Bad day at Black Rock here.....no one is old enough to know what that is, I bet.....it is an old Spencer Tracy (anyone old enough to remember him???) film. My family has used the title of that movie for whenever things don't go the way we plan. My family has a saying for just about everything. If you are in the bathroom and there is no toilet paper left under the sink, you have to yell "Joe McGucken!!!" Anyone in the house (even many of our friends now know this) knows this means toilet paper is needed immediately. It comes from friends' of my grandparents. Mrs. McGucken was visiting my grandparents and was in the bathroom with no toilet paper, so she started screaming for her husband. This probably happened in the 1920's and my family still screams "Joe McGucken!!" when they need toilet paper. I could list many, many more....but I digress......
As I was saying....bad day at Black Rock here.....at least for Brody. The Sixers lost the game. He has been in a funk ever since. All that explaining above, just to say the Sixers lost! Not a big deal to most people....but it certainly is for #1 fan, Brody.
Mike painted in the bedroom all day....the trim is taking forever....2 coats on four windows, crown molding, two closets.....a lot of tedious work. Better Mike than me. He was so sick of being in the house that he insisted we go out to dinner. We went to our favorite local Italian restaurant. I had my favorite dish, Gnocchi Capri. Gnocchi in a cream, tomato, basil sauce, topped with mozzarella and baked. Artery clogging for sure, but it is soooooo delish!!
Time to get the kids to 'go up the golden stairs to sleep' (another family expression, origin unknown).
Saturday, April 21, 2001
I love Saturday mornings. It is the only day of the week that I don't have to get up at the crack o' dawn. I LOVE to sleep in! I also like Saturday mornings because I don't have to jump in the shower the minute I crawl out of bed....I can lounge around in my sleep shirt and robe. I am an expert at being lazy!
Friday, April 20, 2001
TEN THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT ME
1. I am left handed.
2. I am a sun whore and I have the dried out skin to prove it. I use lotion....but I only use Bain de Soleil #4 orange gelee.....which is about as effective as baby oil in protection. I lie in the sun almost every day in the summer. I also love to swim. I am the only old lady out there body surfing.
3. My mother was an older mother.....I have followed in her footsteps. She was 36 years old when she had me, very unusual for the 1950's.
4. I live 20 miles away from where I was born and raised.
5. I love to talk on the phone and thankfully have friends who like to do the same. It is not unusual for me to have hour long conversations or even 2 hour conversations. Mike just loves when I do that with my friends who live far away! LOL
6. I LOVE to drive. I find it a great stress-buster. When Marna was going through her colicky period I would often jump in the car right after I handed her over to Mike as he walked in the door. We live in a great area for driving.....long country roads leading to more long country roads.
7. I know the city of Philadelphia better than anyone I know, (except for my brother). I can get you to any part of the city, center city or otherwise. My friends are always calling me for directions to different parts of the city. Both sets of grandparents lived in Philadelphia and we spent many, many weekends there. My father was a great one for taking 'field trips', so my brother and I learned the city inside and out from checking out all the sites with our father.
8. I know a LOT of trivia. I know a little about almost everything and know a lot about nothing. My family has been telling me to go on Jeopardy for years. I just have a knack....well I used to have a knack, as I grow older I seem to be losing it a bit.....for remembering something I have read only once. All these useless little tidbits stuck in my brain. It came in very handy when I was in school.....I didn't have to study nearly as long as most people. We used to play trivia with friends on a regular basis, but they won't play with me any more.....we have moved on to card games! LOL
9. I suck at math. I hate math.
10. I lose my keys frequently. Mike has threatened to nail them to my ass on a chain.
1. I am left handed.
2. I am a sun whore and I have the dried out skin to prove it. I use lotion....but I only use Bain de Soleil #4 orange gelee.....which is about as effective as baby oil in protection. I lie in the sun almost every day in the summer. I also love to swim. I am the only old lady out there body surfing.
3. My mother was an older mother.....I have followed in her footsteps. She was 36 years old when she had me, very unusual for the 1950's.
4. I live 20 miles away from where I was born and raised.
5. I love to talk on the phone and thankfully have friends who like to do the same. It is not unusual for me to have hour long conversations or even 2 hour conversations. Mike just loves when I do that with my friends who live far away! LOL
6. I LOVE to drive. I find it a great stress-buster. When Marna was going through her colicky period I would often jump in the car right after I handed her over to Mike as he walked in the door. We live in a great area for driving.....long country roads leading to more long country roads.
7. I know the city of Philadelphia better than anyone I know, (except for my brother). I can get you to any part of the city, center city or otherwise. My friends are always calling me for directions to different parts of the city. Both sets of grandparents lived in Philadelphia and we spent many, many weekends there. My father was a great one for taking 'field trips', so my brother and I learned the city inside and out from checking out all the sites with our father.
8. I know a LOT of trivia. I know a little about almost everything and know a lot about nothing. My family has been telling me to go on Jeopardy for years. I just have a knack....well I used to have a knack, as I grow older I seem to be losing it a bit.....for remembering something I have read only once. All these useless little tidbits stuck in my brain. It came in very handy when I was in school.....I didn't have to study nearly as long as most people. We used to play trivia with friends on a regular basis, but they won't play with me any more.....we have moved on to card games! LOL
9. I suck at math. I hate math.
10. I lose my keys frequently. Mike has threatened to nail them to my ass on a chain.
I have just perused all the blogs that have become part of my daily net routine. I am amazed at how they are evolving. They all look so great.....fancy new colors, layouts, features, etc.
This thing ain't called BlogBore for nothing......this is the way this blog will remain.....boring in content and appearance! LOL
This thing ain't called BlogBore for nothing......this is the way this blog will remain.....boring in content and appearance! LOL
Didn't get to blog yesterday or do much of anything on the net for that matter. DSL was down. I called and got a recording that they were experiencing trouble in South Jersey (me), parts of Maryland and Pennsylvania. "We are working diligently to rectify the problem as quickly as possible." More than 12 hours later it finally connected.
Had an interesting afternoon yesterday. My friend Marge came over to give Marna her birthday presents. We were chatting away in the den and heard Brody and his friends playing their daily basketball game in the driveway. Brody came in and said, " Aunt Marge, some girl threw a skateboard and it hit your car and dented it." Brody has been known to kid around with stuff like this, so neither Marge nor I took him seriously at first. He realized we weren't buying it and finally said, "I am not kidding, come out and look."
We go out back and there are 3 middle school age girls standing there. I have never seen any of them before.
Sure enough, on the hood of Marge's Expedition are two huge dents from the wheels of the skateboard and a huge scrape from the grip tape on the deck of the board in between. Marge was much more calm than I would ever expect her to be and much more calm than I know I would have been had it been my car. I turned to the girls and asked which one threw it. The girl admitted it, I got her name and address, and then told her to leave as we do not tolerate behavior like that. It seems as though she was aiming for the head of one of Brody's friends and he ducked! I hate to think what would have happened to John had she made her target!!
As the girl is walking out of our yard, one of the other girls starts yelling at me, "Who the f*** do you think you are? You can't f***ing talk to my sister like that you motherf***er!" I can't even describe the rage I felt when that girl spewed those words in my direction. I did stay calm and said to her, "I'll tell you who I am. I am the owner of this property, the property you are trespassing upon and I suggest you leave this minute and if I ever see you or your sister here again, I will immediately call the police."
I expected another foul-mouthed response, but she mumbled under her breath and she and her friend walked to the street.
The boys came over and patted me on the back thrilled that I had 'handled' her. They said she is bad news and at the moment is suspended from school. It seems the girls were walking by and saw the boys in the backyard and decided to invite themselves back there. Of course my obvious question to the boys was why didn't you tell me or tell them to leave? Being adolescent boys, I think they enjoyed the idea of girls watching them play.....even though they don't like these girls.
We checked out Marge's car again and realized it was going to be a costly repair. We decided to call the police to get a report. The police came and said Marge had two choices.....go talk to the parents of the girl and try to work it out that way, or file charges against her and take it court to get the money. Marge decided she would talk to the parents first. I told the officer that she would only be doing that if he accompanied her. He said he would.
Marge came back and told us that another officer showed up. She went to the door of the house with an officer on either side of her. The mother was terribly upset at the throwing of the skateboard and the foul-mouthed back talk. Marge said the mother seemed distraught that her daughters are out of control. I found out from one of Brody's friends that the foul-mouthed sister broke a window of a neighbor .....with her fist!!!....and had the police called on her then, as well. Marge told her that she would like to keep the police out of it, if possible. The mother agreed and said I am going to have to pay for it either way so I would just like to keep it between us (she and Marge). Marge thinks the mother is sincere, but told the mother if it didn't work out this way, she would take it to court. The mother gave Marge her name and phone number and told Marge to call her when she got an estimate. I hope it does work out with no problems.
I am astounded at the behavior of these kids. What is up with kids these days?? I find it very scary that some kids think nothing of behaving in this manner.
Had an interesting afternoon yesterday. My friend Marge came over to give Marna her birthday presents. We were chatting away in the den and heard Brody and his friends playing their daily basketball game in the driveway. Brody came in and said, " Aunt Marge, some girl threw a skateboard and it hit your car and dented it." Brody has been known to kid around with stuff like this, so neither Marge nor I took him seriously at first. He realized we weren't buying it and finally said, "I am not kidding, come out and look."
We go out back and there are 3 middle school age girls standing there. I have never seen any of them before.
Sure enough, on the hood of Marge's Expedition are two huge dents from the wheels of the skateboard and a huge scrape from the grip tape on the deck of the board in between. Marge was much more calm than I would ever expect her to be and much more calm than I know I would have been had it been my car. I turned to the girls and asked which one threw it. The girl admitted it, I got her name and address, and then told her to leave as we do not tolerate behavior like that. It seems as though she was aiming for the head of one of Brody's friends and he ducked! I hate to think what would have happened to John had she made her target!!
As the girl is walking out of our yard, one of the other girls starts yelling at me, "Who the f*** do you think you are? You can't f***ing talk to my sister like that you motherf***er!" I can't even describe the rage I felt when that girl spewed those words in my direction. I did stay calm and said to her, "I'll tell you who I am. I am the owner of this property, the property you are trespassing upon and I suggest you leave this minute and if I ever see you or your sister here again, I will immediately call the police."
I expected another foul-mouthed response, but she mumbled under her breath and she and her friend walked to the street.
The boys came over and patted me on the back thrilled that I had 'handled' her. They said she is bad news and at the moment is suspended from school. It seems the girls were walking by and saw the boys in the backyard and decided to invite themselves back there. Of course my obvious question to the boys was why didn't you tell me or tell them to leave? Being adolescent boys, I think they enjoyed the idea of girls watching them play.....even though they don't like these girls.
We checked out Marge's car again and realized it was going to be a costly repair. We decided to call the police to get a report. The police came and said Marge had two choices.....go talk to the parents of the girl and try to work it out that way, or file charges against her and take it court to get the money. Marge decided she would talk to the parents first. I told the officer that she would only be doing that if he accompanied her. He said he would.
Marge came back and told us that another officer showed up. She went to the door of the house with an officer on either side of her. The mother was terribly upset at the throwing of the skateboard and the foul-mouthed back talk. Marge said the mother seemed distraught that her daughters are out of control. I found out from one of Brody's friends that the foul-mouthed sister broke a window of a neighbor .....with her fist!!!....and had the police called on her then, as well. Marge told her that she would like to keep the police out of it, if possible. The mother agreed and said I am going to have to pay for it either way so I would just like to keep it between us (she and Marge). Marge thinks the mother is sincere, but told the mother if it didn't work out this way, she would take it to court. The mother gave Marge her name and phone number and told Marge to call her when she got an estimate. I hope it does work out with no problems.
I am astounded at the behavior of these kids. What is up with kids these days?? I find it very scary that some kids think nothing of behaving in this manner.
Tuesday, April 17, 2001
Getting older sucks. Mike and I both went to bed fine. He woke up with a hurting back, I woke up with an aching hip. It really eats it when you get hurt in bed....SLEEPING!! Oh wait...maybe we had super wild sex in our sleep and neither of us remembers......shit, if we're so old we wouldn't remember that.....shoot us!!!
We went to pick out wallpaper for our bedroom today. I kind of dreaded it....I hate all those choices, and I had nothing in mind. I don't have a particular decorating style like country, traditional, etc.,.....if I like it, I use it. Our bedroom was last done when Brody was about a year old.....so 12 years later, it's ready for a re-do. Plus we have ordered new bedroom furniture. We have a mish mosh of furniture at the moment. Most of the set my parents bought me when I was a sophomore in high school and some pieces that a friend gave us when she moved.
We are keeping the butt-ugly 70's rust, brown, beige carpet. It is so ugly, but it's on the second floor, no one sees it and it is in excellent condition. Mike wanted to rip it up and have the hardwood floors.....I wanted the bedroom carpeted.....so since we are both too cheap to replace it, the butt-ugly carpet stays.
Back to the wallpaper....Mike, the supreme cheapo, went immediately to the overstock racks of wallpaper. I was perusing the books and finding NOTHING. He walked over to me with one that I nixed when he was about 3 feet away from me. He came over with a second one and I LOVED it. It's kind of indescribably wild....we both agreed it was the paper we would use. We only paper the wall where the head of the bed is.....the rest of the room will be coordinately painted. So, we will be busy re-doing the bedroom, once Mike removes the old wallpaper.
Marna and I baked "Amish Friendship Bread" this evening . It is a project she is doing with her Brownie troop. We got a bag of starter.....smelly fermenting stuff, much like sourdough starter......and have had it for 10 days. Most days we just had to squeeze the bag, but on the 5th day we had to add sugar, milk, and flour. We finished the recipe today..... adding lots of ingredients, making 4 more starter bags for other troop members and the rest we used for baking two loaves. We put raisins in one and chocolate chips in the other. They smelled surprisingly delicious as they were baking.....nothing like that stinky starter. When it was finished baking, we allowed it to cool sufficiently and we all tried a piece. Wow! Were we surprised......it is delicious!! Marna was quite proud that she practically made it all by herself!!
Tomorrow is the last day of spring break. Why they made it for them to go back on a Thursday, I don't know, but it will get us out that much earlier in June....so I'm not going to complain. We have no plans for the day as of yet.....but I don't think I want to stay home. I'll have to think of something to do tomorrow.
We went to pick out wallpaper for our bedroom today. I kind of dreaded it....I hate all those choices, and I had nothing in mind. I don't have a particular decorating style like country, traditional, etc.,.....if I like it, I use it. Our bedroom was last done when Brody was about a year old.....so 12 years later, it's ready for a re-do. Plus we have ordered new bedroom furniture. We have a mish mosh of furniture at the moment. Most of the set my parents bought me when I was a sophomore in high school and some pieces that a friend gave us when she moved.
We are keeping the butt-ugly 70's rust, brown, beige carpet. It is so ugly, but it's on the second floor, no one sees it and it is in excellent condition. Mike wanted to rip it up and have the hardwood floors.....I wanted the bedroom carpeted.....so since we are both too cheap to replace it, the butt-ugly carpet stays.
Back to the wallpaper....Mike, the supreme cheapo, went immediately to the overstock racks of wallpaper. I was perusing the books and finding NOTHING. He walked over to me with one that I nixed when he was about 3 feet away from me. He came over with a second one and I LOVED it. It's kind of indescribably wild....we both agreed it was the paper we would use. We only paper the wall where the head of the bed is.....the rest of the room will be coordinately painted. So, we will be busy re-doing the bedroom, once Mike removes the old wallpaper.
Marna and I baked "Amish Friendship Bread" this evening . It is a project she is doing with her Brownie troop. We got a bag of starter.....smelly fermenting stuff, much like sourdough starter......and have had it for 10 days. Most days we just had to squeeze the bag, but on the 5th day we had to add sugar, milk, and flour. We finished the recipe today..... adding lots of ingredients, making 4 more starter bags for other troop members and the rest we used for baking two loaves. We put raisins in one and chocolate chips in the other. They smelled surprisingly delicious as they were baking.....nothing like that stinky starter. When it was finished baking, we allowed it to cool sufficiently and we all tried a piece. Wow! Were we surprised......it is delicious!! Marna was quite proud that she practically made it all by herself!!
Tomorrow is the last day of spring break. Why they made it for them to go back on a Thursday, I don't know, but it will get us out that much earlier in June....so I'm not going to complain. We have no plans for the day as of yet.....but I don't think I want to stay home. I'll have to think of something to do tomorrow.
Monday, April 16, 2001
A very quiet day-after-Easter. Marna's birthday money was burning a hole in her pocket and she wanted to go shopping. Mike decided to take the kids and give me a day off......I can dig it! Marna bought a new DiscMan to replace her cheapo one. They also went to the CD store.....Marna bought a Faith Hill CD, Brody bought a Third Eye Blind CD and Mike bought a best of Loggins and Messina CD......what a variety of music!! They also stopped in at a dollar store on the way home and Brody brought me a candle and a bag of Mary Janes. I love those things! That kid knows me!
Sunday, April 15, 2001
A lovely Easter day is winding down. Our guests just left and dear Michael is tackling the kitchen. We left all the mess so we could socialize with our friends Joan and Tony. Joan has to work tomorrow....has to get up at 5AM, so they couldn't stay too late, especially since they have an hour ride home.
I think this is the first Easter the kids have not awakened on their own. Does that mean they are getting old or does it mean they are getting too little sleep? We woke them up and they were both thrilled with their baskets. We went to church and boy, was it packed! I know it always is on Easter.....but I have never seen it so full. The choir was exceptionally terrific this morning and we had a guest flutist and pianist accompanying the organ. The music was incredible. Marna sang in the cherub choir and as I was watching her I couldn't believe she was standing there, facing all these people. She sang her little heart out. Marna used to be so terribly shy....at that time I would have never believed she would be able to sing in front of so many people. After the service, there was an egg hunt for the kids 12 and under.....the older kids filled and hid the plastic eggs all over the church yard.
We had friends from the shore for dinner. Tony is Mike's best friend and I really like Joan a lot. We drank a lot of wine, laughed a lot and enjoyed dinner. Mike is such a sweetie that he cleaned up everything. Not an easy job. We have a dishwasher, but none of the silver or old crystal stemware can go in.....he had to handwash a LOT. He is so good!!!! I am still miserably full from dinner. Think I will go get comfy......my nightshirt and robe are sounding pretty damned good at this moment.
I think this is the first Easter the kids have not awakened on their own. Does that mean they are getting old or does it mean they are getting too little sleep? We woke them up and they were both thrilled with their baskets. We went to church and boy, was it packed! I know it always is on Easter.....but I have never seen it so full. The choir was exceptionally terrific this morning and we had a guest flutist and pianist accompanying the organ. The music was incredible. Marna sang in the cherub choir and as I was watching her I couldn't believe she was standing there, facing all these people. She sang her little heart out. Marna used to be so terribly shy....at that time I would have never believed she would be able to sing in front of so many people. After the service, there was an egg hunt for the kids 12 and under.....the older kids filled and hid the plastic eggs all over the church yard.
We had friends from the shore for dinner. Tony is Mike's best friend and I really like Joan a lot. We drank a lot of wine, laughed a lot and enjoyed dinner. Mike is such a sweetie that he cleaned up everything. Not an easy job. We have a dishwasher, but none of the silver or old crystal stemware can go in.....he had to handwash a LOT. He is so good!!!! I am still miserably full from dinner. Think I will go get comfy......my nightshirt and robe are sounding pretty damned good at this moment.