On the brighter side...

.....It's FREE CONE DAY at Ben and Jerry's.


Woohoo!

:-)

I wonder how many times I can go today? I think I need at least a double dose after my recent loss, don't you?


Life is good.

10:14 PM Update

I MISSED Free Cone Day.

How perfect. :-(

I forced number one son to go to school today, despite his protests that he was on death's door and that I SUCK because I'm mean. I caved yesterday and picked him up at lunch for an ear ache, but com'on, he slept a gazillion hours and had enough spunk and energy to argue with me. I think that qualifies as well enough to schlep off to school.

Anywhooo, he was well enough to walk home from school and not take the bus. so, I told the kids that we'd go to Free Cone Day later on - woohoo! right?

I fed them early, took them off to number one son's frigid baseball game. (45 degrees!? WTF? - last week I got a sunburn) Anyway, dh arrived to cheer him on, so I took darling daughter to run a few errands - drop off dry cleaning, rob a bank to afford a few ounces of gas before I ran out (now *that would be embarrassing), and sneak off to the mall to find something cute to wear to a work event with dh tomorrow and try on some new bras. (Don't I know how to live on the wild side?)

After all that, dd and I were on our way home (after dutifully stopping for milk for breakfast) and we realized we missed it. :-(

No chunky monkey, no cherry garcia, no chubby hubby. ::: sniff:::

I'm consoling myself with leftover lasagna (NOT as good as Karen's) and a glass of merlot.

See you tomorrow,

Tragedy strikes

Well, I didn't think it was actually a tragedy until it affected me.

Yes, I'm shallow.

The computer downstairs in the family room crashed last week.

Dd and I successfully printed some stuff for her science fair mouse project; and then ds wanted to boot up to play Runescape. He has this bad habit of not waiting until the little hour glass thingy stops and keeps pressing buttons and getting frustrated. He's been warned. And banned a few times.

Because of his crippling addiction to Runescape, the time he gets on the machine is rationed and monitored (sometimes ineffectively) by AOL parental controls. (Did you know that you can use them in Internet Explorer now, not just when signing in to AOL?)

Anyway, he *claims that it just froze and that he DIDN'T DO ANYTHING.
"Really Mom, I didn't. It just went black." Uh-huh.

Anyway, I wasn't terribly upset. We had a computer geek guru coming over anyway to fix something on DH's computer. When I tried to reboot it, I got a message that something ws corrupted. Number one son could suffer a little without his precious game. Heck, the weather turned nice, go outside and play. And baseball and spring hockey started last week.

Then the news starting getting bad. When computer geek guru looked at it and inserted the start-up disk, he was puzzled because none of his abracadabra worked. So, he took the offending machine away to his magic den.

Then the really bad news came. He couldn't get ANYTHING off the hard drive. Nothing. Zipo. Nada. It's gone. All of it. Now, I've been using a nifty little Apple Macbook since June so I wasn't toooo worried.

Until I realized that all photos for about a year or so prior to my laptop were lost.
Okay, disapointing, but I can deal. If I couldn't remember what was there, I wouldn't miss it right? Besides, Dh has some stuff on the digital video camera.

Then I started thinking more.

All, ALL of my music was on Windows Media Player there. I bought a Sansa mp3 player before I went to the Apple, and so everything I own was on that. Was.

In a misguided attempt to declutter my life and home, I sold all of my CDs at a local consignment shop. And no, not all of my music was on the mp3 player. I ran out of memory. Yes, my wonderful dh bought me more memory - a memory card ( a year ago) and I never used it. I am just sick thinking about all that music gone. GONE.

And I feel stupid.

I think I need a large glass, no goblet of wine. Now. Yes, I realize it's before noon.

I know I'm going to hell for laughing at these

Okay, I have a bad habit of peeking in on blogs around the net. I'm not picky, some are rude, some are thoughtful, some are funny.

It's kind of like watching trashy reality tv - I know there are better things to do with my time, but I just can't help it.

Here's one I read semi-regularly, and last night, it was just too true:
http://www.thewvsr.com/042508.htm

Doesn't it make you feel a little superior about your fashion, manners, and parenting when you're in a crowd like that? It's a good little ego boost once in a while to remind you that you're not doing everything wrong.

Here are 2 more:
http://www.uglyoutfitsnyc.com/
http://fannypackantics.com/

What do you read? What do you find amusing and/or are slightly ashamed of? Your guilty-pleasure web reading?

Creepy crawly things

no, they don't go bump in the night, but I don't doubt that they crawl over us at night.

:::shudder:::

We have ants. Lots of them. The really big ones. Carpenter ants. They always surface this time of year, but they seem really bad this year. They've taken over the cereal boxes in the pantry. They are particularly fond of Honey Smacks. :-(

They've joined the spiders. Little ones. Everywhere. In the bathroom on the wall. The ceiling of the shower. Over the kitchen sink. This morning a HUGE black one was in the kitchen. Number one son said it was in his hair, he brushed it of (cool as a cucumber). Then he told darling daughterthat she stepped on it. She screamed and shrieked like something out of a horror movie. Then dropped the phone book on it. The yellow pages. Hah. There was a lot of yucky spider juice everywhere.

I've called the man from Orkin. He'll be here this afternoon. Not nearly soon enough. I expect John Goodman from Arachnophobia to show up and do a thorough inspection.

I almost died of a heart attack this morning. Number one son came up behind me and placed something cool and wiggly on my neck. I jumped and screamed and then tripped and nearly went face first into the kitchen counter. I'm sure that motion was really good for my stitches. Not.

It was a plastic snake. I don't usually fall for that nonsense, but this was moments after the spider excitement. Oy. Or, as my grandmother would always say, Uff da.

Oy

Have you heard about this:
http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?in_article_id=143101&in_page_id=2

Naked Vlogging, or video blogging on You Tube.

Umm, no. Hell, no.

Not that they really *show anything, You Tube has it's standards, you know. But, really, why?

Not me, nope. Maybe I *am old.

What will they think of next?

Who I'd like to meet..

Anyone interesting. Well, duh. But I'm not pickey - they could be famous, or not. I just like to find out (as Paul harvey would say) "the rest of the story".

Including, but not limited to: Martin Luther, my great-grandparents,the Queen of England, Harriet Tubman, Walt Disney, Lynn Johnston, Gary Larson, message board posters,....

I'm not sure why Harriet Tubman is listed there, I actually wrote the list for my now defunct MySpace page. But why not? She's at least as interesting as anyone else from the past and she did some amazingly courageous stuff.

And Lynn Johnston and Gary Larson are two cartoonists who I'd like to get inside of their minds. How do they come up with the their funny insights?

Ouch

dammit.

&*^&*%&*% I just typed out a thoughtful post (yeah, really. and semi-interesting, too - but you'll bnever know that *now) and it got swallowed up in cyber space.

I wrote about sunburn and spring/summer weather; about baseball practice and a spring hike.

Grrr. It's lost now and I don't feel lilke recreating it.

:-PPPPP

Things *are happening around here

I just don't seem to have the time to put them down on paper, er, computer.

Last weekend was a blast - it was busy and I was exhausted, but it was great to have Emma's godparents John and Denise visit for her First Communion; and for my brother Erik and his wife, Sue to come up as well.

We hung out, we laughed, we ate, we lounged in the hot tub (Boy, am I glad I got it out of my laundry room), we drank, we ate. Okay, I didn't go in the hot tub, but I wanted to. Doctor's orders.

Did I mention that we ate and drank? And laughed.

Woo, boy. And then I slept all day on Monday.
But it was worth it.

So, I have a little time this morning, and what do you know? I forgot what it was that I was going to write about. Grrrr.

Isn't that always the way?

I have to get ready to go to a funeral today. Another one of my friends' mom died. I hate that we're at that age where we're losing parents. It sucks.

This could definitely be worse...

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	8.1
Mind:	8
Body:	6.6
Spirit:	8
Friends/Family:	7.2
Love:	5.5
Finance:	6.8
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

And of course, things could always be better. I guess I should say it's a 10 point scale. :-)
Take the quiz and rate your life.
Yes, of course, I took this off another blog I read.
It's a beautiful, sunny, warm day - I wonder if that influences people's answers and rating?

Kristin-ology

I copied this from Kate who ripped it off from someone else. No tagging, just a survey with random questions. Copy the list, edit the answers, and call it your name with "ology" on the end.


MOUTHOLOGY

Q. What is your salad dressing of choice?
A. A really good bleu cheese or bleu cheese vinigraitte (sp?).

Q. What is your favorite fast food restaurant?
A. eh, I don't really have one, but that doesn't mean I don't frequent what's convenient. :-)

Q. What is your favorite sit down restaurant?
A. Depends on the city. :-)

Q. On average, what size tip do you leave at a restaurant?
A. about 20% or more

Q. What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of?
A. Steak, or a good salad, or potatoes.....

Q. What are your pizza toppings of choice?
A. Cheese. And lots of it.

Q. What do you like to put on your toast?
A. Butter and honey

TECHNOLOGY

Q. What is your wallpaper on your computer?
A. a pic of our Sea-Ray boat

Q. How many televisions are in your house?
A. Too many. 3 But there's none in my living room or kitchen. :-)

BIOLOGY

Q. Are you right-handed or left-handed?
A. Right.

Q. Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
A. Teeth, splinters and more.

Q. When was the last time you had a cavity?
A. I haven't had too many - my first was in my late 20's, so I'm not sure.

Q. What is the last heavy item you lifted?
A. I'm not supposed to lift anything heavier than 5 lbs for about another month. :-)

Q. Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
A. No.

BULLCRAPOLOGY

Q. If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
A. No. But I would want to finish everything and clean my house.

Q. If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
A. I don't think I would.. Maybe just change it to Kirsten

Q. What color do you think looks best on you?
A. Corals, sort of?

Q. Have you ever swallowed a non-food item by mistake?
A. Gum. I don't remember swallowing any other non-food item.

Q. Have you ever saved someone’s life?
A. No. Don't think so.

Q. Has someone ever saved yours?
A. Depends on how you interpret that.

DAREOLOGY

Q. Would you kiss a member of the same sex for $100?
A. Maybe.

Q. Would you allow one of your little fingers to be cut off for $200,000?
A. No way, Jose!

Q. Would you never blog again for $50,000?
A. Um yeah… I'm new at this anyway.

Q. Would you pose naked in a magazine for $250,000?
A. Nobody, but nobody wants to see that..

Q. Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000?
A. I'd try. Would I be able to have a beverage of my choosing on hand?

Q. Would you, without fear of punishment, take a human life for $1,000,000?
A. Absolutely not.

DUMBOLOGY

Q. What is in your left pocket?
A. Nothing.

Q. Is Napoleon Dynamite actually a good movie?
A. It's not good, but parts are humurous.

Q. Do you have hardwood or carpet in your house?
A. Both

Q. Do you sit or stand in the shower?
A. Stand.

Q. Would you live with roommates?
A. One husband, 2 children, 2 cats, 2 mice, one dog and one fish

Q. How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
A. Too many

Q. Last time you had a run-in with the cops?
A. I don't think I've ever had a "run-in", but my last speeding ticket was several years ago.

Q. Who is number 1 on your Top 8?
A. Huh? Is this the same as the Friends' List of Five?


LASTOLOGY

Q: Last Friend you talked to?
A: Friend? I've only talked to family today.

Q: Last person who called you?
A: A spam call :-(

Q: Last person you hugged?
A: My son, he fell off his skate board a few minutes ago.

Q: Last person to stick their foot in your face?
A: My daughter.

FAVORITOLOGY

Q: Number?
A: 7 or 13

Q: Season?
A: Fall

CURRENTOLOGY

Q: Missing someone?
A: Mom and Dad, definitely

Q: Mood?
A: Ambivalent.

Q: Listening to?
A: Yankees game in the background

Q: Watching?
A: Staring blankly at my computer screen.

Q: Worrying about?
A: Family, peace, deadlines.....

RANDOMOLOGY

Q: First place you went this morning?
A: nail salon :-) But it was really the afternoon.

Q: What can you not wait to do?
A: See family and friends this weekend!

Q: What's the last movie you saw in theater?
A: Wow, it's been so long, I'm not sure. But I've seen a lot on my DVR this week.

Q: Do you smile often?
A: I try to.

Q: Are you a friendly person?
A: Yes, I think so.

Move along, nothing to see here

Sorry folks, I've been a slacker. No updates in a week. :-(

I'm slowly trying to get back into my routine, but it's still really hard to limit my reaching, lifting, bending, etc - and when I do, I regret it and suffer for it.

And when I try to resume semi-normal activity levels, I find myself tired and in need of a nap. :-) That's not all bad, but it shows me that I do need to slow down.

I had 40 dollars worth of gift cards and Borders Bucks, so in a moment of generosity, I told my kids that I would share and let them pick out a book. That was great, except that I picked out more than I thought and ended up owing about 10 more bucks on top of the gc's. grumble...grumble....

Oh well, there are worse vices. :-)

These are 3 of the books I got:
Alice Hoffman Skylight Confessions
Elizabeth Berg Dream When You're Feeling Blue
Marisa De Los Santos Love Walked In

(I tried to insert them as links, but I'm not that html savvy, apparently)

I'll try to keep up more.
Toodles.

Walking

"It is very important for you to get up and moving around. Walking is the best thing you can do. Taking short, frequent walks around your house throughout the day will help you feel better and help you to not get stiff. You can being slowly and increase the distance and frequency you walk daily as tolerated. You should only be walking, being sure to rest in between. Resting is essential to restoring energy and promoting healing. You should not be doing ANY lifting, pushing, pulling or tugging over 5 pounds."

Those are the instructions from my post-surgery care packet. For the past 5 or 6 days, I have been walking around the block in my neighborhood. Darling daughter has been keeping me company, bringing our geriatric dog along for the fresh air (note: I said fresh air, not exercise. We amble, we don't walk - no one was increasing their heart rate.) Occasionally, we'd venture further, past the horse farm and through the neighborhood, but nothing much.

This is Brotherhood/Sisterhood Week in our schools. The 3rd and 4th graders have a pen pal from the high school and they visit this week. They end the week with a visit and a "Unity March" on the canal through the main street of the village.

Darling daughter has been pleading with me to join her, and I was wishy-washy, knowing that I'm not supposed to drive until I see my doctor on Friday. But we live along the canal, with a great walking path that connects the various parts of town - parks, etc and other suburban towns. It's really nice and we've biked and walked there numerous times for pleasure and as a means of transportation to various festivals, etc where parking would have been a problem. So I thought, "Great! I'll walk on the canal and meet her at the park." Well, I didn't have to, as Darling husband went in to work late and graciously dropped me off at the park.

So, on this crisp, cool sunny morning, I waited at the park as a gazillion school buses disembarked and discharged school kids of all shapes and sizes. I was armed with my cell phone, sunglasses, mp3 player, and and apple.

I found my daughter and her new buddy and off we went on the march. A slow pace along the canal to Main Street (.8 miles). From there we went across the canal bridge, the library, a coffee shop, Candy Nation, and turned onto church street. so named because we passed the Baptist church, the Lutheran Church and the Presbyterian Church). I said my good-byes as the group was headed for the jr high and I knew there was no walking path home from there; so I kept straight and headed back to the park to rejoin the canal path. (approx. 1 mile).

At this time, I had been walking about an hour (11:30 AM), but much of it was stopping and starting with the crowd to keep the parade together and certainly wasn't strenuous. I started along the canal path and started to get a little tired. So, I stopped on a bench to rest for a few minutes and continued on. Several people passed me, but I was walking a comfortable pace - more normal instead of the slow walk on the march. Then I started walking s-l-o-w-l-y, maybe even weaving a little. Damn, this was getting looooooong. I checked my watch 11:50, I *know the bridge is just ahead, so it won't be long before I get home and have some lunch.

12:10 PM. Where the %$^ are all the benches? I will not sit down where all the dogs pee and poop. Just a little farther. (Or is that further?)

12:20 PM. There's a little cute little map at the canal path where it meets the road that crosses over. It says that I just walked 1.7 miles from the park where I started. Hmm, that's not so bad, is it? I can almost see the next bridge (it's not far) that marks where I leave the canal path for my neighborhood.

12:30 PM. I reach another cute map. I've walked another 4 10ths of a mile. I have to go uphill to get to the road and into my neighborhood and it seems soooo far away. Instead, I walk past 4 more houses and exit the canal path through my friend's backyard and scare the bejeezus out of her knocking on her patio door. I need water and to sit down again for a minute.

Was I out of my mind?! Forget lunch, I just want a nap. I drag myself home around 1 PM and collapse on the couch with a glass of water. I fall asleep and didn't wake up until Number 1 son bursts through the door around 3:30.

Did you do the math with me?
.8 miles
1 mile
1.7 miles
.4 mile
I think I walked around 4 miles. ( I originally though 5.5 to 6, but I double counted one leg of the journey)

I don't think that's what they meant when they said "short, frequent walks". I am whipped. Holy crap.

And on that note, my boss and friend dropped off dinner, (looks delicious, and he even included dessert and wine!) :-) so I'm putting it in the oven and going back to sleep.

Next time, I'll watch Blood Diamond. Geesh, what was I thinking?

Movies, movies, movies

When my favorite internet haunts are slow, and I'm tired of reading (I know, that's rare), and I can't (or at least shouldn't) drive, what to do?

Well, watch movies, of course.

Thanks to our new DirectTV system, I've been recording movies for the past week, along with some guilty-pleasure TV shows like What Not to Wear, The Real Housewives of NYC, reruns of The Real Housewives of Orange County, etc. Real scintillating tv viewing, huh?

So far, this week, I've watched:

• Babel (Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett)
  
• The Good Shepherd (Matt Damon)
  
• The Last Holiday (Queen Latifa)
  
• Syriana (George Clooney and Matt Damon)
  

Next up? Blood Diamond or Disturbia?
Which should it be?

No more whining

Okay, since I was just whining, I thought I'd post some things I'm really grateful/thankful for in the past few days before I go to bed.

We had the most AMAZING lasagna tonight. My friend Karen (THANK YOU!!!!) dropped it off over the weekend and I pulled it out of the freezer tonight. Some random comments from the assembled dining crowd (which included younger daughter's friend):

• Oh. my. gosh. this is the best!!!!
• Can I please have some more? (5 times)
• no offense, Mom, but this is better than yours.
• I *LOVE lasagna
• oooh, this is soooooo good.

Really. I'm not making this up. The entire pan is gone. Scraped clean. Eaten by 3 children and moi. DH didn't even have any - he opted for a turkey leg leftover from yesterday.

Which brings me to what else I'm thankful for.

My darling husband (DH) made the entire turkey dinner yesterday. Cooked, basted, and cleaned up. Yup. He cleaned up.

My children have been very helpful with trash, laundry, dishwasher, and litterboxes. And making my bed.

Beautiful flowers.

My friend (and neighbor) Paula bought a gallon of milk for me on her way home. And put it in the fridge because she knew it was heavier than I should lift.

Thank you. :-)

Be careful what you wish for

I've always wanted a guilt-free chance to be at home, free to read, surf the internet, and do whatever, while everyone else was at school or work.

On a normal day, I could easily lose an hour after the kids leave for school (when I'm supposed to be getting ready for work) by reading email or posting on message boards. And wish I had more time.

Well, I've got it.

I've been home for 4 days now, and today everyone was out of the house.
....tapping fingers......whistling.....twiddling thumbs....twirling hair......

Okay, I'm bored. I've walked around the block about a dozen times. I've read a few books, watched a few movies, plowed through a dozen or so gossip/fashion/decorating magazines. And read all of my favorite blogs. The message boards are slow and I've already googled a bazillion random things.

It's hard to remember to not reach/pull/push/lean/lift/stretch/bend over. Those are things you do several dozen times a day. Day? Heck. Several times in a hour.

At least.

Just try to brush your teeth/get a glass from the cupboard/pick up a dropped slip of paper/put in a hairclip/put a casserole in the oven/leash and unleash the dog/get something from your closet, or any of a dozen other mundane, simple tasks without raising your arms or pushing and pulling. It's. just.not.easy.

It's easy to remember to stay away from heavy stuff. It's the small gestures that are hard to curb. But important so as to not pull the stitches. ouch.

It's also hard to not be able to drive. It doesn't matter that I don't need anything or need to go anywhere. It's the fact that I *can't.

Grrrrr.

Catch you later. I might as well go to bed.

Home, sweet, home

Well, my surgery was Thursday, and I had to spend Thursday night in the hospital for recovery. hah. As if you could get any rest when they come in every hour to wake you up to check your vital signs.

G and the kids brought my Greek food for dinner, along with flowers and chocolate. :-). They also brought my laptop - so it was nice to have wireless access in my hospital room.

G and lovely daughter made french toast this morning - yum! Anyway, I'm a little stiff and sore, and it's hard not to be able to lift, bend or push. But I feel pretty good and I'm so glad to be home.

My friends and neighbors ((it's so great to have neighbors who are friends!) have been great - taking the kids for the day, bringing great reading material to keep me busy, delicious food, and treats for when I recover. If you read this - THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! I love you. Really.

cooking, cooking, and more cooking

So, Sunday was a marathon cooking day. I'm no Martha Stewart, but in preparation for being out of commission for a little while (minor surgery), I wanted to stock my freezer full of meals that were easy to heat up.
I wish I had taken pictures of my kitchen - it was quite a mess!

And in between hooking up the hot tub and doing laundry, I made:

• Pastitsio ( a Greek lasagna- type casserole)
• Greek spaghetti sauce (cinnamon and nutmeg give it a distinct flavor)
• spanakopita ( spinach-feta pie)
• chicken pot pie
• chicken to use for chicken salad
  
• meatloaf

Along with frozen meatballs, pasta and quiche, I think we'll be okay for a while. Okay, so we certainly won't win any awards from Cooking Light. But everyone likes those favorites and I won't have to worry about it.

also bought a turkey for Sunday, since that's one of the few (only) things that dh cooks, and he's good at it. He promised to roast that and it'll also give us some good leftovers.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

(Although I think I read somewhere that the Pope moved it to last Saturday so as not to interfere with Holy Week. Is that right? WTH?)

Hairy moments

No, not that kind.
The tangled knot kind.

My daughter. She has wild hair. Nothing tames it, nothing keeps it in check. Brushing and combing it can be a night mare as she shrieks at even the slightest tug. And she really needs a lot more than just a tug, believe me.

We've tried leave-in conditioners. We've tried spray on detanglers, we've tried braiding it at night to avoid tangles.

Look at that result:
And here's another view:

Hooray! Yippee!

The hot tub is back where it belongs! With the help of number one son, we rolled it out the side door, around the back, and onto the deck. Hooking up the motor unit wasn't so difficult - one tiny leak and all I had to do was tighten the clamp a little bit more. We filled the tub with a garden hose, and now it will warm up 1-2 degrees per hour. At that rate it could be Tuesday before we're in it.

There's still snow on the ground, and I had to shovel the ice off the deck. I know Easter is early this year, but geez, shouldn't it be warmer by now?


The last photo is the laundry room/ mud room view without the hot tub. Yay!

Humor?

So where's the sense of humor? My profile says that I'm trying to avoid "middle-aged mediocrity with a sense of humor".

So, where is it? As I read through my posts, I get the sense that writing this is good to get things off my chest (hah, as of next week, that will be a literal statement, not a figurative one), but I'M NOT SEEING THE HUMOR! And if, by chance, you're reading, I don't think you are either.

So, what to do about it? What's the cure? I think I have a sense of humor. Sometimes it's a little warped, sometimes I hide it. But it's there. really. So much of life is so ridiculous that it's got to be funny. And if you don't see that, you might very well be in trouble. And not even know it.

The thing about funny things, to me, is that they often lose something in the translation. They're just not so funny when I tell them. It's not my gift. At least not in writing. Sometimes I can retell a good incident that's funny in the telling. But only in person.

But trust me. Much in my life is funny. Much around me is funny. And I'm chuckling to myself.

Have a happy day. If you observe something funny, feel free to share.