It's a small world

I know – horrible song to have stuck in your head. But it’s true! (and not just ‘cuz we’ve drunk deeply of the Disney kool-aid).

While C was taking swimming lessons at the Y one session, D and I thought we saw someone we graduated high school with there also. But since it’s been twenty years, and we didn’t know this person in high school, we weren’t quite sure.

The opportunity to say something to her just didn’t come up, and we didn’t think much of it, until the beginning of kindergarten this past fall. Because….drum roll please….her son was in C’s class!

Now, I didn’t really have the greatest high school experience. I’m sure it could have been worse, but it was high school…Take every awkward moment in a John Hughes film and magnify it. That’s what it felt like for me, anyway. I can’t speak for D. College was much better.

She was a cheerleader, and one of the clique that was “popular” in high school. We weren’t in the same classes (even the classes where the honors and non-honors level students mixed (religion and gym)). She was (is) one of those petite people that intimidate me (because I’m tall and apparently still think of myself as gawky). Plus, there’s no way she would even deign to talk to me because I still think of everyone in high school as ‘frozen’ that way (even though I know they’re not).

So imagine my surprise when she recognizes me (not personally, just recognized the fact that I was familiar looking) – I think she recognized D officially, first – since they might have been in the same homeroom at some point over the four years of high school. And she’s nice!

And to top it off? Her son totally loves C. And they’re so cute together because he’s this little peanut, and C is tall for her age (even though she’s 10 months younger than he is!). We joke about them all the time. Probably inappropriate, but hey, that’s what therapy’s for.

For Elle - Snow Day

It snowed again last night/this morning. I did take pictures (D actually took this one, it was still dark when I took some and they didn't come out very well).

Do people who live where it doesn't snow send Christmas cards with snowy scenes on them? Or am I the only one who wonders such weird things?

Shoveling snow is somewhat theraputic for me. Seriously. You think I kid, but I'm serious. You push the snow to the side, you scoop it up and toss it to the side - there are results! Maybe it's lame, but in insurance, any change takes months and/or years to see results. Shoveling snow (or raking leaves or mowing the grass) produces instant results. And no one is standing over your shoulder telling you that the line you shoveled wasn't perfectly straight or didn't move enough snow.

And, I'm at the point in the winter where I'm sick of it and don't care. It's snowing? Roads aren't the best? Who cares! I'm getting where I need to go. So the kids don't have school and this city doesn't believe in putting their plows all the way to pavement. I'm leaving. I have places to go, people to see.

Weekend Miscellaneous

Why do the two weekend days go by so much faster than say, Monday and Tuesday? It's not right. Saturday we ran around doing errands, but C and I got to go to breakfast while D was at the Y. We "have" a restuarant that we go to for breakfast on Saturdays - conveniently owned and operated by the parents of one of C's bestest friends too.

So we drop D off at the Y and head to the restuarant for breakfast. C's bestest friend is already there, sitting at the counter with her step-sister and another little girl who had been in the same daycare as both C and L. So C joins them at the counter and I end up with the mom of the other little girl. I'm not that great at small talk, but manage ok. Except when I mentally review the conversation later, I think I've talked too much about me and not reciprocated. I really wish I could make that critical voice in my head shut up.

Saturday afternoon D and C go swimming. The Y was supposed to have "Flick and Float" which is the best thing ever - they show a movie on the wall of the pool and the familes can just float around - except it was cancelled when no one signed up. I work out while they're swimming (and manage to not embarrass myself too much - it's been 6 years since I worked out with any regularity, and I'm going to try to get back into a routine).

Today is already almost over, and there's really nothing to show for it except a Wal Mart run and shopping at the fabric store. I know, I'm not a crafty person, but the fabric store is going out of business (at least the one in the strip mall by us, which is more a function of the fact that it's going to be wrecked down and a new Lowe's put up)and we're planning on doing some Easter projects. I'll let you know if and how they turn out.

Please please let someone else have had a more exciting weekend, and tell me the details?!!

Thanks for the memories

Dennis Johnson
1954 - 2007

I think I missed that memo

Since yesterday's slush storm cancelled school, Valentine's day was celebrated today (after a 90 minute delay). Last week C's teacher sent home a list of all the kids in her class so we could write out Valentine's cards.

Being a good mom, we bought Tinkerbell cards - those little perforated ones that fold over and get shut with the sticker...wrote out everyone's name, and C printed her name on most of the cards.

I was feeling pretty good about this - C went to school this morning with a birthday card for her teacher and all her Valentine's. I figured they'd have made something to put all the Valentine's in, and maybe the teacher (or another parent) would bring some cupcakes or something. Was I wrong!

Apparently, it's now acceptable to hand out as much candy on Valentine's as on Halloween! She came home with a bag of candy (and no chocolate, which is just wrong for so many reasons!) that some kids passed out, along with their cards.

When did this start? What's wrong with just handing out cards? Why must every holiday turn into some sort of candy fest?

Half full or half empty?

So, the predicted amount of snow (even as of last night's 11PM news, which I actually stayed up for!) did not materialize. Instead, we got about a half inch of snow (I'm feeling generous) and it has been sleeting all morning. Probably all night too, but I was asleep so can't actually confirm that for certain.

I'm glad I didn't have to commute today though. Just the thought of driving the miles to the train station was exhausting. School was cancelled, and I'll bet at least be delayed tomorrow. It's not worth trying to clear the snow yet, since the freezing rain (sleet - freezing rain? Is there that big a difference? I should have been a meteorologist) will just make the driveway a skating rink.

I like this working from home gig. I'm still in my jammies, got to sleep in until 6:45 this morning, and C made me an "office" from her Mega Fort stuff.

I was going to take pictures of all the snow for Elle. Next winter, Elle, I promise.

Oh, and HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE!!

ARGH!!

There was light at the end of the tunnel that is winter - now this!!



I live in the corner where it shows 8 - 12 inches. I work in the corner that shows 2 -5 inches.....

Reunited

How big a geek am I that I am excited that two bands I loved during high school/college are getting back together and touring this summer? (even though the cynical me thinks it's all about the money?)


I saw Genesis when I was in college when they played the Centrum in Wistah, MA. We roadtripped down from VT, went to the concert and then to Cape Cod. In February. Ok, the guy who drove was from the Cape. I was so tired on the way back I started to see things (because back then I wouldn't sleep during any sort of travel. It was a thing, what can I say?)

I saw Sting (not The Police - I almost typed policy, what an insurance geek!) during the summer of '89 - the local amusement park (actually the one where it was discovered that Milli Vanilli were lip synching!) was a venue back then - all general admission, so I was able to get very close. He was very nice to look at.

So while I would love to go to either of these shows, the odds don't look that great. Oh well, I'll just have to live vicariously through someone else.

Infomercial

My last post may have sounded a little like I couldn’t wait to get back to the “good ol’ days” and I wasn’t enjoying what I have now. I don’t think I would survive the good ol’ days anymore, and I really really enjoy C now. Five is just about perfect.

Sure, we still have meltdowns, especially after a long day/week, and mornings are tough – let’s face it, I’m the closest this family has to a morning person and I’m not that great at it either. It takes a large coffee and a mug of red tea and a mug of green tea before I feel up to socializing, and by then it’s lunch time anyway.

No, five is great. Five is still getting snuggles and kisses. Five is having her come over to me and sit on my lap and in all seriousness tell me I need the Bedazzler so I could put sparkles on my black dress for the next cruise. “And it comes with the mini-bedazzler so you can dazzle your shoes too Mommy. I’ll order it for you now”.

What a difference a decade makes

Last night we were watching some show on VH1 classic - something like the 100 greatest 1 hit wonders, and a lot of the songs that I thought were pretty recent were hits over 10 years ago! I was remembering what was going on 10 years ago, and it's amazing how long ago, yet how recent, it all seems.

Ten years ago, I would have been taking a half day on Friday and taking the bus to NYC to visit D. He'd never meet me at the bus station - instead I'd have to fight my way from Port Authority to the Upper West Side on my own. But by this point I'd have made sure I had some subway tokens before I got to the city so I didn't have to stand in line for them at rush hour.

Sometimes I'd get to his building before he got home (he was in law school at this point). His doorman would let me into the lobby and talk with me until he got home (usually wasn't a long wait, and this would be a good thing because his doorman would end up being the one to find me an apartment once I finally moved to the city).
So, D would get home, he'd check his mail and we'd go upstairs and decide what we were going to do.

Most weekends that I spent in the city visiting with him were similar. We'd have drinks while deciding what to do (also watching Jeopardy!), decide on what neighborhood we'd be in, and go out. Sometimes we met some of his friends, sometimes we'd be on our own.

It was like being in a different time zone. The bars in NY don't close until 4am, and we'd still be in one more often than not at that time (we usually ended our evening at the bar a couple blocks from his apartment - Tap A Keg). We crash for most of the day, and get up as it was getting dark (in the winter) and do it all over again Saturday nights.

What I find incredible (aside from the fact that my liver still functions) is that $100 lasted a whole weekend. Well, that and now I sometimes get up for the day at the time I used to be going to bed.

Now our weekends are spent doing things with C - karate starts this weekend, there are the normal chores that have to get done, and this Saturday night will be special. We'll be watching the new Kim Possible episodes Saturday night.

Maybe we'll even let C stay up too.

Can you drop out in Kindergarten?

We finally got our first measurable snow Friday night (and no, I didn't measure it, I'm just assuming it was about 3 or 4 inches - we had to shovel. It would have been a waste to fire up the snowblower for such light snow (and I'm not even sure if there's gas in the snowblower!))....and the forecast for the first part of the week has windchills in the negative 20 degree range...A couple Fridays ago school was cancelled because of the cold. I'm doubting the powers that be will cancel school tomorrow because of the cold, but hopefully there will be a delay.

C had perfect attendance until we went on vacation last month. Since we've been back, she's been sent home twice for throwing up. I understand, the school doesn't want to take a chance on some nasty stomach bug going around (I had one in December, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy) but she's not sick with that. She's congested and that's how it ends up for her. So, the first week we were back she was sent home on Thursday, school was cancelled Friday. Last week, she was on the bus when it happened again. She missed all Thursday and Friday.

I'm beginning to understand my mother's attitude towards sending us to school - unless there was blood, we went to school. I know, you're thinking I'm heartless. But C was jumping off the couch the days she was home (and there wasn't any fever, so really, no reason to even call the doctor). And she wanted to take a road trip to Pennsylvania to see the groundhog!

Hopefully, even with the windchills, we'll make it through this entire week.

Trip Report part deux

The day after Key West was an at sea day on the ship – other than a massage it was a relaxing day spent by the pools.

Grand Cayman was interesting. D and I have been to a lot of places that other people thought were “expensive” that we didn’t think were expensive. Trust me when I say, Grand Cayman is expensive! Expensive and beautiful. The water is so clear, and so blue! We got off the ship and wandered around the town for a bit, until it was time to meet for our excursion. We were going to Seven Mile Beach for the afternoon…It was a beautiful beach with a separate reserved section for those of us on the excursion. We had about $30 US dollars with us (thinking that’d be more than enough for a ‘snack’ around lunchtime). There was a bar right on the beach, and picnic tables with umbrellas and waitress service. We ordered lunch (nothing spectacular – just a hot dog for me and C, and I think D got conch fritters) and some smoothies. That took all the money we had with us!

It was fun though – the water was warm, and there weren’t any waves really (not like New England waves, which is what I was somehow expecting). We made our way back to the ship and got ready for another fun evening of ‘clubbing’ (for C) and hanging out for me and D.

The next morning we were in Cozumel. The ship was docked right at the new pier (the old pier having been destroyed by one of the hurricanes). We ate breakfast outside again, and asked C if she wanted to go exploring with us before our excursion. She said no, she wanted to go to her club, so D and I left her on the ship and disembarked to wander around. We walked off the ship and off the pier to this “mall” area (with stores, a Burger King and such) and then walked a ways down the main road. The first direction we went led us to an area with smaller hotels (not the big names you’d expect) and residences, local stores and such.

We decided to backtrack and head the opposite way. There was an alley off the main road that had lots of vendors selling Mexican crafts and hand made things – and a bar selling Coronas. Even though it was only about 10am, we couldn’t be in Mexico and not have a Corona. We ended up buying some souveiners here – clay (porcelain?) masks, handpainted tile refrigerator magnets, another beach bag to carry everything in.

Then it was time to round up C and get to our excursion meeting – we were going to see the San Gervasio ruins and Playa Mia beach D wanted to see some ruins and we all wanted some beach time. This was actually disappointing (although we should have expected it). C wasn’t interested at all in the ruins, so I wandered around and tried to occupy her while D stayed with the tour guide. Eventually it was time for the beach! Unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot of time for the beach, and there were some people who were on our bus who were more interested in getting back for their dinner than staying at the beach. Us? We would have preferred more time at the beach – there was a big trampoline anchored way out in the water (C and D tried it; C got scared and wanted off. Hopefully the pictures I took of her with the waterproof camera will come out ok.) and an iceberg for climbing anchored out further than that. D almost made it all the way to the top of the iceberg, but I have to admit I didn’t get to see it because C was scared from the trampoline and wanted to get out of the water.

We still had another day at sea, and then a day at Disney’s private island in the Bahamas left. Both were really good days. We played in the pools in the morning on the day at sea, then C wanted to go back to her club, so D and I hung out at the “adult only” pool that afternoon. We probably could have done some activities (there’s tons of stuff on the schedule, plus movies and shows) but it was so nice to be out in the sun in JANUARY!

The day at Castaway Cay was wonderful - what a contrast to last January when only the hardy northern souls ventured into the water! The family beach was full, but there’s enough chaises for everyone, and we had a fun time splashing in the water. C wanted a float, and D wanted a tube, so he went to rent them for us, and C and I swam a bit while we waited for him to come back. We rented a paddle boat too. After lunch she wanted to go to her club (the club is open on the island that day) so D and I went and had an adult beverage outside by the water.

I was so sad to come home. It was a fun, relaxing vacation and it was nice not to have to think about all the ordinary everyday life and stress that goes on.