4th of July

So I think the kiddos and Mike and I will be attempting to watch the fireworks from the Hoboken waterfront this year.
I think it's going to be an insane zoo but we will pack a nice picnic that will include much patience.
I'm going to make a few desserts that include independence cupcakes, a strawberry shortcake, and 7 layer bars for no other reason than I want them.
I'll also have fresh strawberries and blueberries with whipped cream (made from scratch).
We will have sandwiches and salads and iced tea (with and without mint) and Hummus and pita and chips...

If you are reading this and want to join us, let me know!

Tour de Queens

So I just went and took a look at this bike tour called The Tour De Queens. It's a 20 mile bike tour around Queens. It's on July 11th. I'll have to check and see if my sister will be back home on that day or not but if she is, I might actually be able to make this one work. My aunt will be here and I'm sure if I ask her nicely she would be willing to help me with the boys.
The only trouble is that it's in Queens. Not easy to get to but not awful.
Want to know the level of my weirdness? I just went and not only mapped it (I'd have to take the bike up 6th avenue to Broadway to get to the 7 train) but I'm now looking at the train station I'd have to get off at in queens to see how many stairs, how steep, how narrow. Lugging my 40 pound bike isn't an easy task. I need to pick my battles carefully!
I'd have to get off at the Mets Willets station in Queens which is an elevated station.
Look! It has it's own Wiki page!  
It seems there is a ramp or something which is good. I'm unclear as to where it leaves me off but I'm sure I can figure it out and I'm guessing that I wouldn't be alone getting off the train at that stop.
It would be a lot of fun to do. I've not really explored Queens all that much.
I'll have to talk to my sister...

Memento Mori

You wanna know what I find really super creepy? Victorian Death Photos

That last one? The chick in the middle? SHE'S DEAD. They don't even have her eyes closed!
The one with the dead baby flanked by his or her living siblings? CREEPY!

Okay so here is what I've found on it:

"The invention of the daguerreotype in 1839 made portraiture much more commonplace, as many of those who were unable to afford the commission of a painted portrait could afford to sit for a photography session. This cheaper and quicker method also provided the middle class with a means for memorializing dead loved ones.
These photographs served less as a reminder of mortality than as a keepsake to remember the deceased. This was especially common with infants and young children; Victorian era childhood mortality rates were extremely high, and a post-mortem photograph might be the only image of the child the family ever had. The later invention of the carte de visite, which allowed multiple prints to be made from a single negative, meant that copies of the image could be mailed to relatives.
The earliest post-mortem photographs are usually close-ups of the face or shots of the full body and rarely include the coffin. The subject is usually depicted so as to seem in a deep sleep, or else arranged to appear more lifelike. Children were often shown in repose on a couch or in a crib, sometimes posed with a favorite toy or other plaything. It was not uncommon to photograph very young children with a family member, most frequently the mother. Adults were more commonly posed in chairs or even braced on specially-designed frames. Flowers were also a common prop in post-mortem photography of all types.
The effect of life was sometimes enhanced by either propping the subject’s eyes open or painting pupils onto the photographic print, and many early images (especially tintypes and ambrotypes) have a rosy tint added to the cheeks of the corpse.
Later examples show less effort at a lifelike appearance, and often show the subject in a coffin. Some very late examples show the deceased in a coffin with a large group of funeral attendees; this type of photograph was especially popular in Europe and less common in the United States."

http://www.nyccentury.org/

Here I go again! I really want to do this! Unfortunately it falls on my 11th wedding anniversary. Fortunately the route that I want to attempt (35 mile) ends between 11am and 3pm, so I would still have time to do something with Mike after...

I have my new padded bike shorts, and I'm going to be getting a gel seat and this time out, I have a much better idea of what to expect of the route and I'm far more comfortable with my bike.

 I promised my pal Sarah that I would train a little before I attempted another bike tour and true to my word I will. The only issue is that the kids don't go back to school till the 1st of September so that would give me two weeks to get back to biking.

I think if I keep focusing on my legs in boot camp and keep up with the squats and start to do more running rather than power walking I'll have a better shot and not feeling so damn exhausted this time around.

Of course, there is the tiny voice in my head who keeps telling me "But THIS one  you will be riding with CARS and doesn't that scare you?!" Truth be told it DOES scare me. A whole lot. The traffic combined with the stupid unavoidable bottlenecks where you have to do the slow wobble ride or the scoot along ride make me want to seriously turn tail and run from this whole thing.

But how bad would I feel if come September 12th and I was sitting at home because I was too fearful to try? I can't let my fear conquer me!
I want to attempt the hills again, and the distance and I want to squelch that little internal voice that says "I can't, you can't, we can't so don't even try"

The 5 boro was 32,000 people. The Century is 6,000. BIG difference! Plus we have a staggered start time so perhaps that helps.

I want all the hard work in Boot Camp to go for something and not just good looks. I want to put my new strength and my toned muscles to work! 

I'll have to go and talk to my darling husband about this one and then go and register me and Bison...

I'm going home...

August 11th to the 18th we are headed back to Disney World!

Sigh

As if on cue, Lion came down with a fever last night and is still not feeling well today so our night out is canceled...

Old Ghosts

So while I was in Disney at about 6:30 in the morning before our flight home as I'm running around getting ready to get on a plane and head home I get an IM conversation from my best friends mother. (You will recall we lost my best friend to a motorcycle accident in July of 2007)
Her mom was one of the gals and so she was always with us and was my second mom for 30 years.
She asked out of the blue if we could have lunch or if I could send her my address because she had some stuff of Christiana's that she knew I should have. Delighted and excited at the prospect of getting a small something of my best pal's I gave her my address.
We had a long intense conversation where I expressed how affected I still am to this day by the loss and how not one single day goes by that I don't think of her. (and I mean it. Not one day has passed that I haven't thought of her in some form)
We did some rewinding and remembering and that was it.
So far no package.
I'm not surprised but I am disappointed.  I know that it's just stuff and being disappointed makes me sound like a super materialistic greedy bitch but it's not at all about that. It's about the memories that the stuff holds.
I have no idea what she's sending but it doesn't matter. It's a piece of my best friend and it was something that belonged to her and it's something that made her mother think of me and that's good enough.
I just wish she would send it!

Tomorrow night

So tomorrow night Mike has gotten us into a luxury box at Madison Square Garden for a sold out concert.
I'm guessing this sort of an event is one that I should be more excited for but the acts we are going to see couldn't be more removed from the music I'm into or the crowd that I'm used to.
It's Jill Scott with Maxwell opening.
Now don't get me wrong. I can totally groove to Jill Scott and like one or two of her songs and her dreamy funky vibe but I'm not so sure I can handle an entire concert. However she's a big woman who makes it look beautiful and she has at least two songs that I really like so I'm okay.
Here are the two songs:



I also don't even know who in the hell Maxwell is or what he does or doesn't do. However, according to Mike's co workers I'm going to be creaming and throwing myself bare breasted against the glass to get to him. He be dat smooth.
I went back to YouTube and did a search.
Uhm...yeah. Not so much.


Of course I always joke that the men that find me attractive are all black men who like the big boobs and big butt so there's that...Hopefully if nothing else tomorrow night will be an ego boost...

Vanity

Taken yesterday at boot camp. After seeing it I took my measurements again. 43 36 42. WOOHOO! I'm thrilled! A little over a month and a half ago my measurements were 44 38 43.
One inch at a time...

Today

Not nearly as good as yesterday.  The boys were alone with no playmates today so they kept wanting to interact with me. At one point I took a jog carrying the Lion and did squats with Patrick.

One of the other classmates suggested (in a tone that set my defensive mommy radar up super high) that David put one of the big ropes across the doorway and told them they couldn't cross it.

My reaction to that? Fuck you bitch! They aren't bothering you! They are harassing ME and getting in the way of MY workout. (Which is fine. I've figured out a way to work them in when they really won't listen to me.) I'll talk to David and see what he thinks.

After that we went to the park again and it was PACKED. More than packed. Super packed.
Brian had a great time but Patrick who likes the water but tends to prefer to skirt around it and get a light sprinkle had one of the features dump an entire bucket on his head. He wasn't expecting it and it scared the crap out of him. He ran to me hysterical crying.
That put a damper on his fun day but he recovered a bit and got back out.

We were there for an hour and a half. I think I was more exhausted than they were!

First Full Day Of Fun...

Today was the first Boot Camp that I took the boys to. I had my fingers crossed that they would behave and not force me back to the 5:50am class.
As it turns out, one of my favorite of Patrick's friends was there. A little gal named Sophia.
Sophia rocked to the top of my heart chart two years ago when she was a classmate of Patrick. Something happened on the playground and she declared "Patrick plays too rough" and that was it. She wouldn't even look at him for the rest of the year.
Sometime in the middle of this past school year she decided he was ready to be a playmate and was grated a reprieve.
Sophia has never been to Boot Camp and so when Dave went to give her a high five she gave him this look of disdain and walked right by him.
Love that gal. Seriously.

All the kids were good and we will try again tomorrow.

After Boot Camp we went to the Water Park again. On the way there, I told the boys that we should stop and get snacks and drinks. No, no stopping, no snacks, no drinks. Not hungry or thirsty.
I made it crystal clear that once we got into the park, there was no water, and no snacks.
Of course, they were both starving and thirsty. No shade to be had, I pulled out my umbrella to make some shade.
Bad move mommy.
Lion shot over like a rocket demanding the umbrella. Hysterics ensued.
I finally got him back to playing and Patrick slipped and slammed his head off the metal climbing area.
Time to pack it up and head home.
Tomorrow will be better I'm sure!

Okay then

Today actually turned out to be rather decent. Even so I have my headphones on and I'm blasting Alice Cooper at levels that I can't be healthy for my hearing.

Thanks to a good friend I've been turned onto this great playground/water park here in Hoboken. She was there today and texted me. I picked up the kiddos and we headed over. The boys had a BLAST.
I of course got sunburned. Tomorrow I'll slather on the SPF 20000.

On the way home we stopped and got a bunch of water guns and I'll take them to boot camp with me tomorrow and then we will go straight to the park from there.

On Saturday at Boot Camp Patrick took a flying leap for a hanging ring and totally missed. Completely wiped out and it must have hurt.
Rather than sacrifice my workout I snatched him up and he hung onto me like a baby monkey and I did a set of 20 squats with him. By the end I was dying but he was giggling like a fool.
Then Brian wanted in on the game so I did 10 with him. Patrick weighs 60 pounds and Brian is 50 pounds.
I'm seeing a whole lot of this style squats and this kind of a workout in my future with the boys at Boot Camp with me for the summer.

Summertime

and the livin is easy...

Or something.

So my mother goes to the house in the Berkshires on July 7th and doesn't come home till the end of August.

My sister also will be MIA since she's got a new boyfriend and is back in school full time. Her days are packed and her weekends are spent with the boy.

Mike is out of time off till the middle of August.

My dad is going for a consult to have his other knee replaced and hopes to have it done in the middle of July.

I don't have any really close friends and so playdates are far and few between and we don't get invited to people's vacation homes.

So what am I telling you here?

I guess I'm warning you in a round about way about future blogs that will most likely contain rants about how insane the kids are making me, how I'm sick of the playground and how for the next two and a half months I will be with my darling children non stop without a break for almost 24 hours a day. 74 days give or take with no help and no breaks save the occasional Saturday when I will demand to escape to get my nails done for an hour.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE my kids and love spending time with them but since we couldn't afford camp this year and summer school was too expensive they get to hang with mommy.

I'd really wanted to take them to the Berkshires but truth be told, even when we are up there, I don't get a break.
I talked to my dad about helping me with a rental car for a couple of weeks and he says he can't afford it. I'm not sure I'll be getting up there this summer. 

My time off and away from my kids is when they are in school. I know this, and most of the time, I accept it with zen like calm.

Once in a while though, I snap and well...I'll be blogging about it I'm sure.

Baby Shower

I just went and got the mail. In it was an invitation to a baby sprinkle for a member of Mike's family who has made it clear she wants nothing to do with me at all, ever again.
Really? Why? Why waste the postage on me?
You have to know there isn't any way in hell I'd go after the insane demands you've made of my family and the way you've treated me. Why would I want to go and celebrate with someone who sat with her back to me almost the entire Christmas celebration?
Oh, that's right. Because you HAVE to invite me. Drama will ensue if you don't. I'm not stupid though. I know you don't want me there anymore than I actually want to be there...

Lion's Moving Up

There are really no words...

Now it's time to say goodbye...

Today is PJ's graduation and tomorrow it's Lion's. We are done with the full school day after today and Thursday Friday and Monday are half days and then it's summer break.
Next year the boys will both be going to a new school. A different building with new faces and new classrooms.
I am feeling particularly weepy this morning and feeling super sad at the ending of this chapter. We've been at Brandt school for 3 years now. Patrick was still in diapers when we first stepped foot in the school and I think he even had a Binkey still! Three years with two kids one on the special needs spectrum means I've had more interaction with school staff than most parents have.
I've developed relationships with many of the teachers and staff. It's not a huge deal on the grand scheme but when a teacher who never had your child in a classroom remembers your kids name and greets him in the hall every day with a hug and a smile, that's something special.
I will truly miss everyone at that school and while I know my boys might not remember I will never forget.

SO PURTY!

I'd made a promise to myself that when both boys were out of diapers, I'd go and get my acrylic tips put back on. I had them done right before we left for Disney.
No, the photo above isn't my hand.
These are mine:

I've had tips on and off since I was about 15. This pink has always been one of my favorite colors but my signature used to be long, super talon long fire engine red nails:

I also used to be heavy into nail art.  I would always have something airbrushed on my two ring fingers.
Today my friend at school remarked how she didn't peg me for the girly nail type of gal and she's completely right. I'm so not. Truth be told I HATE having my nails done but I love the way they look at the end. I don't wear jewelery, never have my hair done, don't carry fancy brand name purses or go in for heels with expensive designers. A long time ago I said "The rest of me can be a total mess, but if my nails look good, I feel great" and it's true.
I'm not a girly girl but this is my one indulgence. My one way to pamper myself and a feeble attempt at being feminine...

Goals

Cultivate your curves - they may be dangerous but they won't be avoided. - Mae West


A friend shared a very cool workout achievement on Facebook and I let her know how amazing it was and how proud I sincerely am of her.
Another friend asked what her goal is and she replied "To be a European Supermodel." Totally in jest of course.
 I replied that I was going more for Mae West myself.
It's a little known fact that I adore Mae West. She was WAY ahead of her time and she's got all the sauce and sass that I long to have and her self confidence is to be envied.
She was all of 5'1" so she and I weren't far off in height.
However her measurements...I long for them.
In 1933 according to her dressmaker she was 36 26 36. Not bad for a 40 year old dame!
I'll catch up to you Mae. When I do maybe I'll even cut my hair like yours!

Disney

So our flight got bumped to an earlier flight so I was up at 3:30 this morning finishing laundry and packing up the last second items.
Got to the airport, got on the plane, flight was uneventful, kids were good, got to the hotel our rooms weren't ready. No probs! I'd planned on that being an option so I'd packed our bags accordingly. Everyone got slathered with sunblock and off we went to Star Wars weekend.
We had a GREAT time. The kids were great about waiting in line to meet Darth Vader and we went and saw Lightning McQueen and Mater and the boys saw a Storm Trooper and we did all the rides we wanted to and had a great time.
It was HOT though. About 90 today and HUMID...
Hot to the point where you don't want to move, at all. Tomorrow will be more of the same.
Tomorrow we hit Magic Kingdom and I'm all excited.
I realized however that the shirt I wanted to wear I can't wear because I have this dumb, awful farmers tan and the top would look really dumb.
Farmers tan? You know, when the tops of your arms or everything above the elbow is untanned and everything below is golden brown?
It looks STUPID.
sigh...

Final Pack

So I had the cleaning women in here today.
I am now missing one of Brian's shoes and the shirt and pants I had laid out to wear on the plane tomorrow.
What is the point of having them here, if I have to turn the entire place upside down looking for things?

Oh thank GOD

The rash guard arrived. All is well in the kingdom for the moment.
On another note, today in Boot Camp I was STRUGGLING with 20 pounds! I tried the 30 and I couldn't finish the swings so I went to a 20 and even that was hard. I finally moved to a 10 and switched up the exercises.
The heat? I'm hoping so!

Disney World

We haven't even taken this trip yet and already my darling husband has taken off for our next trip which will be in August and then again in October.

For this upcoming trip we are looking at massive intense thunder showers every day and temps in the upper 80's lower 90's.
In August the temps are in the upper 90's. Like 98 or 99 degrees.

We were always the family that laughed at the fools who went in August. Now we ARE the fools going in August...

Priorites

Tomorrow we were supposed to have Bible Study and because I chaperoned a class trip today to the Central Park Zoo I lost a day to run and do errands.
Tomorrow is the only day I can go and get the rain ponchos, a new battery for my camera and most important my manicure and pedicure for the trip.
Sorry God, nothing personal but I can't go to Disney with ugly untouched hooves. I'm sure you understand...

Packing...

I'm hoping he doesn't read this blog because if he does, he's gonna be PISSED when he sees this...
I lost his swimming rash guard shirt. I can't find it anywhere at all and I've looked ALLLLLL over the place for it.
I mean ALL over.
It ain't nowhere.
Rather then tell him the truth and allow it to color and upset his vacation, I did what any normal rational human does. I ran to EBAY and ordered a new one for $40.
I will DIE if it doesn't arrive in time. Do you hear me? DIE...It went to the post office yesterday so it shipped out today.
It has till Friday to get here or I will have to confess that I screwed up and he doesn't have a shirt to swim in. I can't tell you how poorly this will go over.
Anxiety when I check the mail! Wheeeeeeeeeeee
Fun, fun times...
How in the hell do you lose a 3XL Rash Guard?
Only me folks.
Oh and on another good I need the stars to align for me note: I went and packed all his shorts and shipped them down. I was apparently supposed to leave one pair out and put them in my bag just in case.
I forgot.
So, now I really need Disney to have a room available for us at the time we arrive so we can unpack the boxes and he can change.
If we do not have an available room, he's going to be stuck in Hollywood Studios in 91 degree heat in jeans...

Packing Up

There is a fantastic gospel song called "Packing Up" and Aretha Franklin does a version that gives me goosebumps.
It's been stuck in my head all day. (Bet you had no idea I dug on gospel music!)
It's been there because I've spent all of today packing up for Disney World.

 This is it. The whole kit and kaboodle. We are checking nada and the only things we will carry are the breathing CPAP machine, the laptop and my big carry on bag. My carry on will have a change of clothing for everyone and all the meds and important stuff but everything else is in these boxes.

God help us if Fed Ex doesn't get there there by Friday so they are waiting for us...