Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of when my dad died. Twenty years! That is just so sad.Sometimes I can't even process how long he's been gone.
I wrote about this last year so I'll just link to it.
I watched our home-movies this morning with Rich and Lillianna. For Dad's 50th birthday Mom put all our reel-to-reel tapes onto a video and bought Dad a VCR. There is no sound of course and some of the tape is scratched but for the most part,it's awesome.
Much of it is of me when I was a baby up until I was about 3 years old. There is also Mom and Dad getting married,their one year wedding anniversary,Dad and his friends in Fort Dix for basic training in the Army Reserve and lots of family parties.
I love seeing my Nana and Papa when they were young and all our family. It's just fun and sad all at the same time. The amazing thing is that we just watched Lillianna's baby videos last night and then when we watched mine this morning,we all noticed similarities. I love that part.
Today Lillianna and I are going to Kara's house for Trent's birthday and to meet his new baby brother Dash.You may have read their mom's blog over here. Lisa is Kara's sister-in-law and Lisa has not blogged since Dash was born last month. Hmmmmm....I wonder why she can't find the time? I can't wait to see everyone. It'll be good to be together and have a fun day with all the kids. I am also looking forward to spending time with my furry nephew,Cody. I love that dog!!
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Remember when flip-flops were called thongs?
I was a kid back in the 70s.When we said thongs we were talking about flip-flops,you know,those in between your big toe kind of rubbery beach sandals. Granted,thong underwear and thong bikinis have the same concept as flip-flops.....there is a big strip that fills a space. It may be a butt crack or the space between your toes but there is a divider involved and it's not often comfortable.
Not to harp on thongs but who thought it was a good idea to invent underwear that intentionally gave you a wedgie? That was one of our worst nightmares as a kid...getting a wedgie. Ahh the teasing that went on when one was trying to right this awful wrong..."Bobby's picking his wedgie....Bobby's picking his wedgie," the kids would mock in a sing-songy voice. Proper etiquette dictates that you NEVER pick your wedgie in public!
Remember when it was a humiliating experience if anyone ever saw any portion of your underwear? Now the girls wear their thongs higher than their skin tight hip-hugger pants and boys wear big baggy pants five times their normal size that they wrap with a belt but their billowing boxers have to be higher than the belt.It's all about seeing the underwear. If a boy saw a girl's underwear he would since,"I see London. I see France. I see Mary's underpants!" Oh the horror!
Let's look at the word,shall we?.....UNDER-----WEAR. If we were meant to see people's unmentionables then they would be called OVERwear or Peek-a-boos or something along those lines.
And while I'm at it,when did the phrase Baby Bump come into play? I am sick of reading a magazine and having someone's bare pregnant stomache glaring at me. The term baby bump irks me just as much as a man saying,"We're pregnant." I wouldn't want to be in the delivery room with that guy.I couldn't take the whining!
Not to harp on thongs but who thought it was a good idea to invent underwear that intentionally gave you a wedgie? That was one of our worst nightmares as a kid...getting a wedgie. Ahh the teasing that went on when one was trying to right this awful wrong..."Bobby's picking his wedgie....Bobby's picking his wedgie," the kids would mock in a sing-songy voice. Proper etiquette dictates that you NEVER pick your wedgie in public!
Remember when it was a humiliating experience if anyone ever saw any portion of your underwear? Now the girls wear their thongs higher than their skin tight hip-hugger pants and boys wear big baggy pants five times their normal size that they wrap with a belt but their billowing boxers have to be higher than the belt.It's all about seeing the underwear. If a boy saw a girl's underwear he would since,"I see London. I see France. I see Mary's underpants!" Oh the horror!
Let's look at the word,shall we?.....UNDER-----WEAR. If we were meant to see people's unmentionables then they would be called OVERwear or Peek-a-boos or something along those lines.
And while I'm at it,when did the phrase Baby Bump come into play? I am sick of reading a magazine and having someone's bare pregnant stomache glaring at me. The term baby bump irks me just as much as a man saying,"We're pregnant." I wouldn't want to be in the delivery room with that guy.I couldn't take the whining!
Following directions
I was just checking my email before packing up for work and I got an updated field trip notice from one of Lillianna's Girl Scout troop leaders. They're adding in a trip to the Cape Cod information center and then we go on the beach at low tide for exploration. That sounded great to both of us.
As I printed out the directions Lillianna laughed and said,"HA! Directions....that's funny........You're gonna have to carpool!"
Pretending to be stunned I said,"Well that's not very nice,Lillianna."
She looked over her shoulder on her way out the bedroom door and said patiently,"I'm just telling the truth."
Ya....she's right. I can never follow directions. Won't she be surprised when she finds out I actually know how to get there? I used to work on The Cape and it's not far from my office. HA back at her! (I might still carpool though....it's more fun to go with another mom!)
As I printed out the directions Lillianna laughed and said,"HA! Directions....that's funny........You're gonna have to carpool!"
Pretending to be stunned I said,"Well that's not very nice,Lillianna."
She looked over her shoulder on her way out the bedroom door and said patiently,"I'm just telling the truth."
Ya....she's right. I can never follow directions. Won't she be surprised when she finds out I actually know how to get there? I used to work on The Cape and it's not far from my office. HA back at her! (I might still carpool though....it's more fun to go with another mom!)
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Marcia and Jan in love??
I just read about the newest Brady Bunch scandal. Maureen McCormick is confessing in a book that she and Eve Plumb had an affair. Here's my take on it.
#1) Why come out with this now?
#2) Who is going to feel better by this confession?
#3) I guess it makes sense why Eve Plumb had such bad memories of the show and had to be replaced at some point.
#4)Why can't you just let the public live with our "perfect family" illusion of the Brady Bunch? The more I hear,the more it sounds like the whole cast was involved in an orgy! Barry dated Maureen and Florence. Now Maureen and Eve?
I think they should update the words to the opening theme song...
Here's the story
of a horny family.......
#1) Why come out with this now?
#2) Who is going to feel better by this confession?
#3) I guess it makes sense why Eve Plumb had such bad memories of the show and had to be replaced at some point.
#4)Why can't you just let the public live with our "perfect family" illusion of the Brady Bunch? The more I hear,the more it sounds like the whole cast was involved in an orgy! Barry dated Maureen and Florence. Now Maureen and Eve?
I think they should update the words to the opening theme song...
Here's the story
of a horny family.......
From soul mates to cell mates
Rich and I were sitting on the couch watching t.v. this evening when I said,"You know,I have a great name for a post about the decline of marriage. It's called 'From soul mates to cell mates.' "
He just looked at me and burst out laughing. That made me laugh but the subject really isn't amusing.
I know the honeymoon is over faster than any married couple would like but Rich and I really thought we would have this loving,romantic and soul mate kind of marriage and that just didn't happen.....not at all.
We've been through a lot these past 14 years. We'll be celebrating our 13th anniversary in November. I think that's quite an accomplishment in this day and age but this isn't quite the marriage I had in mind.
I had always thought Rich and I could face any situation as long as we were a team. The reality is,we're usually not on the same team. Part of our opposite perspectives come from the whole Venus vs Mars thing. Men and women are just different. I often wonder why the whole world isn't gay.
Men understand men. Women understand women. How do these 2 groups ever get together?
It can't just be about sex. Marriage is so much more complicated than that. We've tried marriage counseling....twice. We're still married but I don't think either one of us would go so far as to say we are happy. We function. We get along fairly well. We both love Lillianna. We have a lot in common but I don't feel connected to this person. We both knew we were soul mates the minute we met. What the hell happened?
We've talked and talked about this over the years but nothing has ever changed. It makes me sad. It makes me feel lonely. No one should feel lonely in their marriage.
When he left for 6 months over 4 years ago,it was horrible. I cried every single day.When he came back,we said we'd never put Lillianna through that again. I don't want to be without him. I just want us to be better when we're together. I want to feel that connection again like when we first met.
How do you make that happen?
He just looked at me and burst out laughing. That made me laugh but the subject really isn't amusing.
I know the honeymoon is over faster than any married couple would like but Rich and I really thought we would have this loving,romantic and soul mate kind of marriage and that just didn't happen.....not at all.
We've been through a lot these past 14 years. We'll be celebrating our 13th anniversary in November. I think that's quite an accomplishment in this day and age but this isn't quite the marriage I had in mind.
I had always thought Rich and I could face any situation as long as we were a team. The reality is,we're usually not on the same team. Part of our opposite perspectives come from the whole Venus vs Mars thing. Men and women are just different. I often wonder why the whole world isn't gay.
Men understand men. Women understand women. How do these 2 groups ever get together?
It can't just be about sex. Marriage is so much more complicated than that. We've tried marriage counseling....twice. We're still married but I don't think either one of us would go so far as to say we are happy. We function. We get along fairly well. We both love Lillianna. We have a lot in common but I don't feel connected to this person. We both knew we were soul mates the minute we met. What the hell happened?
We've talked and talked about this over the years but nothing has ever changed. It makes me sad. It makes me feel lonely. No one should feel lonely in their marriage.
When he left for 6 months over 4 years ago,it was horrible. I cried every single day.When he came back,we said we'd never put Lillianna through that again. I don't want to be without him. I just want us to be better when we're together. I want to feel that connection again like when we first met.
How do you make that happen?
Saturday, September 22, 2007
The Birthday Party Competition
For the past 5 years I have worked every weekend so Lillianna's birthday sleepover has always been from Friday night to Saturday morning. I would take Saturday morning off from my ophthalmology job which was 8am-12pm but I still worked my 2nd job from 1pm-7pm. Apparently,without knowing it,this saved a party conflict all these years. Lillianna's classmate Bridget must've been having her birthday party on Saturday which never interfered with Lillianna's party. (Their birthdays are one day apart.)
Since I quit my 2nd job back in May,this is the first time we can have the party from Saturday to Sunday. As "luck" would have it,the girls sent out their invitations on the same day and invited almost all the same people. When I heard this news I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was going to come down to a popularity contest and friendship loyalty. Who needs this crap at 10??
Lillianna and Bridget are friendly in school but they've never been friends. They don't invite one another to their birthday. They don't ask for playdates. They aren't involved in any common activities......but they do have many of the same friends.
Lillianna invited 15 people to her birthday. Four of them are people Bridget doesn't even know since they're not from school so we knew we weren't going to have a conflict there. I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
The first wave of sadness came when Lillianna announced,"Hannah isn't coming." Lillianna had just been to Hannah's party a few weeks ago so I couldn't imagine why she wasn't coming. Lillianna said,"Hannah told me that since I invited 15 and Bridget invited 12,she felt she should go to Bridget's party."
I'm an awful mother. My first thought was,"Well.....if that's the way she is going to play she doesn't need to be friends with MY child!" Luckily I didn't say that. I have no idea what I said really since I was so stunned that Hannah wasn't coming.
Two girls can't come at all. One is going camping with her family much to the horror of her mother who left the message on my answering machine. Sarah,one of Lillianna's closest friends is in a soccer tournament out of state. I promised Lillianna that she could have a special sleepover on another night with Sarah. She was one of the 3 girls with us at the dude ranch.
So now it's a waiting game. Neither girl wanted to change their party date since the invitations had already been sent. Lillianna and I know that some of her friends will probably go to Bridget's party and not come to hers and that hurts us both. She loves having her friends sleep over for her party.
I told her that it doesn't matter how many girls are here. We will have fun just like we always do.
I don't want Bridget to be sad and not have her friends at her party either. I want them both to have a happy birthday. They deserve that. They're 10 year old little girls!
Have you ever dealt with this situation? What did you do?
Since I quit my 2nd job back in May,this is the first time we can have the party from Saturday to Sunday. As "luck" would have it,the girls sent out their invitations on the same day and invited almost all the same people. When I heard this news I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was going to come down to a popularity contest and friendship loyalty. Who needs this crap at 10??
Lillianna and Bridget are friendly in school but they've never been friends. They don't invite one another to their birthday. They don't ask for playdates. They aren't involved in any common activities......but they do have many of the same friends.
Lillianna invited 15 people to her birthday. Four of them are people Bridget doesn't even know since they're not from school so we knew we weren't going to have a conflict there. I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
The first wave of sadness came when Lillianna announced,"Hannah isn't coming." Lillianna had just been to Hannah's party a few weeks ago so I couldn't imagine why she wasn't coming. Lillianna said,"Hannah told me that since I invited 15 and Bridget invited 12,she felt she should go to Bridget's party."
I'm an awful mother. My first thought was,"Well.....if that's the way she is going to play she doesn't need to be friends with MY child!" Luckily I didn't say that. I have no idea what I said really since I was so stunned that Hannah wasn't coming.
Two girls can't come at all. One is going camping with her family much to the horror of her mother who left the message on my answering machine. Sarah,one of Lillianna's closest friends is in a soccer tournament out of state. I promised Lillianna that she could have a special sleepover on another night with Sarah. She was one of the 3 girls with us at the dude ranch.
So now it's a waiting game. Neither girl wanted to change their party date since the invitations had already been sent. Lillianna and I know that some of her friends will probably go to Bridget's party and not come to hers and that hurts us both. She loves having her friends sleep over for her party.
I told her that it doesn't matter how many girls are here. We will have fun just like we always do.
I don't want Bridget to be sad and not have her friends at her party either. I want them both to have a happy birthday. They deserve that. They're 10 year old little girls!
Have you ever dealt with this situation? What did you do?
Monday, September 10, 2007
Six years later...are we any safer?
I'm sure everyone will be talking about where they were on September 11, 2001 tomorrow. I don't blame them. It was the worst thing to happen to this country since I've been alive.
My question is,do you think we're any safer since it happened? Security was high right after it happened but people get back in their comfort zone and they forget. People relax and get lazy and forget that the terrorism is far from over. I'm not saying we should all be paranoid and anxiety ridden every day but I don't think we should feel safe here. I don't believe we are safe.
I think airline security is a joke. Oh sure,they made Lillianna put her stuffed puppy through the scanner to check for weapons a few years ago but that didn't make me feel safe. Not at all.
If you've ever flown on El Al then you know what safety feels like. I wish Israeli security would come over here and train all the airport employees to be just like them. That would be wonderful! They're not afraid of racial profiling.
Osama is still running around somewhere. Why the hell can't we find him? Is anyone still looking for him? What are we actually doing in Iraq right now? Why is America involved in everything? A lot of countries hate us. We're not going to win them over. They are jealous of us and all the nice words in the world are not going to make them say,"Golly gee willikers....let's not kill the Americans. Let's sit down and have tea!"
I don't feel like we're safe and I am quite sure we will be attacked again....probably soon.
Do you feel like the terrorism is over here? Do you feel safe?
My question is,do you think we're any safer since it happened? Security was high right after it happened but people get back in their comfort zone and they forget. People relax and get lazy and forget that the terrorism is far from over. I'm not saying we should all be paranoid and anxiety ridden every day but I don't think we should feel safe here. I don't believe we are safe.
I think airline security is a joke. Oh sure,they made Lillianna put her stuffed puppy through the scanner to check for weapons a few years ago but that didn't make me feel safe. Not at all.
If you've ever flown on El Al then you know what safety feels like. I wish Israeli security would come over here and train all the airport employees to be just like them. That would be wonderful! They're not afraid of racial profiling.
Osama is still running around somewhere. Why the hell can't we find him? Is anyone still looking for him? What are we actually doing in Iraq right now? Why is America involved in everything? A lot of countries hate us. We're not going to win them over. They are jealous of us and all the nice words in the world are not going to make them say,"Golly gee willikers....let's not kill the Americans. Let's sit down and have tea!"
I don't feel like we're safe and I am quite sure we will be attacked again....probably soon.
Do you feel like the terrorism is over here? Do you feel safe?
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Taking a chance
Lillianna came home today with a notice to sign up for a Winter Dance Festival at the local college. Her elementary school is opening this up to 4th and 6th graders. If they sign up,there will be a drawing to see who is chosen to be in the show. There are no try-outs.
I looked at the list of practices and the dates of the shows. Some practices are on her regular dancing school day and Girl Scouts and they may need additional practice times. I thought about it and told Lillianna that I was sorry but she wouldn't be able to do it.That was over 3 hours ago.
She just asked me again and said this was the last year the festival was being opened to the elementary kids since next year Lillianna's school will close down and will be given back to the college. She will be sent to another school across town.
I told her I was willing to sign her up and take a chance. If her name is picked then I will make this work for her even if we have to juggle her other activities for a while. She jumped up and down screaming her thank-yous. I figure,if it's meant to be then it will be.
I looked at the list of practices and the dates of the shows. Some practices are on her regular dancing school day and Girl Scouts and they may need additional practice times. I thought about it and told Lillianna that I was sorry but she wouldn't be able to do it.That was over 3 hours ago.
She just asked me again and said this was the last year the festival was being opened to the elementary kids since next year Lillianna's school will close down and will be given back to the college. She will be sent to another school across town.
I told her I was willing to sign her up and take a chance. If her name is picked then I will make this work for her even if we have to juggle her other activities for a while. She jumped up and down screaming her thank-yous. I figure,if it's meant to be then it will be.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Seaglass jewelry
My friend Liane has her website up and running....finally! She has designed the most gorgeous seaglass jewelry. Please take a moment and check out her website.
Uniquelyseaglass
I own this amethyst pendant!
I always get a million compliments when I wear it.
When she hosted a jewelry show on her last visit to Massachusetts,I couldn't believe how clever and talented she was at designing jewelry. We've known each other since we were 12. I am so proud of her accomplishments.
If you know of anyone who may be interested in her website,please pass along this information.
Thank you!
Uniquelyseaglass
I own this amethyst pendant!
I always get a million compliments when I wear it.
When she hosted a jewelry show on her last visit to Massachusetts,I couldn't believe how clever and talented she was at designing jewelry. We've known each other since we were 12. I am so proud of her accomplishments.
If you know of anyone who may be interested in her website,please pass along this information.
Thank you!
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