company-ready

Yesterday morning, I was getting the house ready for our company. I have the bathroom a quick wipe-down, and then decided to make it 'company-ready'. You're probably wondering what makes a bathroom company-ready, in my eyes. No, it isn't those printed, disposable hand napkins, it isn't a fancy glass vessel sink (though, I really want one of those) or sparkling Delta faucets. It isn't even a toilet full of blue liquid (what is that stuff, anyway? does it really do anything other than announce to the person about to sit on the throne that you went to the trouble to clean before they got there?).

Nope...for me, the ultimate in 'bathroom elegance' is having a vase of fresh cut flowers on the vanity. It just seems so...I don't know...abundant? I mean, it is probably one of the last rooms you would think to adorn with flowers, but think about it...if you have guests, they are sure to visit the bathroom, and sure to notice a fresh bouquet in there. In the winter, I buy - usually just a few stems. But in the summer, when our garden is exploding with hydrangea and zinnias and black-eyed Susans, how can I resist going overboard with an enormous bouquet (or two) in there. Who cares if I have to move all of the bathroom accessories to accommodate my massive display - I've got flowers to showcase, damnit!

When I first started doing this, Evan thought it (or I?) was strange. But, now, he knows. Yesterday when he saw Sadie and me out clipping in the beds, vase in hand, he immediately said "For the crapper?" Perhaps that will be my lasting legacy...lol.

The Best News!

Lydia is pregnant!!! She and her husband had been planning to start a family right before she was diagnosed with cancer. Obviously, those plans were put on hold while she underwent chemo and radiation and then another treatment (herceptin?). She was then told that she had to wait quite some time after finishing the Herceptin before trying to conceive. She wasn't actually given the go ahead until the beginning of this year, and doctors were not terribly optimistic about her ability to conceive on her own. I have to admit that I was a little worried about how today's gathering would go, as not only were my kids going to be there, but also our friend Lisa was bringing her new baby girl, Ava. Lyd has told me in the past that it is hard to be around pregnant women and young kids. So, what a relief and an absolute thrill to hear her good news. She has just passed the first trimester mark, and is due February 8th. I'm so excited and happy for them!!!!

Pink Ribbon Campaign

One of my best friends, Lydia, and her husband are coming by this afternoon for a cookout. Lydia is a breast cancer survivor, and since her diagnosis (April 26, 2004), subsequent treatment, and recovery, finding (and funding) a cure for breast cancer has become a subject close to my heart. So, in honor of her visit today (and, since all the fall catalogues are starting to arrive and make me think about buying clothes for cooler weather), I thought I'd pass along this press release on pink pashminas charity donation:

Pashmina Sales Donate to Breast Cancer

Now when you pick up a pashmina, you can have the choice of donating to a well known and worthy cause - breast cancer research! To support the Pink Ribbon campaign for fundraising in the fight against breast cancer, for any order containing a pink pashmina, part of the sale value will be given directly to cancer research.

Pashmina International partnered with International Breast Cancer Research Foundation in July 2007 and is committed to helping defeat breast cancer. They will donate 5% of the total value of relevant orders directly to IBCRF. The pashminas are available in six different styles, from $25.99, including free delivery to any location in the world.

The scarves are of a high quality, and at a very competitive price, so there's really no excuse for not helping a worthy cause. "I just can't believe how soft it is" said Irene, from the UK. Camilla Field, marketing director of Pashmina International, is really up for the cause. "I buy a pink ribbon every year", she said.

IBCRF, currently in its fifteenth year, is committed to practical, cost-effective, breakthrough research that takes advantage of the most promising opportunities and ideas everywhere in the world. This research – especially clinical research – holds the key to understanding, preventing and curing breast cancer.

Pashmina International specialises in genuine cashmere/silk pashmina shawls and scarves. Free worldwide shipping is available on every order, and all the garments are fuzzy, soft, and lightweight. There are no artificial fibers in the scarves, and Pashmina International operates a strict no-child-labor policy, which includes strict standards and personal factory checks.

Full details of this Pink Ribbon offer can be found on the web at http://www.pashminainternational.com/pipara.html

Tuesday Randomness

Today--Tuesday--is really a Friday for me, as I'll be off for the rest of the week. So, I thought I'd take a few minutes and just blog about...whatever, since I don't seem to get much online time when I'm not at work. So, in no particular order of importance, I give you the latest and greatest from my end:

My mom brought Sadie to see a live production of "The Princess and the Pea" here on campus today, so I met the two of them for lunch afterwards. It was a nice treat, as I usually eat lunch at my desk, so I can use my 'lunch hour' to go to the gym or run errands. Sadie seemed to really enjoy it, too.

The weather is gorgeous today, with a great forecast for the next few days, so I'm looking forward to some good beach days with the girls. On Thursday, Sadie's good school friend (and, according to her, future husband), Matan and his mother and baby brother are going to join us at the beach. Should be fun for Sadie to have a friend there (and for me, too).

We have our neighborhood block party this weekend. I have mentioned before, but it is worth mentioning again, that we live in the BEST neighborhood, full of super nice, friendly people. It should be a good time.

In other news, this morning, I actually fit into a size 6 skirt that I haven't been able to wear since...wait for it...2001. I'm not sure that it can be attributed so much to weight loss as to weight redistribution (that's a fancy way of saying that my ass has fallen), but who cares? A six is a six, baby!

And, finally, the last goodie for today...I checked an email account that I rarely use for anything other than registering for web sites and such and, nestled in between the offers for Viagra, Hoodia, Wellbutrin and a whole host of other pharmaceuticals of slightly suspect nature, I found an email from a friend I haven't heard from in ages. I'm so excited to hear from her, and we're going to try to get together soon. I love when blasts from the past drop back into life like that.

Anyway, that's it from my end. If I don't update for a few days, it's just because I'm living my alternate life as a SAHM and can't get online.

An Eden Funny

Last night, I was singing Eden a little song before bed. It was a sweet, quiet moment for the two of us. "Wait, wait" she says, putting her tiny little finger to her mouth and "shushing" me. I stop singing, and look at her expectantly...what does my little one need to tell me? Is she finally going to say those three words I've been waiting to hear?

She farted. Loudly. And then laughed hysterically.

She may look nothing like Evan, but there's no doubting that girl's paternity.

Memory

No, not talking about mine (which is shot, btw), but about getting additional memory for our computer. I store our digital photos and videos, as well as a lot of music files on there, and it is really starting to eat up our space. I'm sort of torn between doing a memory upgrade (in which case, can anyone recommend a brand? I'm inclined to go with IBM memory for no other reason than brand recognition), or just buying an external hard drive. Opinions, anyone?

Rainy Monday

It is pouring today - dark, dreary, and kind of cool out. I'm back at work today, after a crazy several days, so I'm kind of glad for the weather. We had houseguests all weekend, and it was a lot of fun having people down, and running around doing stuff, but I was glad to have our house back to ourselves last night. The weather was perfect - sunny and warm and dry. We took our friends all around to do the things we like to do (beach club, bike rides, walks on the boardwalk, out to eat) and I think they all had a great time. Saturday night, we actually lined up babysitting and had an adult night out to eat and then a walk on the beach. It was great. We definitely need to do that more often. As our friends were leaving yesterday, one of them said to me..."you have such a great life here", and while I didn't necessarily need the validation (I feel the same way!), it was nice to hear it, too.

So anyway, back at work for a couple of days....

A good day

it had all the trappings of a not so good one...rain predicted for the entire day, not a single outing or playdate prearranged, me and the girls inside. all. day. long.

Really, in light of my other post, I was not looking forward to the start of my days off this week. Especially when I saw that we're expecting three straight days of rain.

But, actually, yesterday turned out to be a good day, after all. For one thing, I got up a bit earlier and motored around and took care of the household chores that I'm usually trying to fit in during my time with the girls. This saved me from getting frustrated when they invariably pull me away from them. I decided that my attitude about the entire day was that it was my full-time job to hang out with and play with them, and if I managed to get in any time for myself, great, but not to expect it.

Next, Sadie and I struck a deal in the morning...no yelling (me), no crying and whining (her). We each only had to remind eachother to hold up our respective ends of the bargain once or twice throughout the day.

Finally, in spite of not having planned anything beforehand, I did manage to keep us busy, which helps. In the morning, we went to Petco to buy live crickets for Sadie's newest pets (toads). We ended up spending the better part of an hour there, looking at all of the creatures (note to self: pet stores are great rainy day activities). Then, we went to Target and picked out a some craft stuff for Sadie (glitter glue, and a jewelry beading kit). After that, I took them out to lunch (where else? Applebees!) and then it was time to get Eden home for her nap.

Eden slept for 2 1/2 hours, and during that time, Sadie and I made some cool jewelry with her new kit and read some stories.

When Eden got up, we had a tea party with all of their dollies (oh, my other sanity-saver was to just stop giving a rip how messy the house gets during the day. So, yeah, the living room looked like a bomb went off when Evan got home, but at least he came home to a happy family).

When Evan got hme (around 3:30), I took some time for myself and went to the gym. I need to be more assertive about this, because just having an hour break, all to myself, really does wonders for my mood. Got home around 4:45 and got dinner together. After dinner, Evan took Sadie out on her bicycle while I got Eden ready for bed.

All in all, it was a good day, and I didn't feel completely spent and frustrated and resentful by the end of it. I'm going to try to repeat the same for today, so this is the last I'll be online today, as I hear some little ones starting to stir. Hasta manana!

Question Meme

This is my first time doing one of these. Alexis tagged me, so here goes:


If you were trapped on an island and could only take three things (and NOT people, laptops or cell phones) what would they be?

A notebook and pen and my iPod.

What is one goal in life you would like to achieve before dying?
This probably sounds silly, but I really want to live long enough to see my children have children. So, yeah...I want to be a Grandma.

What was the most exciting place you have ever traveled?
Exciting? Depends on the definition of exciting, I suppose. Getting a flat tire on a deserted, dirt-highway in the middle of Belize was certainly an exciting moment. Overall, though, I guess Paris or Barcelona would rate as the most exciting places. Both were amazing and had such an energy about them.

What is your dream car?
I'm not one who really drools too much over cars, but I wouldn't say no to a five series BMW ;-)

Do you believe in heaven and hell? Why or why not?
No, I'm a secular humanist, so I don't believe in a higher power (God). I believe that what you do here and now is the only chance you have to do it right and well, so your kindness matters, not for securing a place in an afterlife, but for simply doing it right in this one.

So, now I'm tagging Kim and Casey with the following questions:

1. How many different states have you lived in?
2. What plans do you plan to do once your children are grown and out of the house?
3. What are your hobbies (besides blogging)?
4. Is your life like you imagined it might be when you were a child?
5. What's your favorite song from the 70's?

On books, and library late fees...

Have I ever mentioned that I am incredibly disorganized about some things? I’m pretty sure that I birthed out part of my brain when I had Sadie, as my ability to manage certain details of daily life has been crap ever since. One of those ‘life details’ is the ability to remember to return movie rentals and library books on time. So, I had solved the movie issue by getting a netflix membership. The $9.99 a month is far less the amount I would rack up in late fees, and I have to say, we watch more movies since having the membership, since I’m determined to get my money’s worth.

Anyway, movie problem solved, I was still getting caught off guard every time I’d go to the library and find out I had yet another late fine for overdue books. Sure, libraries are free, but not for those of us who a) take out a ton of books, and b) never remember to get them back or renew them within two weeks. So, I’m happy to say that I’ve found a service that is the Netflix of books – booksfree.com. Yeah, it’s not exactly free—the cheapest plan starts at $9.99 a month, but unlike the ‘free’ library, there are no late fees, and a quick browse through titles showed that they seem to have a good inventory of both paperbacks and audiobooks. So, unlike at the library, I should be able to get new releases as soon as they come in. I’ve just placed my first order (Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and Steinbeck’s East of Eden), and expect them to arrive tomorrow or Wednesday. Hopefully, I’ll be back to post a great review of the service.

We Survived!

I'm going to upload the few pictures I remembered to take in a moment. We are back, and all in one piece. No small feat. Camping was a lot of fun (and, a lot of work). The girls had a blast and I'm so glad we did it, and so glad we decided to take Eden with us, after all. It was definitely harder to keep her out of danger and trouble, but she really enjoyed the swimming and the hiking (even though she snoozed most of the way up the mountain) and loved sleeping in the tent.

We met up with friends with kids that Sadie hadn't seen since our last camping trip in the summer of '05. They hit if off again right away, which was great.

Pictures to follow shortly... I'm not sure why I insist on dragging the camera everywhere we go, since, once there, I usually forget to take any pictures. In my defense, though, I can say that this time I was too busy keeping Eden out of trouble (as in, keeping her out of the campfire, poison ivy, and from climbing up the big rocks) to snap away. If I had been able to get some shots to really capture the trip, they would have included pix of the girls enjoying the lake, hiking up the mountain trail (well, Sadie hiked and Eden rode--and snoozed--in the backpack carrier), exploring the campsite, roasting marshmallows, and loving the tents. And, of course, I should have snapped a picture of them on the ride home. I have never seen them any dirtier (yes, they were in the tub getting sanitized within 10 minutes of our arrival home). Anyway, since I didn't get those pictures, these will have to do:


The ride up....Sadie led us in a rousing rendition of shouting "where are we going? Caaaaaamping!" repeatedly for much of the two hour car trip. Eden? Well, she preferred to just not nap (even though she was exhausted) and intermittently smack Sadie is the head while shouting "Stop it!". This picture captures both of them between these activities.




The kids (and Anonda) - sitting around eating junk food. It don't get any better than this...



Eden checking out the tents. She loved them, though it did take some persuasion and, eventually, a shot of children's benadryll (it was legit, I swear...she has a cold) to convince her to actually settle down and sleep in it.

Anonymity (or lack thereof) on the Web

Has anyone been following the news item about the CEO of Whole Foods? Apparently, in a bid to devalue a competitor's stock, he posted a number of anonymous messages on Yahoo's finance boards, prior to Whole Foods making an offer to buy the competitor. You have to wonder...how stupid is this guy, if he thinks that anything can really happen anonymously online.

I don't really have a problem with what you post being attributed to you (I think there are far too many people who I call "web wizards of Oz" -- people who feel empowered to be something they never would have the guts to be in a face to face situation-- trolling the Web). But, I do think that people should be able to browse/view/read whatever they want on the Web without it being traced back to them. Nowadays, that is becoming harder and harder to do. So, I'm interested in checking out this product--http://www.thebestvpn.net--that apprently offers a personal VPN service for anonymous browsing. I mean, after all, just because I disclose to my hordes ;) of readers that I check in on celebrity gossip on a daily basis, doesn't mean I want the powers that be to know.

Into the Wild

We're headed out bright and early tomorrow morning for a weekend of camping. We're meeting a group of friends from MA at a campground in upstate NY. Sadie is so excited she's about to explode.

Originally, we weren't going to take Eden with us, but have changed our minds. It should be interesting (keeping her out of the lake/fire/mouths of bears). Wish us luck! I'll be back online Monday.

I'm Back

Well, I wasn't ever actually away, but I've spent the past several days playing a stay-at-home mom, and let me tell you - there's no time for eating bonbons, let alone blogging. It has been an interesting summer so far, doing this stay at home thing. On the one hand, I'm really glad we're doing it, because it keeps Sadie out of camp (which she hated) and gives me more time with both of them. It also lets me enjoy the summers (somewhat) in the same way I did as a kid...waking up, getting stuff together and hitting the beach every day.

On the other hand, though, I have to say, it has been hard. Really hard. It has confirmed what I always suspected about myself--I'm not cut out to be a stay-at-home mom. I love my children with everything I have, and I enjoy spending one on one time with them quite a lot. However, I really struggle when it is the two of them. They bicker and fight and there's always someone crying and I spend a lot of my time referreeing and, sadly, yelling. I have always prided myself on my ability to parent calmly, and to really enjoy the time I spend with them. I now realize that it is a piece of cake to be calm and enjoy them when your time with them is limited. The real test of one's mettle as a parent is spending 15 hours of nonstop 'togetherness' (my day yesterday).

Yesterday, we got home from the beach and I needed to pour myself a glass of wine before dinner. I really didn't like the person I was toward them. :( And, I wonder if I'm really doing them any favors by keeping them with me, after all. I think, for me, this feeling is compounded by the fact that not only am I with them for the entire time Evan is at work, but as soon as he gets home, he's off doing something (yesterday was yard work), so it is really all falling on me.

That's not to say that there haven't been a lot of fun times, as well, but somehow, it isn't the fun times that keep you up at night thinking about.

Anyway, my hat is off to all of the SAHMs and SAHDs who do it day in day out, all year long.

Efficient Parenting

On Sunday, we spent some time with friends of ours--S and L-- who have two little ones (almost three and just turned a year). It was quite an experience. They were so tense and stressed out the entire time. Evan and I were both struck by a few things about them and their parenting style. For one, they force those kids to conform to their lifestyle/schedule (they don't plan for naps, have no problem making plans to be somewhere at a time when one or both of them is likely to need to be napping) and the result is that the kids are miserable and crying and exhausted. I just don't understand why they do that to them and to themselves? I mean, I don't necessarily advocate being a slave to the nap schedule (although, I was when Sadie was an only), but it seems irresponsible and unfair to just not really consider that the kids have needs.

But, the big thing that we noticed was that S and L don't seem to have established any sort of method of effiency with their parenting tasks. I am not exaggerating when I say that from the time they arrived at our house, until we were actually sitting on the sand, it took almost an hour (we live 5 minutes from the beach). Rather than wait to change the kids into swimsuits and swim diapers once we got there, they decided to change them into their bathing suits at our house, then wait until we got to the beach to put them into their swim diapers. I couldn't understand why they would put them through the changing process twice.

Then, when it was time to go, it took over an hour from the time they started up to the locker/shower until they were ready to get in the car.

Ok, so since I go all the time with the girls, I have gotten a good routine down and can be off the beach, all of us showered and dressed and ready for the car in about 20 minutes, but still. Even without an established routine, there were just some obvious things they could have done to save time and energy. For instance...I don't understand why L had to shower each of the kids separately, then shower herself, while S more or less stood around waiting for his turn to shower. When I am alone with the girls, I take both of them in with me, dress myself, then dress them. When Evan joins us, I still take them both in with me, and then hand Eden out to him to dress while I attend to Sadie and get myself dressed. Makes sense, doesn't it?

I guess I'm probably just coming across as smug and judgemental, but really...I feel bad for them that they seem so wiped out and overwhelmed with parenting their kids. Seems like they could make some small changes that would make life easier/more pleasant for all of them. Oh, did I mention that they're planning to start on baby #3 this year? God help us all!

I miss my mom

My mom and dad are away...have been gone a week. I'm so used to talking to my mom several times a week, and so much has happened this week that I've wanted to talk to her about. I really miss her! We're not the types to "chat" while away, plus she's on a ship in the ocean off the coast of another contintent, so even if I did have the urge to call her cell, I couldn't reach her.

It's funny how when I lived in Boston, we only spoke about once a week, and her being away was usually unnoticed. Now, I'm just itching for her to get back.

Thanks and praise to the gods of sleep

Today is kind of rainy out, and I was wondering what on earth I was going to do to fill the morning until 11am when we're going to story time at the library. Lately, the girls have been getting up ridiculously early (6ish) and they are irritable and bickering with eachother by 8 or so. Taking them to the park or the beach is usually a good distractor, but that option is out, given today's weather.

Well, Eden just got up (8:30) and Sadie is still sleeping strong. It is going to be a glorious day, rain and all.

I may have to rethink my athiest stance.

Happy Fourth of July!

We just got back from a great get together at our friend Jeff's brother's house. The rain held off long enough for us all to enjoy the pool and fabulous hot tub and to overeat and drink. Sadie had a blast roughhousing with her boyfriend, "Jeffy", and Eden warmed up to him and Anonda right away, too.

Sadie and Evan are heading out in a few minutes to go sit on the beach at Loch Arbour and watch the Asbury fireworks. Eden is already sleeping, and me? I'm about to curl up in bed with a book and enjoy the quiet.

Happy Independence Day, everyone!

Cool Stuff

Love the Police? By now, you probably know that I do. So, if you do, too, here's something to check out:



Please click on this to go and view an awesome banner where you can watch The Police's videos, listen to tracks from The Police's new 2 cd hits collection, enter to win a trip to NYC to see The Police in concert and even view details about their current world tour.

As I've mentioned in some of my other posts, summer is an incredibly slow time at my work. Well, slow for work, I mean. It is hopping for all of my 'extracurricular' activities, such as reading up on the world's news, catching up on some of the message boards that I post at, and just generally playing around on the Web. So, you know I was all over this banner and the stuff you could do there. They even have ringtones to download. My big decision of the day is which one to choose.

In addition, you can find the following there:

Videos

Track List / Jukebox Tour

Enter The Contest

Send To Friend

Ringtones

And, if you haven't already done so, make sure you grab a copy of the compilation Police cd that was released last month. I've had it on heavy rotation on my iPod lately - so many oldies but goodies on there. Anyway, happy exploring!

So, it arrived!

I posted recently about how I "won" a free, 16x20 print from canvasondemand.com. It arrived the other day, and I have to say...I am so happy with/impressed by the end product. It is awesome! I love, love, love the look of it. It is hard to tell if it is a photo or a painting...the pixelation of the photo and the texture of the canvas play off of eachother really well in that way. I have showed it to everyone, and the consensus is that it is really nice (of course, it helps that the subject of my print is so dang gorgeous ;-) ).

I would definitely recommend this product-- and this company in particular--to anyone considering having this done to one of their prints. They can work off of either a digital or printed image, and they were really responsive and involved in helping me choose the best image in order to get the best result. Let's put it this way -- I'm thrilled to have gotten this for free, but I like it so much that I'm seriously considering coughing up the money ($89) to have one done of Sadie, too. If that doesn't speak volumes...

My in-laws have a milestone anniversary coming up in December, and my sisters-in-law and I have been talking about doing something special for them to commemorate the event. I think something like this would make a really wonderful anniversary gift, don't you?

Revelation

Sadie and Evan were both sick for most of the weekend, so I had a lot of alone time with Eden. And, I've come to a revelation. I've been thinking for a while that Eden is in a really active and difficult to parent phase, and that is why it has been hard to be with both of them. Because I've had the opportunity to do things alone with Sadie, and they've been really easy and pleasant, I've been blaming Eden for my overwhelmedness (is that a word) when the three of of us go anywhere ("it is just hard now because Eden is into everything...").

Spending the days with her alone at the beach was a pleasure. She is easy and happy and not difficult to manage at all. She can sit and amuse herself with the sand toys for ages. I'm realizing that each of them is at their best when they have me to themselves, and that what is hard and overwhelming for me is simply the act of parenting two children who are competing for my attention. I feel so bad that I've haven't been able to recognize that. I think that I've been so focused on making sure that Sadie doesn't feel 'displaced' by her little sister, that I haven't really tuned in to the fact that Eden needs my undivided attention, too.

I've been sending Eden to the sitter's house one day a week so that I can have a day alone with Sadie. I'm going to start figuring out how to fit in more one on one time with Eden, as well.