Secret Vacation

We are currently on a secret vacation, sort of. I'm not sure who exactly we are hiding from. Maybe ourselves? We left last Friday for Florida and have been having a nice relaxing time before the big gear up to the holidays. It's only 10-15 degrees warmer down here than NC but it's warm enough to swim! The kids are loving the pool and I have read 4 books already. It's just that we haven't advertised that we are away. Maybe we feel a little guilty. Yeah, I know we do. Since we live in NC and have this fantastic house, it feels weird to go on vacation but really life is a lot like vacation. BC is off work, kids are off school, and I'm.....well, sort off? BC is helping with the kids.

Tonight we are at the Dive In movies. The resort we are staying at has a massive screen they put up at the pool. The kids are swimming and watching a movie. I'm sitting in my lounge chair. Now where is that margarita?

Christmas pictures

So today was the day that I stress my kids out about getting the yearly Christmas photo. Normally I wait until closer to Christmas so I can be more stressed about it but this year with our move, I wanted to do it early and get our cards out early with the new address. Plus, www.shutterfly.com has them 20% off right now and free shipping. I use them every year to do my cards. I love being able to look back at the cards from previous years that are saved to my account. It's so fun to see how much the kids have changed.

I love getting Christmas photo cards! I always hang them on my fridge for the entire year. If your card doesn't have a picture, I toss it. I feel bad admitting it but really, if there's no picture into the garbage it goes right after I read it. I wonder if this will change how many cards I get this year! LOL! Just being honest!

Friends that are like family

We recently travelled back to NY for a week. It was really crazy. We had only been gone two months and during those two months, we were only really alone for 2 weeks because of all the company. It made the trip feel weird. It felt like we never had left. I didn't like that feeling and I'm thankful that we will be putting some distance between us and NY for a while. Christmas will be a perfect time to go back. It will have been 6 months since we had moved and 4 months since we had been there last.

While we were there, BC worked for the copier giant on site. He needed to check in with them and make sure they hadn't forgotten about him. Since we were in my in-laws city, we stayed with them. This was challenging for a number of reasons.

The main reason was how far away they live from the copier giant. They are 45 minutes away! I haven't travelled that far for anything since I left! Everything is right here. Each day we took BC to work on the eastside of the city and then we would visit our friends. This did not make the in laws too happy. June and Ward, mostly Ward, were not pleased by the amount of running around we were doing.

I can't help it! I have friends that are just like family to me! In fact there are times that I feel closer to my friends than I do my family. It's just the kind of person that I am and always have been. We did make sure we had quite a bit of time with June and Ward also. In fact we spent more time at their house than we were expecting.


We are trying to figure out how to work it out when we come in December to see our family (friends) and the in laws without making everyone so angry. Our current plan is to come up to NY the weekend before Christmas and stay with friends. BC will go to work on site and we will visit friends. Then as it gets closer to Christmas, we'll move to the in laws house. My sister in law Phoebe wants to see some of her friends as well so we are talking about the idea of an open house at June and Ward's. Maybe they will be happier if we see our friends at their house?

As if we didn't make June and Ward angry enough, we put some icing on the cake (or cinnamon roll) the morning we left. We were headed to Syracuse and had to be there by 9:30 to watch my friends kids while she took her baby for some testing. BC told his mom that we were leaving around 7:45 that morning. As we are up and getting ready to leave, June is making gluten free cinnamon rolls for BC. I kept thinking, there is no way those are going to be in time. Sure enough, June pops them in the oven at 8 am, just as we are leaving (late too I might add). Yeah, that was the frosting on the cinnamon roll. It went over like a lead cinnamon roll.

Friends that are like family.

We recently travelled back to NY for a week. It was really crazy. We had only been gone two months and during those two months, we were only really alone for 2 weeks because of all the company. It made the trip feel weird. It felt like we never had left. I didn't like that feeling and I'm thankful that we will be putting some distance between us and NY for a while. Christmas will be a perfect time to go back. It will have been 6 months since we had moved and 4 months since we had been there last.

While we were there, BC worked for the copier giant on site. He needed to check in with them and make sure they hadn't forgotten about him. Since we were in my in-laws city, we stayed with them. This was challenging for a number of reasons.

The main reason was how far away they live from the copier giant. They are 45 minutes away! I haven't travelled that far for anything since I left! Everything is right here. Each day we took BC to work on the eastside of the city and then we would visit our friends. This did not make the in laws too happy. June and Ward, mostly Ward, were not pleased by the amount of running around we were doing.

I can't help it! I have friends that are just like family to me! In fact there are times that I feel closer to my friends than I do my family. It's just the kind of person that I am and always have been. We did make sure we had quite a bit of time with June and Ward also. In fact we spent more time at their house than we were expecting.


We are trying to figure out how to work it out when we come in December to see our family (friends) and the in laws without making everyone so angry. Our current plan is to come up to NY the weekend before Christmas and stay with friends. BC will go to work on site and we will visit friends. Then as it gets closer to Christmas, we'll move to the in laws house. My sister in law Phoebe wants to see some of her friends as well so we are talking about the idea of an open house at June and Ward's. Maybe they will be happier if we see our friends at their house?

As if we didn't make June and Ward angry enough, we put some icing on the cake (or cinnamon roll) the morning we left. We were headed to Syracuse and had to be there by 9:30 to watch my friends kids while she took her baby for some testing. BC told his mom that we were leaving around 7:45 that morning. As we are up and getting ready to leave, June is making gluten free cinnamon rolls for BC. I kept thinking, there is no way those are going to be in time. Sure enough, June pops them in the oven at 8 am, just as we are leaving (late too I might add). Yeah, that was the frosting on the cinnamon roll. It went over like a lead cinnamon roll.

Chickenpox

So the latest news around here is chicken pox. Mabel's son came down with chicken pox first. She called all of us to let us know he had chicken pox since all of the kids had been playing together that previous weekend. My first thought was, "Didn't get the vaccine?" Yes, he had. But apparently that doesn't keep everyone from getting it. And apparently my daughter is one of them. Elizabeth came down with chicken pox yesterday. She and Grace are both home. Grace only has a few but Elizabeth has lots of them!

I was opposed to this vaccine. As a new mom, I wasn't educated on all the different vaccines that my son would get. When they went to give the chicken pox vaccine, I laughed. Seriously, chicken pox. Yes, the doctor told me. People die from the chicken pox. I laughed again. I loved having the chicken pox. It was the best sickness I had ever had. I got a whole week off of school and I felt fantastic, except for some itching. I let him convince me to give it to Bubs and then the other two as well.

When I told Elizabeth she had chicken pox, she cried. She tends to be dramatic. I told her to get excited. She just got a free pass from school for an entire week and will get to stay home and play all day long! She stopped crying.

Labor Day

On Labor Day some of my neighbors were out laboring in their yards. Mabel was one of them. I had received this email (excerpt) from her earlier and wanted to talk with her a little more.

"I am so utterly disappointed in some of the people that live on this street. I have only spoken to that new woman 2 times (this is the one that peed on Mabel's lawn). Sally is so toxic that she turns people that don't even know me & to think that woman has just moved into the street really pisses me off!! What I find even more bizarre is that people are still talking to these woman after knowing what they have done & then talking to me!! I cannot & will not be 2 faced! I have way too much integrity & self respect to be involved in this disgusting childish behavior & i am now starting to disconnect myself from these people."

Then she wrote "Good luck being friends wih her. Some of her other friends have just turned their backs on her, I only hope she doesn't do the same to you!".

I took that as a .....well, I won't even say it on here. Anyway, I decided to talk to her face to face.

I can't remember the exact conversation but what I was trying to say to her was that I do not condone the peeing. I do not condone the mean behavior. I do not condone gossiping (what the heck are we doing on your lawn right now?) I've never met this new person that peed. Seriously, what do you want me to do? Essentially she was asking me to give Sally a piece of my mind and stop being friends with her. I reminded Mabel that I live right next door to Sally and I need to get along with her. Our kids are friends, we have to talk each time we let the dogs out at the same time because her dogs will eat mine as a snack if we don't coordinate.

Thankfully Tom (her next door neighbor) was there. He did say that while he doesn't like Sally, they have to get along as neighbors. He also reminded Mabel that she has probably been drunk many a time and made some poor choices herself. She agreed with that but said that act was done out of vengance.

This is really annoying!! The more I think about it, the more annoyed I get. Where the heck are all the sane people??

What are we, twelve?

Our new neighborhood is made up of smart, educated people. Or at least it appeared that way when we moved in. People have great jobs, there are few SAHMs, some dual incomes. We have principals, teachers, tons of engineers and some business owners.

When I moved into the hood, a few people made casual mention about the drama on our street. They call it "Wisteria Lane". I'm sure my readers are not familiar with Desperate Housewives but to fill you in, you don't want to live on Wisteria Lane. People change partners, tell massive lies, gossip, often get hit by cars, commit suicide and get killed. So I probe. That's what I was trained to do. Someone gives you information, you follow up with a probing question to get more detail. This was probably one of those instances where it would be better "not to know". While no one is getting killed, there is a lot of drama. Lots of lies and gossip.

From what I can tell there are three teams. Team one is the "Happy Hour crew". They hold a happy hour every Friday night at someone's house. These can be short or these can go on into the morning hours. I've only attended once because of our busy visitor schedule.

I don't have a name yet for Team two. They are definitely several very opinionated people. While this could be said about the Happy Hour Crew, they are less vocal about it around people they don't know.

Then there is Team three, which I am on. It's called Switzerland. I'm trying to stay neutral which clearly they do not want us to do as they have been trying to recruit us on their team.

The team leaders for one and two live directly across the street from one another. They despise each other. And to make it worse, I live right next door to the leader of team one and then adjacent to the leader of team two. Again, I'm trying to be Switzerland.

A few weeks ago, my dad was here for a visit. Happy Hour was going to be at the team leader's house (Sally), right next door. Since my dad was here, and my sister, we declined to attend. When we woke up the next morning my dad had a full report of the goings on from the previous night.

Dad: Your neighbors were having a great time last night!

Me: Oh yeah, they have happy hour every Friday night.

Dad: They kept me awake from 1:30-3:00.

Me: What are you talking about?

Dad: Last night I kept hearing all these voices around 1:30 am. I thought it was a bunch of teenagers and since they were so loud, I thought maybe they were causing trouble. I looked out the window and it was a bunch of adults standing in the street.

Me: Wow, I didn't hear a thing and my room is at the front of the house. Must have been tired. I've heard these people really like to party it up.

Dad: Oh yeah, they were really partying all right. One lady went across the street, pulled down her pants and peed on the lawn.

Me: What? Are you sure?

Dad: Oh yeah, I saw the whole thing! (he laughs) They must have been pretty drunk to pee on someone's lawn.

Me: Show me which house.

He then points to the leader of Team two's house, Mabel. I thought he had lost his mind. I kept asking him if he was sure. He kept laughing and saying, "Oh I'm sure."

Then it clicks. Maybe the Happy Hour crew had someone go over to Mabel's lawn and pee on it!!

Fast forward to this weekend. Theresa (team two) stops by my house, because of kids.

Theresa: "Just so you know.....the drama is full on."

Me: "What?" (seriously I do try to stay out of it)

Theresa: Apparently a few weeks ago, this new person in the neighborhood was at Happy Hour and she peed on Mabel's lawn.

Me: So it's really true?

Theresa: What?

Me: (before I can think) My dad saw the whole thing. I thought he lost his marbles. That is crazy! I seriously can't believe someone peed on someone else's lawn. What are we, twelve?

I can't remember all the details about how it got back to Team two but you know that saying, "Who pissed in your Cheerios?" Yeah, well....Mabel knows who pissed in hers.

Comments, thoughts? I can't post this on Facebook and yet I got to tell someone!

Outerbanks - OBX

I love the Outerbanks. A few years ago, my side of the family rented a really large house for a week in Corolla. It's pronounced "CAR-ra-LA". I know this now that I'm a North Carolinian. Before I called it Corolla as in the Toyota Corolla.

I love the beach! I just do! I love being near the ocean and watching the waves. There is something so soothing about this process. Maybe it's the predictability. Tide coming in and out each day around the same time. The sound of the water hitting the sand. Boy, I need to get back there!

We were looking at lots of places in the northeast but decided on the OBX because you can almost guarantee to have great weather. Further north, you can't guarantee that. You could have a "fall day" in the middle of the summer. It could be cloudy all week. You just don't know.

We did go during hurricane season which freaked me out but thankfully it was not an issue. From watching the hurricane process this week with Earl, I'm impressed with our Governor and the people. They handled it so well and the tourists should be able to return in no time.

There are lots of houses on the OBX that are large enough to host your entire extended family. We rented a 7 bedroom house which had three levels. I highly recommend this if you can swing it. When living with your family for a full week, for the first time since you were young, you need lots of space. It was great to have plenty of room to spread out and be doing different things.

With a larger house, you get more amenities. Our house had a large in ground pool, hot tub, view of the ocean, three deck levels, outdoor shower, bikes, and lots of other things. There are typically community pools and fitness centers in case you don't have your own pool.

The boys played Kan Jam every morning on the beach (redneck version of Frisbee golf) and the girls sat in the sun reading a book while the kids played in the sand. It was very relaxing! Every afternoon we headed back to the house and spent time in the pool. Some people napped, read books, went for bike rides, or went out exploring.

The houses are expensive to rent but if you can get a lot of people, it's much cheaper. It can be cheaper than a hotel for a week and you have your own space with the ability to cook full meals.

Of course we had a lot of family dynamics but since it was three years ago, I don't remember a whole lot of the bad, just the good. I had not "lived" with all of my siblings and parents since I was 19 years old. Even then, it was only for one the summer, since I was in college. My sister Elaine was 15, Frushie was 11 and George was 7. That was a long time ago and we have all changed a lot since then not to mention the addition of spouses. Boy if I had been blogging then, I'd have a lot of stories for you!

Update

I apologize for not keeping people up to date with our changes. If you haven't heard, we moved to North Carolina which we have been trying to do for over a year. It all came together really fast. BC heard from the copier giant that he was approved to work remotely. Three days later we were scheduling a visit down here, getting the mortgage approval together, and farming out the kids. This makes it sound so easy yet it was craziness for those three days. We travelled down Memorial Day weekend to NC, found a house and made an offer. When we returned, it was done. Just like that, we were moving!

We waited until the underwriters were all set, BC met with his manager again, and other safeguards before announcing it to our friends. Within three weeks, we were down here again, doing a final walk through on the house and then closing. It was surreal. When you wait for over a year for your plans to come together, and they finally do, it doesn't seem real at all. We were blessed beyond what we could have imagined. BC and I had made a list, along with the kids, of the things we "must have in the house" and things that would be amazing. All of the things on both lists were in this house. We are blessed!

We've had a ton of company including a 2 week visit from June and Ward, which is a blog post unto itself. We had one set of company leave and the next arrive hours later. It was a bit crazy but I am sure it made it much easier to transition when having familiar faces around. This included some of my favorites like my aunt and my "leftover friends". Lots of laughs, Long Island ice teas, and (hopefully) great food.

Resolutions

I never make resolutions at New Years because that would be expected. I don't like to conform. Instead I find myself making resolutions while I am on vacation. You know, "I'll eat better when I get home, I'll exercise more, I'll clean my house more." This past trip to NY, I resolved to blog. It was probably the nagging of several people whom I saw in person that prompted this resolution. So here I am, blogging. It's day one. That's the day people have the most enthusiasm for the resolution. I'm so enthusiastic, I want to blog again. Twice in one day. But that would be ridiculous!

Bring your child to work day

BC did not get cut from his job at the copier giant. I apologize for not writing it sooner. We were terribly disappointed but I am sure it is for the best and when we received his paycheck this week, we were reminded of this blessing.

The kids went to work with BC last week. Bring your child to work day originally started as bring your daughter to work day. It was to encourage young women to work. The founders of this idea would be mortified to hear about my children's day.

Here is what my children learned about the copier giant that day:

Engineering and sales: The girls did a great job of using their sales skills to convince their dad to buy them ice cream at 10 am. Bubs was particularly interested in the "vacuum sucking machine" and the engineering behind it.

Measurements and freight scales: Every other week BC and some coworkers weigh themselves as part of a weight loss program they created. I think between the 5 of them, they are up 3lbs. They use the freight scale in the shipping area to weigh themselves. Since this was their weigh in day, the kids got to go with them. The 5 fathers weighed more than the 11 kids.

Stress relief: Sometimes the workplace can get too stressful. You know, the weighing in, vending machine trips and occasional meetings. BC and his buddy Alfred showed the kids how they play Kan Jam in the hallway by setting up two garbage cans and getting out the frisbee. And we wonder why the company isn't doing well.

Meetings: The kids did attend one meeting where they doodled on the white board. Who doesn't doodle during a boring project planning meeting.

Even if this day did not encourage my girl's to be engineers, it was a great day of bonding with dad!

Today's the Day

We think today is the day BC's company is going to swing the ax to several hundred people in R-town. We're not 100% sure. This is something we have been anticipating for several months. We've known it was coming but wasn't sure when. Rumors have been flying! The latest rumor is that it will be today.

If BC is laid off, he will start looking for a contract position in NC. Right now he has only been looking for a permanent job since he is currently employed full time.

In honor of the lay off, I told him to dress in his company garb. You know, the shirt, lanyard, etc. Show your loyalty and make it harder for the person laying you off.

By the way, we watched the movie "Up in the Air" last night. How appropriate! The movie is about a man (George Clooney) who lays people off for a living. It was a good movie as long as you don't get offended by the occasional F word from the people being fired and brief nudity.

Celebrity Julia

My brother George met his girlfriend at college. It's where all of us siblings have met our spouses except for Frushie. She met her husband in 10th grade.

George introduced us to Julia at Frushie's baby shower. I thought this was a bold move on his part. If I had three sisters who essentially mother me, I would think I would introduce her to them one by one. It might be overwhelming, right? Well George didn't think of that. BC says it was the right move. He said, "it's like ripping off a band-aid." No one wants to do it but it must be done so get it over with. Nice!

Yesterday I asked Celebrity Julia what it was like for her to meet all of us at once. It kind of came up because we were talking about my mom's Swedish drunk friend Margaret. I started to laugh because I was remembering Julia meeting all of us, at a major event, and meeting drunk Margaret too. I am sure she thought we were crazy. Julia said it was completely overwhelming for her. In my book, she passed the test that day.

Celebrity Julia loves my kids and they LOVE her. This is how she got her name. She has celebrity status in our house. My girls would talk about her but when they saw her, they became speechless. They would stare, smile and blush. They have gotten over being starstruck but she still is a celebrity! They fight over who sits next to her, run to her the minute she walks in the door, etc. Julia is a teacher who wears very hip outfits and awesome jewelry.

My uncle always refused to get attached to my cousins boyfriends until he knew it was a done deal (they got married). He said it was too dangerous because when they broke up, he was heartbroken. Too late for us, we have fallen in love with Celebrity Julia too!

Wake up

I like to sleep! If I could marry sleep, I would! Last night I made an agreement with my kids. They would not wake me up in the morning before 9 am, just this one day. There goes my Mother of the Year award. My kids agreed they could play the Wii downstairs and be quiet to not wake us up. Unfortunately my mother in law wasn't here to hear the agreement. June called us at 8 am this morning. We didn't answer. So she called back. So much for sleeping in.

Are you in or are you out?

For the past year, BC and I have been trying to move to another state. One that is warmer and cheaper to live in. After we made the decision, we didn't waste any time. We put our house on the market and BC started looking for jobs. We thought for sure that BC would find a job before the house would sell. Yes, the job market is in the toilet but we thought the housing market was in the sewer. Apparently here in R-town, the housing market was just on the rim of the toilet and not inside. Our house sold quickly and we set a record for our street on how much a house is worth in that area. Unfortunately, BC has still not found a job in our warmer, cheaper state. Right now we are renting an 1100 square foot cottage (really it's a house but it sounds better when I call it the cottage). We have almost all of our stuff in storage and we are living with the bare minimum. I mean bare! It's been an adventure.

When we announced we were moving, many people wanted to get together with us for "the last time". We did. One friend wanted to throw a going away party for us. I was against this idea but she was quite insistant. She picked a date close to our house closing, assuming we would be moving to NC soon after. As the date got closer, I got more and more uncomfortable with the idea. What was she going to tell people, "Come celebrate the fact that BC and BC-ette sold their house and don't know where they are going to live!" We didn't know at that time where we were going. Thankfully the "going away" party turned into a let's "help them pack" party. Only a few people were invited.

After a while, we had said all of our "possible goodbyes". At that point we stopped socializing. We had reasons in this order:

1. I hate saying goodbye. One time is enough.

2. We were leaving at any moment so who could make plans for next week when you might be moving!

3. It became awkward that we were still here!

4. And didn't I say goodbye to you already?

It's been a year since we decided to move and not much has changed except for not having a home of our own, or our things. This past week, I have made a conscious decision to get back in the game. Make plans, socialize, see people and remind them, yes, I am still here! So I'm in. At least until there is a job prospect that makes me feel confident we are going.

April Fool's Idea

I came up with a great April Fool's joke to play on my dad. Here's the background:

My younger brother's name is George. I call him George because he reminds me so much of George O'Malley from Grey's Anatomy. He's on the shorter side, athletic, kind, sweet, girls love him, and he is studying to be a doctor. He can be a little clueless sometimes yet he's brillant. George and I are thirteen years apart in age. As the older sister, I find it my duty to harrass him whenever possible. Recently George skipped out on Bubs and Grace's birthday party. He had a medical test to study for. My response is, you knew about this party for over a month. Plan ahead!

I must have complained to my dad about George missing the party. Dad probably asked about George being at the party and I probably made a smart remark like the one above. My dad then intreprets this as me being mad at George. Last week my dad and George had lunch. As my dad is driving home he calls me.

Dad: George thinks you are mad at him.

Me: I am mad at him.

Dad: Don't be mad at him about not coming to the party.

Me: I'm not really mad, I just like to give George a hard time. This is my right you know.

Dad: But George thinks you are really mad. He says you aren't returning his phone calls and texts.

Me: What??? I haven't had any calls from him.

Dad: Don't be mad a George. You should talk to him.

Me: I am talking to him.

Dad: Don't be mad at George.

Me: Dad, I am talking to him. In fact, we are having dinner with George and Celebrity Julia (his girlfriend who I will talk about another time) on Saturday.

Dad: Oh, you are? Hey maybe mom and I should come too. No, maybe you guys should have dinner alone and make up.

Me: Why don't you and mom come to dinner so you can see that everything is fine.

Celebrity Julia and I were making the plans for dinner through email. I was responding back about some of the details and said, "Let George know I am not mad at him. Apparently Dad is worried that we aren't speaking and that I am not returning his calls." George's response was, "oh Dad....." George knows my dad hates it when there is any tension between any of his kids. Dad makes it a bigger deal than it really is.

We all went to dinner on Saturday night. As we were saying goodbye to George and Celebrity Julia, I told them about my great April Fool's Day idea. I'm thinking about calling my Dad and telling him I'm never talking to George again and while we're at it, Elaine (my sister) really ticks me off too!! George laughed so hard and said, "Dad would totally have a heart attack. That would be so funny!!! You've got to do it! "

My only concern is my dad will think it's serious and never get the part that it's a joke.

School Graveyard

I do not intend to make this blog about Grace but she provides me with such great blog fodder! It's amazing!

Thursday when I went to pick her up, she pointed out a hole in the school yard.

Grace: See this hole, Jania (another kindergartner) said that the lunch lady that died, her body is in there.

Me: What??? Where did Jania hear this?

Grace: From the principal

Me: Really!

On Friday, the hole was filled in. I see one of the administrators and say to him, "Grace told me the cafeteria lady is buried in that hole." He just laughs. I look at him like, "please tell me she isn't". I don't know what came over me that I needed this reassurance. It was so stupid. He reassured me she was not buried there and it was a crazy thought. Embarrassed, I say, "Of course not. First it would be illegal to bury her in the school yard." Did I really just say that??? OMG! If that wasn't bad enough, I add, "And second, the hole isn't big enough to fit her.". I think he thinks I'm crazy and I think I think that too!!! What possessed me at that moment! A bunch of crazy, that's what!

I plan to get some sleep this weekend and hope the crazy totally goes away!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's a beautiful day here in R-Town. I decided I would swing by Dunkin Donuts for my second "free medium coffee Wednesday" and then take a walk in the kid's school neighborhood. Upon arriving at the school, I noticed a lot of cars, buses and as I got closer, kids. It finally clicked in my head that today was early dismissal day. Every Wednesday is, as long as I can remember to pick them up. I remembered free coffee Wednesday, just not early dismissal Wednesday. I have my priorities straight. Thank goodness I was going for a walk otherwise I would have gotten the phone call that I forgot my children (again) and would have had to do the walk of shame along with being scolded severely by my children.

Grace educated me on Leprechauns while taking a walk this afternoon. I grew up in an Irish home and yet she told me things I didn't know. My adopted dad is off the boat Irish. Actually off the plane. He hails from Kildare, Ireland, one of the most beautiful places in the world. We learned a lot about the Irish growing up (things like their stubbornness, tempers, boiled food, good beer, etc) but I don't remember this concept of trapping the Leprechaun. Apparently Grace's class set a trap. During their Great Beginnings time, the shoes of a Leprechaun were found!! She was disappointed that they didn't catch him but excited they had a piece of him. According to Grace, there was a "fire bell" and when they came back, the shoes were missing. The Leprechaun had stolen his shoes back along with some candy. As she explained, "The Leprechaun set off the fire bell and stole his shoes and candy!" Some of the staff members said they agreed with Grace's theory since they did not know they were going to have a fire drill this afternoon. I learned something new this St. Patrick's Day.

Happy St. Patricks Day to my good friend Mary Frances and my dad, the true Leprechaun (he seriously looked like one in his 20's).

Celebrating Spring

I set out in my mind that I was going to be disciplined today. I was going to avoid going to Dunkin Donuts for coffee. We as a family are going to try and cut back our expenses. The kids don't know this just yet and won't be excited! I made my iced coffee at home this morning, trying to be disciplined. I was doing great until I picked the kids up from school. It was almost 60 degrees outside and sunny. I had the sun roof open, breeze blowing and feeling great. The kids also were super excited it was warm out. Grace says, "Hey we should celebrate spring and go to Dunkin Donuts for a special treat."

Fortunately or unfortunately, I have taught them that life should be celebrated. We celebrate the small things and the big things. Report cards, casts coming off, doctor visits, learning to ride a bike, school concerts, and apparently spring. My Grace has a love for life and often a care-free spirit. I admire that and often think I would be more like her as a child had I had a different environment growing up. Wanting to continue nurturing her love of life, I had to agree, today felt like the beginning of spring and should be celebrated. So off to Dunkin Donuts we went. We planned to sit outside but apparently Dunkin Donuts does not believe spring is officially here as the outdoor chairs are still in storage. We went to the park instead. I was planning on going there after school anyway to let the kids burn off some energy.

If it's spring like here in R-Town, I bet it's spring where you are! Enjoy the nice weather!

Can't believe I am doing this....

I have been contemplating a blog for a while now. I thought it might be cathartic to write about my life, my day, or my interactions with people. Facebook has been a good start for me. I have been writing status messages for the last two years but recently have found my audience is too broad and possibly too familiar (tons of family). Rather than be one of those people that has a melt down and deletes their account (no offense to those of you who have done this), I started thinking about another outlet for my thoughts. Have you ever had those moments when you want to say something so badly but can't because too many people are listening? Recently my SIL sent me a note through Facebook saying, "This is what I really wanted to write on my status......" I could totally relate. I'm going to try this out and see how it goes. I hope you enjoy the ride along with me!