Growth

So the kids have shot up several inches (at least it seems that way) since we cleaned out their drawers a couple of weeks ago. Trinks has 2 pair of jeans that fit, meaning they aren't floods. They are so big in the waist that they keep falling down and she rarely remembers a belt. And she informed me that her ballet slippers no longer fit. I swear I just bought her new ones, but I guess it has been about a year. S has 3 pair of fall/winter pants. Everything else is about 2 inches off the ground. When I return from the next vacation, I'll have to go shopping. Of course they need absolutely no shirts, so I guess I should be thankful that some growth isn't as fast.

Foggy day at the beach

This picture is brought to you courtesy of a weekend with Nothing Knew and family. Head to his blog for better pictures. While I appreciate having this camera, it definitely is not the same caliber as my last camera. The replacement camera I fell in love with is around $1,000, and the one I can live with is $300 +, so it's not likely I'll get a new one soon.



A nice father son moment. S had a blast running around avoiding the water and digging.

Cafe Press

I love my order from This One's for The Girls. Cafe Press promptly sent my 3 T-shirts and hat and I look forward to wearing them this weekend!!!

Check out the merchandise! It supports a wonderful cause.

Dyson ROCKS!

I took advantage of the great advice I received when I lamented the passing of my Dyson hose, and ordered a new part. I was reluctant to order it because I was afraid it would be too hard to fix and I just wouldn't do it. I assumed there would be complicated instructions to follow.

Imagine my surprise when I opened the box and there were NO INSTRUCTIONS! Thankfully I looked at the part before I flipped. I fixed the hose with a snap. Ok, make that 2 snaps: One to get the hose off and one to pop the hose on. I remain in love with my Animal. And yes, I picked it out because it was purple, but it works great on pet hair.

Oedipus has nothing on my son

Last night my son asked if he could put his tongue in my mouth. When I said "no", he asked if I would put my tongue in his mouth. I have no idea what to do with this.

Big feet

I am searching the web to track down new sneakers. Sneaker shopping should be easy, right? Try finding size 12 at a reasonable price. I think with my last order, I wiped out my cheap source of New Balance 844. Right now every store I can find with 12s in stock are asking the full price of $105. I know I can get them for $75 and free shipping!!!! Since these are last year's model, they should be trying to sell them cheaply to make way for the 845s!!!!

Dekorating

On Saturday we went to an orchard outside of Princeton to celebrate Apple Days. The kids had a blast and we bought apple cider donuts. The Daisy Jug band was playing. I think we have been following them for over 20 years - yikes! After a wonderful afternoon, we ended up at Europa for a wonderful meal. My in laws took the kids home (silence!) and my mother sent home fall decorations.

Sunday rolled around and I walked 8.5 miles, watched Evita, did some laundry and lounged around until it was time to pick the kids up. Since the Eagles were playing, hubby couldn't leave the house. I took them down to Willey Farms so I could get some real apples (really, it didn't occur to me to pick some at the orchard). By the time we got home, it was time for dinner and baths. Trinks was upset there was no time to decorate.

Monday morning, Trinks springs from her bed, gets dressed in record time, sticks her head in my room to tell me she's going to get her breakfast so she can decorate. After a quick bowl of cereal, she ran outside and rearranged the porch countless times until it looked just right. I thought it was cute. After school, I went through her backback and found an essay she wrote about "dekorating" the porch. Each section of the decorations have meaning and she named all of the pumpkins. Some days I wish I could peek into the future to see what she will be in 20 years. It's going to be fun watching that unfold.

The economy

This is in part a reaction to some posts at Nothing Knew and a post I have been playing around with. My post was decidedly whiny, so I never published it.

The economy sucks. I work for a Big Financial Company (BFC) and I know this first hand. The sight of the Lehman employees leaving with their boxes haunts me and threw me into a funk last week. Hubby and I are relatively safe right now, but cost cutting is a huge focus at work. We are also collapsing systems and reducing redundant employees. That means they decide if I am more important than my colleagues in the mid west. Who ever gets paid the least and can uphold quality the best gets to stay. Getting paid the least is my specialty, so I may dodge another bullet.

So what is my reaction? Aside from last week when I flipped out (rule of thumb - when the economy sucks this bad DO NOT CHECK YOUR 401(k). You will go crazy), we have started cutting our expenses drastically. Any alleged luxury is on it's way out. I have my eye on cutting Netflix and would love to get rid of cable. I will be outvoted on the cable (can't get rid of the sports) and Netflix means we don't have to take the kids to the movies. But cutting simple things seems to work. No more juice boxes. I cancelled the paper. Granted I was pissed at the lousy service, but I was able to cut $18 a month and I hardly miss it. I can get my For better of For Worse online. I convinced the kids to choose simple costumes for Halloween. S will be Thomas the Tank again and Trinks will be a Kung Foo girl. I drink cheap coffee. I reuse some zip top bags. Hubby and I carpool (except when the economy forces him to work until 8 PM) and pack our lunches. We joined the library and now I don't feel like we need to buy Scholastic books every month.

Two of my favorite websites offer advice and ideas. Get Rich Slowly is about a guy who got out from under debt and learned how to save money in the process. He covers a bunch of topics and seems down to earth. Another one site I visit is The Dollar Stretcher. This is update weekly and runs from stories from the incredibly frugal to sound financial advice about debt and savings. I'm not ready to make my own laundry detergent, but washing everything (except linnens) in cold water with half the detergent helps save money. I've also started cutting the dryer sheets in half. It doesn't make a difference.

A third site, Saving Dinner, is a valuable resource for menu planning. When we plan menus, we save money. The kids get involved so they feel like they are part of the dinner process. We've tried food I never thought we would like. Leanne Ely, the Dinner Diva at Saving Dinner is a wonderful down to earth woman. I met her a few years ago in Baltimore at a Flyfest. A Flyfest is a Flylady event. A Flylady is someone who rescues you from your perfection and gives you your life back.

So I have rambled on a bit, but I don't think it's as whiny as my first couple of drafts. I hope everyone is able to stay afloat until this mess passes. And I hope my 401(k) recovers before I retire.

This will knock your socks off

If you know my mother, you know she's really smart. Sometimes, however, she tries to disguise her intellegence. If you've ever seen her try to download pictures to Walgreens, you would know what I am talking about. Complete and utter failure. Ok - bad example. She was trying to send 1200 pictures to be printed in an hour and I think the system collapsed. But my mother and digital pictures are a prime example of my mother being overwhlemed by technology. But wait until you hear this!

My mother will be teaching the staff at her hospital how to e-mail using hyper links. Seriously. My mother learned how to do this and the tech people thought she learned it so well she could teach everyone else how to do it. I am impressed.

Prayers for Kathi, please

Kathi had a second lumpectomy and the doctor didn't get all the cancer again. Apparently the live cancer is really hard to see. Once the cancer dies, it calcifies and then it can be seen. Right now she is facing some tough choices as her next steps. I know she'll be fine, but this process is pretty tough.

This One's for the Girls

On the 9 month anniversary of Karen's death, I think it's appropriate to advertise the opening of the This One's for the Girls store. If you purchase any item from this store, the profits will go to the Breast Cancer 3 Day team, This One's for the Girls.

Not only is the product a fundraiser, but it's darn cute. How did we get to the point of opening a store? Very easy. I can't design T-shirts. If I could, they would be really ugly and wouldn't arrive for another month. I asked Felise if she knew what to do. That was last Friday morning. By Friday afternoon, not only had she designed a T-shirt (way better than the one I imagined), but she set up the store with various products. AWESOME! She is truly talented. My only regret is she doesn't get to wear our T-shirt at the walk since she is one of the wonderful crew people who take care of us walkers.

Good bye to an old friend

The poor sneakers have been used past the natural end of their life. The last straw was today at lunch when they shredded the bottom of my really ugly feet during a 3.5 mile walk. Buh-bye! I abused these sneakers and they took as much as they could. I feel badly throwing them out. I heard Nike collects old sneakers to make playground mulch. Maybe I can do that.

Shameless request

As you know, I am gearing up for the Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk. This is no ordinary walk in the park, and the biggest hurdle is mental. I was an emotional basketcase last year, and I'm sure I'll be again. What really helped me was getting a stack of mail. I think I got more mail than anyone else out there. So now I am asking you to send me, and my team, mail. Here are the details:

Send letters to:
Breast Cancer 3-Day Camp Post Office
ATTN: INSERT NAME OF PARTICIPANT
P.O. Box 609
Montgomeryville, PA 18936-0609

Envelopes only, please. No boxes or large packages. Mail must be postmarked no later than October 7th in order to ensure delivery at the Breast Cancer 3-Day Camp Post Office. Any mail that is not retrieved by the walker by November will be destroyed.

And in case you are a smart ass like my father - INSERT NAME OF PARTICIPANT means putting MY NAME, or MY TEAMMATE'S names on that line.

I hit my fundraising minumum

Go me!! Actually, huge thanks to the people who donated. I knew I was $95 short before I left for Chicago. When I got home, I signed on to see when next year's walk is and noticed I had 100% on my site! I started crying - it's just so emotional to know that I raised $2,200! My plan is to walk until I have raised $17,000 - a thousand dollars for each year I knew Karen. Last year I raised $3,500, so I have a few more years of walking.

It's not a fruit

My son says "Li-berry". Does anyone remember the animated bookworm movie from the late seventies/early eighties? I've always had them in my brain about the correct pronunciation of library. I should check out You Tube. It's probably out there.

But in spite of bad pronunciation, we had a blast at the library. I discovered my card has been inactive so long that I needed a new one. Both kids complained that it took too long, but it was all completed in well under 10 minutes. And then they made a mad dash to the .... computer???? Trinks picked out a rare Junie B Jones she didn't have and then tore over to the open computer near her brother.

I was like a kid in a candy store. All my friends were there! Jonathan Kellerman, Janet Evanovich, Patricia Mott Davidson, the Alpine series lady, Suze Orman, Roald Dahl, Lyle, Lyle Crocodile - every one was there and I had to choose only a select few to come home with me. Kellerman, Evanovich, Motts Davidson, and Orman made the cut. I already finished Evanovich - it was a Stephanie Plum in between the series books. Boy am I glad I didn't buy it - I finished it in about 2 hours. Now I'm on to Suze Orman so I can get the Courage to be Rich. Didn't think you needed courage to be rich. I always thought you needed money to be rich, but I look forward to being educated.

I got James and the Giant Peach for the kids as well as a bunch of other interesting looking books. We read Lyle, Lyle Crocodile last night and started James and the Giant Peach. Even hubby got into it. He didn't get any books, though.

Bad news

When I called hubby from the airport to let him know I was about to board, he hit me with, "I have some bad news." He proceeded to tell me the TV in our room broke. Big deal - I can handle that! S loses the TV in his room that never should have stayed in there, so there is no impact.

Today came the REALLY bad news. The AC is broken. It won't turn on. It turns out the safetly thing that was wired to the condensation pump 2 months ago worked and we have to replace the condensation pump instead of the whole shebang. GREAT! And the whole thing may not last another 2 years like we were hoping. Fun.

Chicago - in pictures

Here is the view from my awesome room.



And here is my awesome room. I bet you can't see the iPod alarm clock thing. I enjoyed playing with that!



A night view from my room.



A rainy view from my room.



And proof I got out and walked really far before realizing I had to walk back. Oops! Just for a reference point, I started on the OTHER SIDE of the tall buildings.

Piano Man is truly timeless

I think I was a little older than Trinks when I first heard Piano Man. I loved it instantly. Tonight I had to return to work with both kids to pick up hubby who had to work late (read the business news. Not great stuff for BFCs). Of course he only has to work late on days we carpool. But I digress. I played some High School Musical 2 for Trinks and S started whining it wasn't fair that he didn't get his music. I stepped out of character (which would involve me making the situation VERY unfair)and let hubby decide what music to play since I was driving. He chose Piano Man. We arrived home well before the song ended and the four of us sat in the car singing Piano Man at the top of our lungs. Then we leapt out of the car so we could watch Tiny Toons as part of movie night.

Seafood Scott

Trinks really likes her Kung Fu classes. Hubby asked her to show him some moves and tell us more about her class. She started out by saying, "Seafood Scott tells us..." Whatever followed was lost because we were laughing so hard. The correct term is Sifu.

A little yellow bird, with a pretty yellow bill....

And nope! Not going to finish that song. If you have forgotten the words, contact hubby.



This goldfinch was so engrossed in eating the thistle that he didn't notice me slip my camera from my pocket to snap the shot.

If there is a bomb on board...

I didn't think you were allowed to use the word "bomb" in an airport. But I learned that in the event there is a bomb on board, the extra blankets and pillows will be used to cusion the impact to the rest of the plane. That would be why you can't move them to fit your oversized piece of luggage, lady, so sit down and stuff it under your seat. And no, it wasn't me. I had a sensible backpack that was barely filled and the deadliest of weapons I had with me were a small nail clipper I used to cut embroidery thread when I cross stitched.

Overall I have to say that flying has become easier than it was a couple of years ago. Even clearing security in Philly was a breeze this time. I usually wait forever to be abused by the nasty TSA officers. This time they were nice AND efficient. I waited 30 seconds to get through. Terminal E in Philly is a scant 1/10 mile long. How do I know this? I was bored since I cleared security so fast and wanted to get some miles in before I took off. I ended up walking 2 miles before I got too dizzy to continue.

Even my luggage came off the plane quickly. I didn't even have to wait 5 minutes before my luggage came off the conveyor belt. Perhaps this does not bode well for the Bahamas trip in three weeks.

Sweet Sanity

I am about to leave for four whole days in my favorite city, Chicago. Although I will be in a tax conference for 8 hours each day, I am really looking forward to some ME time. Don't get me wrong. I love my family and I will miss them desperately, but it is nice to have no responsibilities for a little while. And I know that all the important things will be handled while I'm gone, so I don't even worry about it. The only thing I have to worry about is where I am dining each night.

In another month and a half, I may even get to go on a midwest tour, including Houston, Chicago and NYC. I know NYC isn't part of the midwest, but it will be included. And if it's scheduled when I am told it will be, I will have to vote on paper again. Wa-hooooo!!!!

Ms Alice

My favorite teacher at daycare died this week. Ms Alice was a sweet woman who loved children. She had a 45 year career in banking before retiring three years ago. She was the perfect teacher. Kids loved her because she knew what they needed, whether it was a gentle correction, a hug, or a nice long rock to soothe a crying baby. She will be missed!

Tumble

If you have ever watched my favorite show Jon and Kate plus 8, you may have seen the episode when Kate gets the Tumblebus for the kids. Our daycare schedules the Tumblebus one day every week. For an extra fee (nothing is ever free, right?), your child can attend a half hour lesson. I've been looking at this option for S because he needs a physical activity, but I am reluctant to run him around town right now. I've been feeling guilty because Trinks was dancing at this age, but there seems to be no reasonably priced alternatives for S.

Starting next week, S will join the Tumblebus. The staff brought the bus to school for a sample. I got on with S and he proceeded to do 3 flips on the rings with no assistance. I think he's ready!!!

Return to dance

Dance started again! I wasn't too stressed because there was actually time to pick the kids up, shove dinner down their throats, dress Trinks, and head off to ballet - actually making it there early. Now that the girls are getting older, dance is getting serious. Some of Trinks' friends made the dance team this year and they seem to live at the studio. I think that's too much for me right now, but good for them. I'm just happy I have been able to keep up for 5 years.

I checked out the Dollar Store, updated my calendar, and made some phone calls. I think it can work at this new location. Even better, I figured out how to deal with the 20 minutes of reading that Trinks has to complete every night. Since we won't get home until 8:30, it just can't happen on Tuesdays. Being read to counts, so I downloaded Anne of Green Gables to my iPod to listen to on the trip home. I love this book and hope she does to. Chapter 1 isn't that exciting, but I think next week the good stuff will start. And then maybe we can go to Prince Edward Island to see L. M. Montgomery's house. I know - everything turns into a vacation idea. I was in PEI in 1984 and had a blast exploring the island and the L.M. Montgomery house.

A totally awesome day at Longwood

"Totally Awesome" is the favorite phrase of S these days. Most of the time he loves everything and it's either wonderful or AWESOME!, or totally awesome. We started out early this AM and noticed that the extra lane on 95 N is finally open! S pronounced it really awesome, although he doesn't understand the impact to traffic. We finally made it to Longwood after the millionth time he said he could see it - good eyes, buddy, but we were about 15 miles away the first time he said it. It seemed a bad sign when he begged to be carried in the parking lot, but he gained a lot of energy after we entered.





Our plan was to see some treehouses and then head to the vegetable garden. So the kids headed off to in the general direction of my favorite treehouse. The beautiful flower gardens were buzzing with bees! The good news is ever since Trinks got stung by a yellow jacket on vacation, she doesn't seem to be terrified of bees. She is healthfully cautious, but she knows it's not the end of the world to get stung. We ended up looking for fish and trying to see if the tadpoles we saw in the spring grew up. Guess what? They did. After grabbing a snack, we hit the hide and seek garden. That's not the name of it, but we end up playing hide and seek every time we are there. Then it was time for the musical fountain show - Sousa marches with a fountain display. S was literally sitting on the edge of his chair applauding every movement. The rest of us enjoyed it, but he really got into it.



The fountains would have been the high point for S if we hadn't run into his best friend on the way to the veggies.



THOMAS IS AT LONGWOOD!!!! This set is proof that you don't have to grow up. At one point, S was chasing trains - he was too excited to stand still. Trinks enjoyed it for a little bit, but she wasn't as into as S. She loves the veggie garden because of the playhouse and teepees and was anxious to get moving. The veggie garden is my ultimate dream. When I see it, I believe it is possible for me to have a garden just a beautiful. Yup. Me. The one who has killed at least one mint plant and has a great start on killing another. It's fun to dream, right?



The kids were sufficiently exhausted when we left. We ate lunch at our favorite haunt - Buckley Tavern and had a lovely lunch on the front porch. Then real life invaded and we had to get ready for the rest of the week. Ugh! At least it's a short week and then I hit Chicago for a couple of days.