Ach! Hello Der!

Heh,
Forgot about me, didn't you? I did too! Now with all the "micro-blogging" opportunities, who has time for the real thing? I mean COME ON MAN!

I still know how to log in here and to test that theory, I did and it worked so I suppose I ought to post something up here.

It's Thanksgiving week. We will have a small crowd of 14 this year and since that is SO much smaller than we normally have, I am almost not even thinking about it until I really have to on Wednesday. I am making turkey and gravy and stuffing and some cauliflower and some Brussels sprouts. I have sweet potato coming, rolls coming, pies coming and a ton of wine on hand. What else do I need? Potatoes? Are they really necessary? Squash something or other? Maybe...but then again, it all ends up in my fridge and the only leftovers I want in the house are turkey leftovers. Yummy, low-fat, protein rich turkey. Anything other than that gets eaten when it shouldn't. I don't need that.

But perhaps because we are a small group, we can just relax more, drink more, maybe watch a little football or a good movie. My goal this year is to SIT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.

What are you all doing? Any suggestions?

What are your favorite Thanksgiving memories? I'll start...I remember in the 70's my parents hosted Thanksgiving and I remember wearing a LONG brown and white patterned dress and helping mom set out wine glasses on the table and I remember watching the parade on TV and then Miracle on 34th street. Funny enough, I think my kids have the same memories without the long brown and white patterned dress.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Back In The Saddle Again

I'm a month off but who cares. I've downloaded iPhone apps to help me this time. Woohoo!

iPhone apps are the way to go. This one I have takes music from my iPod and shuffles it into my workout for me. The app is called Couch to 5K and it takes you on a day by day regimen to get you to get off that sofa (known as your ass, or in this case MY ass which is sofa sized) and get moving towards running a 5K. I have another one called Lose It in which I track what I've eaten throughout the day in an electronic food log. Maybe the cool factor will keep me with it.

I fantasize about running. I read Runner's Worl, pouring through articles getting inspired to run. I DID run once in my life and it felt good. Of course I wasn't so heavy before I got started so I went from walking to running in not a lot of time altogether. Still, I can imagine the feeling and I dream about the PEACE of running. The alone time, the time to think or just keep the beat of my pace or look around at other people. Time to be truly alone with myself. to sort things out or just zone out. I think that's what's so appealing about it, the alone time.

So yeah, I'm not going to do too much running just yet. I'll work my way up. Wouldn't want to shock my already overloaded system TOO much.

2010 is my year. I can feel it. Go me!

Ummm...yeah...

I used to fancy myself a blogger. And a mommy. Not a "mommy blogger" though the name might say differently.

But the blogging has been hard to come by because blogging takes time. And I ain't got any.

But suffice it to say, I'm HERE so I might as well make myself useful.

The kids are in college now. I'm 50 something and still at the MJCC.

Oh wait...scratch that. Yes, I AM still at the MJCC and working my tuchas off unfortunately not literally. But I've just downloaded some apps that are going to melt away the fat! Yeah! Yeah, ok, but they'll linger there in prominent positions on my iPhone just long enough for me to feel guilty and delete them when I can't take it anymore.

Well, maybe I won't delete them. I'll just move them to the 6th page of apps.

I've been learning Hebrew with my Rosetta stone software.

We got a new dog named Dash who lives up to his name.

My cat has an eye infection that won't go away.

I am 41 and having perimenopausal symptoms I won't get into now. Aging ain't pretty.

My eldest is going to sleep away camp for 3 weeks and I am somewhere between non-chalant and freaking out about it.

My youngest is going into Kindergarten next year. That means we'll be done with preschool. Holy shit.

It's almost 11:00 pm and I must go to bed.

But I was here. For a minute.

And now I'm gone.

Approaching elderly.

You know, I think I have crossed over some magic age line where you go from feeling pretty fine, to feeling "ok for your age" or some damn thing.

Since turning 40 (not to discourage any of you) I have noticed several changes in me that I am NOT happy with. For instance:

1. The overabundance of new gray hairs on the top of my head. I refuse to dye them because who can keep that up? Not me and it'll look like crap. But COME ON. THAT many in just these 11 months since my last birthday? A crappy present if you ask me.
2. The overabundance of broken capillaries in my lower legs (thanks mom). I will never don shorts again as long as I live.
3. The massive upgrade in my lactose intolerance. I have gone from "just a little gassy" to full blown hell at just the slightest bite of cheese. SO unfair. There's not enough lactaid in the world if my life keeps up like this.
4. The way I get so easily car sick, swing sick, walking-too-damn-fast sick. My body doesn't like movement. I am even getting car sick while driving but definitely not as bad.
5. I am allergic to every season. I sneeze all the time. Everywhere I go. Nice.
6. I can never find the words I'm looking for. I feel very....you know....what's the word....wait...it'll come to me. Never mind.
7. I get rashes for no reason.
8. I get hives for any reason you can think of.
9. I don't appreciate loud music and can't stand "what the kids are wearing these days".
10. And I'll stop here...every commercial plays a song from my youth as if to appeal to me when actually I want to rip my ears off my head just hearing the song in the commercial.

Is this what it's like to grow old? What the hell will 50 bring? Anal leakage?

Ssshhhhh....it'sth a sthecret

Mommy.......Moooooooooooommmmmmmyyyyyyyyyy....

C'mere.....Mamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa..............C'mere.

I have a sthecret to tell you.

Come closther.

[in my ear] Don't tell anyone the sthecret I'm going to tell you.

Me: ok honey what is it?

I'm telling you a sthecret. Don't tell anyone. 'Kay mommy?

Me: ok, what is it?

[softer in my ear] I'm telling you a sthecret. Don't tell anyone. Got it?

Yeah, kiddo. I got it. Go to bed. Love you.

Oink, Oink, Baby...

So we are assuming (and thereby making an ass, out of U and Me) that the Bird had the swine flu this weekend.

In the scheme of things, it wasn't so bad. So maybe it wasn't the swiners (are they like shriners?). But the assumption was that it was for whatever that is worth.

All in all, the fevers seem to be over. They never really got THAT high, I never really had the "Holy Shit" moment of the super high fever, though I did have the constant low level worry for three days straight and not a lot of sleep. Hey THAT should keep me from getting it, huh?

Actually...I feel ok. She is feeling ok too and I feel like we got over this slightly unscathed.

This, of course being my true lot in life, will now come back to bite me in the ass, won't it?

Keep your fingers crossed that it's back to life, back to reality tomorrow.

Apple Season

This weekend my favorite store highlighted all the apples they have to offer from our local farmers. They have 34 different varieties in the store right now.

I love apples but I especially love tasting all the different kinds that are available only right now at this peak of the season. It started for me with the making of the Pink Pearl applesauce from the most gorgeous apples I have ever seen. I then bought Orange Cox Pippin Apples, Ginger Gold apples (mix between a golden delicious and a granny smith), Cortland apples and then I had to get some honeycrisps because they're the best eating apple ever. But THIS week, I found Ambrosia apples, Orin Sweet winter apples, Swiss Gourmet apples and Liberty apples. You never knew that there were so many different kinds with so many different tastes but it's just the best to try them all and see how different they all are. We're all relaly enjoying the bounty. I'll have to go back for more before they're all gone.

Today is the last day of breezy sunny and chilly weather before the rains set in later this week. It is a glorious weekend with bright sun, cool temps, and blowing leaves and is my absolute favorite time of the year.

I hope fall is making you all equally happy wherever you may be.

Pancakes and Coffee

I love Sundays sometimes. But most especially when we don't have anything to do. This morning we're watching Clifford the Big Red Dog, making pancakes, drinking coffee, and blogging. We have nowhere to be.

Just as glorious would be a casual brunch out and a walk through Central Park, but since that's about 3,000 miles from here, I'm very satisfied being in my PJs, at the Isalnd in my kitchen, watching my love make breakfast.

Life is grand.

Time for reflection

Today is Yom Kippur - a time for repentence, forgiving, self-reflection - oh...and fasting. I am not fasting. I think I can handle this without hunger.

But what I think I'll do is take the girls and go for a walk in the park if I can motivate them to leave the house today. Like me, they like to spend the day in PJs playing and reading and relaxing. But since we're not off to synagogue, we'll do our Yom Kippur in nature and appreciate the things we have. And we'll try not to argue with each other and we'll try not to torture each other. Sounds nice, doesn't it?

I'll let you know how it goes.

For those of you reading this who are fasting, I wish you an easy fast. But I somehow think that there's maybe one or two reading this who will fast and the rest of you won't be fasting. Regardless...have a nice day. :-) Enjoy the fall weather.

No Heimlich Required

"Where do you want to go for your birthday dinner?"

"SUSHI" responded my newly 7 year old daughter.

Off we went.

It's not like every 7 year old wants sushi for their birthday. I could see Mac and cheese, pancakes for dinner, hell, even ice cream for dinner. But my child wanted sushi. How could I argue with that? I applaud her for her sophisticated palate. Plus, the honey and I, we love us some sushi too.

We ordered a lovely selection of spicy and spicier rolls. This kid is unafraid of tasting new things.

TWO bites in to the dinner, she turns beet red, and then, I realize, is completely choking on the beloved sushi. By the time we realized what was happening and were out of our seats to help her, she cleared it herself somehow.

We all sat and rested for a moment while we absorbed this lovely experience and I did my best to calm her while I was completely freaking out. She didn't really know what had just happened and asked some questions about what choking is and how we could have stopped it from happening if she didn't.

We told her about the heimlich maneuver.

She paused to think about it for a half a second, and then back to birthday sushi.

Why linger over trauma that didn't happen?

Versus me, lingering over the trauma that COULD have happened. Which is why I woke up at 5:30 this morning and am starting my day by blogging about it.

Anyway, crisis averted, THANK GOD.

We all ate a little more slowly and chewed a lot more during the rest of dinner. We could stand to do that more often.

My babies are 7 and 4 now. Hard to believe.

Look at the gorgeousness:

These two babies preceded to kick off their shoes and play on the grass in the amphitheater type outdoor setting where the restaurant was located. They giggled, and sang, got their feet wet in the fountain, ran on the grass and enjoyed themselves.

I remember being that age. And the feeling of freedom while playing. It's simply amazing to watch it in my own children.

Out with the old and in with the new

Perhaps I can start anew here. I mean it's been more than 4 months since I last blogged. And since I started this blog, "mommy blogging" has become a big thing. Which means, really, that I was a little ahead of the curve though I don't really consider this a mommy blog.

Since I have a life with a full time job, I can't spend my days finding the best coffee house that entertains my kids while I sip and gossip. I already send my girls to a wonderful school so I have no alternative opinions worth sharing (and I am NOT objective), I am not researching the best possible family vacation, I can't tell you the best free kids activities in town, and frankly, my friends who aren't working full time don't have time to do those things either. I guess we're all underachievers. :-)

But what I do know is that I enjoy writing when I get the chance, am not on deadline, and am not pretending to be something I'm not. And so...in this free moment, I decided to get some thoughts down on "paper".

We have just returned from a magical short week in Black Butte outisde of Sisters, OR. Sisters is just over the Santiam Pass, through the mountains from Salem, OR to Bend, OR. It is considered high desert country. The earth is kind of sandy and dusty and dry, the trees are tall and mostly very straight, the land is flat, mostly, between each of the huge mountains that surround the area, the creeks and rivers are clear, litter free, and ICE COLD. Black Butte is a vacation community with condos and houses through winding streets with golf courses, pools, tennis courts, and miles ofd bike paths. It was the ultimate family vacation in a rented house with full kitchen, nice back deck, room for all of us and the wonderful family we traveled with, and we all had a blast, got to relax, got along well, swam, rode bikes, and generally spent a week focused on fun and family time. Would it have been better without the kids? Sure, but then we would have spent the whole time wishing they were there too and feeling guilty so I think it was really all for the best to have been there all together.

What I discovered that week was that my children don't need to spend time in front of the TV, that they are capable of playing on their own when there are friends around or when they aren't. That they can be a little independent, but always round back to check in, that they are interested in nature, love animals (which I knew) and enjoyed the vacation as much as mommy and daddy did. We don't get to do that too often but I'm hoping that will change now since we discovered how nice it could be.

And now we're back home and focused on school beginning in two days. The kids are excited and nervous as are we but we know how much they love it and so we're all looking forward to it in our own way. I'll have a second grader and a preschooler. A SECOND GRADER. That just shocks me because I remember MY second grade year fairly well.

Anyhow, all is well, we are relaxed and are hoping to cling to that for as long as possible. It might just be another 24 hours or so but anything is better than nothing. :-)

I'll check in again next weekend...Labor Day weekend. I should have time to write then and report on the first week of school.

Until then, love to all. Enjoy the rest of your summer.

Jabberjaws

Once that term related only to some weird shark cartoon in the 80's we were watching at one point in our lives. Now it's all I can think of. I think that I'll start calling the Bird "Jabberjaws".

I realized today that my three year old must hate the sound of silence because she NEVER stops talking. It is a constant barrage of questions, statements, tunes, and stories fired at me st every waking minute of the day when we're together. Like when she sleeps it's all bottled up waiting to be shared. I often question her hearing because she'll ask me the same question over and over even though I've answered her a million times and then have stopped because she's harrassing me. Then I realize she KNOWS the answer, she just wants to keep the sound active.Mom, where are we going now? Where are we going? Mom...where are we going? Are we going to someone's house? Who's house are we going to?" Seriously...add to that that often if we're not in the car, she's tapping at me or pulling on me or shoving her hands up my shirt. I can take it all to a point but then I just have to tell her to stop talking. For instance, tonight getting her to bed..."mama, can I have that book to look at?", "Yes honey but just for a second and then it's bed time." and then she proceeds to tell the story of the book to herself, and then make up some extra stories and then request my presence and tell me I have to come back and check on her in one minute and then this goes on for ten minutes until finally I have to say "STOP TALKING and go to sleep! I can't check on you if you don't let me leave and you don't attempt to go to bed!"

Whew....I'm so used to it that I don't realize how often this goes on until she's asleep and I can think.

Jabber jabber jabber jabber jabber jabber jabber jaws....nyark, nyark, nyark...

Anyone else remember that show? I know I'm not making this up.

Signing off now so I can rest peacefully this evening before it begins all over again.

Shavuah Tov...A good week to you.

Back in PDX

The flight home was a friggin' miracle. We got great seats, had well behaved children, had room to stretch, a long delay but only got in 40 minutes late (comared to leaving NYC two hours late). All flights should be that easy.

Getting to JFK sucks though so Continental is the terminal of choice for this family.

New York was absolutely fabulous. There is just NEVER enough time to do things and see people. I would need weeks to fit it all in. I am grateful for the time I could get with those I spent time with and am hoping to make it back soon enough to see everyone again so it's not such a desperate time to cram it all in.

This trip was very special for me. I love Passover and am so excited to have been home for it. Even better was just spending time in the park with my family, letting the girls play with their cousins, shopping around with mine, the visit from Carol, dinners with dad, visiting Mom and Papa Don. Just all of it.

I want to move home. Perhaps now that things out here are a little less stable than usual this might be time to finally consider it? We shall see...

The View From Here

After the initial problem with our hotel room NOT being available to us when we checked in on Tuesday and being DOWNGRADED one night until we could get the right room, we are soundly ensconced in our usual one bedroom two bed, kitchenette "apartment" at the hotel in New York. For the first time we are on an upper floor which means not only windows out the front facing the street but on the sides as well. We can stand in the kitchen and face third avenue looking down 64th street. We can open the window in the bathroom for some fresh air and there's more natural light up here. Quite delightful actually.

With my honey finally in town and the Passover Seders over, it's starting to feel like "vacation" for what it's worth. Tomorrow the Peanut goes with her aunties to see The Lion King on Broadway and we'll all have a big family dinner afterwards which should be wonderful. Last night I had a date with my honey at Rosa Mexicana on the West Side. Quite a loud scene too. We drank sangria, ate yummy food and enjoyed some grown up time while the kids spent a night with Grandma! We walked back to the hotel which was a nice treat, pet a horse attached to a handsome cab, saw the "new" Time Warner center on Columbus Circle, passed the Plaza (now apartments) and enjoyed some night air. It's REALLY good to be in New York. The walking has been great. My feet aren't so happy but my head is. And the girls have kept up nicely when they've been with me/us.

I got the best haircut of my life on Thursday and am still loving it even though it'll never look as great as it did that night. It was quite an experience to have such a meticulous haircut. It's not something I can afford to do that often at all so it was SUCH a treat to go (and it was literally a treat - thank you Arlene, or Dad). My hair is bouncin' and behavin'. Too cool.

Seders were wonderful. Highlights:

• My cousin Daniel watching his cousin sing the Four Questions instead of him for the first time in 38 years.
• My cousin Daniel showing me the hidden frog in his mouth DURING the Seder when it was supposed to be serious.
• Giggling at the Seder table like we always did.
• Hail Renee, Hail Renee
• The Peanut singing the four questions with a little help from the Bird
• Seeing almost all of my cousins at the second Seder (missed you Sammy!)
• Spending time with my family
• GREAT brisket

More to come obviously. Tomorrow is supposed to be a beautiful day. Perhaps some new shoes are in the order for the day. Yippee!!

Song Poison...Ear Worms...Whatever You want to call it.

It's annoying....

In the silence your brain is singing some song you cannot turn off. No matter what you do or where you go, it follows you the second you're not *specifically* thinking of something else. On the toilet - humming it, washing the dishes - tapping your toes. In dead silence? There it is.

I play this game all the time because nothing amuses me more than planting something so obscure yet SO catchy that it's with someone (else) all day. I, too, have fallen prey more times than I can count. But it's ALWAYS the unintentional song poison that stays with me forever. And it's always the WORST POSSIBLE THING TO BE CAUGHT HUMMING. That thing when people look at you and go with a snarky tone "Huh. Really?" like you're some freak that's diseased.

Well folks, today that is me with HANNAH MONTANA on the brain. No cool, obscure Beatles tune for me. No great Eagles strummer, no random 80's pop, no driving Lynard Skynard, no Boston, no Heart. HANNAH FRICKIN' MONTANA. And a really annoying one too. And of course I don't know all the words so I have to sing the SAME DAMN LINE OVER AND OVER.

Seriously...it's times like this when I think Disney is the devil.

The "F" Word Haiku

I'm taking half day
Each week for three months only
"Ten percent off sale"

Must....break....free....

On the PC all day, on the phone when not on the PC, on the PC at home when not on phone...at home...when I should be on the BED or the treadmill. Definitely NOT on the PC...again.

What does this say about me? Am I an extraordinary LOSER? I think not.

I recently joined the Twitter revolution and oddly enough, I don't think I spend too much time there, I think STEVE CASE spends too much time there.

This is a man for whom I have great respect. I worked at AOL in a period of tremendous growth, from one million members to 25 million members in the over 2 years I was there. There was a lot going on, some really cool stuff. It whet my appetite for the growth and expansion of the web and all that it had to offer us all. And even, after all these years, I see things online all the time that are just really refined versions of things we did at America Online in 1994 or 1995.

So Steve, now out of the AOL business and heading up a Foundation in his name, is on Twitter. Of course, he is. Lots of techie folks and CEOs and regular joes are on twitter. But Steve Case must keep in touch with his "nearest and dearest" on Twitter because I have a list a mile long FROM TODAY of his many "tweets". Technology tweets and otherwise. And since everything is 140 characters in length or shorter, I am not so sure I am capable of following his cryptic messages. Some, of course, but others? This makes me re-evaluate. As much as I would like to know what he's looking at that's cool, or new, or noteworthy, do I need all the other crap too?

I guess, since I'm new to this, I'll let it go for a while and see how it goes. I might have to cut the man loose.

What do you twitter about? Do you even twitter? Will you tweet for me? Sounds sick doesn't it?

Tonight there is a moon

This, in Portland, means the sky is clear enough to see the darn thing. Even if it is just a sliver of that orb. It's still impressive to see it considering what the weather has been like. And even though the day started with pouring rain and blinding hail, we had SUN this afternoon and BOY OH BOY what a difference the sun makes.

The kids got to play outside on their scooters and trikes while mom and dad unloaded groceries. We sat in the family room with the sun blaring in and warming us for more than an hour before adjusting the "blinds" to filter it just a little. Sun is HEALTHY when the intent is not to roast in it, but to lift the spirits and get some fresh air. You don't realize how much you miss it when it's gone so long but it does make a big difference.

I am still not convinced, however, that we have more rain than the average state or city. I believe this to be a fallacy created by our Southern Cali neighbors who are used to drier, warmer, and much more clear weather down there and then move up here and experience what normal is. This is what most of the rest of the country experiences in early spring. Even leftover snow is a possibility right now and frankly, not out of the equation.

But regardless, I DO believe is seasonal affective disorder (SAD...isn't it though?) and think that the folks who created those lamps that mimic sunlight have got a good thing going. Methinks I would like one in my office to counteract the nasty flourescents I have. Maybe I'd be more productive? I heard Costco has them right now so I might have to check them out.

Dude. 8 days til NYC liftoff.

CAN. NOT. WAIT.

The Blogging Bug

I think it's back.

And I think it's my interest in getting my school more accustomed to "Social Media" that has me blogging again. I'm doing a lot of research and realized that pratically EVERYONE ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH has a blog and I do too. If people out there are listening to some of those drones press on, then why not listen to me? I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY!

Just not all the time and with no regularity it seems.

Still, it's worth a shot to resurrect this blog and I'll do my hardest to make it witty and informative.

The Peanut and the Bird have grown a lot this year. The Peanut is 6 going on 16 and the Bird is three going on 9. The perfect "annoying little sister" age. She knows how to press those buttons and do it quite well actually, with all the acumen of a certain brother I have, born of a certain father I also have. She could NOT have gotten this curse directly from me. Or could she have?

Those of you in New York will see this first hand soon enough, though she's already told me that she's going to be shy. We should have no expectations. We'll see about that.

Poll...raise hands....who thinks I need to bring a stroller? Would I really need it?

That is all for now. I need that mini-laptop to keep me connected and writing when it strikes me. I bet I could figure out how to blog from my phone. How pathetic would that be? Um...no offense to those of you blogging from your phones.

OK, that is all.

Hey, ya know what?

I feel pretty good that I blogged today.

I missed it.

I want to do more.

I mean, Facebook is fun and voyeuristic and all, but this blogging thing...I forgot how fun it is and how good it feels to contribute even if there's only a few of you listening (which is a miracle in and of itself).

And I like to write when I don't HAVE to write.

This could be the beginning (again) of something great (or, you know, so-so).