Dave's Holiday

Dave's company shuts down between Christmas and New Year's (Jan. 5th, actually) each year so he gets paid vacation without having to use vacation days...yea!!!! Anyway, this is how he's been spending his vacation time so far this year...working hard at home.

Merry Christhmuth!

Merry Christhmuth everybody! In honor of Peter losing his two front teeth shortly before the holidays................................ummm, yeah, I don't know how to finish that sentence. It's Christmas morning and I'm running on only a few hours of sleep here, people! Here's a picture...
I'm going to take a nap! A Christhmuth nap.

Gingerbread mayhem

We made this gingerbread house over the weekend. This year I bought a GIANT gingerbread house kit. It actually says GIANT on the box. Usually we make a "regular" size gingerbread house, which is minuscule compared to this monstrosity. Anyway, since all three kids work together to decorate it (ie, load it up with as much candy as possible), I thought it might be easier if the house was bigger. The only dilemma now is that it is HUGE and we have no place to display it. Did I mention that it is HUGE?! Anyway, the kids had fun and did a great job on it, with a little help from us.
Did anyone notice my tablecloth? I know it doesn't look super cool in this picture but it is actually very pretty. I'd been wanting a Christmas tablecloth for awhile and finally broke down and bought one this year. It has beautiful poinsettia detailing around the edges.
Anyway, we've been using it for a couple of weeks now and I started to throw it in the washing machine yesterday. I read the washing instructions, just in case, and noticed that it said, "Do Not Launder" "Spot Clean Only". WHAT?! I bought a tablecloth that can't be washed? Oi...it never occurred to me that there would be such a thing as a tablecloth that couldn't be laundered.

I guess I'll spot clean it and then after Christmas maybe I can have it dry cleaned...This new tablecloth is getting
expensive!

Update...

If you haven't read my post below "This is not gonna work" then please update yourself before continuing.

UPDATE: Dave took the kids sledding while I sit home and sip cocoa with gingersnaps! YEA! OK, not really on the cocoa and gingersnaps...I made some chocolate candies so that's what I'm snacking on. And I think I'm supposed to be preparing something for dinner tonight. I might get busy on that. Any minute now. Soon. Maybe.

Also, I have all my Christmas cards (the ones I'm not emailing) signed, sealed, stamped, and...sitting on my kitchen table. I couldn't put them in the mailbox because it was full of snow for some reason. Hmmm...wonder how that could've happened?
Earlier this week, Caleb sang in a Holiday concert at school. I couldn't go because I had to work and no one told me about this until 2 hours before...and also because I don't really love Caleb at all. (At least that what he said). He was joking. I think.

ANYWAY, I begged him to wear nicer, dressed up clothes. Nothing too fancy, just maybe a shirt with a collar, with some buttons, anything. He vehemently refused. He said the concert was about Frosty the Snowman and Frosty wanted the children to be "fun and fancy-free" and it would be a contradiction for him to change his clothes to fancy ones. I told him all the other kids would be dressed up. The girls would have dresses on and the boys would look nice. He acted like I had no idea what I was talking about and assured me that what he was wearing was just fine.

At least from afar, you can't see the holes in his t-shirt. But you can definitely see from this picture that "one of these is not like the other". If you don't believe me, click on it and see it up close. He's the only one wearing a t-shirt. A bright orange t-shirt with lots of holes. Appropriately, his shirt says, "WARNING: I'M NOT LISTENING". To be honest, I didn't make a big deal out of it. I've learned by now to choose my battles carefully. And besides, I wasn't there; I was at work!

This is not gonna work...

OK, so since I'm so behind in blogging, I just keep putting it off 'cuz there's no way I can catch up. I just can't find the time to sit down and tell you all about my trip to Chicago, my trip to the Zumba convention in Orlando, Grandpa Capener's visit here and our jaunt to Six Flags, our friend's visit (Judd) and our excursion to the apple orchard, or just recently, Peter's 7th birthday and my friend Nichole's visit and our gallavanting around NYC the entire weekend...including a fun off-Broadway show. You see, I think it just feels like way too much to write about and so I keep putting it off. So what I'm gonna do is start with what's going on right now and then maybe I can gradually go backwards and fill in the blanks. And I have some great pictures of all that, too!

So...right now...we've just had a big snowstorm. The kids got out of school early yesterday (Friday). I thought it was ridiculous that the schools already decided to close early before the snow even STARTED falling. In fact, they decided almost 12 hours before it even started falling. But they knew a lot more than me, because when it DID start falling (about 2 hours before school let out early) it DUMPED snow. Fast. Everywhere. Luckily Dave had already arranged to take the day off of work because he would've had a heck of a time getting home from NYC. They practically closed the freeway by us it was so bad. Caleb and Peter played outside in the snow for hours on end. I sipped cocoa and ate gingersnaps (my new favorite combination) while Sam (becoming a typical teenager) lounged in his room and slept off and on.

We still have lots of snow today and if possible, it is even colder. Which means the kids are going to bug us ENDLESSLY until we take them sledding. I bought them a snowboard at a garage sale this summer which they've been DYING to try out. I don't mind taking them sledding. It's the sitting there in the freezing cold that I'm not so excited about. There's gotta be a better way. Maybe if I could build a little portable shack to carry around with me...and it's not like I can just leave them there. Inevitably someone gets hurt or gets a snowball in the face and needs their mom for a few minutes. Hmmm, I wonder if I could find a teenager I could PAY to take them sledding...I'll have to give that some thought.

The only other thing going on is that while I was online yesterday morning shopping for Christmas presents to send to family in Texas and Utah (hey, better late than never), I got a call from my credit card company. They wanted to verify "suspicious" charges on my card from the day before. They asked if I'd tried to use it in NYC at a Red Lobster for $114. I'm sure they thought this was VERY suspicious since I'm sure they know I DON'T eat seafood. They had declined the charge. That's how much I DON'T eat seafood; they knew to decline it. hehehe Anyway, I said no, we didn't use our card at Red Lobster yesterday. Then they asked about over $2,000 charged at an American Greetings store and over $1,200 at Duane Reed (like RiteAid), both in NYC. I said, no way, we didn't do any of that. (Although, for a moment I did wonder if Dave had gone loopy and spent a LOT of money on my Christmas present(s)). Anyway, long story short, someone used our card all over NYC this week and had a grand ol' time. Both of our cards are still in our wallets so I'm not sure how you can walk into a store and use a credit card that you don't have, only the numbers? But apparently it's possible. So now our card is canceled and they are re-issuing a new account. And I'm too scared to purchase anything online now so Merry Christmas everybody! You're getting a whole lot of nothin' from us this year! Unless I can buy something local and ship it myself. But that would involve leaving my warm house, cocoa, and gingersnaps to drive on the partially closed icy freeway. But hey, it's the thought that counts, right?!?!
Oh, and here's a picture I just discovered on my camera that I knew nothing about.

It appears to be the wall in my dining room. With a pencil stuck in it. Hmmm, wonder how that could have happened? Then I found an accompanying video which I won't bore you with but it consisted of Caleb saying in the background, "You really shouldn't have thrown that pencil, Peter." And then it goes on to be a lengthy discussion/argument over WHO the pencil belongs to. As if that mattered...oh, and some talk about how mom is gonna flip out when she finds out. Funny, no one remembered to tell me about this...

Kids and Santa

After last year's Santa debacle with Caleb, which you can read about here, I thought I'd throw in this cute video. I love the pics where the kids are actually reaching out to the camera, "Help me! Somebody please HELP ME!!!!" I also love the ones where Santa looks a little freaked out, too. hehehe

I'm trying, I really am

My Dad called today wondering if my arms were broken and that's why I haven't updated my blog in so long. I can't blame him; I am really behind. The problem is I just have SO much to share with you people that I haven't had time to sit and write it all down. But I'm gonna try. I really am. Just not right now. hehe
Today is Peter's 7th birthday and I am SO on top of things and organized that I just yesterday called a couple of his friends and said, "Hi, tomorrow is Peter's birthday. Can you come over for ice-cream?" So...that's the extent of his birthday celebration this year, unfortunately. I'm not sure how last year I was able to throw him a huge homemade party despite the fact that I was recovering from knee surgery at the time...maybe because I wasn't working? Anyway, wish me luck tonight and here's the picture that didn't make it into our Christmas card. I left the red eyes in, too, for dramatic effect. Click on it if you want to get up close and personal.

Alamo Rental commercial

I find this commercial hysterical. It makes me giggle every time! The girl reminds me of so many of my friends. I must like to surround myself with funny, quirky people. Hmmm, kinda like me?!

Way Way Way Behind...

Iknow I am WAY behind on my blog. I'm gonna catch you guys up REAL soon, I promise! But right now I'm on my new Blackberry and I'm curious to see if it's really possible to blog from a Blackberry.Let's try it!

Laundry finds

As parents, we all find interesting things when we remove clothes from the washing machine. I don't mind it too much. It's no big deal, right?

I usually find stuff like this:

















And this:



















I have no idea what that blue circle is. That's what makes doing laundry so EXCITING.



I really like finding this:


















I consider it a tip for all my hard work.

What I DON'T like is finding stuff like this:



















































Uh, yeah. That's Sam's cellphone. The one Santa brought him last year. The one that I use to keep track of him (and Caleb, at times). The one that helps me feel a little more relaxed and less neurotic.
Just in case you were wondering, cellphones are not machine washable. I repeat, NOT machine washable. They are dry clean only. Apparently.

Strangely, I also found this recently:






























And this:























Weird, huh?

OK, so not really. I may have actually purchased these recently and just wanted to show them to you all. I LOVE them! But I must say, it was an accident that I bought two purses, or as they say here in Jersey...pocketbooks. I had no intention of buying a new handbag that day but one of them just reached right out of the aisle and jumped onto my shoulder. They wouldn't let me leave the store without paying so what was I to do?

And the second one? Well, it looked like a fraternal twin of the first one and I couldn't separate them, right? That would just be cruel. Everyone knows fraternal twins shouldn't be separated.

OK, so really, I couldn't decide on which one. I planned to take one back after I got home. I stopped by a friend's house to ask her opinion. She liked them both and was ready to steal the silver one right out from under me! Her 6 yr. old daughter loved them both, too, and suggested I keep them both. I didn't want to hurt a 6 yr. old's feelings, you know? So I "accidentally" removed the tags from both and now they are non-returnable. Oops.

Dave knows about the first one...but not the second one.
Oops. I guess he knows now.

For those of you who may think these bags are a little "bling"...you don't live in Jersey. You don't understand what it's like here. I also wear rhinestones on my hats and shirts. I wear shiny lip gloss and today, no kidding, I swear I used the hair dryer and some hairspray at the same time! I guess I'm turning into a Jersey Girl! Eeeeek!

New trick

I know I'm WAY behind on blogging...there's been a lot going on! To hold you over, here's a video of Caleb's new trick. This was like two weeks ago and it's amazing how the leaves are all changed now. You will also see Peter raking leaves. He thought this was really fun but now that we have LOTS of leaves to rake, he's not really into it. :-(

Chicago, Chicago!!!!!

OK! I'm off to Chicago to spend the weekend with 3 beloved high school friends. (Sorry you can't come this time, Nichole. I promise we won't have ANY fun without you)! High school, for us, was you know, like only 5 or 6 years ago so it hasn't been that long since we were Seniors...pretty much...more or less...

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to just relaxing and catching up with friends. I have been so busy with work and such that I can barely see straight. Speaking of Seniors, the other day I was dashing through BJ's (that's our version of Sam's Club) to buy some much needed staples and I grabbed a bottle of vitamins since mine had run out. I usually get the BJ's brand of women's daily vitamins. So I've been taking them for a few days and today I noticed they looked a little different. I grabbed the bottle and looked closely. This is what I saw:

I don't know what Lycopene is but I'm sure it's harmless. For Seniors. What you can't see is the other side of the label that says "Compare to Centrum Silver". Great. AND there are like 350 tablets in the bottle so it'll take me almost a year to finish them off and buy the right vitamins. Oh wait! Dave's dad is coming to visit in 2 weeks. Maybe he knows some Seniors...the "other" kind of Seniors...

Oh man, I need a vacation!

Best Diet Plan Ever!

My friend, Kyle, sent this video to me. I hope none of you take offense at it. I thought it was hysterical. As a personal trainer, we come up with all kinds of ways for people to lose weight but really, it's very very simple. It all always boils down to this:

Back to school...almost 4 weeks ago!

OK, OK, OK, I know it's been four weeks since I've blogged. It's not that I've forgotten...life is just so darn busy! Right? You know how I feel...busy busy busy. SO...

The kids started back to school on Sept. 3rd...after Labor Day. The big deal this time is that Sam started middle school. Freaked me out. Completely. I almost totally lost it. Well, not quite, but almost. Here he is on the first day of school as I was dropping him off. Just one hour before my nervous breakdown. I don't know why he's squinting like that. Did he know I was going to lose it? More about that later...




Here's Caleb starting his first day of 4th grade. Boy, was he ever so excited to have me take his picture. Can you tell? Can you feel his enthusiasm? And don't think for a second he let me give him a kiss or hug. After I snapped his picture he gave me a quick wave as he turned around and mumbled, "C'ya later".
"What?!" I called after him, "No kiss or hug good-bye?!"
As he quickly scrambled away, he glanced back with a look of horror and his eyes rolling at the same time. You know that look. Picture eyes rolling into the back of his head with a horrified expression at the same time. Yeah, that's all I got for hours of painfully induced non-epidural labor.



Here's Peter. Such a cutie on his first day of 1st grade. He's the only one who let me kiss and hug him good-bye so he gets to be called a cutie in this post. Notice his shirt says: Help Wanted, do my homework. 'Cause you know, first graders have SO much homework. And it's all so hard. All that calculus and statistics and what-not.
The good news is that all 3 kids are in school all day now! Yea! Woo hoo! The day I've been waiting for for so many years!
But where the heck does the time go? I swear, after I teach a class or two, or three, I have time to run home, take a shower, eat lunch, check my email and then it's time to go pick up the kids! Where's the justice? But enough about me...on to my nervous breakdown. Oh yeah, that's about me, too.


So the traffic in and out of the middle school (which is also connected to the high school) is completely insane. It's backed up forEVER in both directions. There is NO way to get Sam dropped off and then get the other 2 to their school on time. SO. Other parents told me about a back entrance where you drive around the back of the school and drop off at a dead end street. They said there's a little wooded path that leads right to the back entrance of the middle school. Cool. I'm all for it. Or so I thought.

I easily found the dead end street and the wooded path. I couldn't quite see the school through the woods but I was sure it was there. I take Sam's picture, wish him well, and off he goes through the forest. I drive away with the other 2 kids and think all is well. THEN...my mind started racing. What if I dropped him off at the wrong place? What if he got lost in the woods? What if some high school kids are smoking dope in the woods and offer him some? Or worse, what if they steal his milk money?

I told myself that these were all completely irrational thoughts and that Sam was probably sitting in his homeroom just fine. I took Caleb and Peter to their school and did the whole picture thing while telling myself that Sam was just fine. He was fine. I'm sure he's just fine, right? I relayed my worries to one or two other moms at the elementary school who, of course, reassured me that he was probably just fine.

Well, I lasted exactly one hour and then I couldn't take it anymore. I knew I was going to worry myself sick all day until I knew Sam was safely in school. With his milk money.
So I called the school. I didn't want to, but I had to. I just had to. I navigated through the automated answering options to get the secretary. Our conversation went like this:
Sec.: "Middle school office..."

Me: "Hi, I'm really sorry to bother you. I'm sure you're very busy today...and I'm really embarrassed to be calling you...but I'm a first time middle school parent and I'm freaking out because I let my son walk alone a little ways to school today and now I'm worrying about whether or not he got there OK..."

Sec.: she chuckles politely and makes reassuring sounds...

Me: "So...if he wasn't there, you guys would like call me or something, right? I mean, you take attendance and all, right?"

Sec.: "Certainly, we take attendance right away and if a child is absent we always call the middle school parents first."

Me: "Oh, OK. So, he's probably there and he's probably just fine...right?"

Sec.: "Oh I'm sure he's just fine. Not to worry."

pause...
pause...
pause...

Me.: "Yeah, I know I just worry too much. He's probably totally fine. Right? He's fine, don'tcha think? There's no reason to worry...he's probably fine. Right?"

pause...
longer pause...

Sec.:in a sweet but slightly exasperated tone "Why don't you give me his name and homeroom teacher's name and I will check on it. If there is a problem I will call you."

Me: in a much relieved tone "Oh, gee, that would be SO great! Thank you so much!"

I never got a call so I assumed that all was well. Whether or not she really checked on him...well, we'll never know. I never told Sam any of this...he knows I already worry too much. If I told him this story he wouldn't be surprised at all but I don't want him to know, yet.
A week or so later I was talking to another middle school parent who said that her son was a minute or two late to homeroom and was marked as absent. The office did call home to alert the parents...2 1/2 hrs. LATER! Geez, that's a long time! This kid's mom was like, "WHAT?! My kid isn't there?! I dropped him off over 2 hours ago?" So then they had to go find him and make sure he was indeed in school. Talk about a heart attack. She worries too much, though. She should definitely see a therapist about that...
FYI, I walked the wooded path myself to see how it was. It's like maybe 30 yards long and there were lots of kids walking through it. After the first day/nervous breakdown, I would make Sam call me after he walked through and reached the school. Now I'm feeling OK with the whole thing and don't make him call me anymore. Whew! Baby steps. (For me).

Behind-The-Scenes Look at Live TV

Or, My Zumba Appearance on Good Day New York and How Anything Can Go Wrong on Live TV.

OK, OK, so it wasn't that bad. Probably the hardest part was being up 'til 12:30am (had to get my bag ready; had to wash my hair; had to take 3 different outfits with me "just in case") and then getting up at 4:30am to make myself TV-ready and catch the bus at 5:30am.
I took the subway from the bus station to the upper east side. By then it was starting rush hour and the subway was getting full. I squeezed into the subway train and actually saw a sliver of open seating in between two men. I plunked myself down and squeezed my tush in between them. Despite being crowded and packed in like cattle, I noticed it was strangely quiet. Almost eerie. I guess that's normal? Everyone was quietly staring at their shoes or into blank space for the whole ride. I actually cracked myself up by just imagining myself (after squeezing into my seat) turning to the men beside me and saying loudly, "HI! My name is Shelley! What's your name?" That would've startled the heck out of them and everyone else! I didn't do it for two reasons.
1) I couldn't have done it with a straight face...or maybe even without bursting into fits of hysterical laughter (I was experiencing some nervousness due to the t.v. appearance)...and...
2) Someone would have reported me. Reported me to whom, you ask? I dunno, but to someone. There's those signs all over the subway that say "If you see a suspicious package or activity on the platform or train, do not keep it to yourself. Tell a Police Officer or an MTA employee. Remain alert and have a safe day." I'm sure someone would've reported that as suspicious behavior and I would've been cuffed and taken into custody. Then I would've missed the t.v. appearance. So, I kept my funny little joke to myself and just quietly chuckled under my breath. And stared at my shoes.

I arrive at the Fox 5 Studio and meet up with the other instructors. Most of them I know well but one or two were new to me. We go up to the Green Room where there are some super skinny (and I mean skinnnnnnnny) models and a couple of guys with guitars. We review the steps with the music that the Zumba office gave us and the Fox 5 people to make sure we're all in sync with each other, etc. In the meantime, a woman comes into the green room and starts gushing all over one of the guys with the guitars. She's saying what a huge fan she is and how she has all his tapes (she's actually waving tapes in front of his face) and gets his autograph and picture. We all start looking at each other like, who the heck IS that guy, and maybe we should be gushing and getting our picture taken, too?!? We eventually figure out that it's Richard Marx (blast from the 80's) and we do take a picture with him. He was really nice. And he's cut his hair since then...


When it's our turn, they take us into the studio and hook microphones up to 2 of the guys. Meanwhile, I watch Mike Woods do the weather in front of a giant green screen and gloat to myself for just a minute since I know half the women in NY and NJ watch Fox 5 news just because they have a crush on this weatherman. I'll admit he is a handsome man, and very very tall. We all get into our places; I pick the middle, ignorantly thinking I would be seen better if I was in the center. Unfortunately, it just meant I was standing directly behind the anchorwoman and you couldn't see me well at all. We watch the pre-taped segment (which was great!) and then they cut live and turn the cameras onto us. The anchorwoman says she's ready to see some steps. This is the cue for the Zumba music to start and for us to start a salsa step. But the music doesn't start so the anchorwoman tries to stall for a moment. The music STILL doesn't start. The other anchorwoman tries to stall for a moment. The music STILL doesn't start. It felt like an eternity.

Eduardo (our fearless leader) starts the step anyway and we all try to follow with no music. They finally did start playing some kind of music but I have no idea what it was. It wasn't our Zumba music and it wasn't salsa and it didn't really have a beat or anything. I think it might've been elevator music. It was very faint and far-away sounding. In fact, when it first started, I honestly thought it was someone's cellphone ringing! We all just kept trying to follow Eduardo and kept smiling and tried to not feel like complete idiots. At one point I completely stopped (while everyone else kept going) because I couldn't hear any music over the loud-mouth anchorwoman and they were yelling at her to wrap it up. Ugh! I jump back in and keep smiling.
The worst part is they kept toting the phrase "you can burn 1,000 calories/hr" with Zumba. The average is 600-800 calories/hr but someone somewhere once said 1,000 calories so they focused on that. And then at the end, the two anchor people behind the desk skeptically wondered out loud, "Burn 1,000 calories an hour doing THAT?!" I can't blame them. If all they had to go on was watching us shuffle our feet side to side with no music? I'd wonder if I could burn 10 calories an hour doing that! Ugh.

Oh well, hopefully it will not deter anyone from taking a class. Afterwards, Eduardo and I grabbed our bags and practically ran screaming from the building. (Strangely there were no paparrazi or fans waiting for us outside the studio). Poor Eduardo felt the same as I did, perhaps worse since he was leading. I thought he did a tremendous job given the difficult circumstances. Luckily we rode the subway together for awhile until he got off at his stop and I continued to Soho to do some shopping. That way I only had to stare at my shoes for part of the ride. ;-)

Here's the link to the Fox 5 show, in case you missed it.

Zumba on Good Day New York...Fox t.v.

Here's the link if you wanna watch. I have much to say about what actually happened behind the scenes. Now I know why LIVE t.v. is so difficult. There are no re-takes! If something goes wrong you just have to run with it...more on that later. I've been up since 4:30am; gotta go to bed!

EEEK! I'm gonna be on live tv tomorrow!

OK, most of you know that I teach a little something called Zumba. You may have heard me mention it at some time or another. wink
Anyway, I'm in the "in" crowd here, Zumba-wise and I've been asked to participate in a Zumba segment on Fox TV tomorrow morning. They're doing a spotlight on Zumba and the Zumba instructor who is heading it up at the Fox studios has invited me to be on air with them...I'm sure I'm just gonna be a backup dancer. EXCITING!!!!
I have to be at the Fox studios in NYC by SEVEN A.M. That will be a feat in and of itself...now the big question; WHAT DO I WEAR!!!!???
Oh, and now I have to wash my hair. Dangit!

Camp in the Poconos

Sam (almost 12) went away to camp this week. It was just for three days but it was a first for all of us. It was with a school group so he knew a lot of the kids there from school and it was held at a YMCA camp somewhere in Pennsylvania, in the Poconos. I don't really know what the Poconos are...mountains maybe? Anyway, I held my anxiety level down as much as possible as I'd had 6 months to get used to the idea of him going off to camp. I didn't even cry when I dropped him off at the middle school to get on the camp bus. Yea for me!

All that first evening I kept saying out loud, "Sam's fine, don'tcha think? I'm sure he's having a good time, right? He's not in a cabin full of bullies who are playing mean pranks on him, surely, right? Sam's OK, right Dave?" Poor Dave. He put up with me very well.

First thing the next morning, we get an email from the town "announcing" that there had been a tragedy the night before. A boy in our town was practicing with his recreational football team and collapsed shortly after the warm-up and died on the field. It was his 13th birthday and his mom was at home during the practice making his birthday cupcakes. Holy Cow. My heart goes out to this family. We live in a small town, relatively speaking, and everybody knows each other. Luckily we haven't lived here long enough to know this family but it has really hit the town hard.

ANYWAY, shortly after I read the email (and by shortly I mean within minutes), I get a call from the nurse at Sam's camp! I almost started hyperventilating but she immediately told me that everything was fine but that Sam had had a headache the night before and she had given him a Tylenol. They are supposed to call and ask permission first but since it was late at night she took the liberty of giving him the Tylenol and called to "report" it to us in the morning. She said that he was feeling fine now, was having a great time, and was a really nice kid. Whew!!! Crisis averted; it was only a headache.

We made it through the next two days (Caleb and Peter REALLY missed Sam; it was kinda cute) and he came home today. He had a grand time and said the days flew by. He felt like he'd only been there one day instead of three. They did all kinds of fun things: rock-climbing, canoeing, skits, survival training (building shelters), pillow fights, s'mores, etc. I don't think he missed us one bit; I don't think he had time to even think about us!

Anyway, I asked him about that first night with the headache and he has NO idea what I'm talking about. He swears up and down that he never had a headache, he never saw the camp nurse, and that he was never given any Tylenol! How weird is that? So now I'm thinking the nurse reported to the wrong parents...she distinctly said Sam's name and she even called Dave at work (when I didn't answer at first) and Dave said that she said Sam's name, too. Now I'm wondering really just how organized and professional WAS this camp? How competent IS this place? I'm gonna try not to think too much about that now. Especially since Caleb will be going there in two years. I'm sure it'll be fine...right?!?!?

August

Yeah, it's August and I'm sitting here in long pants and a sweatshirt. What's wrong with this?!?!? What ever happened to global warming? Why isn't it warm in AUGUST?!?!?

Oops...

Oops, I didn't realize how long it'd been since I blogged last! Or last blogged. Guess what?! It's almost 2am and I'm blogging! Why? 'Cause I'm crazy, that's why!

We've had a busy couple of weeks. For one, I got SICK. Had a terrible cold and am just now back on my feet. Of course, I never really realize just HOW sick I am until I start feeling better and then I'm like, "WOW, I feel so much better. I must've been really sick!"
For two, I have a new friend. Her name is Heather and she just dropped into my life out of nowhere. OK, not nowhere. She dropped in from Ireland. Seriously. Ireland. Long story short: she is from NJ, currently resides in Ireland where she has dual citizenship, she teaches Zumba and showed up in my class one day and it just went from there. She's also an Irish dancer (which explains why she resides in Ireland). If you're an Irish dancer and live in Ireland, are you called an Irish dancer or just a dancer? And what's with the whole Celtic thing? Are they different people? ANYWAY, she was here in NJ visiting family for the summer and hopping around to different Zumba classes to steal our awesome Zumba moves. ;-) It was awesome being with her as she #1 is always telling me what a wonderful instructor I am and #2 taught me a little about Irish dancing and #3 helped teach my classes while I was sick. Also, she reminded me how fun and informative it can be to go to other people's classes. Which I've been doing. Which, frankly, makes me even more tired. And as sad as I am to have her leave on Sunday and go back to Ireland, a small part of me will be relieved as maybe I can get some rest now. Did I mention she's TEN years younger than me?!

Speaking of 10 years younger than me, she taught me something else. It's called "text messaging". Or "texting" for short. She probably doesn't even have a CLUE that she taught me this! Dave has tried to get me to text him a few times and I'm like, "Ewww, no, I don't know how to do that. I don't want to do that. That's not my generation." Then one day a couple of weeks ago I'm sitting at the pool and my phone goes "bleep". I'm like, hmmm, that's a new bleeping sound. Never heard that before. So I look at it and it tells me I have a new text message. I figure out how to read the darn thing and then hit reply. I think it took me 15 minutes to type in my first reply which consisted entirely of "OK". Later, I learned they have shortcuts for such things but hey, I'm an old dog and I have no instruction manual here. I have learned that texting can come in quite handy. Say you're watching a t.v. show and you remember that you need to tell someone something but you don't really want to call them and have a whole conversation. You just text them; it's no big deal! Or maybe you just want to say Hey to someone to let them know you're thinkin' about them but you're on the way to an appointment and can't chat. You just text 'em...but not while you're driving!
Now the downside is that I don't think texting is included in our cell phone plan so I may be paying through the nose for all this 'convenience'. Cringe...

One funny thing. One day Heather and I were chatting about our own personal experiences with Beto Perez, the creator of Zumba. She mentioned being at a workshop with him in Houston last spring and that he coaxed her into dancing an Irish jig for him. As we were talking, I realized that I had SEEN that on YouTube. She was like, "What do you mean you've SEEN it?" Long story short, someone videotaped her and then posted it on YouTube and Heather had NO idea. She was completely mortified and embarrassed so I proceeded to email the YouTube link to her and everyone I know in New Jersey. Hey, that's what friends are for. And now I'm gonna post it here for your viewing pleasure! I'm such a great friend. I'm just paying her back for working me so hard these past few weeks. ;-)

Unexpected things...

On Wednesday, as I was getting ready for work, my boss called to tell me that classes were canceled for the morning. She said that, apparently, there had been a small electrical fire at the gym the night before and they were waiting for the fire marshall to come and clear the gym to re-open. She said they had no idea what time the fire marshall would decide to mosey on over so I didn't have to go to work! Wow! I was especially tired and sore that morning so this was like a miracle gift to me! At first, though, I didn't know what to do with myself. I wasn't prepared to have the morning off. Should I run some errands? Get my grocery shopping done? Clean the house? Decoupage? In the end, I spent most of the morning on the computer catching up on stuff and then I watched a movie! Nice!
Then yesterday, the UPS man brought me a huge, heavy package. I couldn't remember any of us ordering anything so I was really excited to see what it was or who it was from. It was addressed to ME, with MY name and address on it. Wow, this was exciting. And then I saw it was this:

A giant box of infant formula. The box says: Inside---two special gifts for you and your baby.
Hmmm...is there something I should know? Did I recently have a baby and then forget about it? I mean, I did once leave the house for work and forgot one kid at home and had to go back and get him. Where IS this darn baby? Was it a girl? Oh heaven help me if it was a girl. I've never had one of those...
On the flip side, I look dang good for someone who just gave birth. I would expect my chest to be a little fuller but if I'm not breastfeeding (apparently I'm using Enfamil formula) then maybe that's why I'm not lactating.

The Franklin Institute

Our last day of vacation was spent in Philly, the city of Brotherly Love. It really is a nice city. As far as historical cities to visit, it is #2, in my opinion. Only second to Boston, which is amazing.
Anyway, we spent the entire day at a science museum called the Franklin Institute. It is a hands-on museum targeted towards children, although Dave and I learned plenty of stuff, too! The downside, for me, was that it was very well air-conditioned and I was FREEZING the entire time in my t-shirt and shorts. I actually had goose bumps for about 5 hours straight, I think. Having goose bumps for that long is exhausting!

On the way into the museum, they had a guy making balloon animals, or whatever you wanted him to make. Sam got a spear.




Caleb got a, um, well...it's a "hat".







And Peter got a sword. Here he is throwing it up into the air.
Personally, I think it looks strangely like something other than a sword. But this is a G-rated blog so we won't go into that.









But I have to say, what IS it with little boys and their phallic symbols?!

p.s. Keep in mind that this was on the way INTO the museum. They had to carry (or wear) these things for the entire day!

Jersey Shore

Oi! I can't seem to get my feet back on the ground now that we're back from vacation. I've got everything washed (a.k.a. sand removal) but still have some bags yet to be unpacked. Ugh. I have just been too busy lounging by the pool all week to get anything done around here. Yeah, you heard right. Lounging by the pool. And I'm not even kidding. The kids beg me to take them to the town pool EVERY DAY. I don't actually mind taking them; it's just that I can't get anything done at home when I'm sitting by the pool all day. I know, I know. It's a hard life!

OK, so here are some pictures of the Jersey Shore. It was wonderful! Actually, the drive there wasn't great since everyone from NY, CT, PA, and NJ were headed there. But once we got there it was terrific. The condo we rented was squeaky clean and just right for us. We were right on the beach and had a small swimming pool right outside our door. The above picture was taken on the morning of July 4th. It started out sprinkly but then cleared up to become the most beautiful day ever. What you can't see in the picture is just a smidgeon above the top of Sam's head is where we saw many many dolphins swimming by. They weren't much further out than the swimmers were and they would sometimes flip up completely out of the water! It was a real treat to be able to watch them.
So right after I took the above picture, I switched to video mode to tape the kids playing around on the beach. Then the weirdest thing happened. All these guys that were running on the beach just dropped down right in front of me. See for yourself:

I'm assuming it was some sort of boot camp something or other. I caught a few of them cheating and wanted to yell at them to drop and give me 50 more...but I was on vacation and was SO trying to relax and let go...
During the video, Peter brings me the first of many many many shells that we HAD to bring home and that are still sitting untouched in a bucket in our garage almost a week later.
Caleb caught several live critters but knew he wouldn't be able to keep them. I think he knew they'd be much happier in their natural environment anyway.After a wonderful day at the beach, we ate giant ice-cream cones (after a healthy, nutritious dinner of course) and then stood in the rain waiting for 4th of July fireworks that never happened. That's OK, there's always next year. On the 5th, we headed back inland and stayed at a hotel near Philadelphia. We saw the movie Wall-E
which was really good and somewhat thought-provoking. I've noticed kid's movies nowadays are often slightly thought-provoking. When I was a kid, Disney movies mostly centered around the thought, "Gee, what would I do if my mother died?" Helloooo, you know what I'm talkin' about. Bambi. Cinderella, Snow White. Scary stuff. Anyway, it was a great movie and gave us some time out of the sun. I'll post about the next part of our trip REAL soon. I gotta go lounge by the pool again...

And the answer is...

So that you won't have to spend your holiday weekend wondering incessantly about what's in the package from China, I will tell you now. They are duck feet. Chicken feet is a good guess and in fact, Grandpa told us they were chicken feet but the package says in English on the back: pot-stewed duck paws. And if you play with the feet (still inside the package of course) and look closely, they are clearly webbed like a duck's. The description on the back reads:

Fresh duck paws are used as raw material and stewed with spice and bittern through the cooking of Sichuan dish. It is good in color, smell and taste. With tasty flavor and tender quality, it is a good leisure food for the old and the young.
Ingredients: duck paws, refined salt, rock candy, white granulated sugar, gourmet powder, flavoring, sodium nitrite, sorbic acid, trace amounts of bird flu.

OK, so I added that last part about the bird flu. But let me tell ya, these suckers feel SLIMY. No way, no how, am I opening this package! Incidentally, this company has a website if you are interested in any of their other "delicacies". They make more than just candied duck feet!

We are off to the "shore" for the holiday weekend so I am busy packing and trying to remember everything that I will eventually forget to bring with us. We are renting a beachfront condo that is furnished but we have to bring linens, toilet paper, etc. I'm making a nice list for Dave so that I can blame him if I forget anything! Nice, huh. Happy 4th of July everybody! Here's a fun activity for the kids.

Edge of your seats

OK, since you're all on the edge of your seats about the NYC milk expiration mystery, I will ease your troubled minds with the link to the answer here. Most of you have already googled the answer anyway!
Speaking of milk, it's darn expensive, isn't it?! We drink skim milk, which is luckily the cheapest of the varieties but we have recently switched to 2%. Why? That's crazy, right? It's already so expensive so why did I switch to one that costs even more than skim? Wow, yet another milk mystery for you to solve! OK, not really. I'll tell you why. I started buying 2% so I could mix a half gallon of 2% with a half gallon of powdered milk. The powdered milk dilutes the 2% milk to the consistency of skim milk (that we're used to) and luckily the 2% milk masks the "odd" flavor of the powdered milk that we're not used to. So far it has halved our milk expenditure and the kids haven't even noticed. Well, Caleb did raise an eyebrow the other day but we assured him it was okay.

And speaking of Caleb, here he is whiling away his first week of summer vacation. He claims that he hates reading but if you find the right book for this kid, he will sit for hours and read. He has read 4 books on WWII this past week and he also really enjoys books about weird facts or Ripley's Believe It Or Not type books. He also loves books about aliens and unsolved mysteries but we had to cut him off of those as they freak him out and he was sleeping in our room almost every night.

Speaking of unsolved mysteries, here's one for you. Grandpa Capener just got back from China recently. He sent a box of presents to the kids which they LOVED. An authentic dragon necklace for Sam, a stuffed panda for Peter (which he carries around everywhere, even the bathroom), and an Axis and Allies miniatures set for Caleb (which he collects and plays) that was technically "made in China". Anyway, he also sent this package of treats that he grabbed in the checkout line at the grocery store in China. Can you guess what they are?! Note to Grandpa and the Monsons: no guessing/revealing the answer! I will give you a hint: there is NO WAY we are going to eat these, much less even open the package. OK, so that wasn't really a hint. Happy guessing!I just realized it might be helpful to give you some perspective as to the size of the package. So here's a picture with a 1/2 Swiss franc. What? You don't know how big a 1/2 franc is? OK, me neither but it looks about the size of a dime to me.

Take a guess!!!

OK, now everybody play along...

I noticed on our milk containers that they say "Sell by" and then give a date. For example, our current gallon of milk reads,

"Sell by July 1".

And then underneath that it says

"in NYC sell by June 26".

What?!?! Does it spoil 5 days earlier in NYC? I don't know the reason for this phenomena but it's keeping me up at night, I tell you, keeping me UP all night long tossing and turning and worrying that my milk might actually be already spoiled and so on.
OK, not really, but I AM curious and I'm going to figure this out. In the meantime, take a guess as to why it's labeled like this and I'll reveal the answer soon!

Memorial Day Parade

On Memorial Day, Peter was invited to ride on a float with other Kindergartners in the town parade. It was actually a cute little parade. It felt very "small town" which is a funny feeling to me since we're right nextdoor to New York City. Anyway, the float's theme was "The Future of Waldwick" and was loaded with Kindergartners and their moms. I felt a little silly sitting there under the "Future of Waldwick" banner but I wanted to make sure my kid didn't fall off and get run over by the float or a wild elephant or anything. There were a few times we'd pass a group of people and someone would exclaim, "Hey, there's Shelley our Zumba instructor! Hey, Shelley! Go Zumba, woohoo!" And I would sheepishly wave back to my admiring fans. Maybe next year I'll have my own Zumba float. LOL!

p.s. Peter is in the green shirt and the kid next to him is his best friend. They are practically inseparable...he's the one that bought the blue origami shark!

Garage sale?

Peter has decided he'd like to earn some extra money by selling off some of his things. I told him we might have a garage sale this summer sometime but he does not want to wait for me to get ready. He's ready NOW. Here he's gathered a few things and is preparing them for sale. Notice the used post-it notes for 15 cents. Also, he has his used soccer ball there for $5. He originally had it listed at $10 and I told him that was way too much for a used soccer ball when you can buy a new one for $5. So he lowered the price to $5. Surprisingly, the blue origami shark (far left for 10 cents) has already sold to a friend of his who came over the other day. Dave made that for Peter awhile ago...I'm not sure how he's gonna feel about it being sold to another kid for a dime...

Domino fun

The other day, the kids worked on setting up an elaborate domino set. It went pretty well; only one section on the left side faltered. It must've taken time a very long time to set it up. I wonder what I was doing or where I was that whole time. Eating bonbons again, I guess!

YIKES!

Yikes! It's June 10th and I've been lazy at this blogging thing. Like everybody else, sometimes I just feel like I don't have anything interesting to share. So now I'll share all the somewhat uninteresting things that have been going on around here.

Back in May, I was in charge of hosting a Zumba "master class" at the YMCA where I teach. A "master class" is not with someone like me; I'm not a 'master' at anything yet but it was taught by international Zumba superstar and goddess Tanya Beardsley. She is the host of the new Zumba dvd series and she travels all over the world promoting Zumba and training instructors like myself. In the Zumba world, she is #2, second only to Beto Perez himself. Anyway, it was a lot of work to pull it off but it went swimmingly. We originally hoped at least 75 people would attend but we ended up having over 150 people! Many of them were my students and I had the luxury of dancing on-stage with Tanya for some of the program and then having my students later tell me that I was just as good, if not better than her. (Ha, they exaggerate). Here's a picture of me and Tanya after class when we're completely sweaty, gross, and makeup-less. Notice how I'm extending my neck so I don't have a double chin. Hey, she's 10 years younger than me; I gotta do what I gotta do. And on the right is a picture of me and Tanya with my friend Missy. Missy was a student of mine who I encouraged last year to go get certified in Zumba so she could sub for me! She is a pro now and can hardly ever sub for me because she has her own Zumba classes! I'm so proud of her...she has worked really hard. She and I have been scouring the area to find our own place teach Zumba out of. We haven't had much luck, except we have found a small dance studio that I am renting one day a week to teach Zumba. I've only had two classes so far but the second class had double the attendance from the first class (8 people, then 16 people at $10/each) so I think it is going to take off. It can only fit about that many people anyway so if it grows any more the 3rd week I'm gonna have to start looking for a bigger place.

I am also in the middle of renegotiating my salary at one of the local gyms where I work. It has been time consuming and stressful and I'm still waiting to see what's going to happen. It's hard because I'm already the highest paid instructor around these parts but other places are offering more than this place so I have to at least try. If it doesn't work out, it's OK because I know I'm standing up for myself and doing the right thing...even if they tell me to take a hike! Maybe that's the nudge I need anyway to find a bigger dance studio to rent. In the meantime, though, I don't think I slept a wink last night. I tossed and turned all night seeing images of my boss and the gym owner in my mind and with phrases going through my head like, "I'm worth it!" and "My proposal is more than fair!" Tonight I may just take a Tylenol pm.

Some other non-interesting things around here: the bus line that Dave takes to work everyday went on strike for a week and a half. When the strike began, we were completely clueless so poor Dave and a whole bunch of other commuters were standing out at the bus stop one morning wondering where the heck all the buses were! The whole thing was highly annoying and inconvenient because then he had to take the train which is slower, much less convenient, and more expensive overall. That darn strike wreaked havoc on our lives for a week and a half!

Another thing I forgot to mention before is that while Dave was gone in Switzerland, he lost a drawer. What?! I can almost hear you guys being confused. What I mean is that while he was gone for a month, I noticed one of his drawers had like 2 socks left in it. I cleared it out for Steph to use while she was here for a week and then after she left I decided maybe I'd like to have that drawer for myself! It is, after all, the biggest drawer in the whole dresser. Strangely, when Dave got home and I informed him of this, he didn't seem to mind much so I just kept using it as my own. I don't know where he put his other stuff...maybe that's why there's a pile of socks on the chair nearby, but I'm just gonna keep hogging it for as long as I can. Every once in awhile when I open it and peer in, I fear that my stuff will be gone and his socks will have reappeared. But so far, so good!

One more uninteresting thing. It has been HOT here. Yesterday was 100* and today is almost as hot. That is super hot for us at this time of year. The kids still have 2 weeks of school! They were released early both today and yesterday because of the heat. Why? Because many of the classrooms don't have A/C so it is state law that once the temperature hits 90*, they have to be released! I remember one day last year (on a day that was not nearly as hot as today) I visited Caleb's classroom to read a book to his class. All I did was sit and read a book and I was sweating buckets. It was SO hot in his classroom. They had fans going everywhere but all they did was blow the kids' papers all around! I don't know how they got any learning done in there because it was miserable. His already cranky teacher was even crankier and I found myself quite cranky after one book! The heat is supposed to break tonight with severe thunderstorms so hopefully we'll be back on schedule tomorrow, high of 85*!

Happy Shared-iversary!

Dave and I celebrated our anniversary last Saturday. I actually forgot all about it until earlier in the week he asked me what we were gonna do on Saturday and I was like, I dunno, why? And he informed me it was our 15th anniversary. Oops.
We call it a sharediversary now because we are friends with two other couples (from when we all lived in Lansing) who have the same anniversary as us and sometimes we'd even run into each other on our anniversary(s) at a restaurant or something. We gave up and finally just decided to stop bumping into each other on our anniversary and just all go out together. Unfortunately we're all spread out across the U.S. so now it's just me and Dave. But that's OK, that's probably how it should be, right?
Anyway, last Saturday we got a sitter and went out for like FIVE hours. It was so great! We went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. It was 'classic' Indiana Jones with all the action, corny lines, and even a snake thrown in of course. We then ate at a restaurant called Houlihan's. It is a chain and my friend Nichole took me there over a year ago in Virginia. It is YUMMY! They have such a variety of food that anyone would be happy there. I ordered brie as an appetizer. I don't think Dave had ever had brie before. I LOVE it. It's soooooooo good...I just try not to think about how fattening it is. I couldn't quite finish my dinner but was able to find a way to fit in some dessert anyway. Hey, it's not everyday you're celebrating your 15th anniversary, right?
We actually went out earlier in the day so that evening we took the kids to meet some friends at the race track. I thought it would be fun to take the kids to see the horses and watch the races, etc. The kids were able to hang out right at the fence to watch the horses go by. Umm, one problem, though. It was not what we were expecting. It was harness racing which, sorry, is not quite as exciting as watching normal horse and jockey racing. The horses are only allowed to trot, not gallop or run. I kinda felt bad for the horses too as the riders were whipping them to go faster and faster during the race. I seriously doubt it was hurting the horse but I could almost hear the horse thinking, "Geez, buddy. Give me a break! I can only trot! I'm not allowed to run!"
Overall, the kids were unimpressed and we left after 3 or 4 races. I'd really like to go back sometime when they have the "real" horse racing. I'll bet that's exciting to watch. Maybe we can find that next year on our Sharediversary! Here's to the next 15 years! Woohoo!

I Love the Zoo!

OK, not really. We went to the Bronx zoo recently as our "year membership" was almost up and we are not going to renew at this time, maybe later. Anyway, unfortunately for us, we chose to go to the zoo at the same time that EVERYONE ELSE was going to the Yankees/Mets game, which was being held at Yankee Stadium, which we all know is in the Bronx. Yeah, not such a great idea. It wasn't horrendous, though, and once we got past the stadium, the traffic wasn't bad. We stopped at a McDonald's because I thought it would be cheaper than eating food purchased IN the zoo. I may have been wrong. Apparently McDonald's is more expensive in NYC than in Jersey. The Bronx isn't especially affluent so I don't know how these people afford to live there AND eat at McDonald's. Maybe that's why McDonald's wasn't very crowded. Or maybe they were all on their way to the baseball game. I digress...
The good news was that the zoo wasn't crowded. And hey, I like the zoo, for the most part. I used to love going to the zoo. When we lived in Lansing, I took the kids all the time. They were younger then and I think I had more "say" in how we spent our time at the zoo. Here's the problem: I'm a female in a family full of males. While at the zoo, I want to sit and gaze at the giraffes, flamingos, and zebras. But when we go to the zoo we spend most of our time, if not all, blazing past the giraffes where I get a cursory glance at them as I walk by on our way to: the monkey house, the reptile house, or the "world of darkness" a.k.a. the bat house. Here's Peter in the reptile house.















Here's me in the reptile house:
























I swear I wasn't just tired or lazy or overwhelmed with reptiles. For some reason, the zoo employees thought WE were reptiles and I swear it was like 110* in there. I was absolutely melting. When we stepped back outside it felt like we were stepping out into the arctic. I was never so happy to get out of the reptile house.
We did, however, get to spend a little time in the butterfly house so that's at least something. Oh wait, I just remembered. We went in after we had blown right past it and I said, "Wha-?! Wait?! What?!!! We're not going into the butterfly house!?"
And I admit the monkey house was pretty cool. It's actually a gorilla house at the Bronx zoo. And this time the gorillas were out and about, as opposed to hanging around napping far out of sight. There were a couple baby gorillas, too, and they would come up to the glass and "play" with the people standing there. Then they would run back to their moms and start nursing. They were really cute. What is it about gorillas that I, personally, find so daunting? I swear when one of the moms turned towards me, it felt like she was looking right at me. Her eyes and face seemed so wise and knowing. I felt like she was saying, you guys are so stupid, we're the ones who are older and wiser. We know what's really important in life. And then she started picking her nose and eating it and I thought, hmm, maybe not so much. OK, so that didn't really happen, but you KNOW it could've!

Oh sweet Moses...for the love of all things decadent!

While in Switzerland, Dave had lunch at the Patek Phillipe factory cafeteria. Don't be misled by the sound of "cafeteria food". We're not talking chicken nuggets and tater tots. We're not talking $4.99 "value meals", either. Almost everything he had was wonderful and I don't know how he came back weighing the same. I guess you walk a lot when you don't have a car. Here's one of their weekly menus. It's all in French so Dave didn't always know exactly what he was ordering. Talk about ordering whatever sounds good...
Notice the third choice on Wednesday includes grilled "cheval". Uh, yeah, that's horse. It's considered a delicacy over there. Dave ordered it, even knowing that it was horse, and said it was actually quite yummy. SPEAKING of quite yummy, he also ordered dessert almost everyday. Oh man, if I could only have been there...

The Dream Tisha

As everyone knows, Oprah has a few "favorite things". One thing she likes to talk about is her favorite bra: the Dream Tisha bra by Le Mystere. Well, they run over $60 and I certainly don't need one but I have other, full figured friends, who would like to have one and T.J. Maxx has them right now for $10. So, it took me scouring THREE different T.J. Maxx's but I finally found one in the right size for this friend who shall remain nameless to protect her bra size identity. Before I send it to her, though, I thought I'd take a picture or two just for fun. Man, I cannot even imagine lugging around something like that attached to my chest all day. That must be annoying!? I suppose you get used to it...?OK, so maybe I'm a little jealous...

Mother's Day=Chocolate Day

Dave got home from Switzerland the day before Mother's Day, as everyone knows. He brought home various chocolate treats. A whole bag of Lindt chocolates for the kids, another bag to share at work, and yet another bag to share at the gym with his racquetball buddies. He also brought the kids some chocolate Swiss Army knives...they were really cute. He also brought home a bar of dark chocolate LOADED with hazelnuts and a small box of chocolate truffles. He even brought home a box to send to Steph.
And he brought THIS home for me:





Huh?! What?! Wait...where's all MY chocolates?!?!?! This isn't fair! This is no good at all!
Oh yeah, I ate them. I remember now. I was drunk with chocolatey goodness so it's all a little vague right now...like remembering a dream. A very beautiful dream.

So anyway, most of the chocolate is gone and although I'm tremendously happy with what I got, I should've been a little more specific with Dave. I told him to bring a lot of chocolate home. What I meant was, bring like a six months supply of chocolate home. Maybe that would be too much? As it was, he had to borrow an extra duffle bag from someone to check as luggage...because of all the chocolate. He didn't bring anything else back with him. Apparently they have "weight limits" on these darn planes. Whatever. Don't get between me and my chocolate!

So it was a good Mother's Day this year. I got to sleep in and eat Eggos in bed. I received homemade cards and presents...you can never have too many homemade bookmarks, right? One of my children, who shall remain nameless to protect his identity, gave me nothing and never so much as even said "Happy Mother's Day" to me. I'm not sharing this to be snotty or anything...I really think part of it is that the kids were so excited to have Dave home and were really wrapped up in having "Dad time". At the end of the day when I realized he'd done nothing for me for Mother's Day, I thought to myself, "OK, well, here we go. I guess it begins right about now"...I didn't bring it up to him or Dave or anyone because I didn't want to make a big deal out of it and I certainly didn't want to make him feel bad or guilty about it. Hopefully he won't feel bad if/when he reads this one day. After all, I DID protect his identity, right?! No guessing! (You'd never guess anyway).

Oh, one of the things I did on Mother's Day was work in the yard. I know that sounds crazy but it was a beautiful day and I actually enjoy working in the yard when I have the time. I was trying to clear out the "circle" around a big tree in the front yard where it's supposed to be a big circle of mulch around the tree trunk but instead it was a big circle of weeds and such. It took me a lot longer than I had planned but looks really nice now. As I was pulling up weeds and grass, I realized I was throwing away perfectly good grass. Not a big deal except that our backyard is totally patchy and needs more grass. SO, instead of throwing all the grass away, I decided to transplant it to the backyard to fill in some patches. It was a lot of work and I'm not sure anyone can tell any difference at all! It reminded me, though, of that movie Fun With Dick and Jane where Jim Carey goes around to all his neighbors' yards and the golf courses to dig up patches of grass and put them in his yard. Hmmm...my neighbors should be very afraid...