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.