. So far I think I've been successful.

41. Do you twirl or cut your spaghetti? Cut AND twirl

42. Rikki Lake or Oprah? Def. Oprah - although I'm getting a little tired of her. She's everywhere.

43. Basketball or Football? Football - go Skins!

44. How long do your showers last? Depends if Emily is awake or not. If she's asleep - about 20 min. If she's awake, that means she's sitting in the pack-n-play in the bathroom most likely fussing so max 10 min.

45. Do you drive automatic or stick? automatic

46. Cake or ice cream? whichever one is chocolate. assuming both are, cake please.

47. Are you self-conscious? sure, at times.

48. Have you ever drank so much you threw up? more times than I probably care to remember. first time was when i was 16. i got hammered on NY Eve and proceeded to throw up in our KITCHEN sink right in front of my parents. I spent the rest of the day laying in bed with the shades drawn - talk about a hangover. The last time I remember was about 4 years ago - we had a BBQ and I ended up drinking WAY too much wine. I prayed very hard to the porcelain gods that night.

49. Have you ever given money to a beggar? I'm guessing I have but I honestly can't remember a specific time. We don't get too many beggars in the 'burbs.

50. Have you ever been in love? of course

51. Where do you wish you were? In Florida, having already flown with 2 kids.

52. Are you wearing socks? nope, just deliciously soft and warm slippers.

53. Have you ever ridden in an ambulance? no, knock on wood

54. Can you tango? While at Robert Duvall's fundraiser (see #39 above) I took a tango lesson. Let's just say that was my first, and last attempt, at the tango.

55. Last gift you received? A fleece hoodie from my mom for valentine's day.

56. Last sport you played? Wow, no clue. Does walking count? If we're talking organized sport, probably tennis a few years ago.

57. Things you spend a lot of money on? Daycare, daycare & daycare.

58. Where do you live? In a Virginia suburb of Washington, DC.

59. Where were you born? I am a native Washingtonian - born and raised in the DC area.

60. Last wedding attended? Bill's cousin's son's wedding - 2 summers ago in Gettysburg, PA.

61. Favorite position? Reclined in bed watching tv.

62. Most hated food(s)? cucumbers and watermelon - blech!

63. Most hated soda pop? Dr. Pepper Vanilla - blech!

64. Can you sing? I was in the church choir for years as a kid (how cool was I?!). Let's just say I was never offered any solos.

65. Last person you instant messaged? One of my team members, to thank her for covering for me next week at work.

66. Last place you went on holiday? Lewes, DE last August. We go there every summer.

67. Favorite regular drink? diet coke with lime. I also like an ice cold regular coke now and then.

68. Favorite alcoholic drink? margarita on the rocks, no salt.

69. Current favorite song? I'm really into Gwen Stefani for some reason now - loving Wind It Up.

Now it's time to tag 3 friends. Here we go:

Kellie - if she can pull herself away from Target.

Ice Cream Mama - I feel this is an excellent opportunity for her to use her ice cream cone bullets.

Happy Working Mom - now bitter free! : )

Check me out, I finished it all in one day. See, I told you I have a lot of time on my hands!

(End Time: 10:16p)

Big Ass Meme Part 1

2007-02-16T09:30:00.000-05:00

Lucky me, Mrs. Squirrel tagged me for the longest meme evah! I thought she liked me, was my blog friend but after spending 20 minutes just typing out the questions w/no answers I'm beginning to wonder! : ) Anyhow, as evident in my highly intellectual and important post of yesterday, I seem to have time on my hands so I will take her up on her tag! Start time, 9:51am:

1. Are you parents married or divorced? They are no longer married, although not divorced. My dad passed away in 2002 from cancer.

2. Are you a vegetarian? no way Jose!

3. Do you believe in Heaven? yes, see #1.

4. Have you ever come close to dying? no

5. What jewelry do you wear 24/7? engagement ring, wedding ring, small hoop earrings and one of those Tiffany dangly heart bracelets - with two heart one for each of my girls

6. Favorite time of day? usually around 4pm, when I start winding down my work day to head home

7. Do you eat the stems of broccoli? yes

8. Do you wear makeup? only on days when I have to go into the office or have a special event to attend.

9. Ever have plastic surgery? no

10. If you did have plastic surgery, what did you have done? see #9 but if I ever did it would involve liposuction

11. What do you wear to bed? wouldn't you like to know! actually i'm quite normal, flannel pjs in the winter. i love flannel pjs - especially ones with fun patterns on them.

12. Have you ever done anything illegal? Oh yes, most definitely. Speeding tickets a plenty - just to name one.

13. Can you roll your tongue? yes

14. Do you tweeze your eyebrows? no, i pay to have them waxed b/c I'm a big baby and can't stand inflicting pain on myself.

15. What kind of sneakers do you wear? funny you should ask, I just bought 2 new pairs over the weekend. New Balance W755 for the gym and a pair of slip on sneakers for my trip to FL next week.

16. Do you believe in abortions? I believe in the right to choose. I do know someone who has had an abortion and it was the right thing for her to do most definitely.

17. What is your hair color? Only my colorist knows for sure! It's brown with golden brown highlights.

18. Future child's name? Future pet's name is a more appropriate question - we are done having kids.

19. Do you snore? so i've been told.

20. If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be? Hmmm, I've been dying to go back to London every since I spent a semester abroad there in college. Plus my brother and sister-in-law live there now and we don't get to see them nearly enough. BUT, if we're talking dream vacation, I'd have to say Australia.

21. Do you sleep with stuffed animals? Only is a certain 5 year old leaves one in our bed.

22. If you won the lottery, what would you do first? throw a kick ass party

23. Gold or silver? I usually wear gold but do have some silver/platinum jewelry and change it up now and then.

24. Hamburger or hot dog? I like both but only if the hot dog is done on a grill.

25. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? wow, that's a hard one - popcorn?

26. City, beach or country? I love the beach and would love to retire one day near one. I also love the country. Quite frankly I could give or take the city.

27. What was the last thing you touched? Hello, the ? key.

28. Where did you last eat? Popcorn in bed last night while watching The O.C. Guess I need breakfast.

29. When's the last time you cried? A couple of week's ago while watching American Idol. When that sweet, older man auditioned for his dead wife.

30. Do you read blogs? Yes but some weeks I get a chance to read more than others.

31. Would you ever go out dressed as the opposite sex? sure, on Halloween

32. Ever been involved with the police? involved as in ahem, involved - no. involved as in they wrote me a ticket - most definitely.

33. What's your favorite shampoo, conditioner and soap? PureOlogy Hydrate Shampoo and Conditioner. My favorite soap is a hand soap - the foaming hand soap from Bath & Body Works, Coconut Verbena scent please.

34. Do you talk in your sleep? Now and then apparently. When I was younger I was on a vacation with my friend Missy and her family. In the middle of the night I, allegedly, started screaming about a spider and woke up the rest of the family. I was fast asleep and don't remember a thing about it.

35. Ocean or pool? Swimming in a pool that overlooks the ocean. Too many creepy things in the ocean.

36. Sauna or whirlpool? Never been in a sauna so I'm going with whirlpool.

37. Starbucks or Krispy Kreme? Starbucks - I can get my Vanilla Skim Latte AND a delicious chocolate glazed donut. Delicious!

End time 10:21am.

I will try to post part 2 later this weekend in between loads of laundry, trips to Kellie's beloved Target, packing and test dosing Emily with Benadryl (it has a "hyper" effect on 5% of people, I don't need to find that out on the airplane!). We leave Monday morning for our trip to FL and we're flying JetBlue. I hope they learned their lesson should we have any weather delays!

Cancelled or Canceled?

2007-02-15T14:00:00.000-05:00

Every now and then something totally trivial strikes a chord with me. The spelling of the word cancelled has been driving me crazy this week. Maybe there is an English major out there who can set the record straight for me?

I sent an email to a colleague referencing an account that had been cancelled. Ever so helpful this colleague, she emailed me back saying the correct spelling of cancelled is “canceled”. Now, I’m not the best speller, especially with the availability of spell check, but I was pretty certain I spelled cancelled correctly. Always happy to prove a meddling co-worker wrong, I searched Dictionary.com for the spelling. Turns out both cancelled and canceled are correct. Then, this week with the ice/snow we got, there were a ton of cancellations. Some things were listed as cancelled while others were listed as canceled – often two different spellings within the same news ticker. The final straw was this morning. The local news did a story about weather related airport delays and cancellations. The video of the departure board showed flights both as cancelled and canceled.

What’s up with having two spellings of the same word? Can’t we just agree on one and use it? At minimum, shouldn’t we at least be using the same spelling within the same story? How do you spell cancelled?

And yes, I do have too much time on my hands. Off to read your blogs now.

Pucker Up Sugarlips, It's Valentine's Day!

2007-02-14T14:06:00.000-05:00

Can you guess what this mother of the year fed her children for breakfast today?

Daycare Problem Solved

2007-02-12T15:58:00.000-05:00

I think I have solved our daycare/kindergarten issue - THANK GOD! In the midst of all my freaking out I forgot something very important. You see, about this same time last year, I toured another one of our neighborhood daycare centers. This center is the kind you hear about with a ridiculously long wait list. For shits and giggles, apparently, I put my girls on the wait list knowing it would be ages before they could get in. I always like to have them on a wait list somewhere though - you just never know when you might need to change.

Recently I stopped by that center to re-tour and add them to the list. I had just learned they were going to be offering a program that would solve our big private vs public kindergarten issue. Imagine my surprise, and embarrassment, when the director reminded me they were already on the list. In fact, they are each at the top of the wait list for their respective age groups. SCORE! While she could not say when they will get in, the director is confident it will be in time for the 07/08 school year - perfect! I will drop both girls there in the morning. Abby will do 1/2 day private kindergarten program, have lunch and then they will take her to/from 1/2 day public kindergarten. We will pay less than we would for private kindergarten, Abby will be in a "full day" program and we don't have to worry about getting her into our home elementary school for first grade - she'll already be enrolled. Emily of course will just be in full daycare.

This will work out perfectly, if I didn't just jinx myself!

The Body Scrub Virgin

2007-02-11T19:48:00.000-05:00

I felt a little bit like CPA Mom this weekend. No, I didn't win anything but I finally put something I had won to use! Last summer I bought a couple of raffle tickets from a friend of a friend who was running a charity event. This friend's friend had lost a son to SIDS and was putting on a benefit to raise money in his honor. I bought the raffle tickets not expecting to win but I did - a spa gift basket complete with gift certificates to 2 local spas. Nothing like waiting until the last minute but they were going to expire next week so off I went today, for a little spa afternoon.

My first gift cert was for a facial. I've had facials before and usually love them. I was only so-so impressed with this salon/spa's treatment. I feel like this place did too much of the, "I'll put this mask on and leave you for a few minutes", one too many times. I think I spent half of my 60 minute treatment laying there alone with goop on my face under the steamer. Still I know, I shouldn't complain. It was free (except for the tip) and it was 60 minutes of ME time. A big bonus was the esthetician didn't try to sell me any products - I hate it when they do that!

My second gift cert was for a deep tissue massage. I had one of those before and really didn't enjoy it. It's the kind of massage that hurts but feels good afterwards - not really a relaxing massage though. Instead of swapping it for a regular massage, I opted for a body scrub. This was something new to me so I was a little nervous. I explained to the masseuse that I was a body scrub virgin and she gave me the low down which made me more comfortable. Basically a body scrub requires one to get buck naked and lay under a sheet while a strange woman rubs your body with a sugar/salt mixture. After I got over my initial apprehension I was able to relax and really enjoy the treatment. It's an odd feeling - being rubbed down with large grains of salt - but my skin really glowed afterwards so it was worth it.

What Could Have Been

2007-02-09T11:16:00.000-05:00

Last night we watched the season premiere of Survivor: Fiji. This is the season, had my husband's application been selected, he would have starred in. When he applied, we never really expected him to make the show, let alone even be called for an interview, so it was no surprise that he didn't hear a peep from CBS. But man did he get all fired up last night, when at the beginning of the show Jeff Probst announced one contestant quit right before taping began. You know, because that one person took, and wasted, husband's slot on the show. Anyhow, I'm sorry he didn't make it. I would pay good money to see him sent to exile island and live in harmony with thousands of sea snakes for a night! Yes, I'm mean like that!

Bargain of the Day

2007-02-07T15:02:00.000-05:00

It snowed here last night. Not a lot but enough that we needed to shovel. Since I am working from home today, the shoveling was going to be my chore of the day. Apparently playing handy woman last night with the spigots wasn't enough. I really wasn't interested in going outside - let alone shoveling. You see, we live on a corner. That means we have a lot of sidewalk to shovel - a butt load. Thank goodness I'm such a procrastinator because around 11:00 my doorbell rang. A boy from the neighborhood was offering to shovel my sidewalk, walkway and driveway for a couple of bucks. Did I win the lottery or what?! He looked about 8, had his father with him and said he was trying earn some money. Who am I stand to in the way of a child learning the important value of a dollar? I gave that boy $5, sat down and enjoyed my hot chocolate. On top of his excellent shoveling, he even brought me my mail! I wonder what he charges to do the laundry?

Never Send a Man to Do a Man's Job

2007-02-06T20:58:00.000-05:00

For weeks I have been asking, begging, nagging & pleading my husband to winterize our outside hose bibs. Sunday night, as we lay in bed listening to the wind howl, I brought up the subject again. He promised he would do it the next night, when he got home from work. So Monday night I waited to see if he would head outside to the hoses. After he put on his pajamas it was pretty apparent that wasn't on his evening schedule but tough, it needed to get done so I "reminded" him. Off he went into the cold, in his PJ's, to unhook the hoses and open the spigots. I should know, I stood at the door watching.

Fast forward to Tuesday night. As usual I picked up the girls at daycare and headed home. Husband headed downtown, straight from work, to the hockey game with a friend. The girls and I had just sat down to dinner (a mother of year meal from Applebee's curbside to go!) and our doorbell rang. It was about 6:15p and dark out. Nobody ever rings our doorbell and usually it's a salesman of sorts so I typically ignore it. Last night though, based on where I was sitting at the kitchen table, I knew whoever was ringing could see me thru the front window so I felt obligated to answer it. Thank God I did as it was my neighbor John alerting me that our front spigot was shooting water. Sure enough, water was blasting out and was forming a nice little ice pool on the mulch. I thanked him, turned off the outside faucet and called my husband.

He wasn't sure why the water was shooting out - maybe some sort of phantom faucet turner oner? He swears he turned them off correctly but clearly that was not the case. I went to the basement and turned off the hose bibs properly and then checked the outside faucet to make sure it was open (it was closed). My guess is he turned them off earlier in the season, forgot he did it and then reversed it all the other night, thinking it still needed to be turned off. I'm sure we'll have a sweet water bill coming soon. It was running full blast for almost 24 hours.

P.S. I know you are all probably wondering why we didn't hear it running or notice it. We do not use our front door - we go in and out of the garage which is on the side of the house.

P.P.S. Thanks for your comments on my name change idea. I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

Changes May Come

2007-02-06T13:09:00.000-05:00

As the deep freeze of February marches on, I came across something today that sounds like heaven. A blanket with sleeves! Too bad I don't have one here at my desk. Forget the fact that I'd look like an ass wearing it - just think of the warmth and coziness it would provide.

On a less moronic, and much more interesting, note I am thinking of changing the name of this blog. When I started blogging last summer I did it on a whim and really didn't put much thought into the name/URL. The inspiration came from the fact that my youngest was going thru some major teething at the time. Drool was part of my everyday life. It would dribble out of her mouth non-stop. Now, after 8 months of blogging, I think I'd like to change it to something else. Something that doesn't really refer to saliva (or any other body excretion) and is more relevant to my life in general. I have been thinking of new names and the one that I like best is "Abbily Ever After". Get it, sort of like happily ever after but Abbily is a combination of my girl's names (Abby & Emily) . I was thinking the tag line could be something like "It ain't no fairytale, it's my life" but possibly using correct grammar. And, if I sprung for a blog design (or if someone took pity on me and offered their services for free!), I could play up the fairytale angle. How cute would that be? Anyhow, what do you guys think? Should I change it?

Not Since College

2007-02-05T10:00:00.000-05:00

This weekend I did something that I had not done since college. No, I didn't go to a raging kegger, sleep in until 2pm or even lay on the couch all day watching television. I went fake baking - aka tanning. You see, two weeks from today we leave for Florida. As I started making my mental packing list it hit me - I will have to wear a bathing suit and God I am pale! I thought about buying a self tanner but quite frankly I find them messy and they often turn my skin a funny shade of orange-brown. So my next thought was a tanning bad. In theory it was a great idea - pop myself in the bed a few times over the next two weeks to build up a base tan. What I neglected to think about is hello, I'm pale and even in a tanning bed you can get a sunburn. So here I sit today, 2 days later with a sunburned stomach and back - you know, the areas that don't ever see the light of day in the summertime. Unfortunately I forgot about those parts as I hastily made the decision to tan. And I am not exaggerating - I am burnt. My stomach and back are the color of lobsters - after they have been boiled to death. It hurts to roll over in bed, wear a bra or basically do anything but sit still. Sort of an odd feeling when it is about 13 degrees outside as well - not exactly sunburn weather. Anyhow, you think I would have learned my lesson right? Not so of course, I hope the burn will go down enough to get another session in tomorrow night. You see, my arms, legs and face don't show any signs of sun yet and are still pale. This time I will be a little smarter and cover up my stomach and back!

Jumbo Shrimp

2007-02-02T19:06:00.000-05:00

She may only be 15 months but she has discriminating taste!

"More"

Shrimp

Please

Emily had her 15 month well check today. She is 95% for height, 80% for head and off the "girl" chart for weight. That old saying "you are what you eat" is clearly wrong. She is no shrimp - well, maybe a jumbo shrimp!

Note the highchair in the background of the pictures. Emily now refuses to sit in it and wants to eat at the table sitting on a chair. Thankfully we have one of those traveling high chairs that strap onto a chair. That seems to be working for now but I have a feeling it will only "fool" her for a few days.

Let me be free!

The Weekend is Canceled

2007-02-01T20:48:00.000-05:00

As I sit her and type I can hear Abby hacking away in the next room. She has the same cold and cough that Emily has had for a couple of days now. Thankfully (and this might sound odd) she gets colds in her head - you know sinus things. Every cold Emily gets, unfortunately, seems to go right to her chest and linger forever. We spent most of last winter with her sick. The pediatrician gave me the "babies just get colds and daycare kids get 7 - 10 per cold season" explanation for the constant cold. We had her on a nebulizer off and on last winter - looks like we're going to have to break it out again. Her daycare teacher told me she sounded wheezy earlier today. Tonight she sounded clear but it's only a matter of time. Emily does have her 15 month "well" check tomorrow afternoon - good timing right? At least I know the Dr. will listen to her wheezing then! Anyhow, since both kids are under the weather our plans to go away this weekend have been canceled. There is no point in taking two sick kids up to the mountains (OK, they are more like hills but we call them mountains in VA!) for a weekend of rest and relaxation. I'm disappointed though. We were going to Wintergreen and had plans to take Abby snow tubing. She's at the right age this year and would love it. Hopefully we can make it down later this month and give it a whirl.

Since we'll be staying in town now I've got big plans - laundry, oil change, grocery shopping, catching up on blog reading and maybe squeeze in a little scrapbooking. You know, another glamorous weekend for me! It's OK though, I'm still dealing with a bit of a cold and really couldn't bear the thought of packing up all our crap.

In other news, "storm watch 2007" seems to be also canceled here in the DC area. We got nothing today - not even a snow flake or a rain drop or a bit of sleet. The roads are bone dry. I'm glad nothing fell - made for an easy commute home - even though I had to stop off to be re-mammogramed. Let me tell you, this technician was not as gentle as the one last week. It still didn't hurt but it was more uncomfortable this time around ladies. It was quick though - so quick that I still had time to stop off at Costco on the way to daycare. I went in to buy a dessert for a church class Saturday night and snack for between Sunday's services (neither of which I plan on attending, but signed up ages ago to bring food for. They think we're out of town and I'm going with it. I know, lying to God isn't a great but come on, I've got two sick kids?). Of course I ended up buying much more - matching Easter dresses for the girls ($14.99 each - can't beat that!), a pack of handmade scrapbooking paper, Stacy's Pita chips, 3 bags of the most delicious pretzel chips ever and some other random crap totaling $196. I swear, you can't get out of that store for under $50! Same thing with Target. You go in for two items and come out with 5 bags of stuff you never knew you needed!

American Idol

2007-02-01T09:46:00.000-05:00

The forecasters in the Washington, DC area are calling for a wintry mix of sorts today. A little snow, a little sleet or maybe rain. The kids are all hyped up for snow and the salt trucks /plows are already on the roads. Probably means it will rain - which is actually fine with me as my office NEVER closes. Having to drag myself to work in the snow is not very appealing. Anyhoo, on to more important things.

Did anyone watch American Idol last night? I can't believe that show actually made me cry. The 64 year old man who sang to honor his wife who had just died, 2 days prior, of cancer? What a sweet man and yes I am a sucker. If you don't know what I'm talking about read this. Was it a coincidence that Olivia Newton-John, a cancer survivor herself and big supporter of all things cancer related, just happened to be the guest judge? I think not. While we're on the topic, how about the "bus stop couple" from Compton. Sparkles was her name - I forget his. I'm glad they love each other unconditionally as neither are going to be a superstar! My favorite singer of the night had to be the guy who sang back up for Christina Aguilera. Not only could he sing but he was adorable - love him! Looking forward to next week when the competition actually begins!

Any closet AI fans out there?

Comfort Food

2007-01-31T09:22:00.000-05:00

I have been so unmotivated this week to do anything. I'm sure it's a combination of the cold weather, that finally seems to be here to stay, and the fact that for the past 5 or 6 days I've been trying to starve off a cold. Plus work is s.o. s.l.o.w. right now. I think I did about an hour of real work yesterday and I'm all caught up. I've been drinking Airborne and swabbing with Zicam for days now - and quite frankly I'm tired of them both. How do I know if they really reduce my cold symptoms/length of cold? I mean I still have a cold - not like they reduce the symptoms that much. Anyhoo, all I want to do these days is eat really bad, comfort food, put on my pajamas and watch TV in bed. For example, Monday night we had spaghetti (one of my all time favorite comfort foods) for dinner and then I watched Prison Break and 24 while eating Cheetos (the puffy kind please). Last night we had chicken cordon-bleu (from a box) and then I bribed Abby with fruit snacks to watch American Idol instead of the Disney Channel - I couldn't deal with watching Snow Dogs for the umpteenth time. Then, this morning Abby asked me to take her to McDonalds for "one of those delicious pancake sandwiches" (aka the McGriddle). I refrained - mainly because we were running late - but damn that child, now I want some of Chez Mac's french fries. A lunch treat maybe? Tonight I've decided we are having scalloped potatoes - with what I'm not sure but I'm craving the scalloped potatoes. Maybe meatloaf?

What are your favorite comfort foods?

Monday Musings

2007-01-29T12:11:00.000-05:00

Guess where I get to go again on Thursday afternoon? Back to the radiology center to have part of my mammogram re-done. Little did I know when the technician said "don't move" she really meant it. Apparently one of the two images of my left one is blurry meaning I moved as they were taking it. The tech assured me nothing showed up abnormal but since all future mams will be compared to this one, they need a nice, clean, movement free image. At least I get to leave work early again and this time I know to pass on the aerosol deodorant!
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I went to the gym at lunch today with my new and improved workout iPod playlist. The songs were great - I jammed along. Then I came home and ate Oreos - a little counterproductive wouldn't you say?
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Saturday I took both girls to the mall while my husband was at work. Emily needed new shoes & I owed Abby a Build-a-Bear outing because she missed a birthday party there the week before due to me not wanting to drive in the snow. Anyhow, Emily hadn't had her feet measured since Sept - whoops! She was wearing a 5 and now is a 6. Add that to my Mother of the Year nomination form - shoving her feet into shoes a size too small. Of course she didn't make out too badly though - I somehow suckered myself into buying her two pairs of Stride Rite shoes. The little sneakers were just too cute on her and of course she had to have more basic walking shoes right? Abby, who loves shoes like her mama, had to have a pair too. She picked out a cute pair of pink (of course!) suede loafer type shoes. I don't know where she gets it, certainly not from me, but the girl has an eye for style. Build-a-Bear was uneventful - thank god. I then made the mistake of taking them both to dinner. Abby was very good but Emily, gez Louise the girl has decided she doesn't like high chairs anymore and insisted (ie threw a fit otherwise) on eating her dinner while standing on the booth seat next to me. Let's just say I didn't eat much of my dinner. And I'm taking this kid on a plane in a few weeks??!
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My husband got his pictures from his trip to MS back yesterday. The devastation really is unbelievable. A couple of women who went on the trip spoke at church yesterday - giving their personal accounts. One has ties to MS and took the trip very personally. Apparently the city of Waveland, MS is broke. This means they don't have the matching funds available the Fed. Gov't requires them to in order to receive federal aid. Here are a few of the pictures Bill took while he was there earlier this month - 1 1/2 years after Katrina.

meme

2007-01-26T12:42:00.000-05:00

I've been tagged by Abby! No, not Abby my daughter (although we did play a game of tag recently) but by Abby of Mommy State of Mind. I was tagged once before, I believe by HollowSquirrel, but that was before I had any real blog friends. Like a big looser I told her I'd do the meme but then I didn't. Just so you can't call me a looser x2, onto the meme.

Once you have been tagged, you have to write a blog with 5 facts about yourself. Then choose 5 people you want to tag and list their names. Then leave a comment on their blog letting them know they've been tagged. Here is my list in no particular order:

1. I cannot stand the taste, smell and texture of cucumbers or watermelon. They both make me gag.

2. Riding in a car, as a passenger, makes me uncomfortable. I always volunteer to drive and would much prefer to. Need a designated driver? I'm your gal! (I'm guessing I have some control issues?)

3. After 35 years I still drink a glass of milk every night with dinner. I'm ok with soda, water or something else with my other meals, but with dinner I prefer to have milk. Milk is a must for me especially with any sort of pasta/red sauce meal - lasagna, tortellini, spaghetti, baked ziti, etc. If had dinner at your house and you served me one of the above, be sure I'll ask for a glass of milk. And if brownies are for dessert, it better come with a side of milk.

4. I really enjoy scrapbooking and have been doing it for a couple of years now. Some of the ladies I crop with make really beautiful and elaborate pages. I wish I had more patience to do that. Unfortunately I go for quantity of completed pages vs. quality sometimes.

5. I am a news junkie. While at work I read the paper and surf the net. As soon as I get home, I flip the kitchen TV on to the local news. Before bed I watch the news again - even though it's pretty much the same as the evening news. I can't stand not knowing what is going on or having the latest information. Think there is a 12 step program for this? : )

So there you have it, 5 things about me. God I'm b.o.r.i.n.g.

(The 5 bloggers I was going to tag have all participated in a meme recently so I'm bailing on that part.)

The Big M

2007-01-25T19:38:00.000-05:00

Today I got to leave work early - WAHOO! Reason I left early was to go have a baseline mammogram - BOOHOO! My Dr. gave me the referral as a "birthday gift" (I'm sure you have now figured out my age) last November and today I finally got around to getting one. It really wasn't anywhere near as awful as I expected - in fact I wouldn't say it was awful at all. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't fun but it wasn't that bad either. Quite frankly, if my dentist wasn't the cutest dork out there I would say it was better than going to the dentist! The worst part of the whole experience was in the dressing room after the test. For those of you that haven't been thru this, you are required you to wipe off all deodorant before the test. I guess it may interfere with the results or something? As I was getting dressed after the test, I noticed a few cans of aerosol spray deodorant were available to freshen up. I wasn't heading straight home so I thought I'd use a spritz or two. Bad idea! Let's just say using an aerosol spray in a 2x2 dressing room with no ventilation is not a good idea. I started hacking and it was about 30 minutes later before that scent/spray finally was out of my lungs! Watch, my mammo will come back just fine but I'll end up with lung cancer or something.

(Edited to add: No, I am not 40 I am 35. I thought it was standard to get a baseline mammo at age 35 - that's what my doctor told me at least and the radiologist said the same thing. Maybe my craptacular HMO is better than I thought - they paid for it no problem!)

I'm out of the running

2007-01-24T11:45:00.000-05:00

Well folks, here we are on January 24 and I'm already out of the running for Mother of Year 2007. You see, this morning my application was rejected BIG TIME. Flash back to 8:15am while I was driving the girls to daycare. Part way there, Abby said "Emily still has lasagna on her hands from dinner last night.". I thought to myself huh? She had a bath last night, how can that be? Since Emily sits behind me I couldn't turn around to look at her hands while driving. I asked Abby for more details. Then she says "Oh wait, now it's on her face and seat!". Ok, I'm starting to freak out. Even if she had leftover lasagna on her hands it would be crusted and not easily spread onto her face and car seat. Then Abby exclaims "Oh wait, it's just blood." WHAT?!?

I found a place to stop the van to look at Emily for myself. Sure enough, Abby's latest assessment was right - it was blood. Emily had blood on both of her hands, her pants and on the armrest. You see, brilliant me trimmed her fingernails before we left the house. Apparently I cut a couple of them (one on each hand to be precise) too short and actually drew blood. I didn't notice the cuts before we left - again, Mother of Year I'm not - and Emily didn't cry or squirm so I would have known that I had clipped her. So here I am on the side of the road digging thru the van, trying to locate band-aids and tissues to quell the bleeding. By the time I found something, the backseat of the van looked like a CSI crime scene. Meanwhile Emily was just hanging out, looking at me like I had 2 heads. I applied pressure and thought I had the bleeding under control - at least enough to put on the band-aids and make it the rest of the way to daycare where I could properly take care of things. Have you ever tried putting band-aids on a 15 month old? By the time I got the second finger bandaged she had the first one off and crumpled on the floor. CRAP - I only had two band-aids! I tried to wrap a tissue around her finger but again, have you ever tried that? Abby offered to hold the tissue in place but her arms were not long enough to reach from her car seat so I decided to make a run for it!

We pulled up to daycare and I carried Emily inside. I explain what happened - the office staff pulled out the first aid kid and tried to apply more bandages. Again, Emily ripped them off immediately. I decided I would sit in the lobby and keep pressure on her fingers to stop the bleeding. I tried that for about 10 minutes - of course peeking every 30 seconds or so which was totally counterproductive to applying constant pressure. My friend Judy came by and offered her help. She suggested we run Emily's hands under water - maybe that will help. So off to the restroom we went. Emily of course found the water amusing but unfortunately the blood kept coming. By now Emily had blood on her shirt and all over her pants. Of course she was wearing one of her "nice" outfits, not the cheap stuff from Target I usually dress her in. I had blood on my hands and shirt as well (at least I was dressed in cheapy Target) and was sweating like a pig - even though it was snowing outside.

Finally Emily's teacher came by and took control of the situation. She actually applied constant pressure to both cuts and was able to control the bleeding. She found smaller band-aids that allowed her to wrap them tightly around Emily's little fingers. All while I stood by like a useless dolt. Once Emily was properly bandaged, I stepped in to change her clothes and off she ran to play with her friends - like nothing had happened. With nothing left for me to do, but drag my bloodstained self to work, I left the classroom feeling like the worst mother in the world.

Punk ass kid

2007-01-23T15:48:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, while driving home from daycare, some punk ass kid chucked a snow/ice ball at my car. It scared the crap out of me as it made a huge THUD when it smacked the narrow strip of car between the driver side window and windshield. I slammed on my brakes and looked back just in time to see him scurry his delinquent, pre-teen, punk ass self back into the trees. Thankfully his ice missile didn't do any damage. I wish I could have thought of something witty to yell at him - to scare him a bit. But alas, I'm like George Costanza when it comes to witty comebacks. Y'all remember the famous "Jerk Store" episode don't you? Some how, "the jerk store called, they're running out of you!" didn't seem appropriate!

Yesterday in Photos

2007-01-22T10:26:00.000-05:00

Sunday morning, while I laid on the couch eating bon-bons and watching Lifetime, my kids were busy earning their keep. After they swept, vacuumed and mopped the kitchen floor, they did 3 loads of laundry and dusted the family room.

Then, since I am a nice mother, I let them play outside in the snow. Because, OMG it really is winter and it finally snowed here in VA!

This was Emily's first time out in the snow and all was going well until the dog...

got excited and knocked her down. Then all hell broke loose.

And yes, I am a bad mommy for letting her go out without mittens. She only has one pair and they are in her cubbie at daycare because again, who thought it might actually snow around here in January!?

Screw the dog and that white stuff. Don't ever put me out in it again - and yes, I am talking to YOU!

What do you groove to?

2007-01-20T20:11:00.000-05:00

For Christmas my husband & I bought each other iPods. We're a little late to the 21st Century - pretty pathetic considering I work in the new media field. Anyhow, as I type this I am uploading songs onto iTunes - songs that are upbeat and will keep me moving whenever I drag my butt onto the elliptical. I like all kinds of music and have a little bit of everything on my iPod: Gwen Stefani, Keith Urban, Aerosmith & Jimmy Buffet to name a few. Currently my favorite workout songs include: SexyBack by Justin Timberlake, Fergalicious by Fergie & Promiscuous by Nelly Furtado. I'm looking for a few more songs to add to my workout playlist but am running out of ideas. What songs keep you moving? Any suggestions?

P.S. After re-reading my song choices above I feel compelled to tell you I am no where near as hip and happening as they are. On the hip meter I rate a 4 out of 10 - on a good day.

Keep reading, it's not all depressing content

2007-01-19T09:54:00.000-05:00

My husband called last night from Mississippi. He sounded pretty drained - both emotionally and physically. When I asked him how it was he said the conditions are awful. He said when they landed in New Orleans things seemed and looked normal but once they got about 20 min. away from the airport the Katrina devastation hit him like a brick wall. Office buildings, apartment buildings & hotels missing windows and parts of the building. Other structures in complete shambles. When they arrived in Waveland, MS the devastation was still very raw. He said he cannot believe it's 1 1/2 years later and things still look the way they do. Trash and clothes up in trees. Debris piles everywhere. Whole neighborhoods leveled. He said while he's never been to a 3rd world country this is what he imagines it would look like. The family who's house his group has been assigned to is living in a FEMA trailer - all 5 of them (including 2 children, a single mother and her elderly parents) - and they said FEMA wants to take it's trailer back. If FEMA takes their trailer back they have nowhere to live. Bill said he can't believe how strong this family is and how they find the energy and will to carry on. They, and all other Waveland residents he has come in contact with, are so appreciative of any help they can get. In a nutshell Bill said it's a tragedy that these people are living they way they are - especially here in the USA. Sure there was a big outpouring of money, relief supplies, etc. sent to the effected areas after Katrina but they still need so much more. It is going to take years and years for people to recover - those that are lucky enough to do so. He is taking a lot of pictures - hopefully I can post a few when he returns. He did say the pictures we see do not do it "justice" as to how bad things still are.

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On a more selfish note, our daycare has decided to pour salt onto our private vs public school wounds by announcing a tuition increase for 07/08 with a DECREASE in hours of operations. Now the school will close at 6pm instead of 6:30. The days I work from home we have no issue but when I have to go into the office, getting to daycare by 6pm is very hard. The traffic in the DC area sucks so bad - it can take me 40 min or more than an hour. Oh, and if it's raining or god forbid flurrying it can take even longer. And the tuition increase - don't get me started. Public Kindergarten is looking better and better - if I can just nail down that aftercare piece!

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And finally, because I need to lighten up this depressing post here's a little diddy my brother sent me.

Perhaps you've never heard of this holiday before? I celebrate it every year - haha. Happy GLP day to all of you!

He's going to Waveland

2007-01-17T15:42:00.000-05:00

I just got back from dropping my husband off at the airport. He is heading to Waveland, MS, by way of New Orleans, with a group from our church to help rebuild an area devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Waveland basically took a direct hit from Katrina and almost the entire town was destroyed. 1 1/2 years later Waveland is still trying to recover. He'll be there thru Sunday hanging drywall, siding, etc. I'm sure it will be a memorable experience for him.

Before we went to the airport I did drag him to see a local daycare. We inquired about next year's enrollment. While of course nothing is guaranteed I am feeling a little more optimistic about the whole public/private kindergarten/aftercare situation. I'm still stressed but not as much as yesterday. Thanks for your kind words - especially to Suburban Warrior for offering to pay my bills if I quit my job. That was implied by your comment right!? : )

Public or Private

2007-01-16T11:37:00.000-05:00

'Tis the season of birthday parties! Last weekend I took Abby to two and this weekend we have 2 more. All of the parties are for kids turning 5 which means they will all be going to kindergarten in the fall. While the kids partied away, the adult conversation at both parties turned into a "where is your kid going to kindergarten next year?" discussion. For working parents, like my husband and I, this is a big issue weighing on us. The million dollar question is do we send Abby to public or private kindergarten?

We are not made of money and would rather not shell out the $$$$ for private kindergarten but the public school in our neighborhood only offers a half-day program. (1/2 day is actually a generous term as I think the school day is only 2 1/2 hours long.) Far from convenient for working parents! We would still need before and/or after care and her current daycare does not service our school district. She's on the waiting list at the only daycare center that does but they have a 2 year waiting list. She's been on the list less than a year so her odds for admission next fall are slim. Of course after care is not cheap either (what is these days?!) but it would be cheaper than private kindergarten.

If she attends private kindergarten the before and after care issue is resolved. Also, the school day is a full day (9a-3p) so there is more instruction time. Plus she would not have to change schools as her daycare offers a private kindergarten class. Not only will that keep her in an environment she knows and loves, but she'll be with many of the same classmates she has now. An added benefit is we would have one more year with both our daughters in the same school - makes pick up and drop off much easier.

What's the big deal you say? Other than the cost of private kindergarten it sounds like the best fit right? Full day program, more instruction and before/after care taken care of but...here's the kicker. Rumor has it that our county school system only guarantees a student admission into their "home" elementary school if they register/attend for kindergarten. So, if we put Abby in private kindergarten she may not be offered first grade enrollment into the elementary school less than .25 of a mile from our house. If they are at max enrollment she may be bussed to another elementary school.

So what's a parent to do? Do we pay more for a program that fits our lifestyle/needs but run the risk of having her bussed out of our immediate neighborhood for first grade & on? Or register for half-day kindergarten and deal with the hell of finding after care that is sure to follow?

And yes, unfortunately I do have to be thinking about this now. Daycare will be asking use to sign a 07/08 school year contract in the next month! Granted it's not binding but we do have to start planning now for next year. Can we say stressed out?

Weekend Bits

2007-01-14T12:25:00.000-05:00

This weekend Abby learned the hard way that toothpaste does not make good body lotion. Yesterday I walked into her room and was hit with an overwhelming minty smell. Upon further investigation, she apparently thought the sample size toothpaste the dentist had given her was lotion. She had smeared it all over her arms. To her credit it did sort of look like lotion and certainly very different than the kids toothpaste we use.

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What kind of mother takes her daughter to a birthday party, where said daughter will be getting a makeover and does not bring her camera? Me, that's who! Abby attended a birthday party at Club Libby Lu on Saturday. All the girls had their hair done and dressed up like "tween idols". Of course I forgot my camera - bad mommy.

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Last night while reading PEOPLE, I came across a mention that the actors who play Dr. Cameron and Dr. Chase on House are engaged - you know, in real life. I didn't see that one coming - didn't even know they were dating. Not that they have to call me to approve their relationship or anything but I love House and am usually up to speed on all things show related.

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Speaking of relationships. Now that Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz have officially split, how long do we give it until Justin & Britney are back together? Or at least caught hooking up? Justin apparently felt too young to be tied down and wanted time to party. Who better to party with than Brit Brit?

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Tonight Jack is Back! The Washington Post had a big article today about season 6 and tonight's season premiere. They say this season is going to be extra gorey. I don't know how I feel about that - I don't handle gore very well. I do love me some Keifer though so I will definitely be tuning in! Set your TIVOs!

Everyone's doing it

2007-01-11T18:16:00.000-05:00

Apparently, according to like every single blogger on the Internet, it is national de-lurking week. So I'm going to jump on the bandwagon and ask you to please leave a comment and say hi. I'm probably opening myself up for major embarrassment as I think I might have 4 regular readers but hey, I have thick skin - let the comments trickle in!

Oh, and since I'm totally cranky after spending the past 2 days in all day meetings....

She's a boy, baby

2007-01-10T13:17:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning, while dropping Emily off at daycare her teacher said this to me. We (meaning her and the other teacher) think Emily is more of a boy than a girl. WTF? What does that mean? I must have given her a funny look because she started stumbling over her words as she tried to explain. Ok, I get that Emily is not the daintiest kid - she is sturdy - but a boy she is not.

Then, last night when I went to pick her up, the other teacher brought the subject up again with me - thankfully with a little more tact & explaination. Apparently during naptime the previous day, (all the kids sleep on mats on the floor) Emily was one of the first kids to wake up. Instead of laying quietly (what 15 month would?) she stood up and walked over to another sleeping child. Before the teacher could stop her she flung herself down on that child - essentially body slamming the kid. Which of course woke the kid up, who cried and then woke up all the other sleeping kids. I started to laugh - which didn't amuse her teacher much but what else was I supposed to do? Neither child was hurt and you have to admit it is kind of funny!

Retail Therapy

2007-01-09T16:09:00.000-05:00

A big thanks to CPA Mom for both scaring the beejezus out of me with her airline travel with kids horror story and for providing me with a list of sites containg helpful tips for traveling with kids. I kid on the scaring part, sort of, as pretty much anything that could have gone wrong did for CPM Mom & her family. Even after reading the tips, I was still feeling pretty anxious about our upcoming trip but soothed myself with some retail therapy.

I squashed my fear of having to travel thru the airport lugging a full size carseat by purchasing this little number. It is a newly approved, by the FAA, airplace restraint device and only weighs 1 pound! Plus it folds up into a nice little pouch. Way better than lugging this on the plane. Has anyone out there used this yet?

My second, and last, purchase was a new diaper bag - which I've been wanting basically since Emily was born. The one we currently have is of the backpack variety in various shades of dark blue and gray. We selected that particular one for it's special "I attach easily to a stroller" feature. That feature does work well but the backpack is a pain to carry. It's bulky and these days we don't have the stroller in tow as much. After a lot of surfing I settled on this one in powder blue. I like the messenger style and the little flower design on the inside. Plus it's not too girlie so my husband shouldn't have issue carrying it now and then!

Fear of Flying

2007-01-08T09:44:00.000-05:00

Enter credit card information. Select seat assignments. Click to buy tickets. Break out in a cold sweat. That was me yesterday as I purchased tickets for our trip to FL. We're heading down to see my Aunt, cousins and their kids. Should be a great trip once we arrive - it's the getting there I'm starting to freak out about.

I don't mind flying, and do a few times a year for work, but flying with little kids is another story. Two years ago we went to FL when Abby was 3. We flew Jet Blue and the DIRECT-TV kept her entertained - that and the Care Bear fruit snacks she still remembers eating. We're flying Jet Blue again next month so I know Abby will be all set. But what about Emily? What do you do with a 16 month old on a plane? She doesn't watch TV. She doesn't like to sit still. The only time she's quiet is when she's asleep. I tried my best to book the flights close to her nap time but with my luck that will backfire and she'll be too hyped up to sleep. I fear that she is going to be "that kid" that kicks the seat in front of her and is the recipient of dirty looks. I did buy a seat for her - figuring it was worth the extra $ to have the extra space. Now of course I have to bring her car seat on board (federal regulation and all) and lug that all throughout the airport. God I hope it fits in the seat - I better look into that. At least that will give me somewhere to buckle her in and keep her still right?

Oh, and did I mention my husband is not coming on this trip? He doesn't have the leave available. Thankfully my mother will be coming though so I will have some adult help.

Chia Pet

2007-01-05T16:45:00.000-05:00

Is it just me, or is this Shaggy Chia Pet the spitting image of Dustin Diamond/Screech? Abby, ever obsessed with all things Scooby Doo, gave Bill the Chia for Christmas. As we spread the seeds on the head last night the resemblance was obvious. Downright frightful!

The O.C.

2007-01-04T13:38:00.000-05:00

Please FOX, say it isn't so! Sure the plot is ridiculous - that whole Volcheck thing last season sucked and Ryan as a cage fighter was a joke - but it is one of my favorite shows and my Thursday guilty pleasure. Any suggestions for a new mindless show to latch onto?

Full Contact Operation

2007-01-03T11:11:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the first day back to school and work for our family - we had all been off since Dec. 22. After such a long break it was really hard to get back into the usual routine again. We were all pretty wiped out and by 7pm Emily was sound asleep and Abby was starting to wind down. Instead of plunking ourselves down on the couch for a little TV time, we thought we'd play one of the new games we got for Christmas. That would give us some quality family time (as if we hadn't had enough while on vacation!) and hopefully help Abby continue winding down. Not giving it much thought we decided to play Shrek Operation . Big mistake! Only my family can turn a child's game into a full contact sport!

It started out rather innocently - while my husband was taking his turn I accidentally knocked into the board - causing him to hit the side of the game with the tweezers - thus setting off the buzzer. Abby, having never played Operation before, thought the buzzer was hysterical and then tried to knock Bill's hand again on his next try. As you can imagine this was just the start of full contact operation. With each turn, the other 2 players would do their best to make the operation impossible for the "doctor". Knocking their arm, moving the board, getting in their face, blowing in their ear, trying to make them laugh, etc, etc. Next time we play I think I will wear a face mask!

It's never too early...

2007-01-01T14:16:00.000-05:00

for your first keg stand! Happy New Year to all!

Thank You Packers

2006-12-27T13:35:00.000-05:00

A big shout out to the order packers in the W&S warehouse - they totally hooked us up! We ordered 2 Monkey Bread mixes ($12.50 each) and 1 Rooster Crock ($49 each) and W&S shipped us 1 mix and 2 crocks. Looking forward to returning that extra crock for some extra spending money!

Hypothetically speaking of course...

2006-12-21T09:56:00.000-05:00

Is it wrong for a time pressed parent to do their child's Jr. Kindergarten homework? Even if they color with their "wrong" hand to make it look like the kid did it?

The Pornographic Cat Lady

2006-12-09T16:09:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I went to Target, my home away from home. I went with a goal - to get 3 copies of a picture made - seems easy enough right? Since I didn't have the negative I had to wait in line to use one of the self-service machines with a scanner. These are the same machines that customers can pop their digital cards into, upload images & print photos in the store. The machines have a pretty big monitor on them so basically anyone nearby can see your photos. Not a problem for most people but the lady in front of me should have thought twice about using the machine. First I watched her create a XMAS collage card of her and, what must have been, her 5 cats. She had a photo of each cat arranged around a center photo of herself and one of the cats. I get that people consider their pets their "kids" but this cat lady clearly has gone beyond that. Apparently cats were not the only photos she needed - when she was done making her card she uploaded some rather racy (ie. almost nude) photos of herself to print. The real kicker is she then proceeded to make XMAS cards from one of those as well! I'm guessing she's on Santa's naughty list!

Self Park

2006-12-05T12:05:00.000-05:00

Do we really need this - a car that can parallel park itself? Sure it's cool but should we be offering drivers the opportunity to be even less attentive, behind the wheel, then they already are? And when did parallel parking become so hard that we need a computer to do it for us? Why don't those engineers spend their time creating something really useful - like a dishwasher that unloads itself? Or a dryer that automaticaly folds clothes? Now those are inventions I'd be willing to shell out extra $ for!

The Christmas Letter

2006-11-22T09:36:00.000-05:00

What is everyone's take on the Christmas letter? You know, the letter that often accompanies a Christmas card. Do we like them or find them annoying? I'm really undecided where I stand on them. Each year I feel somewhat guilty just mailing out preprinted photo cards. I feel like they are not very personal. Sure, it's a picture of our family but there really isn't space to write out a personal message. Plus, even if there were space who has time to write out personal messages to 50+ people. So that brings me to the Christmas letter. Is a mass letter any more personal than a photo card? Do you like getting Christmas letters? And if you do, do you like them just to make fun of them?! : ) Please do tell.

UPDATE: Our Christmas cards WITH a Christmas letter went out yesterday (12/5).

Raking Leaves

2006-11-14T15:59:00.000-05:00

Everyday both girls come home from daycare with an activity report. On the report their teachers write what the class did that day plus a personal note about each child. My favorite Emily comment so far was from when she was about 5 months old. The note read something like "Emily was not interested in her art project today. She preferred to eat the paint brush!" Guess we know who the under achiever in this family is - haha! Anyhow, last week Abby's class was talking about their favorite Fall activities. According to the personal note on Abby's sheet, her favorite Fall activity is "raking leaves with Mommy". Where they heck did that come from? Never once have we raked leaves together - let alone I'm not sure I've EVER raked leaves. I'm all for spending time with Abby but raking leaves?? That's man's work! Isn't there a sale at the mall we could hit instead? : )

Election Day

2006-11-06T12:16:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is Election Day. You know what that means right? Less than 48 hours left of those annoying election commercials and pre-recorded phone messages. In the past 3 hours our phone has rung no less than 6 times with those damn messages. And the television commercials! It's impossible to watch tv without seeing that ridiculous "Michael Steele loves puppies" commercial. Do I really want my beloved Prison Break interrupted for that?

A belated BOO!

2006-11-01T14:11:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween!

Sorry I've been a little slack on the postings recently but it's been a little busy around here. Last week I had the pleasure, note sarcasm, of having to go to NYC for work. The only highlight of the trip was I had the opportunity to eat at one of Bobby Flay's restaurants - it was delicious. The best $37 rib-eye I've ever had. I'm pretty sure it's the same steak I buy at Giant for about $9. I guess it was worth the extra $28 not to have to season and cook it myself?

Two Things

2006-10-22T18:17:00.000-05:00

1. One of my biggest fears became a reality Saturday night. I was carrying Emily down the stairs and slipped and fell. Thankfully we only fell a couple of steps and nobody was hurt but wow, I've always been afraid that would happen one day.

2. Is it wrong to do your child's Jr. Kindergarten homework because she is taking too long and you are really tired from spending all day at a pumpkin festival where you watched pig races, shot a pumpkin from a cannon, squeezed your adult butt into a kid's cow train ride seat, pet various farm animals and walked all over kingdom come? Will the teacher be duped into believing my crappy coloring job was actually done by Abby? (On a side note, the pumpkin cannon was awesome - right up until the point when the wind got a hold of one of the launched pumpkins and it landed smack dab in the middle of the heavily populated pick your own pumpkin patch!)

An Ounce of Prevention

2006-10-13T13:39:00.000-05:00

Last night I had to go to the grocery store and Abby decided to come along. All was well until we hit the checkout line. That's when the whining started.

Abby: Can I have candy?"

Me: "No, you may not have candy."

Abby: "Can I have a balloon?"

Me: "No, you may not have a balloon."

Abby: "Can I have a soda?"

Me: "No, you may not have a soda."

Abby: "Can I have this magazine?" (holding the lastest copy of Prevention magazine)

Now I had to laugh. Why would a 5 year old want a copy of Prevention? I knew it wasn't for the content - heck the girl can't read! She doesn't need to flatten her tummy, boost her memory or increase her energy level. Turns out she liked the purple sweater the cover model was wearing. So, I did what any other mother out at 8pm with a whiny child would do - I bought the damn magazine. She slept with it last night under her pillow!

Not as smart as I thought

2006-10-10T11:52:00.000-05:00

How pathetic is this? I had the tv on for background noise while working at the computer. Jeopardy! came on and I found myself answering questions, correctly, right and left. Then I turned around to look at the tv. Here I thought I was all smart and Einstein like but in reality it's "Young Fellows" week! Oh well, at least I know I can kick ass against the pre-teen set!

NY Giants

2006-10-09T08:04:00.000-05:00

I should be singing "Hail to the Redskins",
but instead I must congratulate the G-men,
on their mighty win.

19 - 3 was the final score,
From my spot on the couch, the game was a total bore.
For my friend, the Giant's fan, it was points galore.

Manning, Freely and LaVar
helped ensure the Giants were up to par.
Brunell, Portis and Moss
all contributed to the Skins' loss.

Why would I post this on my blog?
Because I lost a bet to The Barkan Dawg.

Sensory Overload

2006-10-06T10:01:00.000-05:00

Apparently there is such a thing as too good of a seat at the circus. Last night we took Abby to see the Big Apple Circus for her 5th birthday. We sprung for great seats - ringside, 5th row. All was well until the dancing horses began their performance. One of them took a massive crap pretty much right in front of us. For the next 10 minutes I sat there fanning the air as the stench was overwhelming. Maybe next time we'll go for the cheap seats!