Quotes * June, 2009

June, 2009

"What better place to be a kid in the summer
than the boardwalk in Wildwood"
~me~

Don't fence me in...

... or rather, DO fence me in!

Richard and Julie decided to enlarge the area around their pool to include a play area for Kate. That required taking down part of their existing split-rail fence and replacing it with a privacy fence for... um... privacy.

Michael and I stopped by yesterday afternoon to see the finished product on our way to Target. It looks FANTASTIC!!!

It was a BIG project and Richard did a great job (said his mother, with total objectivity)! I "borrowed" some pictures from Julie's blog of the project - before, during and after:

Take me out to the ball game

Alex (8) joined the Cub Scouts this year and he LOVES Scouts! On Saturday evening, Alex's Scout troup presented the flags during the national anthem at the Wilmington Blue Rocks game and so we had a family convention at Blue Rocks Stadium in support of Alex.

The whole thing didn't last very long, but Alex did a great job! (Alex is the tall one in the back, looking to make sure we're watching.)


The Wilmington Blue Rocks are a minor league baseball team, affiliated with the Kansas City Royals and although they lost Saturday night (Booooooooo!), they're a super team.


Greg got us great seats right on the first base line. The weather was great - sunny and warm with a little breeze and low humidity. It was a great night for baseball (especially for the Potomac Nationals who won 5-2) and an even better night to spend with family. But then, any night is a great night to spend with family!

Good baseball for $10 is hard to pass up! And how could you not love baseball???

We had a good group! Greg, Amy and the boys (of course), Amy's sister Lori, Amy's niece Stephanie and her family, Richard, Michael and me. Alex was well represented.

The game started at 6:05, so we had a hot dog at the ball park for dinner (like there was any other option???). Greg spent a good bit of the time making runs to the concession stand for the kids - snow cones, pretzels, cotton candy - all the "stuff" baseball games are made of!

• Tickets - $10.00
• Concession stand - $850.00 (or so it seemed)
• A night with family at the ball park - Priceless

Greg and his crew left before the game was over so that the kids could get to bed, but Richard, Michael and I stayed until the bitter end.

The Blue Rocks may have lost but it was a winning night for family!

The Proposal

Michael and I went to the movies yesterday to see "The Proposal". We expected it to be "cute", but it was much better than we expected. We laughed out loud (several times). SO funny!

Sandra Bullock is always fun and Ryan Reynolds was terrific! Betty White, of course, was worth the price of the ticket. This one is a definite "go see".

The night after the day before...

I'm starting to get my days mixed up. Uh oh! Bad sign! Let's go backwards! (another bad sign)

Okay... today is Tuesday - "kids-eat-free" at Red Robin. Chelsea, Michael and I met Greg and the boys at Red Robin for dinner. Although it was great to see them all, the service was SO bad! What a fiasco! Considering the time we were there, the kids were terrific! And I got "coming" and "going" hugs from everyone - well worth the trip! :)

So that means that yesterday was Monday. (Ahhhh! The ol' mind is a steel trap!) Sunday was not one of my best days, so I went to Levittown yesterday to celebrate Father's Day with my father. We had a nice afternoon - went to lunch at the Dallas - took the scenic route back to his office (via a road that used to be a runway).

Once back at the office, we played on Dad's computer. I showed him pictures of all the cousins on Facebook. We talked - and remembered - and laughed. Nice afternoon. Before I left, I signed Dad up on Facebook so that he can check in with all of us. Greg thanked me tonight when I saw him ;)

I was right on the edge of the work traffic as I headed back to Delaware through Phildelphia, but I skated through without much trouble. It's not a bad drive - just about an hour - and with some good music playing, the time flies by. But then... time in the car has always been an escape for me - driving, a stress reliever. Still is.

Chelsea took Michael out to lunch on Monday for Father's Day. He said they had a great time. He loves spending time with Chelsea - just the two of them. Chelsea gave him a book with the chords and lyrics for all of the Beatles songs. Great present!!!! He'll love it!!

Sunday was... well.... Sunday. Not much going on - just one of those ouchy days. Monday was a lot better!

And today was better yet. Life IS good!

Happy belated Father's Day to all of the fathers.

Meatballs again soooooo....

... I invited Richard, Julie and Kate for dinner last night (of course!).

It was wonderful to see them (as always)! Kate was in rare form last night. She DOES make me laugh! She was just so "two" last night and she's sooooooo good at it! You would think that staying one step ahead of a two-year-old would be easy, but not so!

Julie and Richard are great parents! They do a fantastic job! The two-year-old "thing" keeps them on their toes, though! Kate definitely has a mind of her own - and she hears every word of every conversation. She doesn't miss ANYTHING! (Spelling is only going to work for so long!)

They got here early enough for Kate to play - which is always a treat for me. I could watch her forever. She's just darling!

Richard told me that they had some new pictures of Kate on Julie's Facebook, so I took a trip to Facebook and "borrowed" a couple to put here...

What GREAT pictures! I'll be smiling for days!!!

Life is GREAT!

*GASP* They cut their own steak!!!

When you have 3 kids, dinnertime is busy - VERY busy - Mom and Dad making sure the kids are okay before they can eat.

And then that day comes....

They BOTH cut their own steak! They don't cut themselves. They don't cut each other. They cut their own steak!!!! It's a rite of passage!

And now it's Greg and Amy's turn live the change - and here's proof...

Look at that!! Gregory and Alex attacking their steak! It's enough to make you cry.

There is now a possibility (a possibility, I say) that Greg and Amy MAY experience that vaguely-remembered - HOT FOOD for dinner! I know it's hard to imagine. After a certain number of years, you get used to eating your dinner fairly cool. Hot food is just a foggy memory. And then suddenly - WHAM - the kids are cutting their own meat and the memories become reality once again (kind of like labor pains, but much more pleasant)!

Matthew is still just 4-years-old, but one child's dinner is barely a challenge for two healthy adults.

Time marches on and it's one more step toward independence - one more step toward adulthood.

And so it goes... and so it goes.

The times they are a'changin'...

... 60s flashback. Sorry.

ANYWAY... the curtains are finished and Michael hung the new rod! Wooohoooo! ::::applause applause::

They're not perfect, but they're soooo much better and just... well... more "me". I'm WAY excited!

And... ok... we have to move the pictures on the right side. Considering how long it took to get this done, don't hold your breath on the pictures! :)

That's it for now - maybe more later. I'm going to go look at the curtains.

Toe tapping with Matt

I've had a partially used gift card from Barnes and Noble for quite a while. I decided on Sunday to go spend it! I bought a great "jewelry" book with some challenging projects AND we brought Matt Nathanson home with us.

I wanted a Matt Nathanson CD, and the title of this one is "Some Mad Hope". Could I pass that up? No way! AND... I love it! I tend to play new CD's to death - and this is no exception. (by the way, Michael noticed that Matt dislikes the F major and B minor chords as much as I do)

I also got a James Taylor CD - "More Covers". I don't think Michael likes it any more than he did "Covers", but hey! It's J.T.!!! You know how they're always saying on American Idol - "You could sing the phone book"? WELL! I could listen to James Taylor sing the phone book. (Michael, in fact, might prefer it to these two CD's) But... NEVER do I allow a disparaging remark about ol' J.T.! Michael will just have to suffer in silence (like THATS likely!)!

Yesterday, we had lunch at Red Lobster with Richard - a great start to the week and a treat always. He's been working his a** off putting up a new fence to enlarge Kate's play area. I'll post a picture when he's finished. I mean, it might not be the most exciting picture - it's a fence, after all, but I think whatever my kids accomplish is beyond wonderful. (Color me "mom")

Today I'm going to start new curtains for the den/TV room. Michael fixed my sewing machine and I'm REALLY excited!!!! I've been living in a world of dark, primary colors - solids and plaids - for as long as I can remember. I'm ready for a change - some flowers - lighter colors. We'll see how I do wrestling the fabric! ::::flexing:::: A picture? You want a picture when I'm done? How nice of you! Of COURSE, I'll post a picture when I'm finished!

Well... time to get moving! Have a super fantastic day!

Peace... out!

Who put the wild in Wildwood?

Not me... that's for sure! But Gregory and Alex gave it THEIR best shot today!

We picked Gregory and Alex up this morning and headed to Wildwood for a day of sun and fun... or fog and fun as it turned out.


One of our big goals was pizza at Mack's pizza. Mission accomplished, but not without effort. Gregory showed us where to park so that we would be close to Mack's and not have to walk so far - smart kid! BUT... when we got to the boardwalk, Mack's was closed - at least at that location - BUT the sign said that there was another Mack's Pizza 10 blocks down the boardwalk, sooooooo off we went! I had the scooter, so it wasn't too bad for me, but I felt badly that Michael and the kids had to walk so far.


We broke up the walk to Mack's with a visit to an arcade along the way where Gregory and Alex won a ton of tickets at Ski Ball. When we were finished there, I asked them if they wanted to cash in their tickets, but they said that they wanted to save them and add them to their stash at home until they could accumulate enough to get something "good". Wildwood is their domain, so I did as I was told and saved the tickets - separately of course - a pocket in my purse for each of them.


After they spent the Arcade money their dad gave them, we finally made it to Mack's and they were right. The pizza was TERRIFIC! Pizza always tastes better on the boardwalk mixed with a little sea air, but this was REALLLLLLLY good - well worth the trip for the pizza alone!


(The Title of this picture is "Pretend you like each other.")

After the pizza - more arcades of course! Michael saw a grill he wanted. It was only 38,000 points - or um... tickets. Not this year Michael, but save your tickets and maybe next year... or the next... or well... just save your tickets.

While Gregory and Alex were playing in the arcade, I made us reservations for 2:30 p.m. on the Cape May - Lewes Ferry which runs, oddly enough, from Cape May, NJ to Lewes, DE. Wierd, eh?

We weren't going to do any rides, but the kids LOVE the rides, so again, I caved and told them they could each ride 2 rides - maybe 3, depending on the time. Alex rode the Rock and Roll Express (my favorite back in the olden days when I was a teenager).


Gregory rode the Sea Serpent - one of those "pull them up in the air and then release them like a slingshot then flip upside down" roller coasters. I used to ride those... NEVER! It made me half sick to watch Gregory. Then Gregory rode something (I don't remember the name) that was like a big pirate ship that swung them like a penduluum, but in a HUGE arc. Gregory sat in the last seat - the scariest one. He IS his father's child for sure!


They finished by riding Moby Dick together. That one looked like fun - fast, but everyone stayed upright in a semi-controlled fashion - something a reasonable person might ride.

I have to say that the Teacups appealed to me. Oh please. Don't laugh. The Teacups were very cool. They looked more like a fancy Tilt-A-Whirl AND the ride included load music. Round and round - AND music. What's not to like? The Merry-Go-Round held it's classic appeal. Maybe someday. :)

We dragged them off the rides, because it was time to head to Cape May for the ferry. A half hour later, they dropped me off with my scooter to board the ship via elevator while they drove onto the ferry in the car.


The seas were moderate, so there was a bit of rocking and rolling, especially as we approached the Delaware side. For a while, I was concerned that Gregory might get seasick, but I took him to the windy side of the boat, which is always cooler, and that seemed to help. We stayed outside for most of the trip and then went inside to the lounge to play a little "War" before we got close to shore.




By the time we reached Delaware, the wind and sun (and fog) had taken its toll on most of us. We were beat! Alex was the only one who didn't seem tired. Gregory slept most of the way home (wise child). Alex may have dozed for a few minutes, but not long.


We got home in time for a great dinner at Greg and Amy's - barbequed chicken and red potatoes cooked on the grill. Yum!

After dinner I was treated to a fashion show by Amy, who just bought some clothes for work. (and I do mean I was treated) What fun! And... by the way, the dresses were all great! Amy looked fantastic in all of them! (The shoes were cool, too)

Finally... home, tired, full, and smiling. A great ending to a great day!!!!

I don't know who slept best last night, but I know I was in the running!

Thanks, guys, for a super fantastic day!

(P.S. And a special "Thank you" to Michael for the great pictures!!!!)

Bonus! Bonus! Bonus!

This is the first time I'm posting pictures of the kids. Amy gave me permission and I asked Greg to send me the pictures! SOOOOOO here's a bonus picture! This one wasn't taken today but it's one of my favorites - Matthew (4 1/2) taking a snooze with - I mean, on... his Dad (Greg).



No one could ever possibly explain the love of a parent for their child. And... know what? It never stops. Not even when they're 29, or 37, or almost 36 - or I'm sure, never - just never!

God has been soooooo good to me!!!

Smokey Black Water at the Museum

Wow! What a day! And I'm still upright (for the most part).

Amy has walking pneumonia, so she worked from home today. Gregory (almost 11) and Alex (8), my two oldest grandchildren spent the day with Michael and me. They wore me out!

Michael and I picked them up this morning and brought them to our house for the morning. Gregory is learning to play the guitar, so he and Michael played guitars while Alex and I dueled to a tie in a "Go Fish" tournament. Then Gregory and Michael came to the table and the four of us battled in a game of war and Michael won. Did I say he won???? That's like saying the Titanic dipped a little bit. Michael crushed us - no mercy! ABSOLUTELY no mercy!!! Rematch??? Not for a while, thank you! We have to recover from this one first.

After cards and guitars, we headed out to meet Richard at Lonestar for lunch. Greg was working in New Castle, so he stopped by for a few minutes to say hi. I told Gregory and Alex that a friend of mine might stop by, but I didn't tell them who. They were surprised and excited to see their dad! And... meeting Richard for lunch is always fun!

After lunch we came back home for about 45 minutes. Gregory and I played guitars (I'm learning too) while Alex watched TV. Richard started a "family" tradition of learning the first 13 notes of Smoke On The Water (which Julie has been known to call - Smokey Black Water - Julie is sooooo cute). It was up to Gregory and I to continue the tradition and so we worked on that this afternoon and pretty much mastered it. We even called Richard so that he could hear Gregory play. Pretty cool!







After lunch... off to the movies to see the 2nd "Night at the Museum" (or whatever it's called). Tuesday is dollar popcorn day AND we had regalators, SO... popcorn and sodas only cost $8 for all 4 of us. Michael was NOT excited about seeing this movie, but we dragged him by his long, gray hair, kicking and screaming all the way (not really, but almost). He managed to live through it (thankfully) without too much damage to his psyche and/or general dispostion. The movie? Not so hot, but spending time with the kids? Priceless!

All in all, a good day! At this point, Michael and I are just plain done. We're on the couch in front of the TV watching the Phillies play the Mets. So far - 7 home runs in this game. At the moment, the Phillies are a run behind, but not for long. Go Phillies! (Sometimes I think they can hear me. No... "very sensitive" - not delusional.)

Greg took a couple of good pictures with his phone of Gregory showing his Mom and Dad what he learned on the guitar today AND a picture of Gregory teaching Alex (Alex can almost play 'Smokey Black Water' now). Tomorrow I'll figure out how to get the pictures out of my phone and into my computer. THEN I'll come back and post them here on this post.

Thanks to everyone for the great day - to Amy for letting us steal her kids - to Richard for meeting us all for lunch - to Greg for stopping by and delighting his kids - to Michael for being... well... Michael (what would I do without Michael???) It was a super day and I'm so very grateful!

Tomorrow, the kids are coming back. We're "buddies" again. I have BIG plans for tomorrow! If I'm still conscious tomorrow night, I'll tell you ALL about it!

Niters!

Breakfast for Dinner

Julie, Richard and Kate came tonight for breakfast for dinner! As good as breakfast tastes in the morning, sometimes it tastes even better at night. Julie said she had never had breakfast for dinner before. I'm glad we could add to her life experiences. :)

When the kids were growing up, they always thought breakfast at night was a treat. Ahhhh! I could go on about how simple life was in the olden days, but I'll spare you! (You're welcome)

Our menu? French toast (Wheat or Cinnamon Walnut Raisin), bacon and of course, scrambled eggs. We had grapefruit juice, orange juice, milk - the usual.

Kate is an egg eater, for sure. She had a little french toast, but the eggs held the most appeal for her. Every time I see her, I think she couldn't possibly get any cuter - and then she does!

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I bought my first baby doll (EVER in my life) about a year or so ago - for Kate. Being inexperienced in these things, it didn't occur to me that the baby needed a bed (Duh!). So we grabbed a shoebox and voila! The baby had a bed! BUT... geez... it looked more like a coffin to me than a bed.

Soooooo... a couple weeks ago, we were going by a local antique store and Michael spotted THE cutest doll cradle. We pulled over to the curb to look and the shop owner came out to say "hi". (she sees us there all the time - we are great curb shoppers). The cradle was in great shape so after a brief negotiation, the cradle was in our back seat and on it's way to our house. I was SO excited that the baby didn't have to sleep in a coffin anymore!

ANYWAY... when Julie and Kate arrived tonight, Kate walked in the door and commented IMMEDIATELY that the baby has a new bed. YES!!!! The child doesn't miss ANYTHING!

Thankfully, she didn't ask for the coffin back (known to Kate as the "old bed"), so I'm hoping the new baby-bed was a winner!

Oh! Life is SO good!

9 Weeks...

... with NO Methotrexate (the cancer drug that I've been taking for about 5 years for Lupus)!!!

I'm not sure how long I'll be able to stay off of it, but for now - I'm off - and VERY grateful!

That's it. Nothing big or exciting. Just the Methotrexate thing.

:::: doing a happy dance (in my mind) ::::

I'm Flowery!

I found some really cute backgrounds at: http://simplychicblogs.blogspot.com/

Who knows what this may look like tomorrow! What fun!

Thank you "Simply Chic" for the new look!

Sweeeeeeet Music!

Yesterday Gregory (almost 11) and Alex ( 8 1/2) finished school for the year. Greg called yesterday and asked if they could "hang out" at our house today. And of course, I said YES!!!!

Lori was at home this morning so I didn't pick them up until about 10:00 a.m. and then we brought them back to our house to play some cards and haul out the guitars. (Julie says our livingroom looks like the Partridge Family with all the guitars on stands).

Gregory and Alex brought their guitars. Gregory wanted a guitar lesson from Michael. After several loud and crazy games of War, Gregory and Michael headed for the livingroom and Alex challenged me to a Fish tournament.

5 games and LOTS of trash-talking later (me more than Alex), Alex was declared "Temporary Champ" with 3 wins out of 5. I think he must have peppered his edge of the "pond" with the cards he was looking for. There's no other way he could beat me. Really. I'm THAT good at Fish! I think we're going to have a rematch next week and we'll see then if he can repeat as Champ. (I may practice before then!)

Gregory was SO ready for a guitar lesson. It all seemed to make much more sense to him this time. If he keeps up the practice, I can see a musical future for him. He just "got it" so quickly today!!! I'll have to work hard to catch up! I tried this afternoon to play what he was playing this morning. It wasn't happening. I could claim old age, lupus, arthritis, exhaustion or a million other things, but in the end, I guess I'll just have to practice! *sigh*

Alex, on the other hand, played the piano - his own "thing" - just kind of noodling around. It was bold, confident and he came close to making "real" music. Michael and I think he could very well be a piano player!

What great kids (not that I'm biased in any way)! They are so different, but each one is exceptional in his own way.

I think next week we get them for 2 days. We need to have a plan, but I'm looking forward to the time with them.

Rock on!

Live Long And Prosper!

Well! We just got back from seeing Star Trek! Soooooooo good!

At the risk of being drummed out of the human race, I totally missed Star Trek the first time around. Not that I'm not "of the age" to remember. I'm plenty "of the age". It just wasn't my thing. So, I was afraid that I'd be lost in this movie, but I wasn't lost at all.

The movie was done so that kids of this generation who aren't very familiar with Star Trek (is there such a thing?) or oldies but goodies who didn't get it the first time (raising my hand) could follow the story from the very beginning. Well done!

I'm only sorry I didn't wait until next week and take my grandsons to see it! I think they would have really liked it. Michael wasn't thrilled about going, but he enjoyed it,too. 2 hours just FLEW by!


If you're considering seeing this movie... do it!

Bead me this, Beadman!

Beadman = Michael

Michael worked this weekend at the Intergalactic Bead Show in Stanton. It's hard to imagine making money from a bead show instead of spending money. It almost seems contrary to nature!

It was a long weekend, but he learned a lot and of course, they asked him back the next time they were in town.

I'm off to Levittown this morning to meet my Dad and take him out to lunch for a belated Father's Day. Sooo I'd better get moving!

Have a great day!

Cancel the goats! We have a tractor!

The back yard and side yard have been mowed (10 minutes). A new world record! ::::applause applause:::: Michael was able to drive the tractor to the back yard via our side yard where the slope is. He says the slope isn't too steep. His exact quote about the side yard:

"3 passes - zip zip zip"

AND Michael is still upright and so is the tractor!!!


Greg thinks we should put NASCAR stickers on it and a number - or at least flames down the side or something. I was thinking stickers - like butterflies or smiley faces - something like that, but when I mentioned it... I just got a stunned silent pause from Greg and "the look" from Michael. Guess we'll skip the butterflies.

Should we name it????

Oh! Isn't life good???????

Where do you find a tractor with no wheels?

In the exact same place you left it!

Tractor jokes - a new low!

BUT... I'm in a tractor kind of mood because guess what we got?????

We got a new...... ::::drum roll::::

TRACTOR!

Oh yeah! Thanks to Richard's tenacity and Greg's truck. And okay... so the tractor isn't new. It LOOKS new, though, and it's new to us. Michael is outside feeding it oil as I write.

And it's green.

Everyone knows that the best and fastest tractors are green! The red ones have to LOOK fast because they're not as fast and they can't be green no matter how hard they try, so they have to compensate by being flashy red.

The trick is to get the wonderful new tractor to the back yard! I think we'll have to use the neighbor's driveway below us. I'm sure he won't mind - as long as his car(s) aren't parked there. This is SO exciting!

Greg stopped by on his boring motorcycle last night for a short visit (and to see the tractor, I'm sure). I told him that if/when he gets bored with his motorcycle, he can come ride on our tractor.

He offered to trade me his motorcycle for my scooter for a day, but I'm not sure he can handle my scooter. It's pretty quick!

Thank you Richard, for all your hard work to get us this tractor! It will make SUCH a difference in our lives!!! And thank you, Greg, for the loan of your truck so that Richard could go get it!

Michael has been back and forth past the window several times now (on the tractor). I know we lack a certain amount of excitement in our lives, but hey... you get your entertainment where you can get it! I wave every time he goes by. He just shakes his head.

We have a lawn tractor!!!

Sweeeeeeeeeeeet!!!