Wordless Wednesday:: Color

I need some color added to my day, because I am so sick of looking at snow! These photos were taken in Little Italy, NYC in November.


FYI: Our Caption This! Winning Caption was this one!



If I have to see one more Kibbles-n-Bits commercial...

To be fair, I had my kids pick their favorite...

Congratulations to Sweet Jeanette!!

She will be receiving a $10.00 Target Gift Card!! Woo-hoo! :)
That was fun....I think I will do this again in the near future.

Would you play again if I did?

Learning Lessons From 2010

This post is part of Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop. I chose the prompt: "What happened in 2010 that you'd rather not repeat?"



I swear that each morning when I hear the shuffling foot steps coming down the stairs that I will be greeting  my own Jolly Green Giant. I don't know what is in our water, but according to the pencil marks that adorn our basement door, displaying height marks etched for the past 10 years, we should maybe switch to milk. Something to stop this madness!  

I learned the hard way that the side effects of said sudden growth spurts should be monitored with a close eye...because in 2010 I failed in that department. Not once, but TWICE! I sure hope that I don't repeat this in 2011, and I am sure that my son feels the same way.

And here is why:

Lesson One: The Band Concert

My Husband had been traveling quite a bit and I had started a new job. Time was tight when it came to after-school activities and trying to be two places at once. Well, not at once, but pretty darn close to it. Trying to get the household accustomed to the new schedule, I tried my best to arrange our time and places and honestly what I came up with worked well....on paper at least. On this particular day, our son had a band concert and our daughter a track meet. To make sure that my master timing plan would go off without a hitch, I asked our son to lay out his clothes the night before so that I could just grab-n-go that morning on my way to work. So, our late afternoon/evening would run as such:
- Pick up our son a little early from school (which lets out later than our daughter's)
-Meet dad (who just arrived from the airport) at the track meet.
-Cheer on sis
-After meet, dad and sis run to Panera to pick up dinner and meet us back in school cafeteria.
-Between the track and cafeteria, son to do his best superhero and change in the back of the car.
-Have dinner in cafeteria
-Because of being in school already, son is early for pre-prep concert rehearsal.
-Dad, sis and I get seats in the auditorium, affording prime waving and picture taking spots in audience.

Smooth like clockwork....until there was a glitch in the system.

As our son was getting ready in the car, he said:

S: "Mom. You grabbed the wrong clothes!"
M: "What do you mean I grabbed the wrong clothes? I grabbed what was on your bed."
S: "Well, then you grabbed the wrong shirt!"
M: "There was only one set of clothes on the bed."

With that, I looked in the back seat to a kid a shirt size, maybe two, too small. The sleeves barely making it to mid-forearm length!

M: "What the heck?! That is the same shirt you wore to the Christmas concert only a few months ago!"
S: "Can we please go get a new one?"
M: "No. We don't have time. You will have to roll up your sleeves."
S: "I don't want to wear it like that! It will look stupid!"
M: "You CAN'T wear it like that! You are going to have to roll them."

Not only were the sleeves too short, but the shirt was just able to stay buttoned. If he held his breath he would be just fine. How is that going to be possible? He has to play a wind instrument!

It felt like our own twisted version of A Christmas Story...don't breathe or else you will shoot someone's eye out (with popping buttons!)! Should I warn the first row?

Bad Mother of the Year!

Lesson Two: Sneakers

After said band concert, you would think that I would take inventory of any other piece of clothing that may have gotten too small. Nope. Never even crossed my mind.

Fast forward to the last week of school.

S: "Mom. I need new sneakers."
M: "OK. Since it's the last week of school, can we wait til Friday and we can go then?"
S: "Sure. No problem. Thanks Mom."

Friday rolls around and when I got home from work, off to the mall we went to look for new shoes.

We looked through every style that donned the shelves. Finally, my son found a pair he liked and tried them on.

S: "Ahhhhh. Oh, man, these feel GREAT. Soooooo much better. I can move my toes again."
M: "Oh, good. Wait. What do you mean 'you can move your toes again?' What size are they?"

He hands me the box and on his now happy feet are size 11. I grab the tattered shoe that is lying on its side and see on the back of the tongue that is is a size 9. NINE????!!!! His toes must have been folded in half!

M: "Oh my goodness! WHY didn't you tell me BEFORE that these were so small?! How long have they been like this?"
S: Shrugs shoulders. "I dunno."

Another nomination for Bad Mother of the Year! Please don't let these mommy faux-pas repeat themselves again this year! I think I have learned my lesson!

My son can only hope.

The Wonder that is Halloween

To celebrate the upcoming Halloween holiday, today's guest post is from our Blogger of the Month, David McGrievey of An Illustrated Life. I hope you have had the chance to visit David's blog to enjoy his witty banter and beautiful illustrations.

I recall the scent of fallen leaves crushed under my feet as my sister and I went door to door screaming 'Trick or Treat" at weary married people. Aside from the few healthy apples dumped in our pillowcases, we were never disappointed. We grew up in a neighborhood with emphasis on neighbor.

Nobody gives out treats in NYC.

Luxury high rise condominiums are closely guarded by uniformed doormen who do not let annoying costumed children in.

My apartment building is not that fancy, no doormen, so consequently, my first year living in this city, a lone fat Asian kid knocked on my sixth floor door and said "Trick or Treat." Dumbfounded, I gave him a piece of sliced Wonder bread, it was the only treat I had.

I dropped the pathetic slice into his colorful 'Trick or Treat" bag knowing full well it was not a treat, I felt bad.

Turns out the kid lived downstairs and he was the only English speaking person in his family. He gave me the stink eye while passing in the hallway for a year after the sliced bread incident but we later became friends. I believe NYC gave birth to the phrase "Never take candy from strangers," which is why I give out Wonder bread.

Please enjoy this fall image of mine which appeared in The New York Times. It is of the Guggenheim Museum and looks like sliced bread, no children allowed.

Back to Blogging:: Day 3- What's in a TItle?

I have been running on fumes for a few days now and it finally caught up to me last night! I sat down (once again, verrrry late) and opened up my laptop to schedule a few posts. I was on a site (BlogFrog to be exact) ready to make a comment on a discussion and you know what?

 I FELL ASLEEP! Right then and there! Totally zonked! I don't even know if I actually hit the reply button! I don't think I have ever done that before.

Have you ever been so tired that you just fell asleep like that?

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Day 3 of "Back to Bloggin" is to upload a past post title that I liked and explain why I liked it.


Here is one that I liked Writing:

What? No Stunt Double?

I promised this morning that I would have another post tonight sharing my weekend, but something happened today that had me cracking up ...at myself! If you saw it, you would have certainly been laughing AT me and I would not have blamed you one bit.

As I mentioned, today was my first day of my new job. It's a nice little job that I am very excited about. I was so nervous about making a good impression, that I did not sleep a wink last night and let me tell you, the alarm sounded much, much earlier than I wanted.

After sorting out a few things and having a few gulps of much needed coffee,  I got settled at my new desk and then it happened. I felt like I was in a re-run of the "I Love Lucy Show" only, I was not Lucy.

                                   I was her stand in.

I can hear the director now...

"Ok.  Lucy, I want you to reach over the arm rest of your chair, down into that tote bag and try to grab the bottle of water that is just out of your reach. Good. CUT! Bring in the stunt double...."

Then it is me in the chair and in the next instant, the chair tips, wheels fly out to the side, my feet and the legs of the chair are above my head and I am crashing onto the ground. "CUT! Bring Lucy back in!"

 

Lucy = "Whaaaaaaaaa! Riiiiiiiiiicckkkyyy!!!"

Me = "Ouch! Bpffffftttttttttt....hhahahahahaha!"

That's is correct. I literally fell out of my chair!

I am so glad nobody saw it happen because I would never have lived that one down!

I'm sure that my neighbor in the next office has no clue that there is a comic genius in the works, mere feet away. I'll keep that gem for months from now when I can say "Did I ever tell you what happened on my first day?"

For now, I am finishing my tea and grabbing the heating pad for my sore back.

*In my best Troy McClure voice*: "I'm not a stunt double, but I once played one in an office...you may have seen me in "Musical Chairs For Dummies" or "Stop, Drop and Roll, an Office Worker's Nightmare".

Not to worry stunt doubles, I'm going to keep my day job.


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I had a hard time finding a title of a post that was catchy! I do have a few...but not many. I have to work on that!

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**This week's posts will be done as part of "Get Back To Blogging" through SITS and a sponsored giveaway provided by, Standards of Excellence, Westar Kitchen and Bath, and Florida Builder Appliances. The item(s) up for grabs are "Thelma & Louise", a washer and dryer by Electrolux!

Guess Who's NOT Coming to Dinner!

Want to know how to drive an Italian woman crazy?

Take away her oven.

Last weekend we had my brother and his family over for dinner. We were not expecting company for dinner, but as it is a no-brainer-like breathing-a place is always welcome (for ANY meal) at our table.

So, as I said- not expected, but that was ok...it was Sunday, meal prep would be easy, because EVERY Sunday is pasta in some shape or form in our house.  I had already taken the last of the frozen homemade sauce out of the freezer and instead of making macaroni, I decided to make a lasagna. I set the timer to preheat the oven and went about assembling while chatting with my daughter as she prepared the salad. I timed it perfectly...I had exactly one hour to cook and let it cool before company arrived. I whipped open the door and as I went to put the dish in the oven I said out loud

"Why is the oven cold?"

I looked at the control panel and it still read "PRE". Hmmm.

I asked my son to go get Dad. My husband came in and checked, pushed buttons, turned on burners, banged and double checked and said "Nope. It's "cooked", Bwaahaahaaahaa." Under normal circumstances, I would have found that punch line hysterical, but right now I am stressing. I can't freeze the dish because it won't fit in my freezer and I can't make a new pot of sauce because I don't have enough time. My neighbor saved me. I called her and asked:

Me: "Are you using your oven for dinner tonight?"

Friend: " No. We are having tacos."

Me: "I know this is going to sound crazy, but can I cook lasagna in your oven? Mine just bit the dust and I have company coming for dinner in an hour!"

Friend: "What should I set my oven to?"

I *so* owe her a bottle of wine!

My husband grabbed the dish and drove it down.

While the next 60 minutes ticked by, I went down to the laundry area and started a new load. Oh, and did I tell you that my washing machine is now on the fritz too? Uh, yeah.

Want to know how else to drive an Italian woman crazy?

Take away her washing machine.

For two weeks now, I have had to turn the dial a certain way and then hold it on while the cycle begins. If I don't, it won't agitate. Gremlins. I just had them here for a visit for my dryer, when the Laundry Fairy Returned as Gremlin!

And the third?? Because you know everything happens in three's...

Take away her dishwasher.

The night before we would learn about our oven, I turned on my dishwasher and it made the most horrible noise. I opened the door and checked to make sure nothing was blocking anything. Not that I could see. Turned it back on and "GGGGGGRRRRRUUUUMMMMPPP". The sound actually woke my husband and he came down from bed like the Grinch- "Noise! Noise! Noise!?" I pointed to the dishwasher and he opened the door and could not find anything either.

The next morning I checked carefully and pulled out a piece of thin plastic....the top of a tortilla package that you rip off the top. How the heck did it get in there? Gremlins.

Can't they find another house to party in?

Between the washing machine, dishwasher and now my oven, they have definitely overstayed their welcome. For the record...Gremlins are NOT welcome at my dinner table!

Luckily, my brother and his family are cute and not mischievous in any way and we were able to sit down to a nice homemade meal, something I hope we can do again soon.

How does an Italian woman get her revenge on Gremlins?

She starts with lots of garlic, a novena and a repair man. If that doesn't work, she braves the waters of the appliance store, salesman and all and buys a new one!

Damn Gremlins.

Wordless Wednesday:: Why Little Bobby & Suzy Should Keep a Dictionary on Top of Their Supply List

See original story from Yahoo!

They Link Me, They Really Link Me!

I feel like Sally Field excepting her Oscar as she exclaimed "You like me, You really like me!"

As I have mentioned, I am working my way through daily assigned tasks with the SITS and ProBlogger's "Build a Better Blog in 31 Days" (aka: 31DBBB) Challenge. I am so glad that I have signed up to do this because it has allowed me to move out of my comfort zone and put faith in the blogging community to help me grow as a blogger and I have to say I have not been disappointed! The support from folks that have come by to visit from this community has been wonderful! I wish I could express how grateful I am to receive constructive feedback, techie advice and kind words of encouragement. To all of these wonderful ladies (and gents too!) :

I love you man!

Because of recently traveling for the sweet family getaway to celebrate a BIG anniversary, I have been playing catch up with Days 13-23(today) and completing them, but not necessarily in chronological order.  Today's post (Day 22) is highlighting a special reader or two or three...

I have visited so many great sites that my head is spinning. Some make me cry, some make me laugh, some make me think and others make me learn, but what I am noticing to be the common denominator is: They all have Great Content! So, I will share just a few of the wonderful blogs out there that I am really digging and hope that you will pay them a visit, because they are worth it!

Generating Heat:( a journey back to myself)
Lisa is a dear friend of mine from my favorite sport of speedskating. While taking to the ice in competition, we always encouraged each other and soon became fast (no pun intended) friends. Lisa is a potter (clay) and is currently taking part in an art exhibition all the way in Korea! She is journaling and photographing her experiences each day- including today's post where she shares "I Had Tea With a Monk on A Side of A Mountain"! I mean, how cool is that?! Get lost in her blog: you will find among her lovely photographs and posts that she is not only an artist with her craft, she is with her written word as well.

Making It Work Mom
Heather is a blogging mom that emailed me very early in this challenge asking if I would link a post for her. After reading her stories of being a working mom and trying to balance a hectic family schedule, well, I immediately liked her! Our kids are close in age and we are dealing with some of the same issues, so her take on life makes me laugh right along with her. Her latest post : "Maybe Giselle Should Mind Her Own Business...Just Saying"was very funny, yet very on target. Heather was also kind enough to link back to a post of mine! Thanks Heather!!

Coloring Outside the Lines
Alycia, also known in certain circles as the Crayon Wrangler, has a fantastic sense of humor and her writing is just top notch! I have been more interactive with her via Twitter and Blog Frog, however, her blog also totally ROCKS! She completely surprised me yesterday by leaving a comment on my Facebook Fan Page where she told me that my blog rocked AND on top of that, linked one of my posts for twitter followers to read! If you are thinking of writing a book, be sure to read her post on "Finishing Writing a Novel-A Novel Idea". Where you can double check to make sure that you are writing your character's story!

MultipleMama
Andie surprised me out of the blue (which is a condition of this Day Task 22) with an email letting me know that she linked a comment I left for her and included it in this post: "Messiness Loves Company". I emailed her back with a "Wowza!" I have enjoyed her wit and real life take on motherhood that she shares in her posts and I know you will too!

The Funsucker Chronicles
Cheryl had me laughing the moment I loaded her blog page- it is wicked in more ways than one! When I saw that she had the Wicked Witch as her header picture and that her kids claimed she "sucked the fun out of everything",  I felt a kindred spirit. I have not shared this with her yet, but my sister-in-law used to be pen pals with Margaret Hamilton, aka: Cora the Coffee Lady for Maxwell House, aka The Wicked Witch of The West! Speaking of penpals, I recently learned how long camper's letters to home actually take and invaluable camping advice with her revised post: "Everything I Ever Needed to Know I learned at Summer Camp-Encore Presentation". Although she lost me at "tarantula," (I'm arachnophobic), the rest of her tips are rather helpful! I may hide my Ruby Slippers when I see her, but I will always welcome the Funsucker into the bloghouse!

I wish I could share all the fabulous blogs out there as this is just a small sampling of what I have come across during this challenge! There are many, many more I would love to put in this post...in fact, this task has spurred an idea into action that I have been mulling over and over for months now. Watch for a rolling out of my super-de-duper idea that will be ready by the end of the month. You will love it!

Now, go visit and let me know what you think!

And thanks for the link love; you make me feel like a star!

The Adventures of "Wally World"

I did not set out for a "Three Hour Tour" of my local "Wally World"...I was going for what I thought would be a quick hour shop to replenish the essentials in the fridge, to purchase my daughters favorite cake mix for her Birthday and to make sure I picked up a card. It was a Wednesday evening so this will be a snap-or so I thought! I should have suspected something when the parking gods allowed me the very first space in the lot, right in front of the door; "Sa-weet!" I thought as I whistled  pulling in. I checked not once, but twice to make sure I was not occupying a handicapped spot. Nope.

I tried finding a cart that did not fight to be pushed down aisles. I went through two. I pushed the squeaky wheel thing to the first row of the pharmacy where I saw another cart sitting solo...I could trade mine for that....I pulled out and this one was worse. So I bucked and went sideways as the left wheel spun around like Linda Blair's head. Ugh. Why must I always get the defective cart??

Then the weird started to happen.

I cu-chunk, cu-chunk-ed my way to the protein bar section and was met with Ned Flanders (The Simpsons) in the flesh. He was perfectly pressed; glasses and hair...(the only thing missing was the mustache) and two kids who he was sending down the aisle to retrieve whatever they needed. Our timing was not the best as we would run into each other at the end of each corner. Great googily-moogily. Then we ran into a traffic jam in the shampoo. He said " Oh, you don't need to move your cart out of the way ma'am." and as I reached for shampoo and conditioner I hear close over my shoulder " Ohhh, Passion Fruit? Uh, no, Cherry Blossom & Ginger, mmmmm" Eww. Hey, creepy Flanders...respect the personal bubble space!

I high-tailed it to school supply and picked up notebooks and loose-leaf paper. They will be gone by next week. Not much goin' on here except kids with pained looks on their faces while mom's filled their cart with giddy smiles.."You'll need these and these and these...oh, and we can't forget these!"

Making my way to the card section, I was stopped by a beautiful woman, completely wrapped from head to toe, asking if I knew where they kept the sunscreen. Ah, okaaaay.....I think over....this way....where I ran into an elderly lady who was searching for something for her toe, which of course she had to show me...and proceeded to pull her foot out of her shoe, (faster than my kids could strip out of a diaper-which let me tell you, was lightning fast!) remove her sock to show off her nasty, nasty, nasty toe nails...ah, okaaaayyy...I pointed over my shoulder in the direction of the pharmacy with the nicest smile I could muster and from there I kept walking. "Linda Blair" wheel and I needed to get to the freezer section, I mean cereal section, I mean...anywhere but here.

I made it through the entire store, keeping my last stop to the produce section-everything stays less squished when you can put on top of the cart. I happily bagged everything...until I came to plum tomatoes. Ever wonder why the tomatoes are so smushy and bruised in the store? Well, let me tell you why! Because...Tom Tomato Stacker doesn't place them into their bin, he chucks them...by the handful. And I am not talking a gingerly toss here...I think he was miffed because he got overlooked as a pitcher at some point in his life. He stood between my grape tomatoes and avocados...but I need plums to make my guacamole! Tommy Boy kept staring, more like glaring, at me until I finally asked, "May I sneak in here just to grab a few of those?" He replied "Yeah. Whatever." Okaaay....

Off to the check out I go...not too bad....an hour and 30 minutes....and a line that is short! Yes!
Of course, you know I didn't sail through the line...that would have been too easy. I was two carts and 4 kids away from completing my purchase and going home.

The woman at the check out had 3 kids. Two around 8 and 6 and a baby around one who loved to hit the keypad near the register. I don't know if he hit something on the pad or what, but it created line-gridlock for the rest of us. (Let me just say that it was like a Saturday in this store, crazy busy and not enough registers open. So I stayed put. I would get there eventually.) A supervisor was needed to fix something with a key, so that's who we were waiting for.  I couldn't get upset...I mean, mom is just trying to get through the day like the rest of us and get home.

But little "Dino-Bite" man, (that's what the T-Rex on his shirt was saying) in front of me was having a hard time. He kept telling his mom that he had to go potty...and mom would tell him he would have to wait. Little did she know that she could have gone home and back again and still been waiting. My poor little 3 year old friend. He was being so patient and so good as he sat there in the top of the cart. Then he started making faces at me. First a smile. I smiled. Then a frown. I frowned. Then a scowl. I scowled.  We did this for about 30 minutes. I started to remember how small my kids were and how I loved feeling the touch of their little hands when they would hold my face as they whispered something very important, or just wanted to stare into my eyes. I got snapped out of that Happy Place as a woman pushed me out of the way to grab six Pringles cans on the shelf next to me. Really? You need 6 of them?

I bid ado to Dino-Bite as he wheeled away making room for my stuff. Check out girl was working like molasses and I could not unload my stuff until the belt moved forward. When I checked to see why it hadn't moved I was appalled that I saw her PUTTING MY FOOD BAGS ON THE FLOOR!!!! What the heck??? I moved my cart forward and grabbed the bags off the floor and put them in my cart; then handed her all the items that were still in my cart to ring out. Why on earth would you put food ON THE FLOOR I wanted to yell. But the fact that I handed her things to ring out made her eyes roll and I swear she moved slowwwweeerrrrr.

I finally made it to my car, which remember was in the front spot. My only saving grace. Then I heard that shrill scream that only little kids can do. You know the one...it's as if you are torturing the poor thing. This fiasco was happening not directly in front of my car but on the opposite side of the next parking row. This mom also got the front spot. I wonder if she felt the same joy I felt when finding it. In any event, I hear bloody screams coming from the back of her car and see only half the mom. I knew this scenario all too well- the cries were from a way overtired toddler that was hungry, hot and just spent an eternity in Wally World. (I'm with ya kid). When my kids were that age, I broke into many a sweat trying to fit a squirming, screaming, recently possessd kid into a car seat. It's not easy. I finished packing up my car and as I closed my hatch "Mom" and I made eye contact. I was laughing and I gave her two thumbs up. The gesture made her laugh and she doubled over with a big smile and let her body language exude a huge "WHEW!"

I tell myself every time that I am never coming back here, but how can I not? Who knew one could experience the mundane and the bizarre all in one place? Next time, I'm passing on the premo parking spot, making sure I put pea soup in my shopping cart to take care of any spinning wheels and focus on the humor that the adventure brings.