The Humens

Nicholas's 7th Birthday Party - SO PROUD!!

2011-11-28T21:16:00.001-05:00

Citizens Voice Article TIMES LEADER ARTICLE

Conversations from kindergarten..and beyond

2011-01-05T00:40:00.005-05:00

It must be forever since I felt compelled to write anything on here - Facebook has kind of been my media outlet for complaints and random comments on life. But thought I would capture just two of the funniest conversations between my 6 and 4 yr old tonight...
Nicholas "Lauren in just beautiful"
Maria feeling left out "Nicholas am I beautiful"
Nicholas "Well you are pretty but you are complicated Maria"
and another one
Maria "Nicholas guess what? When I was in mommies belly I was singing"
"I was singing, I'm coming out so you better get this party started" She is seriously so witty it makes me laugh...you have to be quick to get half of the things she is saying. She is my little girl 100% some of the things she says are the exact same things I am about to say and she takes the words right out of my mouth.
So here is their X-mas eve pic.

Long time no talk

2010-01-15T19:52:00.003-05:00

Wow has it really been since July since I last posted. It's just too hard to catch up on everything from that long ago. So maybe I can just capture the moment. Nicholas is sitting here talking non stop - he just never stops talking or moving. A bit like the energizer bunny but his batteries never run out. I guess it is genetic because Mike and I don't sit still so well either. His favorite conversation goes like this..
"What's your favorite football team"
Me: "I guess the Eagles"
"What's your next favorite team?"
Me: "I don't know I don't really have another favorite"
"well what about Penn State"
Me: "I don't like college football - it bores me"
Nicholas crying "Well why don't you like Penn State they are cool"
Me: "PLEASE can't we talk about something else..."
Maria is sitting in the other room watching Mulan in the dark by herself with the door closed. She is so strange sometimes.
She has been accident prone lately and went through some bad bumps, bruises and stitches and really for no other reason than just running first and looking second. Hopefully she will catch on - look first then run.
We are almost finished with our basement project. It has come together so well I am thinking of moving down there. The only think missing is a kitchen.
Well - a few pics and hopefully be back soon.

July

2009-08-02T16:14:00.002-04:00

I promise some pictures soon but here's the recap. It rained, then it rained, and then it rained some more. We manage to get an almost rain free week at Wildwood Crest again this year. The kids love it there and as it turned out we had friends vacationing up the road who have a little boy Nicholas's age, so he had a buddy. This took some of the pain of the on going battle between Nicholas and Maria away.
I am pretty sure my kids fight more than any other kids I know, and when they aren't fighting they are only 1/2 a second away from another fight.
They entertain each other in the car these days by playing bite my finger. Here's how it goes in case you ever want to play.
Nicholas - let's play a game
Maria - OK what game
Nicholas - I have a good idea, I'll put my finger out and you bite it
Maria - OK
Nicholas (SCREAMING very loudly) - Mommy Maria bit my finger
Game over - Maria 1 Nicholas 0
We really need to the get the DVD player back into the car. I was hoping wihtout they would take in more the real world but all they are doing is making me wish I had plexiglass separating the front seat from the back.

Maria is going through this phase where she has the answers to everything. For instance....here is an example of an interaction between my mother and her.
Mom - what's your friends name
Maria - Ava
Mom (thinking Maria says that name cute, this is a few minutes later) - Maria was was your friends name
Maria - Poopy head..

So she does this a lot when she answers you once and you ask her again, you can almost assuredly get the answer poopy head. I am sure what she means to say is I already answered your question so leave me alone. Were it not for her curls and cuteness she would never get away with this behavior.

We went miniature golfing last night and she immediately got in trouble for not listening. I hauled her away to a picnic table and some young boy was smiling and looking at her like she was a cute little girl, obviously this young man does not deal with Maria everyday - she jaded him with the curls and blue eyes. I wish I had the looks to pull off being grouchy and bossy, but I guess I have to settle for biting my tongue in lieu of telling everyone poopy head.

Pictures of summer fun to follow soon!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, OK just bears...

2009-06-16T22:39:00.005-04:00

I have been meaning forever to touch base in virtual reality. Now guilt has taken on the better of me and here I am about to embark on a three month catch up tour of my life.

We travelled to Pittsburgh in May for my nephews engagement party. We stayed at his house. I was really impressed - 27 and single and he had all the fixings of a real adult house. I was expecting to bring my own sheets and silverware but turns out that wasn't necessary. So this was my first trip back to the burgh since having the kids. In my crazy mind I pictured taking Maria to Jacks at 8AM and having a liquid breakfast from a bar stool. The reality was a little different. We did get to walk from 26th to the Beehive and back. We saw the old rat house on 16th street, passed the Rex where I used to work. The amazing thing is how different life looks from the same view almost 15 years later. Jesus did I say almost 15 years post graduation. OK 14 to be exact but still that is so long. Life brings so much our way in that amount of time. Standing outside the Rex, walking over 10 blocks, the South side seemed so small. The houses so tiny, the bars, for as many as there were, just didn't seem so fun. OK truth be told I was there Sunday morning after the fun had ended and the streets were littered with the sins of the night before. But still it really put it into perspective. You can go back but you can never go back. I guess the lesson learned is to savor the moment because every minute is fleeting. How did I ever think college and college life was so difficult, ha..that old hindsight adage is ringing in my head now.
So I did get to meet up with my friend Timmer who is happily settled in Shadyside with his boyfriend.
I guess the good thing about 15 years post college is you get a little used to who you are and the skin you are in. So I don't struggle so much with a hair being out of place or the many pounds I have lost and gained and hope to lose again.

OK enough on the Pittsburgh trip.
We just came back from a week in Jamaica, which was just awesome. We stayed at the Ritz Carlton in Rose Hall, I highly recommend it there if you ever get the chance. The trip was fun, I had my second less than favorable ocean kayaking experience. The first one for those who might remember was before Kim's wedding when I had the great idea we had time to kayak around the entire island, only to get too tired to finish and too late to make the wedding on time so we ditched the kayaks for the wedding. This experience was a little different. We were out in the wide open sea and flipped the kayak. I panicked about sharks while my friend the smart one didn't flail and try to swim, she stayed with the boat, which drifted further out to sea (mind you my measurements are embellished in my mind, we weren't that far out but far enough that swimming in was a struggle, we did have life preservers on too) At some point the hotel guys realized we flipped and came out with their little speed boat to rescue us. Mike heard it all go down and didn't even bother to get up and look, he just figured it was us and we would be fine. I like his confidence in me. I think he overestimates me too much.

The kids are doing great - we took a bump on our flight and got some flight vouchers so I got the crazy idea we could take Maria and Nicholas to Disney again. I thought the potty bribe would work. So when we got home I promised Maria if she uses the potty she can go to Disney. She promptly acquiesced and declared I am ready to go to Disney. She doesn't understand the terms of the agreement mean to use the potty FOREVER!! And am I crazy going back to Disney, that which I hate more than anywhere else on earth. I guess I still can't believe it was so horrible, I need another dose to confirm.

OK gotta get to bed and stop boring everyone before they fall asleep.
Oh one more thing - the post title refers to the bear families that frequent our backyard - more on that later!

Happy Easter to all and to a good night

2009-04-09T22:29:00.003-04:00

Oh wait that is the Santa saying.
Here we are at yet another American made holiday. Yet another ruined holiday for you traditionalists. Let's see.... we have effectively warped Christmas into a buying frenzy in the name of Santa, so let's just mess up Easter with another obscure story about a rabbit leaving eggs everywhere and a basket with candy or toys in it. Can you believe some kids actually have a list of what they want for Easter. Then there are the lines at the malls to sit on rabbits lap - which is probably a cast out
Catholic priest getting off on little kids sitting on his lap (sorry for the church dig there) but it is a little strange for an adult to dress like a child and have kids sit on his or her lap. What if the same adult dressed up on, let's say Memorial to do the same thing, they would be jailed!!!
As if a basket full of sugar isn't enough...parents willingly oblige to the demands for toys at Easter.
I am about fed up with the whole thing. There is no way to escape it either - even on our childless cul-de-sac tucked in the woods in Mountain Top, Easter is everywhere. Rabbits and bunnies and eggs and baskets.
So as an American parent I must oblige to my children for the next few days. Maria wants Barbie Pop Tarts in her basket and some binkies. Nicholas wants chocolate candy. I can threaten them with cancelling the rabbit service if they are bad or remind Maria that the Easter Bunny took Nicholas's binkies away. Then on Sunday morning when they wake up and dress all nice I can give them loads of chocolate to dribble down their faces and onto their nice cloths, if we are lucky one of the kids will eat so much junk they will get sick and then not want anymore candy. And we will all smile blissfully and post pictures on Monday. Ahhhhh, I love American holidays!! So Happy Easter Everyone.

Cleaning Carpets

2009-03-15T20:43:00.003-04:00

So if Nicholas didn't push me to the edge with finger painting poop on the walls, then Maria has certainly pushed me to the edge by pooping on her bedroom floor. The worst part of it is; she cannot simply poop on the floor and walk away. She has to step in it then run around like a mad woman. Leaving foot tracks throughout the light beige carpet that covers our second floor (I know we should have gone with wood floors upstairs too). She was just a very lucky little girl that Friday I had a Dentist appointment. Lucky because I hate the dentist and was amply drugged up on some ativan to take the edge off the dentist. The additional side effects of Ativan is they also take the edge off poop stained carpets. I was pretty calm about the entire ordeal, got the steam cleaner out (which by the way if you don't have one they pay for themselves when you have kids) and steam cleaned the carpet.
Maria was pretty proud of her artwork and proudly told her daddy when he came too.
If I look back, most of Nicholas's potty and poop escapades were precursors to using the potty. Maybe this is part of the process and we are close to a breakthrough. I can only hope.

Hibernation

2009-03-03T21:19:00.002-05:00

Guess I have taken a long long break from blogging. Facebook has taken over my online life lately, and I have gotten away from attempting to electronically archive our days.
So post Disney we spent some time ice skating. With Nicholas, Maria is too young. Nicholas has also started up swim lessons again.
Maria has been busy working on her song and dance routines. She wails out her ABC's, I laugh because she always ends them in W,X CRY and Z, and then takes a bow with one hand behind her in the air.
Today she learned the hokie pokie and was twisting around singing it. It took me a minute to figure out she was saying hokie pokie, it sounded more like hook and pook. Her new thing, not so new, is constantly correcting you, by saying "No that's not right" and then telling you how things should be. She also playing make believe a lot mostly with the Nemo characters, she never wants to be Dory but assigns the role to whoever she is playing. She likes to be Nemo or Daddy Nemo (aka Marlin).

We are still in an endless struggle of getting Nicholas to bed before 11PM. I have all but given up and just hope someday he can get into a normal sleep routine.

I am really looking forward to some relief from the cold weather, although I was able to get out skiing several times this year, I am ready to put the skis away and get outside without 100 layers of cloths on.

Well for lack of anything better to say. I guess I will close this entry. We need to get back into the habit of taking pictures of the kids more often and posting them.

And then there was Disney

2009-01-23T19:13:00.004-05:00

Most of you already know we took a five day vacation to Disney World last week to escape the cold and give the kids a chance to see Mickey Mouse's house. Too bad the weather in Florida was freezing and Mickey Mouse's house more likely resembled the Wyoming Valley Sewer Authority with a little New York City at rush hour thrown in.
So despite the faux smiles in the pictures (and they are just that, faux smiles) the trip was less than memorable. Or maybe it was totally memorable because it will go down as the worst vacation we have had. EVER.
We took Nicholas there as a reward for potty training. Of course he has been potty trained for a while, and almost reverted while waiting in bathroom lines at Disney for 20 plus minutes. Then there was the broken rides, which seemingly popped up every time we decided to bear the 60 minute lines because it might be worth it. Oh wait lest I forget there was the Disney Desensitizing Ride/ reconditioning ride, meant to break you of any feelings of aversion you might have towards the mouse and crew. The ride - It's a Small World, and of course it broke down with us on it, so the music was a kin to the scene in Clockwork Orange where they make Malcolm McDowell watch things to help recondition him before releasing him from jail. Only in our version of Clockwork Orange we were placed on the never ending It's a Small World Ride where you were forced to listen to music over and over in hopes when the ride released you back into the not so magical kingdom, instead of being violent and full hatred towards the crowds and lines you would instead just sing, it's a small world..and smile.
It didn't work for me! I still had a meltdown on day 2 and actually cursed the train conductor.
I have even followed up with a trip to the Customer Relations Dept. and a letter both falling upon deaf ears because really what is our $1000 worth if every other family in the country doesn't believe us and needs to go to Disney to find out for their selves.
Anyhow, we are more than happy to be home in a really cold Northeast PA to celebrate winter. The kids did enjoy themselves although Nicholas will tell you the roller coasters broke etc. etc. He knows it wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

Catch up

2009-01-05T21:30:00.003-05:00

I have been on a blogging hiatus..Christmas, New Year's, time off work, skiing, ice skating, and an unfortunate death in the family. Anyhow, tomorrow starts our new year...because really the new year is the day you go back to your normal routine after the crazy holiday season.
Nicholas and Maria both really enjoyed Christmas. He got a bike from Santa, and Maria got some Princess dolls. Of course our generous family doped them up on many more toys which are strewn throughout the house; leaving our now one year old house looking like a worn out daycare. The only solution to the toy issue is to put a moratorium on playing, at least for the next 14 years or so.

Our Uncle Eddy passed away on New Years Day. It was sad time for my father and his brothers as well as the rest of us. Although Eddy was in a nursing home for the past 12 years. His mobility only increased. Zooming around Montrose in his Jazzy until the battery went dead. He spent holidays with us or with my uncle Tom. He never gave up on wanting to walk again and was waiting for a cure for his Muscular Dystrophy. Sad to say his solace to the disease came in the form of death. He will be missed by us every holiday. And through his organ donation he will live on in those people who are in dire need of help. Nicholas and Maria were with us with the funeral, we did our best to explain to Nicholas what was going on without using the words pain and suffering and death. Because really at 4 that is too much to stomach. Anyhow we did explain heaven and Nicholas wanted to know if Heaven was on the way to Mountain Top. Hmmmm....I am not quite sure to the answer of that one. The abstract concept of it all is hard to explain without any first hand knowledge, and without getting any more philosophical than that - I will leave it with that.

So we are headed to Disney in two short weeks...correction one week...damn time flies..Besides that we are just drudging through the long winter with some skiing and ice skating and whatever else we can find to keep the kids active.

Some pictures from our Christmas attached

Prophetic Driver

2008-12-17T21:42:00.002-05:00

Yes I am a prophetic driver, not pathetic driver but prophetic driver. In my short 15-20 minute commute I can solve almost any problem this planet faces. You name it, world hunger, I have the answer, the economy a breeze, global warming, no problem. So today on the drive home, my task was to come up with a solution as to why I, among so many others must drive a SUV. Now I don't drive a large SUV at this point I am in a smaller Acura RDX, but why..So when I answer this question or when I hear others answer the same question...it is always, well I need to be able to seat more than two and I need all wheel drive and sometimes I need to haul stuff...ok well most cars now have all wheel drive so that blows that explanation out the window. But the hauling stuff... well I have a solution that could put most most Americans in small economic (by that I mean fuel efficient economic because I don't think I can forgo my fancy options type of economic)cars.
We need to have neighborhood pick up trucks available. Like paying taxes to the township or having home owner's association fees. For a small added fee there should be community pick up trucks available for people to use for those "special occasions" like when they just had a baby shower and can't fit everything into the car. Or when they want to buy some trees to plant (keeping on that green theme). I am still working out the details of my plan but I think it deserves some merit. If I knew I was partial owner of a pick up truck and didn't have to worry about where to keep it (because in my world it will be kept in a central location with a garage, not somebody's house)well if I didn't have to worry about these things, I would drive a car again.
So I am going to work on solving this problem tomorrow during my commute. It's just really too bad none of my ideas ever come to fruition. Move over Obama - I have real change for this country! And please no negative comments that will stifle my creative juices on this issue.

Somebody Save Me!!

2008-11-30T19:48:00.002-05:00

From the Christmas Cheer!! I hate decorating for 30 days then taking it all down, I hate the windy cold rain outside that is keeping inside all day compelling me to clean my dirty floors and decorate more!! Save me from the awful people out shopping, alas the Internet has saved me from most of that.

Well the kids have officially declared they want every single thing they see in every single commercial and if Nicholas sees a girl commercial with girl toys he reminds me Maria wants that. I don't fight them, I just tell them sure we'll get that because in two minutes they won't remember all the things they want. Maria is starting to like Barbie. Personally I hate Barbie, I hate all she stands for. What women cooks, cleans and drives her car in 6" stilettos and a mini skirt. Come on folks what does that one teach your daughter. It just plays into the whole sexist world that we live in. And places ridiculous expectations on women starting with toddlers.

Nicholas made me laugh last night he went into the refrigerator grabbed about 4 eggs and starting walking toward me calling them little chicken. I had to play it smooth and keep my fingers crossed that the little chickens didn't spill out onto my floors!! Fortunately for me and for him actually I captured the "little embryo chickens" and returned them safely into their egg carton home.

Four days off for Thanksgiving, I woke up later and later each morning until the finale this morning when I got up at 9AM!! Ahhh, how did I manage this you may ask, well I let the kids stay up as late as they wanted so they would sleep late in the morning. Maria still wakes up about twice a night screaming for her binky to be shoved back into her mouth or to "cover Maria". She is in the habit of talking about herself in the third person, it is quite funny..."mommy maria wants a drink" "Maria wants her blanket". She has also been sitting on the toilet now. Thanks to my mom thinking the running faucet would make her want to pee, she makes sure I "turn the water on", so far she has successfully asked to go potty not gone on the toilet but proceeded to mess her diaper for two straight days. Good thing we don't have well water waiting for her to go potty with the water on, the well would be dry.
Attached are a few pics from Nicholas's chuck cheese birthday party. Maria didn't like it there at all and tried very hard not to look at Chuck E, but as you can see she still was very curious.

Next stop, Christmas!!

Turkey Carcass and Clean Kitchens

2008-11-28T14:34:00.002-05:00

I successfully hosted my first Thanksgiving in our house. We weren't in this house last year. The party was small 6 adults and three kids. I struggled with clean kitchen versus getting the food prepared. I hate it when my glass top stove has any smudges or drops of food on it. For some reason our stove is the worst model for this because it is totally smooth glass top, whereas some glass top stoves have the pebble like glass over the burners. It seems this stove is a perfect match for my neurosis. I even managed to lift the potatoes off while they were boiling to wipe down the burner. You would never know dinner was even made in the kitchen by 3PM when we finished eating. I guess everything turned out well because there weren't many leftovers, or maybe I didn't make enough to start with. In any event. I can pull it off again, I think the issues start however when my mom decides to share the kitchen with me and tell me what "I should do" clearly I don't need unsolicited advice since I managed to pull it off yesterday without her.
Now for a whole three more days off work. Whatever will I do..I managed to shop online today and get a few Christmas presents.
Maria is sleeping the car in the garage now I better make sure she isn't freezing in there. Later folks.

As Promised...Halloween Pictures

2008-11-15T07:50:00.003-05:00

Attached are some pictures of Halloween. Some of the adult party and some of the kids party.
We are gearing up for Nicholas's birthday at then Christmas and then Disney World in January. After that we will get some skiing and ice skating in and then wait for the weather to break so we can play outside and stop making messes in the house. I can already tell Nicholas is gaining weight from being inside, his ribs aren't so visible.
I am trying to convince Nicholas he wants a new bike for Christmas because we got him one, but he is convinced it won't fit in Santa's sled. He has a good point!!
So I am waiting on some news and some news I got already.
Waiting for babies...Emma, Holly, Patty...
Goods news is my niece and nephew got a killer job in upstate NY and will be moving within the month.

A few endorsements while I am sounding off...
Acai berry, since taking it in August I have not had one cold. This is rare given the kids are constantly bringing something home.
J.Jill knit trouser pants. Love them, super comfortable yet totally dressy enough for work!! I need to get them in every color they have but they are back ordered they are so popular.
And thanks to Joanna my new Crumpler work bag..it gits a laptop but isn't bulky like a laptop bag and it is totally cute but not showy.

Laughing at Misfortune

2008-11-01T22:45:00.003-04:00

I can't help but to laugh at Mike and his utter lack of direction!! He went hunting Friday night and was so excited that he hit a deer with a bow and arrow. I could care less and didn't pay much mind to him. The kids and I got home around 8:30PM and Mike still wasn't home, it was dark but I really don't keep tabs on him. He just does his own thing. Around 9PM he called me and said "Back the car out of the garage and blow the horn" , my response was "what the hell are you talking about", he proceeded with I am lost in the woods and if you honk the horn I might hear it and find my way back.
Why I listen to him is beyond me, I backed the car out and and honked the horn, in our usually very quiet residential neighborhood. He called back within two minutes and told me to keep honking. So I honked it once more, he called back again, on limited cell phone battery to tell me to honk it again. At this point we were arguing. I told him he was ridiculous I couldn't just sit here in the driveway all night honking the horn until he found his way home. In my mind I had a little concern as just last week a hunter died when he was lost in the woods in our town. Just as I was honking the horn, the neighbors came home (now mind you this is the neighbor who is the coroner and actually dragged the body out of the woods earlier in the week) I told them what I was doing, when he agreed to turn the coroner mobile on and sound the siren in hopes Mike would hear that.
So I called Mike back asked him if he heard the sirens, at this point, I am annoyed, embarrassed and laughing at how ridiculous he is.
He finally found his way to a corn field and for anyone living my neck of the woods, it is woods, there are no farms or cornfields, it is only woods and more woods. He had no idea where he was...He was glad to be out of the woods but still didn't know where he even was for me to pick up.
Eventually the farmer came home and Mike explained his story to him and drove him home. Moral of the story...Don't call your wife when you are lost in the woods with no compass!

Day Off

2008-10-18T17:16:00.003-04:00

It is our fifth wedding anniversary today. It is 5:17PM and I haven't seen my husband yet. The kids are at my in-laws, and I am basking in my solitary glory!!
I spent most of the day shopping and hating both Halloween and people in general.
Kids screaming for customes, parents dragging kids by the monsters in the store. The rude people shoving in front of me, "hello dumb B$#W at TJ Max, I am not invisible, say excuse me next time or I will have to trip you!"

So back at home drinking decaf with my two cats, reading a book and watching Flip this House. I know this is all short lived but I am enjoying every second of it. Giddy like a kid in a candy store, I am so excited to be alone and have time alone that I want to do so much that I am actually not relaxing!!

I did promise Mike we would meet up for dinner, but you know what I hope he doesn't want to go now. I would be just as happy eating popcorn and watching Sarah Palin make a fool of herself on Saturday Night Live.

Photographer Catch Up

2008-10-16T22:13:00.003-04:00

Mike bought the fancy camera and took lots of nice pictures and wouldn't you know it I still get the crappy job of uploading his 295 photos. Because I have nothing better to do!!

Thanks to Chris and Joanna for stopping by our neck of the woods. Hope they enjoyed their bike ride.

Fall is in full swing and we are busier than usual with parties and visits with family and friends.

Nicholas is starting to get unusual mouthy, no idea where he got that from. He told the daycare owner the other day that he was the boss and his mom and dad(that would be myself and Mike) don't like her. It isn't true, at least not on my behalf but now I am sure she takes Nicholas out back every day and beats him because she thinks we don't like him.

It's getting late so I will post pictures now and later.

A letter to Mother Nature

2008-10-06T18:10:00.003-04:00

Dear Ms. Nature,
Don't you know you are too much handle. I have suffered at your hands for months wih snakes, turtles, spiders, frogs, caterpillars, deer, squirrel, rabits. Now the weather is getting cooler and you send me a bear. Ms. Nature could you please KNOCK IT OFF, your prescence is more than overwhelming. Will you just ease off, back off and give us some outside time free of your fury? If you don't comply with my requests I fully intend on filing a complain with the better business bureau, and perhaps hiring a consumer rights attorney and suing your ever present A##. I guess if all that fails, as a last resort I will vote for the Maverick Alaskan lady who supports drilling for oil and ignoring your presence in this world. She alone will make goverment intervention nonexistent and we can do away with you once and for all.
Sincerely,
A housebound mother afraid of you!

On another note, we went to a football game with the kids two weeks ago. High School football games are a blast for preschoolers. Nicholas chanted the EAGLES Fight song the whole time, while we watched the Comets and the TIGERS. Maria mostly enjoyed the skittles they sold at the concession stand. Can't say I blame her. It is cheap Friday night entertainment for the kids though.

Next on the agenda Halloween othewise known as our annual food drive in the Humen house, send the kids out dressed like something or other to muster up food to feed the family. I love it!

The new democracy

2008-09-16T21:33:00.006-04:00

It goes something like this - for all you social conservative right wingers out there...
Free markets, capitalism, small governments, accountability, no taxes, these are the things you live for...seems to be working real well right now. Too bad we didn't privatize social security a few years ago when we could have. Then you and your retired parents would really be rolling in the dough!
Now that the government owns large large stakes in major financial institutions, this means larger governments (after all you can't tell me the government won't expand to meet the demands of its newly acquired banks) and more government intervention...let's see Fed bails out AIG to the tune of $85 billion dollars, and where my dear right winger does the Fed get $85 billion dollars? From you my love, in the way of TAXES. Seems to me we have conservatism well at work (read: sarcasm). Perhaps we can get four more years of the same. Perhaps the lovely Beauty Queen from Alaska can impose her version of right wing conservatism and save our economy, all while providing more services to children with downs syndrome, of course by not raising your taxes, which is the economic platform she campaigns on. Oh wait a minute disregard all of the above..The Economy is strong right now.

P.S. Click on the post title for echoing sentiments from an economist

Maria - 2nd Happy Birthday

2008-09-07T15:21:00.004-04:00

If her looks don't give her age away, her personality most certainly does!!
Happy Birthday little lady!

Save the Fireflies!!

2008-09-01T08:50:00.005-04:00

Finally a reason not to purchase landscape lighting!! Click on the post title for the full article.
Does the outside of our house really need to look like a museum at 2AM? Do I need floodlights on my windows and landscape rocks when I live on a cul-de-sac where nobody even drives mid day, let alone at night?
I was almost persuaded by peer pressure, but now that I have an environmental excuse, thanks but no thanks to the landscape lighting!

How do solve a problem like Maria?

2008-08-30T22:19:00.006-04:00

You know the song from the Sound of Music. Maria loves it and calls it her song. She now tries to drag everything she can find along with her wherever she goes. specifically her favorites are three baby spoons, her Ariel purse, her princess handbag, as many binkies (pacifiers) she can keep in her hands, her filthy dirty blanket, a Princess pencil case, and Princess fruit snacks. This is a lot for an almost two year old to carry with her everywhere. So it stands to reason she drops it every few steps. Screams, pick it up and tries to make it to her destination, two more steps, drops something gets all angry...repeat...repeat.... The destination is rarely reached because at some point she loses her cool completely and has a full fledged meltdown, complete with head banging on the floor.
Nicholas went with his Aunt Teresa to the fair today, while Maria and I did some shopping, gardening and cooking. She was such a good girl until after she went to bed when I came downstairs, I found an entire container of crushed red peppers spilled on the floor, how she did it unbeknownst to me, is beyond me, but furthermore, how she did it without getting any in her nose, eyes or mouth is even more amazing.
Mike finally canned the cleaning lady...Thank god because allegedly she cleaned Friday but I am still trying to find out what it is cleaned!! the toilets are still dirty the bathroom floors are still dirty, the shower is still dirty etc. Can wait to get a new person to actually CLEAN our house! I think if someone does it right we can even reduce the frequency and save some money.
Fall is in the air even though we have had some warm weather!! The mums are blooming!! The leaves are turning that darker shade of green before they turn their autumn shade. The Halloween decorations are already out in the stores, school has started back...Great nine of months of winter is only a short time away!

Going Going...But still not gone

2008-08-17T21:50:00.002-04:00

We have had some unfavorable weather last week. Makes m realize the party is about to end...9 months of cold misery on the way...I have to ask myself why I live here when I hate the cold, but then I remember it could be worse. I could live amongst alligators and even more snakes, lizards, and scorpions, at least with 9 months of arctic weather I get some reprieve from those unfavorable creatures. It is the only time I feel safe in my yard...with 6 inches of snow, never mind it is too cold to stay out there for more than 2 minutes.
OK so anyhow, we took yet another trip to Steamtown and each time is like the first for Nicholas he just loves it. Maria not so much but that is Maria. We went to my mom's afterwards. Mike and I rode our bikes a little today around the two lakes nearby my parents house. Not a bad ride but my new Hybrid bike is not a mountain bike and doesn't maneuver the rocks on the dirt roads so well. I didn't clip in and I didn't fall so it was a good ride.
Nicholas loves going to my mom's for some reason he forgets she has indoor plumbing, yes it is the country but it is also 2008 Nicholas!
Mike has taken up photography so attached are his pictures..Fancy cameras do fancy things...what can I say!

Disney

2008-08-15T21:05:00.003-04:00

So I have always had beef with Disney. Maybe it is because I never got to watch the movies or cared for the merchandise growing up. Maybe it is because the fairy tales my mother told were better than Walts. In any event the whole thing seems super commercial and what a way to capitalize yourself to pray on children.
So fast forward some 30 years and I am caught in some sort of Disney hell, where my daughter idolizes these silly princesses. And that part isn't so bad it is the story behind the princesses that just irks my feminist self.
Cinderella, three mean sisters (who are of course portrayed as ugly) she goes to a party has to leave at midnight blah blah blah and the prince puts the slipper on her foot and then off they go into marital bliss, where she wears high heels and princess dresses all day and doesn't have to slave away at housework any longer...yeah pretty believable...
Aurora AKA Sleeping Beauty...this one really gets me. Short of the fact I had to google the story, it goes something like this...she pricks her finger on a spinning wheel, because until the prince kisses you and you live happily ever after, you must first spin your own yarn for clothing, but you knew that already right...so anyhow she gets pricked by this poison...once again another mean ugly woman doing a seemingly helpless princess, harm...so she falls asleep and voila the prince kisses her she wakes up and off into paradise they go, once again dressed in frilly dresses and looking more radiant than ever...very believable story as well. I am quite certain her prince never gave her lip and provided her with maids (who would not become princesses like herself) I am sure the stork delivers her babies because princesses can't be pregnant and of course princesses do not work or get educated, after all their prince saves them from all reality.
The Silly Mermaid, another very likely tale..
Then there is snow white...I can't even go there...seven dwarfs living with her...why would she even need a prince. You would think they would have saved her from all evil and the apple and the witch or whatever...again I am not real clear on this story.
So attached is my princess Maria, whose dress is now filthy from 24 hour wear, but I hate to shatter her dreams and tell her that isn't quite how life works...no prince saving you from being an educated free thinking woman...no prince who kisses you and then diapers, baths the kids and cleans the house while you just keep yourself beautiful in your frilly dress...This was not how I planned on raising my daughter. I guess she is raising me instead, forcing me to learn about the fairy tales that are just that, tales!
So Walt, we are so in love with you we are planning to come dump thousands of dollars at your stupid rat house in Orlando this winter...I'll be there with my prince(s) smiling the whole time, maybe I will even wear a Cinderella dress!

I Had a Dream

2008-08-03T22:29:00.003-04:00

The last 10 days I have been sick with what seems like Bird Flu but is probably just pneumonia...or maybe just a bad cold. Anyhow I have been so busy coughing I haven't slept in at least a week.
Last night while highly sedated on a drug cocktail. I had this very strange dream. Now I always tend to have dreams about not being able to graduate. Usually it is from high school. But this time it is from college. I am struggling in this dream, the only one left after all my friends moved out of town to go with their life... Then in my dream, Kim, my old roommate shows up on campus. She is there for her PhD. I was so excited to see her we decided for the one semester it would take her to get her PhD we would room together again....Now in my dream, everyone is where they are now in life...Kim has three boys and husband. I am the only one stuck at age 22 and unable to graduate. Excited at the prospect to see my old room mate, I let her pick an apartment out. She chooses this place north of Pittsburgh, not a very good neighborhood, really dumpy and lots of crime, but the apartment is furnished so she wants me to come see it. I drive up there, across the river and into the hood, where I find the duplex she found. The house is a dump!! But that is not the worse part the bedrooms are up these really steep and very shallow stairs with no handrails.. I couldn't even walk into the room to check it out. I begged her to reconsider and get a place on the South Side...The infamous South Side of our younger year. She flat out looks at me and says no, she has kids now and can't behave like that.
I am not sure how the dream ends but like always, reality hit me hard when Maria came crying all soak and wet and not from a bath....behind her is Nicholas running without his pants on....So can you figure out what Maria is wet with...Sometimes I just want to go back to sleep and back to college where I don't have to explain where not to pee. Well the more I think about it the more I see the parallel in my life...In college you drank so much you didn't care where you peed and now that carelessness is coming back to haunt me with a four year old with a fire hose!! Full Circle...

I Pi#$ed them off

2008-07-28T21:42:00.003-04:00

One more beach story...As you can see below, Nicholas went on those little go kart things with Mike, maybe that isn't what they are called but whatever they are, he had a blast....so much so he was talking about it later in the car.
"mommy I pi%$ed those cars off in the race car"
Mike and both thought he meant he pissed them off, he kept saying it and then later when put in context more as he spoke about it more, we realized he meant he passed them off...and maybe in the process pissed them off too!! Our own little hill billy, car racing, preschooler, foul mouth and all!!
He clearly has his vowels all goofed up when trying to explain that he passed things..Well I have to go, Nicholas is playing with kitchen scissors asking if they are sharp...I am telling you there is no rest for the wicked!

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

2008-07-27T10:33:00.001-04:00

The snake pit is in our back yard!!!!!!
We had some trees cut down yesterday and there was a snake family in one of the trees - the person who cut the trees wasn't sure if they were copperheads or not!! I can't live like this.
My idea of paradise is a paved yard, a paved beach with no sand etc. etc.

The Beach

2008-07-26T22:19:00.005-04:00

I promise some pictures maybe tomorrow but I wanted to capture some of the best of the best moments from our most recent vacation to the beach.
We have been going to Wildwood Crest, NJ for the last few years. A big thanks to the Kopaz's for the awesome accommodations.
Nicholas remembered all the highlights from the previous year, the Tram Car, the Castle where the King and Queen of Sarafina lives (that's where we got our cat Sarafina from, it is really a large hotel on the beach but Nicholas insists it is a castle where some make believe King and Queen live).
So the highlights...lots of sun (Every day in fact), an extra 20 or so pounds on the back of the bike with two kids. The boardwalk way too much!! The sand, way too much and to top it off way too many nasty French Canadians with children who didn't want to share. I find this odd because we are good friends with a very kind and generous French Canadian, guess she is the exception to the rule though. I spent way too much time trying to belittle those children only to find out they probably didn't understand a word I said. I would spend several minutes telling Maria or Nicholas very loudly so the frenchy brats would hear "we don't play with children who don't share, let's go find some children who like to play" I tried my damnedest to shame them only to find out they didn't speak a lick of English, it became a fun game for me to bully them even if they didn't understand.
We had a few snafus with Nicholas and some early mornings. Apparently a certain body part of his is waking up before the rest of him wakes up, this in turn wakes him up and he comes to tell me about his thing sticking up and hurting....at 5:30 in the morning on vacation, I really didn't want to deal with it. Nicholas go to sleep and your thing will go to sleep too and stop hurting, it never worked he was up for the duration.
Then there was the dog incident, while riding our bikes a dog chased me down on my bike, trying to bite me. This just reinforces my hatred of man's best friend....unpredictable, never mind the dog was a jack Russell, it must have been a French Canadian Jack Russel, bitchy unpredictable dog. I managed to ride away but not without riding into head on traffic and having a car lay on the horn, no SH$# I am in your lane but this stupid dog is after me! Give me a break!! The driver must also have been French Canadian.
Mike taught Nicholas to introduce himself to the lifeguard every morning. Mike said it was a smart precaution but I think it was more like Mike liked Kristen.
On our last day we made our requisite trip to the Cape May Zoo - I even went into the reptile building for the first time, I figure I live with reptiles every day in our yard so why not. There was nothing in there not already in my yard. Our house is the Garden of Eden with the serpant(S) in it. It is the perfect nicest house but like the Bibical story there are snakes in the yard.

Now for more dog stories...Mike's Uncle Joey is with us tonight because he and his dog were attacked by another dog...SEE DOGS SUCK!! Unpredictable and costly when yours is bitten and at the emergency vet overnight!! I'll take my cats any day thanks!

The Path of Destruction

2008-07-10T21:28:00.003-04:00

It seems like I am at war with Mother Nature in my Yard. First the snake, then the carpenter ants, next up - the trees. We have about 9 tall nuisance oak trees hovering over our deck, which is not wood but composite stuff. One would think that is really great, except they are virtually impossible to get squeaky clean. Add to it the pollen and mess from 9 tall oak trees pooping all over my deck. It is war...We had someone come down today to take them down for us for firewood. I am thinking of just paving my entire yard, then we can go outside and truly enjoy our summer times without the fear of pests and the nuisance of leaves etc.
I thinking I am probably better suited for city living than suburb living with a woodsie flair.
Nicholas is on vacation for a few weeks with his Aunt Teresa. So it is just Maria and myself in the house, oh yeah and Mike. It is super quiet with only one kid in the house!!!

Oh Yeah the Kids

2008-07-07T21:34:00.002-04:00

I just realized for the past few weeks I have been so preoccupied with our snake I barely speak of my kids.

Maria is now my little talker. In fact I was just looking back to see how much Nicholas spoke at 22 months and it wasn't nearly as much as Maria. She can carry on in sentences. Knows her Greek words pretty well, and loves Ashes Ashes all fall down. Having a little girl is so starkly different from a little boy. Although she tends to be my tomboy, killing ants with her bare hands, teasing me about the snakes. And she really does tease me by looking and pointing and saying "nake mommy" of course that just freaks me out and makes me look. Imagine being outsmarted by a 1 year old. She also takes great pride in egging her brother on. Nicholas tolerates her very well but whenever the two are fighting it is almost always Maria who started it. Still in all, she likes girly things, sunglasses, cell phones, purses, SHOES SHOES SHOES. She likes to play with her dollies and play "get you" as you chase her around the house. She is still my rock when it comes to sleeping and goes to bed nicely, naps and sleeps through the night. All stuff we are still waiting for Nicholas to do!! She is now sitting on the toilet every day, not because she has to go but because she has to show her brother up. her favorite food is pop tarts. She doesn't like to eat them so much as she enjoys crumbling themon the floor and making me a mess to clean up!! UGH

Nicholas has really mellowed out. He is actively working on the potty training and can make it the day in underwear. He is very emotional and constantly worried who is mad at who and who is happy at who. I wish he could be a little more light hearted with stuff like this, because with two kids one of them is always in trouble for something and he takes it to heart. He even gets quite concerned when I yell at the cats. He is scared of snakes, turtles, spiders, most bugs, and any the giant man, he won't even enter a store with a live lobster tank. This part of his personality comes straight from me. He is still obsessed with trains and at any given time when you talk to him on the phone he is likely to carry about diesels and steam engines and tenders etc. stuff of which I have no idea who taught him, it really is his passion... Thankfully we are only a short drive from Steamtown. As I type this he should be in bed sleepig but he is playing with trains asking me if I would like to play. I really don't know how to play with trains because everytime I try to play with him he tells me no I am not doing it right.

My kids really are the best kids in the world. I know you may be thinking that can't be because your kids are the best but sorry - you are wrong mine are the best, the smartest, cutest, kids ever!! The bring joy to our lives everyday, along with anxiety and anger and tears etc...this is all par for the course though.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!!!

2008-07-06T21:54:00.002-04:00

Ding Ding the Snake is Dead!!
We came home from a weekend at Bernie's, oh wait I mean Montrose, and our friend was waiting to terrorize us yet again. Mike chopped him up and put him in the storm water drain. Now the question remains, does it have offspring? If so where are they?
We also had a turtle in the yard today....this is just a little too much reptilian action in our yard.

So we spent the weekend in Montrose where some things never change..We went to the Big Fourth of the July parade, which really is a nice parade for the kids. It was an hour long!! Some remarkable things in the parade, were the many many tractors which are in the parade because all the farms are out of business, replaced by stone quarries which are now yielding to natural gas leasing and drilling. Who would have guessed when we were growing up all the farms would be gone, the fields overgrown, and the farmers making money on selling the gas rights to their land. OK back to the parade, my favorite float, was the hot dog float with a big sign reading "Jimmy's Deep Fried HotDogs" "We support the Endless Mountains Health System" I guess selling deep fried hotdogs does contribute to the bottom line for the local hospital!! Too funny and only in Montrose.
The evening of the fourth we went to the golf course to see the fireworks at the High School and then the following evening they had a real nice show at near my parent's house for the small lake communities near my parents house. Did some bike riding with my sister. Fell off my bike because I didn't release my shoe from the toe clip soon enough. All in all it was a nice weekend and the kids were more than bored to death and ready to come home by Sunday.

Then the finale, the death of the snake!!
Guess I owe my husband $100 - He just commented that he thought I would be happier. I am thrilled but skeptical because the dead snake was only about 12" and I really think terrorist snake must have been about three feet long by now, he shed twice so I have some doubts as to the authenticity of the dead snake on the garden hoe. I guess I will have to send out my soldiers for recon (read send the kids in the yard, to check it out for me) before I make a maiden journey on our grass.

DAMN Starbucks!!

2008-07-01T21:34:00.002-04:00

You know how they say sometimes it is better not to know something.
This most certainly applies to my new fave from Starbucks, I have been slurping up Venti Caramel Frap Lights, at least one a day. They are so good and they are light...Yeah right at 220 calories there isn't one thing light about them!!
Why is it all good things must come to an end. Thanks A LOT Starbucks, you ruined my day! Might as well serve snake juice!
I guess the bright side is the $5 a day savings.

Come out come out wherever you are!!

2008-06-30T22:32:00.001-04:00

So it seems the headlines for the summer are about this stupid snake!!
A friend at work told me to put water in the snakes hole and it would drown it and drive it out. My sister had some friends over Saturday after a bike ride and they graciously offered to find the snake and take it home with them. They lived about 35 miles away so I would think (or hope) it wouldn't find its way back to Mountain Top. Needless to say the elusive thing was not out so I tried the SMOKE OUT METHOD, Also tried in Iraq to get Saddam Hussein out of his hiding hole. We turned the hose on and flooded the snakes hole. A few minutes later, no snake!! GREAT so now we have a snake that is mad at us too.

The next day, our snake showed his face to Nicholas who took to the hills crying and shaking. I swear I did not teach him this because he never ever saw me cry about a snake (YET) .

The bounty is still out $100 for the beheading, no live captures please!!
If the bounty offer doesn't work I might have to call the CIA and get their special ops team to come help me out!!

We had a nice surf and turf dinner party on Saturday and yesterday we spent the afternoon and evening at Knoebel's where Nicholas got to ride the rides with his friend Avary. It was nice weekend and now I am dead tired!!

We are also trying to learn the voice commands for Kit the Nightrider car. On the drive home from the amusement park we were trying to figure out the voice commands for the Zagat ratings for restaurants but every time I told the car to find the nearest restaurant it thought I was saying "turn heat on high" and it was only 90 degrees outside so Mike was freaking out because once the heat would go on high I would laugh so hard I couldn't tell it to turn heat down, I would tell the car something and would think I was saying something else, Nicholas was getting really frustrated too he was in the backseat yelling at the car. I don't know why it never occurred to us to use the manual knobs and dials but we sat there like fools yelling at the car. I wonder what the learning curve is on this car. Definitely not a car intended for seniors and non technical people. Probably not a good car for people with a southern accent or broken English either!

Terrorist Update

2008-06-25T16:09:00.006-04:00

The snake is still alive and has shed for a second time now. I am thinking by now it is probably about 10 feet long!! We had the exterminator at the house Monday. Not only for the snake we can add carpenter ants to the list of wild animals roaming the plains and forest at Taylor Circle. So anyhow while he was there I figured I would throw out my bounty offer on the snake...$100 for the beheading...Now here is the really funny thing... These exterminators think nothing of it to spray poison to kills bugs and ants but ask them to kill a snake and all of sudden, "oh we don't kill them, that is not right" WTF!!
ME: "So what can you do for me?"
EM (Exterminator Man): "well we have something call Snake Away"
ME: "Will it kill him (because I know the snake is male)"
EM: "No it will only make him leave that hole and find a new home"
ME: "You mean like a new home inside our house"
EM: Silence
ME: "Well how about $100 dollars, I will bring a lawn chair over and you can sit here all night and wait for it and I will even bring you a case of beer while you are sitting there"
EM: "HA HA"
ME: "NOT FUNNY"
So the bounty is still out there and the snake is still alive, ruining my summer!!

Tonight we are picking up Kit, our new car which is just like the car from Nightrider. It is actually an Acura but the car takes voice commands from the driver, from everything to climate control to seat position. I think it is a tech junkies Dream come true, and I don't consider myself to be that much of a tech. junkie.
ME:"Car will you kill the snake"
CAR:"SURE" LOL I am dreaming now!!

The kids are doing great - Nicholas has really been a really nice little boy lately. Maria is talking like crazy now but has been waking up in the middle of the night.
Attached are pictures of the snake home (it lives on the side of the garage), our trip to the airport, and this weekend's outings.

Only a few more weeks until we head to the beach for a week, we are really looking forward to it. Kit is taking us there once I tell him, Kit to the Beach. (remember Kit is the car).

Medicinal Marijuana

2008-06-13T22:25:00.003-04:00

Just some random thoughts on the subject as Idaho ponders its future and fate in legalizing wacky weed.
Do they have marijuana sales reps.? Do these reps. get company cars and give samples and start packs to the Doctors? This just fascinates me. Do you just go to the doctor and say "hey doc what's up, I need a refill on my pot". Do I live in the wrong state? Do they offer edible versions since smoking is illegal in California?? Will I ever get the answer to the these questions living in PA, probably not!

The snake has shed, this means two things
#1 Mike did not actually kill it when he hit it with the shovel and it scurried into the hole
#2 He is now getting bigger and shedding his old skin

Oh and one more thing, this means we are celebrating summer from the inside of our house, thankfully we have tons of windows. Nicholas asked me tonight if there were snakes in the trees, I had to be honest and tell him yes.

Maria is going through a real tough phase, I think she is getting molars, but to the outsider it looks like she is just going through her terrible twos. She is one strong willed little lady. The meeting of the minds between her and I is driving me crazy. Look out when she gets older.
I will post more pictures next time I post.

Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom Take #2

2008-06-05T21:05:00.002-04:00

Today it was HUGE turtle in our cul de sac - he drew a crowd of neighbors before shuffling off into the neighbors yard.
I expect a Bear sighting is next, then perhaps an alligator and who knows maybe the Yetti after that!
One would think we are miles out in the country but I swear we are so close to town we can see the lights faintly through the woods of all the businesses in town. We can walk to the stores and restaurants yet we have enough wildlife to make a zoo envious. I love the outdoors just not the creatures that come with it.
The snake is still lurking by the way. I know he is watching me whenever I come out and sticking his tongue out at me in spite.

How about this one for BAD Karma. After doing a fire drill at work and pulling the alarm seconds before a torrential rainfall, I caught a lot of slack from both management and union. Three weeks later while Mike was out of town for work the karma boogieman came and got me. Our fire alarms in the house malfunctioned, not just one alarm but the whole system and not just once but every hour to two throughout the night!! It was hell between trying to figure out if there was a fire and trying to keep the kids asleep and myself from going crazy and deaf, well maybe just deaf since some say I am already crazy!! The karma man got me for making 150 people stand in the rain for a fire drill. HA

My own personal terrorist

2008-05-31T14:22:00.004-04:00

Forget Al Quieda (sp?) forget Hamas, I have my own terrorist in my yard. In fact I am fearful there may be a training camp in the woods behind my house. I only wish the FBI could help me out and take them all to Guantanamo Bay for me.
My terrorist is a snake.
Mike saw it the other day and now today the gutter people came to put screens on the gutters and I went out the garage door to talk to the guy and he said to be careful because there was a snake over by his ladder.
I offered him money to kill it. He declined!! I even offered him $50 for the capture and beheading of my own personal terrorist. He declined, he was afraid of snakes too!
So here is my official reward posting.
WANTED (DEAD) ONLY

Award offered for the beheading and burial (off site) of the thing above.

I wonder if there is a service to get rid of them. We have people to fertilizer our yards, spray for bugs, cut the yard, clean the gutters, please some entrepreneur could make millions catching and removing snakes from people's yards. In fact I would offer to be an angel investor for whoever is up to the task. I think $100 a snake for non poisonous and $200 for poisonous ones. So you could in effect make hundreds of dollars in a one hour house call. And you would making the world a better place. Consider this my help wanted ad too. You may think I am kidding but I am more than serious on this one!!

Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom

2008-05-29T21:16:00.003-04:00

This is otherwise known as Taylor Circle where we have deer almost living on our deck. We also have these gross caterpillars everywhere and trust me when I say everywhere. I know you may be sighing saying oh we have those caterpillars too. But trust me when I say we have more than I have ever seen in my life, they are actually crawling on the house, all over the driveway, the road, the side walks, the porch. They are so grossly disgusting it is all I can take to just go outside. Then Maria tries to touch them and I lose my mind completely.
So the worse part of Wild Kingdom is the snake. Mike saw one mowing the lawn and it was close to the house so that means it might be living in the wall or something, and now I am not so sure I want to live here anymore. Snakes are the deal breaker.
We also have a bigfoot living in the brush across the street. I am pretty sure it is a bigfoot because it makes a lot of noise rustling in the bushes and since we live in the jungle already bigfoot makes sense.
There has also been bear sightings in our neighborhood.
If the animals don't kill me then certainly my anxiety might!!

There once was a little boy...

2008-05-27T21:36:00.003-04:00

AND HE NEVER SLEPT...
That's all for tonight folks.

Mastering the Vocabulary

2008-05-20T21:19:00.002-04:00

Maria is chugging along with her new words and now sentences. She has started saying "where's daddy? Home?" "Where's Chrissy? Home?" "cry mommy, cry!" (then I pretend I am one or three year Humen kid crying, to which both kids laugh their heads off. Her language is way more advanced than Nicholas was at 19 months. She promptly calls any young child a baby, because of course she is all grown up.
Despite all this her favorite word is her overannunciated "NNNNNOO"

Then there is Nicholas, we promised him when he is potty trained we will take him to Mickey Mouses house (Disney world). I guess I was banking on the fact that would be another five to ten years. He is doing surprisingly well with the potty and is almost ready for underwear all the time, so now is asking about Mickey Mouses house, guess I have to figure something out now!
While in the tub the other night he was playing himself and I stopped him and asked him what he was doing to which he replied "this thing is sticking out" thinking quick I passed the buck, "Nicholas you will have to ask our daddy why that thing is sticking out because he has one of those things too"..I presume this is just the beginning of the questions.

Oh one more thing - a big congratulations to Trina and Dan on their new arrival Ava born today at some crazy 2AM time!!

Who's your daddy

2008-05-14T20:36:00.002-04:00

Maria had a well visit with the Doctor yesterday. After the appointment and her vaccines they wanted to draw blood because her last draw showed she was anemic. We were in the lab waiting room watching The View. Mario Lopez was on promoting his new book where the cover is of himself all buff and shirtless. Maria declared, over and over again so not a person waiting missed her. My daddy, my daddy (as she is pointing to the TV). I wonder if I claim some kind of paternity suit if we can get one of his many millions, of course it is hard denying paternity when you look at Mike and then Maria!!
She is quite the talker now and her favorites book, she calls the "snake" book, pronounced "nake". I love snakes too so I love to read the book to her...Actually the book is Where's Spot but there is one page with a snake hiding in a grandfather clock. Yet another issue I have to take up with a children's book, why would they do that, put a snake in a clock, there is also a lion under the stairs, and alligator under the bed... and to think some parents blame themselves for their children's crazy nuances, I am sure these books have nothing to do with it. I am still thinking about that stupid old lady in the shoe with all those kids...UGH...Thank god we keep that book at my mothers so I don't have to see it that often.

Oh The Roomba kicked it on us. It has only been 15 months. We had to get another one because god knows I am not going to use that Dyson vacuum Mike just bought, I don't know what he was thinking with that purchase!! I am still tossing around the Scooba but want to hear some candid feedback from current owners.

There Was an Old Lady who Lived in a Show, and other politically incorrect happenings.

2008-05-04T20:57:00.005-04:00

We have a stash of books at my mom's house for the kids to read when they are up there. My most despised one is the Old Lady who Lived in a Shoe. I can't get through the book without interjecting all the issues with this story such as
#1 Where the hell is father!!!
#2 Where the hell is the birth control!!!
#3 Why are they living in a shoe, can't they afford a house?
#4 Who is paying to feed these eight children while the old lady tends to them?
My poor kids have never even heard the unabridged version of this little book because I seriously can't get past the first few pages without telling them the lady should have a husband or shouldn't have had that many children.
Perhaps she is widowed, maybe that is why the father is absent...Maybe I shouldn't be so cynical about it. Maria loves shoes so she loves the book but I hate to read it to her. I can't let her believe having eight kids with no father living in adverse conditions is favorable. OK enough of that. I wonder if these eight kids have health insurance, or more importantly if the old lady in the shoe does because if something happened to her who would raise the kids? And without preventive health care the chances are she wouldn't even catch a disease until it was way advance, again leaving 8 kids no father and then add to it no mother. Then you and I would have to pick up her medical expenses which would tur drive costs up for those of us who are insured. Oops I am getting political again and probably offending those of you who think such a system would not work, I mean the rest of the first world countries must have it all wrong with their universal health care. I don't get it sometimes, I don't get how anyone can say #1 it won't work, or even worse #2 it will take money away from people, of course this comment typically comes from people who have more money than they can figure out how to spend, so helping out their fellow citizens would not be a good way to spend their money (in their eyes). Wow to political for this post now I better shut up.

On another note Amen to PETA (people for the ethical treatment of animals) for calling out the Eight Bells Jockey on the Kentucky Derby issue. I told Mike the minute they put that horse under, that it was better off. Who wants to go through life with a monkey (albeit evolved ape like figure) on their back getting whipped every day. GO GET 'EM PETA PEOPLE!!

On the campaign trail..Nicholas Humen (D) for President 2048, we went to his cousins communion party and on the way out he shook all the little boys and girls hands and said "congratulations kids thank you for coming"...Where does he come up with this stuff? Meanwhile his sister Maria would try to be all grown up and walk away to play with the older kids until an adult would say "hi" to her, that was all it took for her to bee line back to my arms. I don't think the two of them could be more opposite.

I think the weekend with my parents and all the politics has driven me nuts and I need to get it out somewhere so why not here since Mike is too busy to talk to entertain my thoughts.
Well I think I am going to hug a tree now.

Similarities

2008-04-28T21:49:00.003-04:00

Prompted by the hoopla surrounding everyone other child's intellect (both solicited and unsolicited). I feel compelled to give credit where credit is due.
My son is 3 1/2, he can't write his name backward in 20 languages yet, he can't solve a quadratic equation yet, he isn't potty trained, but what he does have are uncanny similarities to one of my favorite people (READ sarcasm) G. Dubya Bush...

Before I go further I need a side note or disclaimer of such. I do not nor have I ever supported this clown as president, not the first time around and not the second time around. However, many people have or do think this is THE man. The leader of our great country. If you are one of these people, shame on you for your foolishness, are you sure we are really friends??

OK back to what my son has that yours doesn't. Nicholas has that certain savoire faire.
Nicholas like GW stays the course..once enthralled in something there is no distracting him or telling him he must stop, whether he is lining up his trains or attempting a kamikaze suicide mission on his bike, he tunes out the rest of the world, like GW and perseveres.
Nicholas like GW can make you feel like he is your friend, he has the ability to work a crowd and politic anywhere. He is that little boy you could kick back with at a backyard picnic and not feel intimidated by his intellect, like GW, no intellect = no intimidation.
Like GW he can't spell his name backward in Chinese, or English or forward in English for that matter, but that doesn't matter because as we see with our great leader, personality gets you everywhere not grades.
As Mr. President was quoted saying
"They misunderestimated me."
George W. Bush
Bentonville, Arkansas, November 2000

Nicholas I know you want to be a Diesel Train or a Steam Train when you grow up, but I want you to know you are well on your way to being President. Stay the course buddy!!

We're Back

2008-04-21T21:35:00.010-04:00

After a much needed vacation we are back from Riviera Maya Mexico. We spent four fabulous days basking in the sun and actually spending some quality time together. I think it is easy to lose track of the reasons you first fell in love with your spouse but some alone time to do the things we both enjoyed reminded me. We went ATV riding, Zip lining through the jungle, spent some time in the sun and time away from the kids. It was easily one of the best vacations I have had in my life, maybe because it was one of the most needed vacations I have taken in my life.
Anyhow here are some pictures...

Here we are at the Kool Beach Club, a place we both agreed we would vaguely remember in our single days because we would have been too silly drunk to remember it!! It was cool - or Kool whatever you think...

Mike looking very much like Tarzan!!

The view from the Infinity pool looking onto the ocean

Mike getting his henna tattoo (for sissies!!) Real men get real tattoos...well at least real women do!

Real men go spelunking

Here is one of Mike's masterpieces, he is quite the photographer, I could post about 20 more pictures of his expertise but National Geographic might see this and offer him a job, and really I think he is quite content with his current job..

Then of course waiting at home for us were our little babies...
Thanks to my sister and mom for being up to the task of watching the kids. I know they were more than happy to run out the door when we got home for some RNR for their own.

On another note, I was thinking today about lack of time and how I can accomplish everything more efficiently, then I thought of that part on the Wizard of Oz where the cowardly lion gets all made up in one shot, hair, nails and make up, now I know I can book a day at the salon, but I don't have a day to give up, I think they should offer one stop service and actually multitask. They could feasibly do my hair, manicure and pedicure all at the same time, and make more money off me because normally I don't bother with all those services to save some time but time aside I would love to have routine manicures and pedicures...That Lion was on to something, guess I have to go to Oz somewhere over the rainbow to get all that!!

We celebrated an adhoc Cultural Awareness Day Sunday with the kids...We went to the Mcdonald's playard in Wilkes-Barre, where I saw two kids run off and their parents never even noticed until #1 the McDonalds employee brought a two year back into the play area and said the kid was in the restuarant crying for his mommy, his mommy was busy eating a Big Mac, come on you can't do it all at once...then watched another little boy walk out of the playyard and next to the highway, ironically it was mommy eating the Big Mac who asked me if the kid on the highway was mine..."uh no I am watching my child, but thanks for keeping an eye out, after your kid ran off too." Kid on the highway's parents or watchers or whatever they were, were busy in their car doing whatever people do in their cars in the parking lot at McDonalds, sometimes I actualloy question my ability as a parent... then I get a day like Sunday when I think Damn, I am doing one hell of a good job!!

Speaking of the kids, I am ashamed to admit the only way to get Nicholas's attention is to scare him away. Distraction, asking, yelling, it doesn't work, but tell him there is a spider or ladybug next to _____fill in the blank that he is getting himself in trouble with and he stops dead in his tracks. I fear it won't be long before bug eating Maria tells him Ladybugs won't hurt him...She is quite the tough little cookie, smarter than the average bear...

Deja vu

2008-03-27T20:35:00.003-04:00

While visiting our summer home yesterday, I had an eerie feeling of dejavu. We were leaving a neighbors house and one of my children darted down the road in the opposite direction of me, I chased the child, caught up and picked the child up. The response was all too familiar, throwing the head back trying to wiggle out of my arms and screaming like I was hurting the child...so the thing is, the child was not Nicholas, this time it was Maria!!!

I had images of a year earlier doing the exact same thing with Nicholas, scooping him and carrying him away from whatever he saw that he was chasing down the street after. Screaming while everyone looks on as if it is child abuse. I guess they aren't so different after all!!

Attached is a picture of the kids hiding in my cupboards, which are believe it or not empty. I know this doesn't shock anyone, me with empty cupboards.

Two more weeks until we go to Mexico sans children. I bailed out of the deep sea fishing trip because I have images of a sting ray jumping out of the water and hitting me in the chest like the Crocodile Hunter. I will settle for a massage thanks!

What do when things are looking down...

2008-03-20T21:50:00.002-04:00

Any suggestions...
It seems like the last month has been cursed.
First I had the flu, then Maria and Nicholas and now Mike. We have all had high fevers and aches and pains, and we have all had the flu shot...go figure...
Then there is the "summer house" or so I call it these days. We actually had a signed contract and the buyers bailed out. I guess the good side of it is, we got a free home inspection out of it, and things seem to be in good shape (oh yeah except for the dead ant they found in a spider web in the bilco door) The buyers read this as a carpenter ant problem and bailed out, clearly there is more to it than this but we will never the whole story...I really think in the long run it was for the better because we negotiated way lower than we ever should have. So the house is back on the market and we still have a vacation home...
I am still running into some ongoing health issues which require biopsies and the such, hopefully nothing to worry about but waiting for results just causes worry.

So for Easter this year we will stay at home, not our vacation home, but our regular home, and have dinner in our own germ infested house, which I guess is better than our alleged carpenter ant infested house.
Happy Easter :-(

Alice in Wonderland

2008-03-02T21:09:00.004-05:00

I know you won't believe this, or maybe you will, but I don't know the Alice and wonderland story too well, so bare with me while I make reference to a story I don't know much about. Anyhow, I really think my life parallels Alice and Wonderland's you see whenever we get home from wherever we are (in this case a weekend at my dads house) the kids give me such a hassle the minute we walk into the door to our house, oh wait that is if I can get them out of the car, because they will sit in the car all day watching movies, I have been know to get in a mini workout while the kids watch the movie dujour in the dark garage with the car on auxiliary power (another side note - I hope children and youth don't ever read my blog because I am sure that is punishable by jail time).
OH yeah, Alice in Wonderland, well the kids come in the house screaming and yelling one wants this, the other wants that, they are screaming and yelling and generally being little monsters. So I open the secret door to Wonderland, making sure to lock it behind me. In my wonderland I have some People Magazines, a few self help books, because god knows I need help, and I generally tune out the monsters on the other side of the door. OK my wonderland is the bathroom, I probably spend more time in there than some dirty old men. But I am telling you it is my time away. I can read about the real world where Angelina Jolie has four kids and another on the way and looks fabulous smiling about how great life is.. remember I have two monsters on the other side of my door, at this point pounding and screaming, I can read about the dysfunctional Britney Spears with two young boys who lost her my mind...go figure..two boys under three and she lost her mind...I read about the world where Marcia Cross is no longer a desperate housewife since her twins (I might be a desperate housewife though) then reality smacks my door again, screaming yelling pounding, someone is hurt, someone hit someone, time to leave my wonderland again for a little while...back to reality...thank god for Rock of Love on Sunday nights to remind me what I could be doing....I could have been one of those girls, instead I am a middle aged overweight mother of two losing my mind. I think I might book a trip to California and see a doctor about some medicinal marijuana for my next escape to Wonderland!

Fun in the Sun

2008-02-24T12:25:00.004-05:00

This is the Pennsylvania version of fun in the sun in February. It may look all cheery and fun but in reality, toddlers can't walk back up the hill very well after sledding down, their mittens fall off, they fall off the sled, they cry most of the time and you just keep the camera close by for those fleeting moments when they look like this! Then you go inside and take a nice long winter nap...here's to winter!

Hell

2008-02-19T22:50:00.003-05:00

My own personal fire and brimstone for eternity....

Being forced to watch Snakes on Plane while riding on on airplane.

I am going to try to be politically correct and not convey the story about Nicholas and the monster lady, so next time you see me or if you are really interested I can email it to you...think muslim woman...and how confusing that must be to a three year old. He thought it was Halloween.

Great Ideas

2008-02-15T21:21:00.003-05:00

Great Ideas come to me during my time of solice, my time alone, my private time - OK the two minutes I get in the bathroom.

Anyhow here is my revalation and the answer to my problems. We need a guest worker in the house, someone to stay in the house and clean (hence we would no longer need a housekeeper) and someone to cook our dinners (saving yet again ebcause we would not be ordering out as much) the added bonus she could teach my kids Spanish at the age they should be learning a second language. I would not take my kids out of daycare, they still need the interactions with other children. And you may wonder why a guest worker and not a maid...well the answer is simple, think about it - who would cost us less money? thank Mr. President for one good idea in 8 years, you are my hero!!
I need to check out whether I can deduct any of this on our tax returns. The mere thought that I am using someone of another culture for our personal gain is really just so wrong, I don't think I could do this with a clean concious, OK so scratch this thought all together.

You can't say that

2008-02-15T20:58:00.003-05:00

My mom is here visiting for a night before she leaves for Texas and Florida. The kids are so happy to have her here. She brought a little doll and a carriage. Of course the kids were fighting over it all night. Then my mom said to Nicholas, "Little boys don't play with dollies, they are for girls"
Huh - what are you teaching him, that is one of those sayings that may make him a future wife beater, so politically incorrect, Nicholas wears barettes and Ariel underwear, he doesn't understand gender differences, and quite honestly at three years old he doesn't need to understand them. I hate to teach him that something is taboo or for girls etc.
Then the icing on the cake was later while he was watching Angelina Ballerina when my mom told Nicholas "Ballerina's shouldn't eat, they need to be skinny" STOP - all in one evening he has learned that boys don't play with dolls and ballerinas must be skinny, Mom I can clearly remember a fat ballerina in the Nutcracker at the Scranton Ballet, and I may be wrong but but isn't GI Joe a very famous doll that boys play with.
Here we are with a black man and woman running for president, now given those two comments who do you think will win the democratic nomination...

My Cause

2008-02-12T21:04:00.001-05:00

I did something today I have never done before. I contributed to a political campaign, not a PAC contribution but my own personal contribution which I hope will make the world a better place. I think it is time to catch up with the rest of the world, increase our longevity to compete with other countries and if that means equaling out the wealth then so be it, if that means more taxes bring it on. At this point our longevity is less than that of several other countries, our happiness is less than that of other countries, our vacation time is less than that of other countries. I am sure you have heard it all before, we get less maternity leave, have more greenhouse emissions, higher personal debt, so on and so forth. Let’s turn the world around people!! Support your cause, which I hope is happiness which you achieve through increased family time and fewer medical constraints and worries. I am not going on some political stage now to lecture but lets make this country a leader in the world again.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004393.html (for infant mortality and life expectancy rates)
http:/http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/parenting/05/08/mothers.index/index.html/(happiness index - we compare with sub Sahara Africa - NICE)www.happyplanetindex.org/map.htm
I really don't have to attach anything else to get my point across we are behind the curve on the world wide basis in almost everything!

Since a Picture Says 1000 Words

2008-02-11T18:37:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted any pictures in a long time and since you have been asking or perhaps you haven't asked and you don't care, in any event here they are...

Rock of Love

2008-02-10T21:10:00.000-05:00

There is nothing wrong with letting your three year old watch Bret Michaels on VH1 "Rock of Love" is there?
I mean 12 scantily clad fluezies vying for the attention of a middle aged bald 80's Rock Star who wears a bandana to cover his bald spot. This is a life lesson for my son.
#1 There are nice girls and not nice girls, the girls are the on the show are bold (although I wish I looked like some of them)
#2 VH1 is the best outlet for has beens looking to make a living still
#3 There are challenges on each episode and each one has a lesson, for instance tonight they are building motorcycles, now tell me this is not useful information for a little boy, even if they are building them in bikinis (Nicholas is currently telling me he loves motorcycles)
OK maybe these are lame lessons but you know what I have suffered through enough episodes of Thomas the Train, the Mickey Mouse Club House and that stupid Noddy Show, Sunday night is for me, I am not fighting him for bedtime, I will start the fight in the next hour when my Fair Brady Maybe Baby comes on, and Scott Baio is 46 and Pregnant. I LOVE VH1 Reality TV, but the question is whose reality is this, who really lives like that!!

Lucky Me

2008-01-23T23:01:00.000-05:00

I mean that literally, the pathology on my thyroid came back as cancer just as they suspected. It appears I do not need to undergo further treatment at this point though. So I am feeling better, still have a swollen neck but that shall pass, still no voice, and hopefully, that too shall pass.
This whole thing started with me feeling tired and gaining weight. I went to my doctor because I knew I didn't feel right, she treated me for depression, I kept going back and telling her "look I still don't feel right", she kept changing the meds. Finally after some Internet searches and talking to my family who has a history of being hypothyroid I called and endocrinologist myself (fortunately I did not need a referral because my family Dr. was not about to give me one, she was certain I was depressed and kept telling me to take my meds and exercise more and surely I would lose weight and not feel so exhausted).
Even the endocrinologist questioned my presence without a referral. I guess this is taboo in this world of HMO's (again thank god we are not in an HMO) so after examining me and running the bloodwork, he noticed the goiters on my neck, this started the whole discovery I was not in fact depressed, turns out I had thyroid cancer NOT DEPRESSION!!
In hindsight and even my Endocrinoilogist now says I am fortunate enough to have known that things weren't right and I was proactive in seeking medical help. I wonder how many people aren't so lucky or are strapped by HMO's or no health insurance. I guess our current administration would just say too bad on them, I say let's get some kind of comprehensive health care plan so everyone has the good fortune I did. OK this started as a post on my personal journey and turned into a political rant. I guess I should go to bed now!

There could be worse things

2008-01-21T22:30:00.000-05:00

OK I know I am not counting my blessings right now, but I am really having a difficult time with this voice compromise. My voice is a little more than a whisper and tonight I couldn't even sing along with Nicholas to his favorite Little Mermaid song "Kiss the Girl". Mike was more than pleased that my singing voice is gone. He reminded me of my days with Mrs. Bloom (grade school music teacher who gave me an unsatisfactory on my report card 'U') which he only knows second hand. I think most of that U was for attitude not for the fact I couldn't sing.
Living life like a quiet person is just plain hard, I equate it to being like a little person AKA Midget in a family of basketball players. We are a loud family, we speak above each other and we yell (now yelling is not fighting, yelling is just because the house is big, the TV is on, the kids are running around, we yell) I have friends who are quiet and I always thought hmmm... I wish I could be more quiet. In theory this might be nice, but when mixed in with loud people and a loud family, it is like I became invisible. I know there a million things worse than this, but it is just horrible!! I am thinking of purchasing a megaphone to be heard.

I hope this corrects itself and is not a permanent thing. I guess I could just type my way through life if it is.

Home from the Hospital

2008-01-19T16:50:00.000-05:00

Just a quick update. My surgery to remove my thyroid went well, I was in the hospital for one night and released today. I am doing well except my vocal cords must have been aggrevated during the surgery because my voice is about 25% of it normal. I never realized how much I yell until I can't yell anymore!!
The surgeon told Mike the thyroid was hard as a rock and not functioning, from his experience this is what malignancy looks like but he has been wrong before, so here's to hoping he is wrong!!
I guess I should know what's up by later this week. Until then I will go around with my weak little voice! Thanks for all the well wishes, I will keep everyone updated.
My sister has been helping around the house - thank god!! Mike has also picked up more than his share too. Thanks for your help!

Some Things aren't worth fighting for................

2008-01-13T22:14:00.000-05:00

Like when your three old boy also wants a barrette in his hair because his sister has one as well.

Like when he won't let you take the barrette out and when you go to store.

Like when he picks out Ariel girls underwear for himself in the store while wearing a barrette.

You see if I even attempted to say no, I risked a major meltdown in a public place, where I would have had to somehow explain to him that girls underwear aren't for boys (in most cases) but how could I convince him of this without him screaming and attracting attention to him with a yellow barrette in his hair. So we bought the underwear.
Then off to Panera to get some bread, where again he sported the yellow barrette and Ariel underwear in tow!! I wanted to explain to the man working there that we really were not the picture of dysfunctional but once I got a good look at him and heard him speak, I knew I wouldn't get any pity from him, in fact I actually expected him to tell Nicholas he has the same underwear!!

We spent the day at my sisters where Maria shook her booty like Shikara for about an hour, afterwards Nicholas cleaned the toilet (code for getting the toilet brush out and using a half roll of toilet and swishing it all around) and clogged the toilet, I am sure whenever we leave anywhere everyone sighs a big sigh of relief and says thank god our kids are grown, or thank god we didn't have kids. But what do you have to look forward to without my two little hams to amuse you...Sunday night football pales in comparison to the fun my kids bring to the world!

The kids start a new daycare tomorrow where Nicholas will be in preschool. I think he will do well minus the color thing...the other day he told me he wanted a blue donut, and screamed until I picked up a normal glazed donut and said "fine here the is blue donut" being color blind he took with a smile and said thank you.
Maria will be the tough one to adjust at the new daycare, she is not the picture of adaptability or social graces. She would much prefer to bury her head or scream at people she doesn't know well. But boy can that girl dance!!

A Day of Firsts

2008-01-06T20:10:00.001-05:00

First of all for my day of firsts.. Maria was really pleasant and playful most of the day.
Nicholas and I were supposed to go skiing last night but he fell asleep in the car - when we got there, there was no waking him up no matter how hard I tried, so I stole some free time on a Saturday night with him sleeping, I parked at Starbucks and talked on the phone for almost an hour before I headed home, ah a peaceful Saturday night in my car...life just isn't as easy as it used to be.
Anyhow, since it rained and warmed up significantly today I decided we would try ice skating in lieu of skiing. Nicholas loved and after going around half the rink he told me to let him go and not to touch the bar...He might be the next Brian Boitano or Scott Hamilton, or more likely the next Penguins goalie...All was well until he got a blister on his ankle, just like a man he cried and carried on and left me to believe he broke his leg. To quiet him down I took him for ice cream at Dairy queen, after which he insisted on telling the workers good bye, but by going behind the counter to talk to them...UGHH

Nicholas also went to church today for the first time. He did really well, Mike took him while Maria and I stayed home. Tonight I could hear him in the tub telling Ariel (his favorite doll) that she would be marrying Jesus....I guess he has a lot to learn to about Jesus still.

I hope it cools down again so we can go skiing soon.
The advantage of starting him early with all this is that next year when we start Maria, he will be able to take off with less supervision.

Happy New Year

2008-01-05T08:14:00.000-05:00

It seems like forever since I posted….
Happy New Year to All.
We have moved into our new house and we are all very happy with the added living space and larger garage. The kids love to run around and around the downstairs living area and yell in the two story foyer. Their voices resonate throughout the entire house…

Updates on the kids…
Nicholas has started skiing - see picture above, we got seasonal rentals for him and will take him on the weekends, he enjoys it and it wipes him out, an added bonus. Santa was more than kind to him and brought him an nice big train, not a little Thomas set but an electric big thing…I don't know too much about the trains but this one is fancy, that Santa Claus is quite the guy ;-)

Now he wants to go to Church to see Jesus, he saw something on EWTN the other day and he wants to go to church, I tried to pawn off the traveling Jesus video to him but he wasn't too interested. Yes believe it or not I still have the traveling Jesus Video waiting to see Timmer, Emma or somebody else who might be interested in it!!

Maria is going through some tough times lately, headstrong and independent, she wants it her way and knows how to get her way, or at least knows how to find herself on the floor kicking and screaming. She likes to go into the cracker cupboard and get out crackers and scatter them throughout the house. I love cleaning up the mess too! She is walking really well now and from time to time will even sit and play with her brother, and then start hitting him on the head with whatever toy she has in her hand. I think she is on the verge of a language breakthrough because everything is "ehh" "ehh" I know she wants to say what she wants but just can't quite do it yet.

We had quite the exciting weekend last Friday…both kids were up all night with the intestinal bug….I am not quite sure there is a worse version of hell. We had vomit everywhere and spent the entire day Saturday doing laundry. Then we got it, first me then Mike and me then Mike, it seemed to never end. I think we are all on the upswing now.

Jan. 18th I have to get a surgery to remove my thyroid. I had it biopsies twice and the biopsies did not come back so favorable to they are removing it. This is a little scary because I have never been under anesthesia and being a control freak that is one scary thing!

Both kids are starting a new daycare soon, closer to our new home. They will miss their old daycare and the ladies there have become second mommies to them. I am worried about their adjustment but they will adjust. This will be less stressful for me because I won't be rushing around so much in the morning. I hate mornings, so does Nicholas, he whines and cries most of the morning until he is fully awake, so do I.

So Happy New Year to all, my resolution in a nutshell is to simplify, make things easier for myself and my family so we can enjoy our time spent together. I am boycotting 80% of the hallmark holidays, they can go bankrupt for all I care. I will use email for correspondence whenever possible, and telepathy when not around a computer. I will not use 100 beauty products but find good products that work and are easy to use. I will only buy basic colors that mix and match easily so I am not spending a long time picking out cloths, I will start precooking my dinners so I am not rushing around and wondering what to eat. I will get 8 or more hours of sleep so I am rested and can take on the world better. I will stop what I am doing to pay attention to my kids and play with them and spend more time with them outside in this god forsaken cold weather. I think that is about enough. Oh wait I will go green whenever I can, and as long as it isn't ugly and as long as it convenient, we are well on our way with this because our new house has one of those instantaneous hot water heaters, not more hot water tank and heating water unnecessarily. As for the curly fluorescent bulbs, well they are little ugly so I only have them on some lamps, but I am working on my part of saving the planet. Hope everyone is healthy and prosperous and enjoys 2008.

Enjoy the pictures too!

15 Minutes of Fame at a Cost

2007-12-18T21:43:00.000-05:00

I open my mouth and insert foot. My blog on Christmas time at Kestrel Road was read on air by a local radio station, they opened up the phone lines for comments. It was a tense couple of hours for me, not only was the blog read - they included my name and town...that really put some pressure on. Fortunately however, most listeners agree I am not a scrooge and the inflatables are flat out ugly of couse one caller was a little nasty but hey I can take it.
My stance remains, they are ugly and unnecessary. Perhaps there is a slight chance I can bring about change in our neck of the woods and somehow influence the world to be a better place, or at least an inflatable ornament free place..
So I enjoyed my time in the limelight and now I will go back to living a normal quiet life out of the limelight - I just want to have a drink tonight and shave my head to deal with the stress, a la Britney Spears...stardom is lonely place LOL

No More Monkeys - PLEASE

2007-12-16T00:03:00.000-05:00

Nicholas had the good fortune of going to his friend Sophie's third birthday. He was sure it would be the best birthday party EVER - and it was, because he got to jump on the bed....Apparently my dear friend Jake taught him this...I have never heard this, but then again my mom missed cheated us out of many of these common nursery rhymes....as well as cheating us out of jumping on the bed - my plan was to pass that down but I can't stop my monkey Nicholas and Maria is right there with him...
NO MORE MONKEYS JUMPING ON THE BED
ONE FELL OFF AND BUMPED HIS HEAD
MOMMA CALL THE DOCTOR AND THE DOCTOR SAID
(very loud) NO MORE MONKEYS JUMPING ON THE BED - somewhere halfway through the ditty, you jump off the bed and do stunts while your onlookers hold their breathe and pray you don't get hurt...
It's a catchy tune, and I find myself prompting him to recite it - without the theatrical stunts!

On another note - Thank god for the Internet and online shopping and free shipping specials around the holidays...I can avoid the holiday "cheer" of sitting in traffic after drinking coffee and having to pee so bad I considered a diaper!

Christmas Time at Kestrel Road

2007-12-01T22:38:00.000-05:00

So the day after thanksgiving begins the madness in our current neighborhood. You wake up the next morning full of turkey, and sweet potatoes, to look out your windows, and see a Christmas hell. Blow up ornaments are everywhere, streets lights aren't needed. It has to be the most aesthetically disgusting wasteland in America, I really wanted to post some pictures but there must be some law about walking around your neighborhood and snapping pictures of other's front yards to post on the Internet. As of today we have one yard with 11 blow ups and one with 7 and various other houses with one and two.
When we moved into our current development we were slapped with a list of rules...no livestock, driveways have to paved, etc. etc. I don't even know what all the silly covenants were about, but I do know one thing was missing - and I am hoping in my personal utopia, which may never exist that I can live in a NO BLOW UP ORNAMENT neighborhood. You know what, if you like tacky, albeit expensive, tents that look like Santa or Baby Jesus or whatever else fancies your holiday, please pitch them in your backyard where only you have to look at them.
If you look at the post from a year ago today, you will read about the tornado that hit our town, I lived through it, having been in my car, but the one positive that came from the storm was the deflated blow up ornaments strewn throughout the yards and neighborhoods of our development.
I just don't get it = what is uglier, two story blow up santas or a billy goat in your front yard...maybe it's because I am from Montrose but I will take the livestock over the ornaments!! Roosters anyone?

On another note - I drove through the new neighborhood the other night to find no such atrocities....I wonder if it is in our new covenants and if not I wonder if I can persuade our builder to write in an amendment to the covenants. Please world spare me your plastic blow up ornaments, I am sure they are made of ecologically harmful plastics, so Mr. and Mrs. Blow up Ornament neighbors who drive a hybrid car, and recycle your garbage to be politically correct- get with the program and stop harming the environment with noxious VOCS and plastics too!

3

2007-11-20T21:40:00.000-05:00

My baby boy will be three next Monday, I can't believe it has been three years since he came into our lives. Some of the most remarkable changes in our life since Nicholas came around…

We stopped sleeping…..
We talk to everyone now, and everyone knows our family, and not for myself or Mike but because Nicholas goes above and beyond in talking to strangers.

We shoplift…That's right, long sordid story, but while in the mall last week, he saw a helicopter that flew by remote control, he really liked it and when we went to walk away, he bee lined back to the kiosk, picked a box up with a helicopter in it and ran the other away. I was pushing Maria in the $10 umbrella stroller (which could fall apart if it goes over 1/2 mile an hour). So here I am yelling across the mall for Nicholas to stop, he is running faster away from me and now we have spectators enjoying the scene. Finally I parked the stroller and got a hold of him and made him walk back with the helicopter, and give it back and say "sorry". No it wasn't embarrassing at all……….The kid is truly pushing me to the extremes. Now his favorite bedtime story is "tell me about the boy who took the helicopter and gave it back" So I tell the story 100 times until I fall asleep and then once I am asleep I can hear him telling the story to himself "stop Nicholas stop"…"so Nicholas gave it back and said sorry" the whole while he is telling the story it is in the third person, because the sweet little boy in bed (not sleeping) is not the Nicholas in the story.

As for sleep….well…I fell asleep 1:30 AM Sunday morning, Nicholas was still awake, no idea when he fell asleep, but when I woke up and used the bathroom the toilet brush was still in the toilet, so at least he is making the most of his shift by cleaning the house for us while we sleep!! We can save a lot of money if we get rid of the cleaning lady and use our son! He never amazes me with comes next, and just when I think (in wishful desperation) he will start to sleep and start to potty train and calm down, he comes up with another Nicholas's…If I had to pick an animal that most resembles Nicholas it would be a hummingbird! Picture it they eat and eat and eat and then use up all their energy constantly in motion….that's my boy…

On the girl front…Maria is walking now, she is learning to hold her own against Nicholas who regularly pushes her buttons and tries to get her going, it works but she is pretty tough and when tough doesn't cut it, she is pretty girly with her screaming and screeching, something I am not accustomed to with a boy. Still my little sleeper and easy going complacent girl. She most definitely a ma ma's girl, and dislikes crowds and strangers. Unlike her brother she would just as soon turn her head at you in lieu of having to crack a smile and say hello…if I had to categorize this, I think selectively bitchy might fit…like mother, like daughter, what can I say!! That's my girl! In fact just today she refused to be part of the Christmas picture we has scheduled....so if you get a Christmas card with only Nicholas on it, it isn't because we favor him, rather she boycotted the cameraman...

My kids did me well...

2007-11-01T21:46:00.000-04:00

So I said it before and I will say it again... I completely cannot stand Halloween. However, I go through the motions because of the kids. I have to admit my kids did well by me this year. Nicholas was a little trooper going from house to house with his "trick or treat" now we have food in our house, because anyone reading this should know I do not keep food in my house. Fortunately now thanks to the little Tiger and Cow we can feed them for a month. Without them we would be confined to a diet of grapes, bananas and yogurt. Now they can eat lollipops, break their teeth on jaw breakers and get all jacked up on sugar, leaving me to blissful evenings alone in the house because it is too cold and dark to go outside at night. Thank god for Halloween (READ I CAN'T STAND THE DAMN HOLIDAY EVEN MORE THAN THE LAST YEAR)!!
As you can see from the pictures the kids were just as excited to get all dressed to go to work for food as I was.
Nicholas was asking for his candy today and I told him the Easter Bunny took it. I am pretty up front with my kids when they ask a question...When Nicholas asked where the moon went, I went into great detail to explain the earth orbiting. When he asked about what they were doing on Gray's Anatomy last week during an open heart surgery, I didn't sugar coat it, I explained how the heart worked. But when he asked about his candy I just couldn't tell the truth. I figure by telling him the Easter Bunny took it, it may save us some grief this March when he asks about the stupid rabbit that leaves a basket with eggs in it in your house (once again loaded with candy). The sooner he understands the rabbit should be part of the Evil Halloween holiday the better off we will both be. Call me a party pooper but I can't stand the hype and the fuss. We have kids starving on this earth and we are sending our kids door to door for candy...PATHETIC! The pressure to keep up with the Jones's is outrageous, make sure your kid has the best outfit, make sure your kid gets as much candy as everyone else. OK getting off my high horse now.
Happy Halloween to all and Christmas here we come, now I have to go along with these stupid stories about a big fat man coming through the vent to our gas fireplace and reindeer on the roof.
In an effort to avoid the neighborhood Halloween festivities I went to the shore last weekend with my sister and friend Patty. We did a little real estate hunting but the highlight was the boardwalk minus the kids....We did Dance Dance Revolution and went to the candy store where I finally found something to shut me up...Those wax bottles with sugar water in them...remember them? I was stuffing them in my mouth by the dozen with so much wax in my mouth you could have asked me if I loved Halloween and my mouth was so full I couldn't answer. Nothing beats a weekend away with the girls with lots of laughs!!

Too Bad (a poem of desparation)

2007-10-17T20:51:00.000-04:00

Too bad I am a walking disaster...
My hems are falling down on my pants...
My roots are fierce, I need a hair appointment....
I left my purse at my mom's house last weekend....
The cat thinks my BareMinerals face brushes are a dead rat and plays with them and brings them to the foot of the bed every night...she can even open a zippered make up bag now....
Too bad...
I could feed a an Ethiopian family of four, for one month with the food wedged between the seats in the Murano...
Too bad,
You can't walk barefoot on my floors after dinner because so much food goes on the floor....
My Tiffany Bracelet keeps breaking my engagement ring diamond is cracked...
People have to tell me when my car needs inspected, three months after the fact..
I am just a walking mess with not much hope for being a supermodel. I made some progress with the plastic bag briefcase, I have this cute little striped bag, that is in darker colors, I was so proud of it until somebody had to point that the pocket had Christmas ornaments embroidered on it, and here I juts thought it was leaves on the pocket because I didn't have the time to look.
As if things couldn't get worse, we were booed tonight...
Doesn't anyone know I can't stand Halloween. I am the Grinch of Halloween, I hate the thought of sending my kids around to each neighbor to beg for Candy dressed up like a fool, and who eats the candy?? I do, so in essence my kids are just accomplices in the whole scheme to fatten me up some more...

Just a thought but I wonder what life will be like when Nicholas is potty trained, I wonder if Maria will beat him to it, I wonder if they make Depends with Buzz Lightyear on them, I wonder if his prom date will mind he is wearing a diaper, I wonder if his fraternity brothers will cheer him on while playing a%^hole, because he never has to leave the table because he uses diapers....

Where do I start?

2007-10-07T22:13:00.002-04:00

Who in the world let their kid put his fingers in the wedding cake? Look carefully and you will see four little fingerprints on the left hand side, some ring bearer did that!!Since the last post... We were in a wedding... Went biking again with the kids, this time a modest 22 miles.... Went to the pumpkin farm... Fell over the curb onto the road and.. Well lucky for Nicholas I can't the video uploaded that he made tonight - but will we use it for years to come as blackmail...keep checking I might just get it uploaded. Gotta go for now Rock of Love reunion show!!
I will let the pictures be my 1000 words for tonight

Lasting Impressions - hint it isn't the train!!!

2007-09-25T20:26:00.000-04:00

All that about the biking and the only thing Nicholas remembers is pooping in the big whirlpool tub in our master bathroom. That's right, after our bike trip I though the jets would relax my sore muscles, when I was finished Nicholas was in there while I got Maria ready for bed. I came back in to check on him and there it was- poop lined up around the tile on the edge of the tub…..He said "I pooped in the tub" - Well "no SH%$ you pooped in the tub!!" So I was really calm about it - mainly because I was so tired. I put him in the shower drained the tub cleaned the poop then ran the tub again and disinfected it. It was no big deal really, he has done this to me before.

The next day at daycare he couldn't wait to see his buddy Miss Kathy, I thought he would be so thrilled to tell her about the train ride, au contraire, he was way more excited to tell her how he pooped in the tub!!

Yet just another example of how I just can't get ahead of my game!! Thanks Nicholas, I bike 31 miles with you in tow, take you on an hour steam engine ride and all you can tell anyone is that you pooped in the tub!!

I'm goin' off the rails on a crazy train

2007-09-24T21:24:00.000-04:00

I aptly naming this post crazy train. For several reasons, the largest reason is because I am plain nuts. But other reasons including a family history of nuttiness and an heir to the nuthouse (Nicholas).

I could go into a great big long dissertation about how we ate my Easter ducklings one year. They were my Easter gift and one day they disappeared, or should I say reappeared on our dinner plate…Then there was Arnold the gag gift pig, who was also dished out as bacon on our plates. Then there is my father, blind in one eye but can shoot a snake from 50 yards away and kill it dead. Yes we still trust him with a gun!! He used to fish by making a makeshift bomb and throwing into the pond and killing all the fish so they would float to the top….Clever really, if you think of it - it takes a lot of the time consuming part out of fishing... So you can start to get the picture of a lineage of some crazy country family with a little crazy Greek thrown in….

Passing on the family traits….
My sister came over Saturday night to spend the night and we decided to take the kids on a little bike ride Sunday - ha ha little bike ride…We started at Rockport and headed south - a mere 15 miles to Jim Thorpe. The only way I could possibly get my son to buy into this is to offer him some light at the end of the tunnel. So I promised him a train ride at the end….So we talked about the trains the whole way there. The train was scheduled to leave the station at 1PM and there are some serious hills in the town of Jim Thorpe, which probably aren't so serious when you are going solo but with two kids in a bike buggy behind you the smallest of inclines turn into Mt. Everest!! Well we pulled into the station with about 5 minutes to spare, I send my sister to get the tickets while I got the kids off the bike. Then she came running back and said we had two minutes….She grabbed Nicholas pulled him over the waist high guide rail and ran, leaving me with little Maria who I grab and we hurdled the guide rail to get onto the train.. Nicholas was in heaven for an hour, but then reality set in, the 15 mile bike ride to get to the station meant a 15 mile bike ride home!!!

After a quick stop at Subway and Maria tossing her cookies, and bananas and yogurt, and whatever else she ate all over the table, we strapped the kids back in and started up the mountains down to the bike trail. All I can say is this one was hell of a stupid idea to do 30 (actually 31 miles) miles with two kids in tow. I had to tell them stories and sing them songs and Nicholas was throwing his shoes out of the bike buggy in protest. It was torture and hell all in one. The last mile was like winning the Iditarod. The only person on earth crazy enough to take on the challenge with me was my sister!! And she is 15 years my senior!! I don't even want to think about doing stuff like that in 15 years, give me a rocking chair on the porch in 15 years.. I am worn out at age 34!!

So the title of the post…well you know the song…but we also call the bike buggy a train and caboose (you know to keep Nicholas all interested) - and with me as the conductor of this train!! It is definitely a crazy train…

Note to self NEVER EVER AGAIN WILL I PULL THE KIDS 31 MILES ON THE BIKE without first consulting with my shrink!!

One Year Vs. One Year

2007-09-13T11:50:00.000-04:00

Above are pictures of Nicholas and Maria at one year old....
Life isn't fair sometimes...it's like Shirley Temple vs. Yul Brynner

My Little Baby Girl - Happy 1st Birthday

2007-09-07T21:38:00.000-04:00

Here she is going for the gusto with her Cookie Cake

And Nicholas using the #1 candle as a spoon - candles are non-toxic right?

This one is Chrissy (ABOVE) the rest are Maria and Nicholas - it is hard to tell the girls apart with cake all over them!

Maria turned one yesterday. My little baby,angel girl, is one year old already. I can't believe it!! She is still the sweetest (albeit chubbiest) baby I know. I blame it on the fact I failed her by giving her Cow milk formula versus the soy formula Nicolas was on. Maybe it is the genes though and she is cursed like me. Does anyone read Women's World, apparently brown seaweed helps you lose weight. You would have to eat about 100 bowls of Miso soup a day to reap the benefits, but thanks to those folks at GNC for concentrating it into a vitamin, call me crazy but I think I might try it.
We celebrated Maria's party with Nicholas and Chrissy. Chrissy is Nicholas's and Maria's best friend (because I said so) and because Patty, Chrissy's mom is one of my best friends. She is conveniently aged between my two little ones so she is our best little friend. Anyhow pictures will follow.
In my attempt to be a little Martha Stewart, minus the jail time, I even made homemade pizza dough an topped them off for some tasty pizzas. I wouldn't do this for just anyone, this was my baby's birthday!! So now I wear a size 2 (from Chico's) and make homemade pizza dough...next stop, scrap booking and macrame....one step closer to perfection...I'll be there by Christmas, plus I will lose 45 pounds by Christmas with the brown seaweed!! The article even said so "Lose 45 Pounds by Christmas".

By the way..does anyone want to buy a nice little house in Mountain Top?? The market sucks right now and we are having a hard time selling, I figure it can't help to do a little of my own advertising...selling price is $254,900 and is negotiable...4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2256 Square feet, it's a steal... 1 1/2 hours from Phila. and New York, 15 minutes to Wilkes-Barre and nestled on the edge of the Poconos...

Next Best Thing to Heavan

2007-09-04T21:33:00.000-04:00

Mirbeau

For some crazy reason I can't get the hyperlink script to work, but this place is truly the perfect get away from anything that ails you. I highly recommend the spa. This winter we went to the Hershey Hotel and spa and was a little let down. Mirbeau at a little over two hours from our house is better than sliced bread and really lives up to their expectation. Even Oprah has been there, if that means anything....
It was one of those places where the pictures really do look like the place only maybe the pictures don't even capture how great it really is!!
www.mirbeau.com

Size 2

2007-08-24T12:33:00.000-04:00

So there are few things I may never achieve in life being a size two is one of them. Try as I may...my body loves sugar and food and girth, and clutches on to the three in a death grip on my thighs and butt....I always wanted to be a size two and in one shopping event - voila I am now a size two...For all you out there wondering what my secret is or wishing to achieve the same results, well keep in mind, people make millions on books and pills and how to achieve that size two, but what I Am about to tell you here and now is free information....I now a wear a size two (and this is not an infomericial) thanks to Chico's. Chico's is a women's clothing store which rethinks sizes and basically has five sizes 00, 0, 1, 2, and 3 So they also have a size conversion chart but I don't even look at that - all I know is at Chico's I wear a size two...the new two is now a 00, so my new aspirations are to be a size 00, it will never happen! Anyhow, online their cloths look old ladyish, but I can tell you when you go there and try stuff on, you will never find a better fit and more comfortable stylish cloths...try out their traveller's collection. OK now that they owe me for free advertising...I will now go into my dissertation on perfection.

If you are out there in cyberspace reading this now and you are already a size two well kudos to you, either your genetic composition or to your starvation diet. You may still have high cholesterol (did you ever see that commerical with the skinny lady with high cholesterol).
Anyhow, miss Size 2 with the perfect hair (no roots or grays) and manicure and two or more kids in diapers who scrapbooks, cooks, cleans, sews and makes gourmet dinners for her family all in the hours after her full time job as a high paid executive using her degree and loving her career. Well we can't be friends anymore...whoever you are..we cannot be friends anymore...I have seen you ladies who not only sew for yourself but your friend's kids as well...I know who you are...out there either advertantly or inadvertently making me look like Ugly Betty! If and when we ever cross paths, I am going to push you into a mud puddle and then roll you around on your white carpets, while feeding you ice cream and chicken wings. Let's see who looks better then!!
OK I am done ranting. I do my best to keep a clean house, well behaved kids, dress nicely, get my hair done, work out the requisite 30 minutes a day, cook dinner, and keep up with my career, it just seems like every time things are going great, and I am going to be to work early and look good I walk into a room filled with poop, poop on the babies hair, crib, cloths etc.
I get knocked down but I get up again (remember that song!!)

The really, awfully neat adverbs

2007-08-15T22:30:00.000-04:00

As Nicholas's vocabulary expands, I am noticing he is conjugating his verbs and as of late adding in adverbs. He describes things as really big and awfully nice...Recently when putting on swim goggles, he told me "Mommy I have the sunglasses on they are awfully pretty!" Then he fell into the pool.
Additionally I think we may have a child prodigy, he has learned to burp and he can almost say his entire name burping. I do not encourage him and never laugh or let him get away with this without an excuse me, but he is really quite talented at this... I can see a future at frat parties of him burping the alphabet or some other really impressive male feat where the other alpha males cheer him on for being "AWFULLY cool".
Oh the one picture is our keyboard post choo choo train tracks made of it!

Hot Child in the City

2007-08-12T21:35:00.000-04:00

For those of you not familiar with Mountain Top, we are a sleeper community about 5 minutes from Wilkes-Barre (depending on where in Mt. Top you are). There is a lot of woods and a lot land undeveloped. However, it just isn't the country in the sense Montrose is the country. So when the weather is hot and we feel trapped inside by our central AC, it only makes sense to go my parents house for the weekend. No AC at all, no garbage disposal, no high speed Internet, little to no cell phone service - Back in time.
It is during this trips I realize how removed I am from the country. Nicholas finds cows and manure spreaders a novelty. This is the nostalgia of my childhood I took for granted, this along with a lot exposure to low to mid middle class hypocrisy...
If judgement day doesn't take place in heaven then it must take place in Montrose!!
Once you are removed from the setting and return you can really appreciate it for what it is worth. So this weekend, feeling nostalgic, I decided I wanted to pick blueberries and eat them...My niece Jenny came along with me as we ventured up a dirt road...We have no dirt roads in Mt. Top, at least not public access dirt roads. At the top of the dirt road on a Hilltop sat fields of blueberry bushes, like we had ventured away from reality and into heaven, all equipped with the requisite Sunday Christian's and gun toters (oh yeah a porta potty with sink in it!!). Let me explain, like the distinct smell of manure being spread on a field there is a distint look of the country church goer, they sport their Sunday best into the blueberry patch...Stiffly starched short sleeved button down shirts with ties, some poly blend pants and the topper are some large framed photo gray spectacles. But it gets better, we were assigned a spot to pick, jammed right in next to other nameless people, who kept encroaching on my two bushes while not even picking over their own first. I asked our "hostess" if i have the option of throwing in the towel and just buying some, you know like the men who go on the hunting trips, only to spend their days in the nudey bars and then they buy some deer meat and take it home and tell their wives about the big deer the shot!....Then out of nowhere BANG BANG, what was that...Jenny my niece said it was target shooting, I think it was more like gun toting Christians just reminding you that you could pick all you want but don't even try to steal a berry, this happened the whole time we were there. Tell me that isn't intimidating....
I often wonder why I cast the christain right in such a derogatory way. They have never done anything to me personally, other than attempt to take away my civil liberties, buy hey what's freedom of choice when you can let someone do the choosing for you. Maybe it is just all the bad press, like that guy who was leading the Evangelicals who was outed last year, don't get me wrong I know it isn't just Evangelicals, look at the Catholic priests.....Maybe I am just jealous that I can't iron so well. Whatever it is, I hope when go to the big blueberry hill in the sky there are lots of blueberries, no guns in the background and please god NO PHOTO GRAY glasses.
My prayer for tonight.
God forgive me of opting out of group religion and modern Christianity, I have never been a team player and have trouble cofomring to group behavior. Forgive me for thinking democracy and religion are two distinct entities, forgive me for questioning and non traditional thinking, forgive me for wanting to pick my blueberries without the background music of a double barrel shotgun.
Forgive me for not ironing and paying the dry cleaners to iron for me. Forgive me for getting lasik to see with both my eyes. Forgive me for judging and passing judgement and stereotyping.
Thank you god for a wonderful family who is healthy. Thank you for two beautiful children who make my days more interesting than life itself. Thank you for allowing me wealth to enjoy the things I like and thank you for a wonderful network of friends. Most of all thank you for understanding that some people think you had a son, some people think you didn't have a son, some people think your son travelled some think he was merely a mortal man...everyone has a different version of you and you accept that equally.
Anyway, weekends in the country....thought provoking!

AMEN

Back in Business

2007-08-07T20:52:00.000-04:00

Well we got the laptop back and life is back to normal - minus a few snafus from our in house computer expert (Mike) who managed to effectively mess everything up with our wireless connection and then subsequently fix it up.
So we have been doing some time at local parks, Nicholas has been vacationing, first with Aunt Teresa, then with Nana and Poppy Hogarth and finally last weekend with my mom and dad. This also meant vacation for Mike and I - we had Maria, but understand Maria is a normal child who sleeps and eats and poops and looks all cute and pretty. She is not like our Tasmanian Devil son who spins through a house like a tornado leaving only debris and mess behind....
Maria is now crawling and just tonight using a sippy cup, my little baby girl is turning into a toddler baby girl right before our eyes. She is so smart and figures out how to use toys on her own and then actually plays with that toy rather than moving on to the next one, a la Nicholas, she does very well when we take her out to eat and behaves wonderfully. We are really fortunate because if she were another Nicholas I may have flown the coop a long time ago.

The house selling thing is a little disappointing - we have a couple very interested but they need to sell their existing house right now and knowing what house they are selling I have my doubts it will sell quickly in this rapidly declining market, meanwhile the new house is coming together. They are placing the hard wood flooring on the first floor now and I have picked my cabinets, and now have to pick my granite. The rooms are all painted and many of the light fixtures are being installed. The house is beautiful and we are really anxious about getting in it before the winter.

Still using a plastic bag as a briefcase and in the market for a new Coach Tote I think. I am waiting to execute this plan when I go to the granite yards which is near the Coach Store.

Well time to take care of the little man who is telling me he wants more water and he gets into Maria walker and walks into every wall with it.

Attached are pictures of the kids and cats, Sarafina is our new kitty and Bianca is our fat kitty.

No more pictures for a while

2007-07-24T22:00:00.000-04:00

so my blogging adventures were abruptly halted Sunday morning.
Let me explain..............................
Sunday morning Mike was out of the house and both kids were with me.... fun fun Sunday mornings.
So around 9AM Nicholas and Maria were playing the hallway, not much you can get into trouble with in the hallway. Maria was laughing and Nicholas was making her laugh, I didn't want to interfere with the fun, but eventually I got up to see why she was giggling....And to my surprise (but not really surprising given the next story) he had the heater grate off (we have forced air heat) and he was stuffing his trains down them. I asked what he was doing and he replied, trains are in the tunnel...hmmm pretty smart, so I fished them out and we went into the family room, where I started to upload some pictures for this very blog.
Maria got tired around 10AM so I took her upstairs and got dressed while I was up there. Nicholas was pretty quiet downstairs.....this should have been my first indication I was in for a shock, it is never good when they are quiet, it means they are deep in thought and usually deep in trouble. I came downstairs and there he was in the family room where I left him, only he was standing in front of the computer (laptop) with every single key picked off the keyboard....Bet you didn't that under the key was a little plastic two part ring and under that is a little rubber piece. I know this though because they were everywhere. I couldn't even get angry I was in such shock. I asked him "Nicholas, what are you doing" he had a quick answer, "I'm making the train tracks with the computer" ....Right why didn't I realize that. I mean clearly that is the only thing keys on a laptop could be used for....I didn't even know how to punish him or react....I have almost resigned myself with him. We really need to live in an unfurnished house with rubber walls, mostly so I can bang my head against the wall every time he does these crazy things.
Note to everyone out there with two year olds who like to use keys off the laptop for train tracks...when you buy your stuff at Best Buy pay the extra money for the damage protection, because believe it or not, we took the computer back and they are replacing the keyboard under the warranty. I kept telling Mike what are we going to tell them, a mouse picked off all the keys while we were sleeping...We told them the truth and it was no problem new keyboard and we will be back in blogger business.

He is just so quick with his responses, tonight he threw some of his mac and cheese across the room and Mike asked him in a stern voice "what was that" and without a pause our little man answered "an airplane" We had all we could do not to laugh while trying to tell him he cannot throw his food. He is only two we are in for a world of fun for the next 16 years!

Maria just sits there and laughs at him.....what I am learning is that when they are playing alone and she is laughing it usually means he is doing something he shouldn't be doing. Life is sure interesting...

Here it is the answer to my problems

2007-07-18T08:59:00.000-04:00

Now how to get one....

http://www.bagsnob.com/2007/04/us_launch_of_im_not_a_plastic.html
You will have to copy and paste the link since I am tech unsavvy

The Bag Lady

2007-07-11T21:10:00.000-04:00

Yes that is me!! I am the bag lady with the bird's nest in my hair....
I can't believe what has become of me. Wasn't I wearing skirts and heels just a few short years ago. I had my bi-weekly manicures and fancy jewerly...then I had kids, first one, I still carried a Tote Bag to work at this point, but then came baby #2 and now I am a walking mess!
I really came to the realization today at work when I went to grab my snack of cherries out of my plastic shopping bag, which I have been carrying to work for the past few months. Yes, that's right, a plastic FREE Lyrica Shopping bag from a certain pharmaceutical rep. We make a decent living my husband and I yet I carry a plastic shopping bag to work with me on one shoulder and my Coach purse on the other shoulder.
And my hair, well, when I am rushing out of the house every morning so it is easiest to clip it up with a plastic hair clip, and I like this style. It is easy and not time consuming but I was informed today it looks like a birds nest. And you know what - it does!!! I am really going to get worried when I find Robin Eggs in my hair!

So I hearby promise to buy a bag/ briefcase for work, one without many compartments that is easy to carry and not to heavy, that way it will have all the attributes of my fancy plastic shopping bag, and as for the hair...well one thing at a time!
I wonder what kind of mess I would be with three kids....well let's just say we aren't going to find out!

This and that

2007-07-08T22:27:00.000-04:00

We had a real nice summer weekend. We headed up north to my mom's house for the weekend so the kids could get spoiled a little and Mike and I could go on a date. We doubled since going solo with my husband is such an alien idea I couldn't imagine we would be able to entertain ourselves. Dan and Trina met us and we had some real good hibachi and sushi, and a few Starbucks in between. With Eliot gone now (yes sadly he went back to his owners, after all we were only fostering) we have already purchased our newest addition. Bianca is really hit hard by the absence of Eliot. She even has food in her dish!
Our house is STILL for sale if anyone is interested...
Our fly boy was in full speed in the country. He is almost like a fresh air kid who is amazed to see real cows and freaked out by the bugs and spiders. I swear we don't live in a high rise in New York, but Nicholas acts like that sometimes. It is really neat to observe his memory as we drove to my mom's house he announced. I want to see the poopy tractor... It took me a while to figure out he said that in the exact place we saw a maneur spreader a few months earlier, yet another indication he would fair well as a fresh air boy (he actually wanted to see the poopy tractor, any country raised child would know you don't want t see the poopy tractor because it smells like poopy) honestly the whole idea of explaining why a man was driving around with cow SH$# on a tractor wagon was more than I wanted to deal with on a Friday evening after working and driving, it seemed easier to call it a poopy tractor and leave it at that...who would have guessed it would come back to bite me months later!

Fly Boy

2007-07-05T21:25:00.000-04:00

Nicholas's new fear is flies. He has very few fears so this behavior is bizarre. He is terrified of these creatures. To the point he will crouch in a corner and cry until somebody either
A. Takes him away from the fly or
B. Shoes the fly away from him.
He mimics this with spiders as well
NOTE: He likes Spiderman, whom I think is ugly and creepy. I still recall having a nightmare of spiderman when I was his age - in the dream spiderman was telling me to go to sleep and trying to spray my mom's perfume on me. I am not sure if the nightmare part was Spiderman or the Cheap Perfume!
The other day I played psychologist and tried exposure therapy by picking up a daddy long leg and showing him they don't hurt you and you can even pull their legs off (PLEASE PETA PEOPLE DON'T READ THIS POST, I don't need you marching around outside my house telling me leather shoes are unnecessary). Anyhow, psychologist I am not, Nicholas is no better off from my therapy session and still cries like baby!
I guess I will stick to my day job and leave the psychology to the psychologists.

Watch the Tram Car Please

2007-07-02T21:42:00.000-04:00

Oh man I swear that is the most annoying annoucement on the face of the earth. For those of you who have been to the Wildwood NJ boardwalk it is the most annoying thing you will encounter, along with the Seagulls who dip down to steal your food.
We spent a week in Wildwood Crest last week with the kids and our new nanny, my sister! For the first few days Uncle Jerry and ya ya were there and then they couldn't take it anymore and "flew the coop" and left us alone with the kids and our new nanny!!
We had a blast! Thank you Jim and Pat for the awesome accomodations! Nicholas is a beach bum on a boogie board! He made a ton of friends and saw the Castle where the King and Queen of Sarafina live, don't ask....it's an inside joke and by the way Sarafina has something to do with the Lion King - see I didn't make it up exactly.
We rode the trollies, saw choo choo trains, bulldozers and airplanes writing a message "Drink Milk" (read in a very low, tenor, male 2 year old voice).
Maria also enjoyed the beach and the people watching.
We tacked on close to 100 miles on the bicycle with the trailer, we biked everywhere for the week, even to dinner and the grocery store. It was great! I have a million great stories but not enough time to capture them all here. Then to top it off, upon our return home poor baby Maria took a tumble in her stroller, the whole stroller tipped over lock stock and barrell and it was my fault, she has a big bruise on her forehead but seems to have weathered the storm OK, my poor baby girl!
Attached are only a few of the great pictures!!

Sleeping and talking

2007-06-20T21:38:00.000-04:00

Just an explanation please..
So this post is a follow up on my southern coffee laments.
I still don't get it…I looked online and see in South Carolina there are a mere 53 Starbucks and in PA there are 226, I guess this explains a lot, while looking at these useless facts I also figured out Dunkin Donuts only has 4 stores in Myrtle Beach and 6 in Wilkes-Barre, and we don't have the tourists in our coal mining town.
I guess I have been a little harsh on the deep south, I mean without them there would be no fried chicken, no sweat tea (which I still haven't tried), no grits, or biscuits with gravy, and consequently no cardiologists - the need just wouldn't be there!!

Maybe I need to relax a little with the coffee, maybe I am obsessed with it….
It is fuel for the mind though and keeps the body going, I equate a good latte to legal speed...which brings me to my other problem.
I have always said the more you do the more you do, and let me expound upon this. When I was on maternity I loved it, but I slowly got real lazy, and it was really a very slow process, it started by sleeping in a few more minutes each day until somewhere towards the end I was sleeping until 9 or 9:30, which for those of you with kids this is almost impossible but I had the kids conditioned to do this too. So by the time I got up - got my coffee got dressed got the kids dressed it was lunchtime and then nap time, which I indulged in as well, and then time to start dinner (When I cooked, which was rarely) then clean up and bathe the kids for bed. My days became a blur on unproductiveness. Now I credit anyone and everyone who stays at home with their kids and is able to shop and take them places etc. etc. I was only ever able to do one or two of those activities on any given day. Self Motivation evades me. I just don't have the self discipline. This is why I work, because the more I do - the more I do, waking up at 6 or 6:30 isn't so bad, getting the kids out the door by 7:15 is easy now, I pick them up, we stop at the store and shop we come home we play outside we go to the park I take them on bike rides…basically I am abusy person all my waking hours…The problem is my waking hours, I often find myself awake most of the night on most nights thinking of all the more things I can be doing besides sleep. I have tried the sleeping pills and they worked great, and I don't want to take them all the time, lately I am even finding the 10mg Ambiens don't get me where I need to be for 6-8 hours a night. I love to sleep and it alludes me. Basically I feel like Newton's First Law on Motion. I need an outside force to knock me out…Guess I am looking for suggestions.

I think Nicholas is the same way which can be trying at times but I am so used it that if he doesn't wake up at 2AM I wake up anyhow and then I am up so I might as well do something since I am up, why waste time laying in bed, I have watched every rerun of VH1 Celebrity Fit Club, I want to buy Hip Hop Abs, and I am sick of Dimonique on QVC. Bianca (the cat) even wishes I would leave her alone at 2-3AM when I need someone to talk to. I actually have great revelation at night, I get up and surf the net and plan our future and do my banking all while solving world hunger with reruns of Sex in the City in the background. I often think I should use the time more productively and get on the elliptical trainer but then the chances of me falling asleep are even less. I read that more people suffer from this than you would think.

We are off to the beach for a week with the kids, it should be fun. I am taking the bike trailer and my roller blades, I have images of myself in pig tails looking like Chrissie from Three's Company (Suzanne Somers) roller skating by the beach in her short shorts…OK that is a scary image.

Totally different subject now...I have noticed Nicholas speaks and adds the indefinite article "a" to ever thing he talks about..for instance.
"Mommy I want a the binky"
"See it a the airplane"
"I want a the juice"
I was telling my friend Trina this and she thinks the root of this is likely from my mother whose English is broken to say the least. When I think about it she definitely speaks this way!! Too funny, as long as he isn't calling the vacuum cleaner the vicumm cleaner until he is 13 and the cupboards the covers and I really hope he doesn't call Pennsylvania Pursylvania, no matter what he calls anything though he is lucky his ya ya loves him so much!

Well it's 10PM time to gear up for another sleepless night!

Culture Shock

2007-06-14T22:19:00.000-04:00

So Mike and I decided to take a trip to Myrtle Beach to visit my friend Chris who is having a wedding reception (the wedding was in Fiji but we couldn’t make that trip). We decided to drive to Myrtle Beach, mapquest stating it was an 11 hour drive. Note to self flying is not so bad afterall, consider it next time!!
So Mike had a dinner program Wednesday night for work and he didn’t get home until 8:30- 9:00PM. He wanted to start our trip out and convinced me by saying “come on it will be fun, like a fraternity party!!”, HUH?? What kind of frat parties did they have at Penn State? I know the frat parties at Duquesne didn’t include driving in a car 11 hours with your husband while he talks about work! So off we go, driving three hours into Maryland on the first night, at about 1AM we had to stop and spend the night. Now I am fine with an Econo Lodge, being that the purpose of the trip is to get to your destination not to stay at nice hotels along the way. However, Mike sees it differently and we ended up at a Marriot just north of DC yet noticeable south of the Mason-Dixon Line! Don’t get me wrong the digs were nice and comfortable so I am not complaining about the Marriot.
Now there is something about southerners that make them more foreign than foreigners. It has a little something to do with the hospitality, something to do with the accent and a lot to do with their sincerity. You see I just don’t see how someone can be sincere when they praise Jesus on one hand while visiting the strip club on the other hand. OK more on that issue later.
As we were checking in, I asked the man at the desk a few questions about traffic the next day. Once we settled into our room the phone rang (mind you this is 1:30AM) it was the desk guy - just wants to share some useful information with us “OK thanks for the info.” (Hang up) Ring ring the phone rings again and he forgot to tell us something else…”OK thanks good night” (Hang up) The phone rings again…What the HELL!!! I was starting to wonder whether I should just invite him in the bed with us. Finally he stopped calling to tell us things about traffic and where to get gas etc. etc. and we got some sleep (good thing because the day ahead was quite an adventure).

Now some of my best times were road tripping in college, to Florida, to Nashville, around Florida, with my friend Kim, Emma, Timmer, etc. etc. We would listen to the Indigo girls and Bellow out their tunes about woman power and the injustices of love and the world. So this trip was not like that, AT ALL - 11 hours with my husband and the SIRIUS radio, arguing over Hair Nation and the alternative channels, Nine Inch Nails, or Tracy Chapman, he never once sang along with me, but told me to stop singing constantly.
We also didn’t keep a trip log of all the funny things but here are some of my observations.

There were at least 2000 Cracker Barrels on the way down and NO Starbucks!! Where the hell does one get coffee, fuel for the body to keep you going?? I was told by a nice southern lady they drink Sweet Tea not coffee. How sweet but I still need my double espresso shot to keep me going!! When we did find a Dunkin Donuts and asked for a Turbo Ice..Even the name depicts a quick coffee; we waited forever for them to make it!!
How about the stop in nowhere Ville North Carolina where we actually drove around in some town, USA looking for a Starbucks or the like, we ended up at a convenient store buying Red Bull. The lady at the counter took lots of time to draw out her salutations to us, Hi how are you today…fine thanks (me)…That’s good, have a nice day (each vowel strung out to the next, in a sweet southern voice) I am just not used to the long interactions while I am trying to dope up on caffeine, just sell me the damn Red Bull and say thanks, that’s how we do it up north…
Back on the Highway, next exit…Cracker Barrel 2200 Starbucks 0 ( We decided to count and Mike counted the Starbucks, since he is bad with math, while I kept count of the Cracker Barrels).
Next big culture shock…Billboards!!! The only stuff they advertise the in south are fireworks, cigarettes, Nude dancers and of course JESUS!!! This just makes me laugh…at one point there was a billboard on the right side of the road which read “Topless dancers 24 hours of fun and food, showers for Truckers” on the other side of the road the Billboard Read “Jesus Christ is the Savior of the World” Next sign “Fireworks and Gas this exit” Imagine that explosion if the gas and fireworks lit up!!

So here we are in Myrtle Beach, I really think you should have to use a passport to get south of the Mason-Dixon line!! It is a different world and honestly I feel more at home in Canada than the Deep South! And the thing I just cannot overlook about the south is their eagerness to support the war and Bush Jr. Having lost the civil war you would have thought they would have given up their eagerness to fight. So I just don’t get it, the macho men and sweet ladies who walk behind them drinking Sweet Tea, whatever that is!

Off my political band wagon and back up north now… The trip home was just as overwhelming – long and tiring and puts a new spin on flying.
It was really great to see all our friends, OK my friends, even if for only a short time and the good news is nobody has really changed, minus some middle age cues that we are no longer 16 (read mid waist post partum belly fat, that would be me!, some receding hairlines and grays hairs) we are all really the same people pretending to be adults. But that’s a good thing because it reminds me why all these people were and are my friends.

Some pictures attached. Hopefully we can do this again soon – but in a colder climate PLEASE!!! And with no 11 hour road trips!
Next Stop Seattle in August!

Touchdown!

2007-06-02T11:16:00.001-04:00

I named the post touchdown because, we went to a Phillies game last night...Nicholas thinks when they hit a homerun it is a touchdown..OK so he is a little confused but he can Spell E-A-G-L-E-S!!
So we were there to witness the worse shut out game since 1981. San Diego 13 Phillies 0 (Mike miserable)
The kids were great and Nicholas really enjoyed himself, as did Maria.
Next time I promised to leave earlier though because we hit shore traffic on a Friday evening...not fun.
So the house is on the market if you are interetest here is the link.

OK I can't get the hyperlink to work and really don't feel like taking the time to figure out why so here it is if you want to enter the MLS number it is 07-2137 Under List Number Search

www.nepahomesetc.com

We have a showing tomorrow but houses aren't moving very quickly now, I guess whatever will be will be at this point. I notice the last two weeks rates have been going up FIGURES!!

Rosie Quit - Walked off the job!

2007-05-30T22:38:00.000-04:00

Yes that is right, two months into our stint with our robotic vacuuming maid (complete with immigration papers) she quit on us. We are besides ourselves with what to do - does this mean we have to get that big thing out of the closet plug it in and turn it on and then push it....Thank god for the friendly people at IRobot who were quick with their customer service and are sending us a new robotic maid, I think I will name this one Helga..Hopefully she will last a little longer and be with us for years to come.... I just can't imagine go back to the old fashion way of cleaning (read: Doing it yourself).

So that being said here are some of my Favorite things, some of these are repeats....

The Roomba (of course) and the friendly folks at IRobot!!
My many pairs of Clarks and Privo's and Indigo's these people know how to make shoes, comfortable shoes which I can chase my kids in - especially the privo's - and the outlet is only 30 minutes away!
The Trek Buggo - AKA the Caboose, sometimes the only way for me to exercise with two kids in tow. And it converts to a double jogging stroller.
V8 Fusion - I no longer feel guilty no giving Nicholas veggies
Morningstar Farms!! Thanks for all the meatless options!
Nutrisystem - 11 pounds in one month, not bad!! And I don't have to cook!
My Sonicare toothbrush - I still can't say enough good things about this - it gets an A+ from the dentist too. I can almost put the hygienist out of a job.
Novacaine - for those pesty trips to the dentist.
Summers, nice weather, the outdoors and sprinklers (READ - free showers for my son!!, one less thing for me to do)

We meet with the realtor tomorrow evening to list the house, things are moving along!!! YIKES - one more favorite thing in the near future - moving companies!!

Rafting on the Lehigh

2007-05-28T09:25:00.000-04:00

We spent the day yesterday on the Lehigh River with my sister and three of her friends, white water rafting. My only experience with white water rafting was about 5 years ago with my friend Jenn on the Upper Hudson in the Adirondacks. The Hudson River trip took me by surprise when the passed out helmets I thought what are these for and then when they went over the rules and talked about what to do if you fall out of the boat..."What fall out of the boat are they kidding" Our boat had a river guide and he was the first one to go out of the boat within three minutes of the trip. It was probably one of the scariest four hours in my life!! I never fell out of the boat but everyone else on the boat fell out!
So this is what I was expecting on the Lehigh, au contraire, although there were some class III and class II rapids there were no Class IV rapids so it was mild, we still had a great time, a day away from the kids, an unexpected can of Red Bull, and met some really great people. We are really happy we live close enough to the Lehigh river and all it has to offer, biking, rafting, etc. etc. One more reason I like our little town on the outskirts of Wilkes-Barre!
Off to my mom's this morning for a picnic and big thanks to mom for watching the kids in order to allow us the day away! After our rafting trip we took Nicholas to the park - boy can he run like track star!!
I feel so much more put together and in control than I did when Nicholas was Maria's age, knowing I am not having any more kids, knowing my kids are healthy and we are secure is a great feeling, we are really fortunate!!

Looking for Affirmations

2007-05-25T23:43:00.001-04:00

So our pending house purchase is being met with much skepticism from my mother. I am not sure if it has some deep rooted meaning with her own fears or if we are really making some hasty silly move, of course this is what she wants me to think (that this is a hasty silly move). So I am forever at odds with my inner child to please my mother or live my life. If we don't move then my mom has some sort of satisfaction, if we do move and something goes wrong she will waiting to tell me "I told you so", I guess then we are damned if we do and damned if we don't. Mike and I both know this neighborhood is right in line with what we both want for ourselves and our kids and I guess that is all that really matters right now, that I right by my immediate family.
This mother/ daughter thing never ends does it.. I hope I don't influence Maria this way but it hard to watch your kids make big moves where you have no control, it is easier to keep them where they are at if they are safe than to risk anything, I guess I can relate to this on some simpler level since my kids are much younger and their moves are much more under my control.
Enough said, but does anyone else feel my pain and have these issues with their mother?

Like Father Like Son

2007-05-25T09:57:00.001-04:00

No word needed!!

Eating Healthy the Humen Way

2007-05-25T09:28:00.000-04:00

So I may be known as the person who introduced Cheese Puffs to many a little boy and girl but I do try my hardest to feed our kids halfway decent. Maybe I am just writing this post to justify myself as I watch my friend Patty feed her daughter fish and broccoli, or maybe I just feel guilty that I never cook a real home cooked meal every night or any night. I just feel we have more important things to do - especially when the weather is nice. So here is my list...If you are a parent who is food conscious this may turn your stomach or make you think I am taking the lazy way out (WHICH I AM)
Hot dogs - Nicholas loves them - I love them, they are easy to make and hard to ruin...So Moringstar Farms makes Veggies Dogs and he loves them all the same.
JUICE - no we don't use the sugar added versions at all I prefer either
V8 Fusion which gives you one serving of a veggie and one fruit serving per 8 oz. with no sugar added - or I will give him Musselman's Apple Juice infused with Calcium, also no sugar added.
Chips - Apple Chips are great as are the dried peas, I forget who makes them but they are salted dried peas in the pod found in the produce aisle at our local store.

So here are some more of my unsolicited comments. Another thing I noticed while visiting my friend the other day. She has one little girl who is 18 months old, Nicholas was eating a chocolate frosted doughnut (OK I guess all the above stuff about healthy eating was BS!!) Anyhow I offered her daughter a bite and she wouldn't let her have any because the Dr. said no chocolate until you are two....So here are my observations from having one child to Two or more...

With 1 child...
They cry you pick them up
The diaper is wet you change it immediately
You follow the Dr.'s orders on no chocolate, Peanut butter, and whatever else is on the no no list until they really are two years old.
The binky drops you clean it before letting them put it back in their mouth
You stress about things like brochiolitis, asthma, nebulizers, rotovirus and RSV and other common childhood ailments
You worry when your baby is 9 months old and isn't crawling

With 2 children or more...
You let them cry a very long time while you are chasing the first child barefoot with poop on his hands across the street.
If the diaper isn't poopy it doesn't need changing
Chocolate, Peanut Butter whatever the rules are child #1 has probably already shoved it into child #2's mouth so you forgot there were even rules on this
The binky drops and as long as it hasn't dropped in the litter box it follows the three second rule, ok maybe the three hour rule applies here.
Common ailments...no problem, no fever, no problem, brochiolitis done that twice now, nebulizers done that twice now, RSV, done that twice now, rotovirus...well I hope we only ever do that once- EVER!!
9 months old not crawling - THANK GOD!! Take your time Maria..

I'm afraid if we had three kids the cat would have to raise the third child, two is just overwhelming!

The bike and the caboose (bike trailer, which I call a caboose to get him to ride along more) are a big hit with Nicholas, he likes to sit in the back and ride around the neighborhood and tells everyone he is in the caboose. He gets a kick out Maria sitting next to him and if she coughs or sneezes he prompty yells...Mommy Maria Puked...She isn't really puking but I think he wishes she was because he laughs like crazy whenever someone vomits - ALL BOY!!!

A Day at the Park

2007-05-20T22:53:00.000-04:00

A big thanks to our friend Jeff who provided us with a GREAT day a Knoebel's Park, Nicholas met two new friends and rode all the rides he could with no fear what so ever. Maria acted in her normal good girl fashion with her flight and fee persona she fell asleep for a few hours in the afternoon.

What to do on a rainy day

2007-05-20T10:06:00.000-04:00

So when things slow down and you feel a little bored what do you do??
Buy a new house!
We are currently talking with a realtor to get into a new neighborhood in Mountain Top, it is on a quiet secluded cul-de-sac with woods in the backyard for as far as you can see. Closer to the center of town and closer to my work and Wilkes-Barre, now to figure out how to do this without being displaced at all. We are hoping not to build but if the second house isn't what we want we will consider buying a lot and building again.
Hopefully this will be the last move for a very long time. We have been in three locations (four if we move)so far and haven't been married four years yet. We'll get it right at some point - each time we get closer to right so maybe the fourth time is a charm. It's kind of funny considering we both lived in one house our entire childhood but we are moving like vagrants as adults!

Mother of the Year

2007-05-14T13:21:00.000-04:00

And the winner is.....Not me!!!
So if this were the "mother of the year" Emmies I probably would not be nominated....
Friday night after a busy day at work, I came home tended to Maria while Mike took Nicholas for a walk and then I indulged in my secret passion PEOPLE Magazine for a few minutes, yes Brittany is out of rehab and dating someone new and she might actually put out an album...Then Nicholas came home and Mike went out to dinner for work, so I packed the kids in the bike trailer and took them for a bike ride, or as Nicholas says on the "choo choo caboose" Then on our way home we saw his friend Julia so we stopped to play with her - in a mud puddle, which meant...come home bathe him, put Maria to sleep and then work on getting Nicholas to sleep, I was working on this element of the evening which is usually the most time consuming part of the day and can take hours before we give up, when at 10:15PM Nicholas says to me "I want to eat mommy"
OMG I forgot to feed him dinner...Totally slipped my mind and since I am dieting food wasn't even in my thoughts...So at 10:30PM I gave him three Nathan's hotdogs and some yogurt.... I figure this covers my food groups. He had protein in the hot dogs, veggies in the ketchup and dairy in the yogurt and fruit in the juice, I ROCK!! The meal met the K. Bell school of color, which her mother taught her that a meal had to have many colors in it to be healthy. Does this mean Fruit Loops are healthy Kim?
In any event Nicholas spent Sat. and Sunday with his Grandma and Grandpa Hogarth while Sat. I painted his room and put on Big Boy bedding and valances..His room looks great!! And then Sunday I went on a 22 mile bike ride, minus the kids (my mom watched Maria) Then everyone came to our house for a much needed dinner after exhausting ourselves biking - it was great weekend and Mother's Day!! I couldn't ask for more!

The new bike

2007-05-08T15:52:00.000-04:00

I haven't named her yet, I don't even know if I like her yet. In fact she is at the shop now for repairs, no fault of my own....
I have been on two rides since Mike bought me the new bike. The first one on the Lehigh Gorge Trail with both kids, we went about 24 miles on a nice Sunday afternoon, and the second ride last Saturday on the D&H where we did about 18 miles, no kids. The latter I did without front brakes, you see the new bike is fighting me on my lasse faire riding habits, smooth trails and slow speeds. The bike has decided to take on a mind of its own and make life more challenging for me - and it is all too late I sold the Haro and can't get her back. Yup for a mere $75 I closed a chapter on my life and opened a new one. Well I will pick the bike up Wed. and give it another go on Sunday and see how we make out. Hopefully after this latest snafu we are in for a few years of smooth riding.

On the homefront, Maria has her two bottom teeth and is about to push out the top two, she is still not crawling - but that's OK. Nicholas is talking a lot now and loves to tell me about how he wants his binky please. We have convinced him that during the day the Easter Bunny takes his binky and then gives it back at night, so when he thinks about it he says "Easter Bunny takes the binky, Easter Bunny Give it back PLEASE", I am just not so sure he will ever
#1 Be Potty Trained
#2 Give up the binky and pink blankets he has grown close to
#3 Sleep on his own for the night!
Besides those three things, he loves to play with the neighbors and "go outside", loves anything that has a motor and makes noise, and will stop playing in the yard to point out the airplanes he hears in the sky.

Update 5/11/07 - long night last night Maria was projectile vomiting for a few hours after daycare, I took Nicholas to the store to buy pedialyte and some groceries and he promptly announced to everyone..."Ria's puke" He really got a kick out of watching her puke all over everything. 100% BOY She is doing better now and will likely go to daycare this morning. Poor little girl never even cried after she vomited she just sat there and smiled. My little angel baby!

All aboard the Choo Choo Train

2007-04-21T22:44:00.000-04:00

Warm weather, busy days...
This morning we went to the bike store to buy a dual seater bike trailer. I also got a new bike thanks to my husband (read more about that later) Then we went to Steamtown and saw the choo choo trains. Steamtown is a National Park in Scranton - yeah can you believe it a National Park in Scranton, PA dedicated to Steam engine trains. Trains are right up Nicholas's ally so it was a worth while trip. My family not wanting to miss the awestruck look on his face met us there. We went for a short ride and like expected Nicholas was in awe, the only disappointment for him was there was no tunnel. He just loved it - it makes for a great easy day trip!! Above are some pictures.

More about this bike thing, about 8 or 9 years ago I purchased the bike I have now - it is a Haro Mountain Bike and really it has served me well. I am offended by the way Mike talks about this bike, he calls it junk and trash, this bike has been many places with me. It has biked the Arlington to Mt. Vernon in VA, it has biked the PA Grand Canyon, it has taken in on numerous bike trips on the D&R through Carbondale, it has taken me through the battlefields of Gettybsurg. Sure we had some spills but she has always been there for me and we get back on together and keep trucking - my bike has taken on a nostalgic persona kind of like an old pair of shoes with some good mileage, I think the only other object I have with this kind of sentiment is my beat up brown suitcase, so it is really with great remorse I replace my Haro bike with a shiny new Trek with no personality. And buying the trek was like making the transition from a standard Jetta to a minivan, the salesman (Hans from somewhere in north Europe) tried to tell me about all the advantages of a cruiser bike, come on do I look like I am ready to trade in the rocky road for a paved highway...Did the SUV toting two kids give me soft look, or is it the fat around my belly from the kids that gave me the soft look. I am still hard core, I can still ride the hills behind Dunmore, and fall off the rocks and into the poison Ivy and get back up and keep going...OK maybe I can't do that with the two seater bike trailer behind me, but you know on the days when I bike alone I'll do that stuff, you know in my spare time when we have babysitters and nothing else to do (oh wait - that will never happen) still in all I was not ready to trade in my mountain bike for a cruiser, another mountain bike is the way I went, I even told the salesman I am not ready for minivan or bikes, I still have some life and spirit in me. He just went on talking as if I didn't even say anything. So tomorrow will be day one without the Haro with the Trek, we have many miles to go before I sleep...in the words of some great poet!!! I'll post some pictures of the kids in tow.

Princess Maria

2007-04-18T20:52:00.000-04:00

Nicholas has taken a liking lately to calling Maria the princess, he says to her, god morning princess how did you sleep, or hi princess...I think he does this because he knows he is the king so princess is a nice consolation title for sweet Maria. Sweet Maria has been a little less than sweet the last few weeks she has one tooth clearly broken through and a second one about to start.
We went to the famous circus this past Sat. Nicholas has been talking about going to the circus for quite a while now. He was almost speechless when he realized we were really there and it was for real, no more "Spot goes to the Circus" which we read about 600 times.
We are desperately looking forward to some nice warm weather especially given our 12" snowfall Tues. April 17th.
Well the movie is starting so I have to sign off for now.

Here she is..Miss Maria

2007-04-11T21:47:00.000-04:00

Here a few pics from our recent visit to portrait studio...
We're going to the circus Sat. stay tuned...Nicholas has been asking about the circus for a few weeks now and it just so happens to be in town this week.
The love affair with Rosie the Roomba continues, I just love her work...If you don't run out and buy one of these you are missing out!!

Teeth and Candy

2007-04-09T19:13:00.000-04:00

I'm happy to report after one day of incessant crying and making a liar out of me (after telling everyone in my family how Maria never cries, she cried all day Easter Sunday) she how has sprouted her first tooth, now if she would just grow some hair!!
Attached is a picture of Nicholas in his luscious locks at 7 months and baldy Maria at 7 months, she does have one thing on him though, she sleeps and that is worth it's weight in hair!!
We had a nice Easter, I told Nicholas that if he slept the bunny would leave him candy so bright and early Easter morning he sat up in bed and declared "I Slept, candy mommy", true to his spirit he shoved so many jelly beans in his mouth at once the drool was coming out in colors. We also caught him at the dining room table swigging some wine, ironically he fell of the chair and onto his head right after his drinking episode. His favorite was Uncle Eddy and the motorcycle (really a wheelchair but to a two year old it was motorcycle). Right now he is sitting on the couch with a diaper on and his coat (don't ask I can't figure it out)
Mike and I both survived another bout of the intestinal flu, you know when you are suffering from it, you feel like you are the first person in the world who has ever puked and then once you recover it is like a telling an old war story - it's sick (no pun intended) but true.
Oh we also have Rosie with us now, she vacuums everyday and our carpets are now spotless. She is our live in robotic maid (the Roomba) her work is impeccable and I can't imagine life without her.

Is this Love that I'm Feeling - Is this the love I've been searching for

2007-03-27T22:28:00.000-04:00

I just can't explain the feelings I am having now as I type this and our newest addition is cleaning my house. Oh she is only on rent to me while my neighbor is away for work, no she is not an illegal immigrant, it is the Roomba. Now I have heard of this gadget before and looked at the reviews on Amazon and pretty much decided against it....until, I brought it into my house. I don't think I can give her back until I have my own little robot maid to vacuum my floors while I eat bon bons and watch TV (As if I ever get to do either). It even goes under your furniture, I bet my mom would even approve of the work she does.
I see they have a model that also washes floors, this is truly the answer to my housekeeping woes. If there is one thing I hate it is dirty floors. Mike and I have tossed around hiring someone to clean our house but I keep telling him we would need a full time maid to keep up with our floors, well with Roomba we have a full time maid and don't have to worry about green cards!!!

Besides the Sonicare Intelliclean this may be the best gadget I have ever encountered, stay tuned for the further updates on this lovely lady!!!
I am going to sleep now while my rented maid cleans my floors all night...Oh my god this is better than------....well you fill in the blanks!

The Anatomy of a two year and other swim stories

2007-03-21T22:01:00.000-04:00

Nicholas has been taking swim lessons for the past month. Once a week we take turns taking him to the YMCA where they teach ten 2-4 year olds how to swim. He has been doing great in terms of he has no fear of the water and really enjoys getting wet and going under.
His favorite part of swim class though is talking to the bystanders. There is a balcony above the pool where parents will watch from time to time. Whenever he spots someone up there he rolls to his back (I foolishly think he is ready to master the back stroke) then he lays there semi floating saying hi to the people above. His second favorite person is the lifeguard a teenage boy with no interest in toddlers, Nicholas berates him with "hi's" and hello's until he is shamed into recognizing him.
His favorite classmates are Ryan and Laney. He starts talking about this little girl Laney on our ride there each week. This week he nestled up to her and tried to kiss there right there, while they getting ready to jump in. Laney just stares at him like he is from Mars.
This week after swim class Nicholas buried me in embarrassment for the first time ever. We walked back into the locker room after class and took a shower and started to dress when he decided social hour wasn't quite over. He walked up to a lady who was changing and yelled hi to her and made an extra effort to point out her bellybuttons. I am not quite sure how to be politically correct about it but it was not her bellybutton he was referring to rather her chest....Guess it's time to learn the correct lingo, my fear is he will just point it out with the correct terminology next time.
I often wonder why everywhere we go EVERYONE knows Nicholas and knows him by name, I know now it has something to do with his personality and my incessant calling him out on things, "Nicholas that person is busy they can't talk to you" "Nicholas come back here and sit by me" "Nicholas etc. etc."
The best was this summer at a neighborhood picnic when some people in our development asked me if I was Nicholas's mom. Yes my son is a rock star...

On the flip side, Maria is now talking, lots, she says dadadadadadada and agagagagagag, she is still crazy about her brother who has started to feel somewhat threatened by her reaching for his toys. I actually caught him hitting her in the head a few nights ago and I told him to say sorry and kiss her, I told him we don't hit the girls we kiss the girls. Guess that's where he got the idea with Laney...
She is eating fruits and hate peas, loves sweet potatoes just like mom!! I think very shortly she will be teething...Have to go Nicholas is trying to feed the picture of his dad a banana... I Will never have a nice clean house ever!