We are Baptist. My nieces are Catholic. When we were on one of our many cab rides in NYC, my sister-in-law pointed out a gorgeous Baptist church just a block down from our hotel. I think that her girls were asking about being Baptist and I told her that we believe a little differently, but it all comes around to God and it's all good.
"Jesus is in my heart," K- announces.
My 9 year old niece said, "What? He's where?"
"Jesus is in my heart," K- repeats.
My 7 year old niece proceeded to turn to K-, knock on the area of her heart, bent her head down to K-'s heart and said, "Jesus? Hello? Are you there?"
:)
Smiles in my day:
- Getting the rest of the directory information for PTA handed over. Thank goodness!
- Having someone happy to handle the directory compilation for me.
- The fact that the store did so well this weekend, tons of our Christmas merchandise flew out the door and there's not the amount in back stock that I thought we would have.
- K- wearing the thick wool and fleece lined hat around my mother-in-law's house, flapping and hooting. Even though there were a few girls in her class that laughed at her hat, A- thought it was way too cool. She decided that she wasn't going to be bothered with what they had to say and I'm thrilled with that.
Have a great day!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Tales from the Trenches: My mind is filled with PTA.
I worked for 2 1/2 hours last night on compiling PTA directory information. More specifically, I didn't consider lying under my blankets until about 12:30 AM. I was wide awake, but very tired. I probably fell asleep well after 1 AM. Hubs is suffering from a cold that I'm trying to fight off. Between the two of us dealing with that, then Hubs coming to bed close to alarm time while constantly clearing his throat, my heavens I'm tired.
This morning I was at school at 8:00 AM. I worked on directory stuff for 45 minutes.
This evening I've worked on compiling more information needed to award a donut party to a class.
Then I talked to the kind woman who is taking pity on my soul and she is actually doing the directory off the old format from last year. Tonight, Cindy is my hero.
Then I talked to another PTA member about her membership entry problems with the National PTA entry site. We got on to talking about the PTA cookie drive for Thanksgiving and my help with transportation of Santa Shop items. (I refuse to work Santa Shop because I work holiday retail and I cannot do more retail than required at the holidays. I volunteer for just about everything else. That one I had to put my foot down.)
Then I had to call someone to confirm that it is a donut and juice party (again with the food rewards) for the class with the most members. We got on to talking about plans for a retirement celebration for the school office assistant. (We love her.)
I had to e-mail my monthly newsletter submission by the end of this evening. I got it done.
Y'all, I'm tired!
Have a great day!
Smiles in my day:
- K- had a lovely report card. She is doing as expected in most things but above in a few things. The entire behavioral section was all +'s. That made my heart very happy! As a prize, I bought her a hand knit owl hat from work, but she is concerned that people will make fun of her. I'm wondering if being tired was getting the best of her. We'll see how she feels about it in the morning. She had it on. She had a smirk. She just needs one person to tell her how cool it is. That someone needs to be someone other than her mom. I told her that I'd take it back if it isn't what she wants.
- That my kid has such a great school and a very involved PTA that makes a ton of great things happen.
- A nice, toasty bed waiting for me. 'Night all!
ETA: The owl hat is a "hoot" (couldn't resist.) K- loves it. She was flying and hooting all morning long. She just felt like a PTA orphan. She wore it to school today and thinks that it is just wonderful. Score one cool point for mom.
This morning I was at school at 8:00 AM. I worked on directory stuff for 45 minutes.
This evening I've worked on compiling more information needed to award a donut party to a class.
Then I talked to the kind woman who is taking pity on my soul and she is actually doing the directory off the old format from last year. Tonight, Cindy is my hero.
Then I talked to another PTA member about her membership entry problems with the National PTA entry site. We got on to talking about the PTA cookie drive for Thanksgiving and my help with transportation of Santa Shop items. (I refuse to work Santa Shop because I work holiday retail and I cannot do more retail than required at the holidays. I volunteer for just about everything else. That one I had to put my foot down.)
Then I had to call someone to confirm that it is a donut and juice party (again with the food rewards) for the class with the most members. We got on to talking about plans for a retirement celebration for the school office assistant. (We love her.)
I had to e-mail my monthly newsletter submission by the end of this evening. I got it done.
Y'all, I'm tired!
Have a great day!
Smiles in my day:
- K- had a lovely report card. She is doing as expected in most things but above in a few things. The entire behavioral section was all +'s. That made my heart very happy! As a prize, I bought her a hand knit owl hat from work, but she is concerned that people will make fun of her. I'm wondering if being tired was getting the best of her. We'll see how she feels about it in the morning. She had it on. She had a smirk. She just needs one person to tell her how cool it is. That someone needs to be someone other than her mom. I told her that I'd take it back if it isn't what she wants.
- That my kid has such a great school and a very involved PTA that makes a ton of great things happen.
- A nice, toasty bed waiting for me. 'Night all!
ETA: The owl hat is a "hoot" (couldn't resist.) K- loves it. She was flying and hooting all morning long. She just felt like a PTA orphan. She wore it to school today and thinks that it is just wonderful. Score one cool point for mom.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Stuff crossed off, stuff not.
I always have the mental list. I was able to check a few things off that list this weekend.
1. We visited Grandma and I put up her Christmas tree. Yes, it is early, but we don't think that Grandma will actually make it to Christmas. The little tree brings her so much joy. K- said that it made Grandma's face light up. It is true. It is just one of those 6' spiral outdoor trees that she has me put ornaments on and she just thinks that it is the cats meow. Hey, bless Grandma and her love for her tree.
2. I was able to order our Christmas cards. Now, this seems like no big thing to most people, but remember that I am an artist and tend to be a bit particular. This year, our photo of us is kind of far away to accommodate a rather large statue, but we had a close up of K-. It took me hours to find just the right size/layout through Snapfish. I paid a bit more than I usually do, but ended up going with the 5 x 7 card. It's all good. It's ordered and it is checked off the list.
3. We managed a stop to Sam's, picked up a bunch of things and now don't need to go there probably into the new year.
4. On our way to Sam's, I saw that NTB was running a tire sale. The tires on my vehicle have been quite a pain in my side since we've owned my vehicle, so I thought it was worth the look-see. Hubs checked at Sam's. They are having a sale soon, but don't have my tires in stock. I'd have to order them and pay for them in advance, have them gathered up and shipped to them and then go to have everything put on. They don't do alignment, so I would have had to go elsewhere for that. Turns out that tires, road hazard, disposal, tax, alignment and the balancing stuff all turned out to be $650.00. That, my friends, is one heck of a deal. Sadly, I have very large tires on my truck and people don't generally have them in stock. To add to that pain, they usually want you to have to do a bank job in order to afford them. We were looking at the possibility of spending over $1000. in tires alone. We were thrilled. Because the Browns were busy playing, everyone was at home. They had my truck up on the rack with tires removed by the time I signed the paper to allow them to actually do so.
5. While waiting for NTB to work their magic, we walked to the party supply store. Miss K- will be having a Willy Wonka themed party (classic thankyouverymuch) and I needed to track down some supplies for the event. We're going with a couple different purples and orange. K- picked out some multi colored polka dotted purple sacks for pinata grab bags (my MIL does the pinata every year). We'll be having a pajama party and projecting the movie on the big ole wall of our events building at church. She is so excited!
6. My sister and I have started to develop our shopping plan for Black Friday. We are those crazy people that are out at 4 AM. Usually, I go with my sister as support. This year, I'm a girl in need. I have myself set on a camera for K-. I have $60.00 in Target gift cards from My Points, so the camera I'm looking at would cost me about $20.00. I look at the gift cards as free cash, so my supplementation is the monetary chunk I'm actually counting. A 20ish dollar big Santa gift isn't such a bad thing.
7. All of K-'s uniforms are dried and ironed, awaiting their wear this week.
8. I got K-'s Scholastic book order submitted.
9. Laundry washed, hung to dry on the line and the laundry bucket is empty.
10. Two crock-pot meals in a row. They are two day meals, so we have a lovely dinner for tomorrow already. The great thing? It is safe food for Hubs, so he won't have any issues.
11. The 100 Book Challenge photos have been sent off to Miss S- and Mr. B-. I'm now in charge of updating the board AND! awarding the prizes. (I swear that they saw me coming!) I'm trying to devise a way to award prizes with minimal class disruption. I've taken photos of the prizes and hopefully those in charge will agree that the teachers need to just have the children choose off the sheets. That way, I can just put the prizes in their mailbox, instead of pulling kids out of rooms to choose. I have to do that with books, but that is a different thing altogether.
I was going to paint today, but we took the detour to tires. After that, we basically figured the day was shot, but Hubs has two weeks of vacation to take before the end of the year or he'll lose it. He said that he'll bust out the kitchen on his time off.
I have to work on the PTA Membership directory. That is the thing that is hanging over my head. Geeze o' Pete, it is taking forever. I switched programs over to be compliant with National PTA and it has been a pain in my behind. That is my thing to tackle when I get off here. If I can get that thing done.
I've been waffling on the annual Christmas letter. To do or not to do? I try to make it light, happy, a bit of a recap but with much Thanksgiving. It is just a one pager that is 12 point font on paper that generally has a pretty bit margin to it. My brother has ribbed me about it for years, but I do actually have people (Aunt Patti!) that seem to really enjoy it. I don't know. I'm on the fence. Frankly, nothing giant has happened so I'm thinking I can just skip.
So here is your opportunity. Belt it out internet. Love the Christmas letters or hate the Christmas letters? Don't worry. You aren't going to hurt my feelings.
1. We visited Grandma and I put up her Christmas tree. Yes, it is early, but we don't think that Grandma will actually make it to Christmas. The little tree brings her so much joy. K- said that it made Grandma's face light up. It is true. It is just one of those 6' spiral outdoor trees that she has me put ornaments on and she just thinks that it is the cats meow. Hey, bless Grandma and her love for her tree.
2. I was able to order our Christmas cards. Now, this seems like no big thing to most people, but remember that I am an artist and tend to be a bit particular. This year, our photo of us is kind of far away to accommodate a rather large statue, but we had a close up of K-. It took me hours to find just the right size/layout through Snapfish. I paid a bit more than I usually do, but ended up going with the 5 x 7 card. It's all good. It's ordered and it is checked off the list.
3. We managed a stop to Sam's, picked up a bunch of things and now don't need to go there probably into the new year.
4. On our way to Sam's, I saw that NTB was running a tire sale. The tires on my vehicle have been quite a pain in my side since we've owned my vehicle, so I thought it was worth the look-see. Hubs checked at Sam's. They are having a sale soon, but don't have my tires in stock. I'd have to order them and pay for them in advance, have them gathered up and shipped to them and then go to have everything put on. They don't do alignment, so I would have had to go elsewhere for that. Turns out that tires, road hazard, disposal, tax, alignment and the balancing stuff all turned out to be $650.00. That, my friends, is one heck of a deal. Sadly, I have very large tires on my truck and people don't generally have them in stock. To add to that pain, they usually want you to have to do a bank job in order to afford them. We were looking at the possibility of spending over $1000. in tires alone. We were thrilled. Because the Browns were busy playing, everyone was at home. They had my truck up on the rack with tires removed by the time I signed the paper to allow them to actually do so.
5. While waiting for NTB to work their magic, we walked to the party supply store. Miss K- will be having a Willy Wonka themed party (classic thankyouverymuch) and I needed to track down some supplies for the event. We're going with a couple different purples and orange. K- picked out some multi colored polka dotted purple sacks for pinata grab bags (my MIL does the pinata every year). We'll be having a pajama party and projecting the movie on the big ole wall of our events building at church. She is so excited!
6. My sister and I have started to develop our shopping plan for Black Friday. We are those crazy people that are out at 4 AM. Usually, I go with my sister as support. This year, I'm a girl in need. I have myself set on a camera for K-. I have $60.00 in Target gift cards from My Points, so the camera I'm looking at would cost me about $20.00. I look at the gift cards as free cash, so my supplementation is the monetary chunk I'm actually counting. A 20ish dollar big Santa gift isn't such a bad thing.
7. All of K-'s uniforms are dried and ironed, awaiting their wear this week.
8. I got K-'s Scholastic book order submitted.
9. Laundry washed, hung to dry on the line and the laundry bucket is empty.
10. Two crock-pot meals in a row. They are two day meals, so we have a lovely dinner for tomorrow already. The great thing? It is safe food for Hubs, so he won't have any issues.
11. The 100 Book Challenge photos have been sent off to Miss S- and Mr. B-. I'm now in charge of updating the board AND! awarding the prizes. (I swear that they saw me coming!) I'm trying to devise a way to award prizes with minimal class disruption. I've taken photos of the prizes and hopefully those in charge will agree that the teachers need to just have the children choose off the sheets. That way, I can just put the prizes in their mailbox, instead of pulling kids out of rooms to choose. I have to do that with books, but that is a different thing altogether.
I was going to paint today, but we took the detour to tires. After that, we basically figured the day was shot, but Hubs has two weeks of vacation to take before the end of the year or he'll lose it. He said that he'll bust out the kitchen on his time off.
I have to work on the PTA Membership directory. That is the thing that is hanging over my head. Geeze o' Pete, it is taking forever. I switched programs over to be compliant with National PTA and it has been a pain in my behind. That is my thing to tackle when I get off here. If I can get that thing done.
I've been waffling on the annual Christmas letter. To do or not to do? I try to make it light, happy, a bit of a recap but with much Thanksgiving. It is just a one pager that is 12 point font on paper that generally has a pretty bit margin to it. My brother has ribbed me about it for years, but I do actually have people (Aunt Patti!) that seem to really enjoy it. I don't know. I'm on the fence. Frankly, nothing giant has happened so I'm thinking I can just skip.
So here is your opportunity. Belt it out internet. Love the Christmas letters or hate the Christmas letters? Don't worry. You aren't going to hurt my feelings.
Since my smiles are sprinkled above, I'm cuttin' out. Have a good night and a great day!
Friday, November 12, 2010
A pile of bits.
I had a call last night at 11:08 PM. I had been in bed since 9 PM since I was dog tired. It was my friend, Cj. I knew that she was in Pennsylvania visiting with her dad and family since her dad's health had taken a bit of a turn. Turns out that while she was holding his hand, he started having a heart attack. He wasn't strong enough to undergo any type of testing or anything to really help. They gave him some morphine. I talked with her and prayed with her.
This morning at 7:20 AM, the phone rang. It was Cj. Her dad passed away at 6:00 AM. I told her that I knew it. I woke up then and just knew.
As for Cj, she's holding up okay. Daddio was an important person to her. They were able to talk in his final hours. He was able to make some "stuff" statements to them, as well as to tell everyone how much he loved them.
I'm so sad for them.
While I was talking with Cj, she realized that we weren't shuttling around getting ready for school. "Conference compensation day."
K- was home today and we didn't leave the home front at all. There was so much running and doing that I absolutely needed to not go anywhere. I made a crock pot of chicken vegetable alphabet noodle soup and that's what we had for dinner. It was legal tender for Hubs and he was thrilled.
He had a rather tough day.
Hubs is a public servant. The public is sometimes not so nice. His day started with a lady yelling at him because the craft that was out for kids to do was lacking a few pieces. She helped herself to their office and went scouring the place for the thing that she wanted, then was going to haul off and cut up the original. She was mad that a pair of pointy kid Fiskers was in the basket with the blunt end scissors. He had a man fall on the trail and smack his head. He came in the door to get assistance, tripped over the threshold and smacked his head on the floor. He was bleeding and Hubs attended to his needs. EMS was called, the guy was okay and wasn't transported. My husband was left to clean up the hazmat scene.
Add to all that the fact that he is wiped out from the weekend and with his health issues, it takes him some time to recover.
Tomorrow he will be setting up a rather extensive bird feeding area at one of their visitor centers only to have the area moved later in the new year to make room for a possible extension to the building. Rrr. He's just not going to cement anything into the ground. They'll back fill and hope that the feeders don't heave in the winter.
A nice thing is that the city was able to come during waking hours to tend to the city leaf clean-up that they had scheduled for Tuesday. I really dislike it when they do it in the middle of the night. You have street sweepers, men with leaf blowers, men with rakes, a leaf scooper front end thing and a dump truck. Each time one of the vehicles backs up, it beep-beep-beeps very loudly. It seems almost louder at night. So, we are THRILLED! that our sleep will not be interrupted by leaf clean-up. That is a very good thing.
Another great thing? It is 7:28 PM and my windows are still open. Frankly, that is rather amazing for NE Ohio. It was nice to clean the house today, have the windows open and have K- playing outside in a short sleeved shirt, capri's and flip flops.
A fantastic thing to add to the list is that the NYC laundry is done. I have to bake the back packs in the dryer, but the laundry is washed, double dried (dry, wash, dry) and almost all put away. Sad thing? We've encountered some shrinkage with K-'s clothing. Considering that I did everything I could to avoid any infestation of the bed bug nasties, I'll take a little shrinkage.
After I did some housekeeping, K- and I sat down and watched Mary Poppins. We did a bit of compare and contrast to the musical. I may or may not have closed my eyes and watched the backside of my eye lids for a few moments or more.
I ordered K- a great little necklace on Etsy. It will be one of her three Christmas gifts from Santa. In this case, Mrs. Claus will have made it for her. ;)
Though our day started with a sad loss, we've accomplished much. We hope that you've had as great of a day!
Smiles in my day:
- Sprinkled in above.
This morning at 7:20 AM, the phone rang. It was Cj. Her dad passed away at 6:00 AM. I told her that I knew it. I woke up then and just knew.
As for Cj, she's holding up okay. Daddio was an important person to her. They were able to talk in his final hours. He was able to make some "stuff" statements to them, as well as to tell everyone how much he loved them.
I'm so sad for them.
While I was talking with Cj, she realized that we weren't shuttling around getting ready for school. "Conference compensation day."
K- was home today and we didn't leave the home front at all. There was so much running and doing that I absolutely needed to not go anywhere. I made a crock pot of chicken vegetable alphabet noodle soup and that's what we had for dinner. It was legal tender for Hubs and he was thrilled.
He had a rather tough day.
Hubs is a public servant. The public is sometimes not so nice. His day started with a lady yelling at him because the craft that was out for kids to do was lacking a few pieces. She helped herself to their office and went scouring the place for the thing that she wanted, then was going to haul off and cut up the original. She was mad that a pair of pointy kid Fiskers was in the basket with the blunt end scissors. He had a man fall on the trail and smack his head. He came in the door to get assistance, tripped over the threshold and smacked his head on the floor. He was bleeding and Hubs attended to his needs. EMS was called, the guy was okay and wasn't transported. My husband was left to clean up the hazmat scene.
Add to all that the fact that he is wiped out from the weekend and with his health issues, it takes him some time to recover.
Tomorrow he will be setting up a rather extensive bird feeding area at one of their visitor centers only to have the area moved later in the new year to make room for a possible extension to the building. Rrr. He's just not going to cement anything into the ground. They'll back fill and hope that the feeders don't heave in the winter.
A nice thing is that the city was able to come during waking hours to tend to the city leaf clean-up that they had scheduled for Tuesday. I really dislike it when they do it in the middle of the night. You have street sweepers, men with leaf blowers, men with rakes, a leaf scooper front end thing and a dump truck. Each time one of the vehicles backs up, it beep-beep-beeps very loudly. It seems almost louder at night. So, we are THRILLED! that our sleep will not be interrupted by leaf clean-up. That is a very good thing.
Another great thing? It is 7:28 PM and my windows are still open. Frankly, that is rather amazing for NE Ohio. It was nice to clean the house today, have the windows open and have K- playing outside in a short sleeved shirt, capri's and flip flops.
A fantastic thing to add to the list is that the NYC laundry is done. I have to bake the back packs in the dryer, but the laundry is washed, double dried (dry, wash, dry) and almost all put away. Sad thing? We've encountered some shrinkage with K-'s clothing. Considering that I did everything I could to avoid any infestation of the bed bug nasties, I'll take a little shrinkage.
After I did some housekeeping, K- and I sat down and watched Mary Poppins. We did a bit of compare and contrast to the musical. I may or may not have closed my eyes and watched the backside of my eye lids for a few moments or more.
I ordered K- a great little necklace on Etsy. It will be one of her three Christmas gifts from Santa. In this case, Mrs. Claus will have made it for her. ;)
Though our day started with a sad loss, we've accomplished much. We hope that you've had as great of a day!
Smiles in my day:
- Sprinkled in above.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
The "dids" and the "learns" of NYC.
What we did:
Landed at LaGuardia at 8 AM Friday morning. Pilot said that we "got out by the skin of our teeth." Snow moved in and we accumulated a quickly melting inch here at the home front.
Took a cab to 49th Street and 5th Avenue. This is what is there. They didn't open until 10 AM and we still had about an hour.
We cruised on over to the Today Show. They were finished with their outdoor taping "on the plaza," but we were able to watch Al Roker and Ann Curry through the window as they recorded live. Kind of cool.
We were going to go ice skating at Rockefeller Center. If K- would ice skate for more than 10 minutes, I would have found it to be a must-do.
We walked around in circles while looking for Dean and Deluca for breakfast and couldn't seem to find them. We stopped by the Magnolia Bakery at Rockefeller Center. K- had two delightful chocolate chip cookies for breakfast and I had a fantastic lemon bar. "Mommy, we normally don't have cookies for breakfast. This is just a special special for New York."
We walked to Nintendo World where I thought that my husband nearly died and went to heaven right at that spot. K- and I stood outside the door to eat our bakery before we went in. The guard kind of giggled when we came in and I asked if it was okay for us to walk around with our back packs. "Ma'am, there aren't any homeless people in here so I think you'll be okay." Of course, I was meaning that I didn't want him to think that I was going to haul out with half of the store, but he understood. He chuckled and appreciated my asking.
Finally, the time had come that AG was open. We walked up there, dropped our bags off at their coat check (thank you AG for such a kind service) and Hubs announced that he was going back to Nintendo World. AG isn't his thing. We split for an hour. He was able to have some time to really look and it gave K- ample time to choose her purchases. I can't find them on the website and I wonder if they were a New York thing only, but for her doll she got a coat, a set with a beret, scarf and mittens, a pair of ice skates (they are like wrestling a toddler into a newborn onesie) and a two piece bathing suit. By the time we got to the entrance door and I was dialing Hubs, he came on through.
We visited the Lego Store at Rockefeller Center. It was very neat and extremely crowded.
We decided to take a walk towards our hotel. We were all so hungry that we couldn't see straight. Hubs suggested that we stop here, as he saw a Starbuck's through the window glass. It was marked "Open to the public" so in we went. We had a lovely lunch downstairs. While we ate, they had belly dancers. It was a great teaching moment for me to share with K-, as she has occasionally asked if she was fat. I told her no, then seeing the belly dancers, it gave me an opportunity to point out that they looked like K-. They have a little bit of a Buddha baby belly just like she has but, "Look at them K-. Aren't they just beautiful? They are just a little squishy around the middle and look at their beautiful costumes and dancing. I think that they are wonderful. See, not everyone is teeny tiny but everyone has a beautiful body." She agreed and was pretty excited to see that.
We went for a long walk through Central Park. Just an absolutely delightful time. We cruised past the zoo on our way through. We enjoyed the drum guy, climbed rocks, saw Balto's statue, and since we have the stuffed Balto at the Cleveland Natural History Museum, it really meant something to K-. Hubs got himself a little turned around and we ended up right back where we started. I admit that I got slightly bent that we made a full loop and I was telling him that. (I have no sense of direction, so give me a little clap for realizing that we were going the opposite direction.) We had 45 minutes to make it to our hotel, but we counted the blocks and knew that we could make it.
We got to our hotel, dropped our bags and hauled off to our next destination. Friday nights are free nights from Target, but you have to stand in line. Y'all, the line was half way around an entire city block. The line went fast and they do allow everyone to get in. You have to get a ticket, though.
The art was wonderful. I had to laugh that my nieces who attend rather conservative Catholic school may be scarred. I believe that this art museum was their first experience in frontal nudity at all. There was much giggling going on with them. There was much horror on the face of my sister and brother-in-law. I shuttled the children on to the next thing. When discussing it with Hubs, he told his sister, "Well, what did you expect? You brought them to the Museum of MODERN Art." I kind of chuckled.
:insert note: K- is the daughter of an artist. She has been to many art museums and has seen many works involving nudity that have been done through the ages. Please don't think that is something that she encounters at home. She's just kind of used to that in a museum setting.
After, we moved on to some lights and glory of NYC. As crowded as it was, the people do keep a pretty good pace. My nieces stopped in at the Disney Store to purchase their souvenirs.
We hailed some cabs and Kristin called to order pizza on the way back to the hotel. It was funny that she dialed as we were driving, then neither one of us could recall the exact location. Hubs and Tom found it and the pizza was great!
Saturday took us to Battery Park where we waited for this. We had to go through an airport security style screening before entering the ferry. When we arrived, we had to go through another airport security style screening to enter the statue. We had pedestal tickets and we were quite thrilled. We were able to catch a ranger tour which taught us so many fascinating things.
Of course, everything in NYC generally takes a touch longer than what you'd imagine. We had tickets to a show and we had to get a move on. Kristin had plans for us to haul back to the room, get changed and cruise on down. We had to do it a bit faster than we had originally thought. It was all good.
On the way back to the room, we passed by this. There were no signs and nothing significant to mark the importance of the site. I admit, we missed it when we drove past the first time. I did catch some fly-by in a cab photos. While driving past, Kristin told us the story of how their friend Todd Weaver died in the south tower. He last spoke to his friend Andy and told him that the alarms had gone off, but they told them to stay.
I must tell you about the show. Oh. my. goodness. I admit that I'm not a musical kind of girl. Mary Poppins is one that I do love, though. It was so wonderful that I was in tears in the beginning. To be in a place to and have the opportunity to see such a production was just an experience that I'm glad that K- and I could share. My favorite part? Where Burt was suspended from upside down on a platform above the center of the stage singing, tap dancing with arms flipping around and everything while probably about 40 - 50 feet up. Wow. That is some talent.
After the show, we cruised back to the room. I changed back into my tennis shoes and we walked our route to see Kristin run the marathon. We made our plans and headed off to have dinner together. We went here. Everything is family style, so we shared meatballs, penne with a creamy tomato sauce, chicken parmesan, steamed broccoli and a mixed salad with a basket of mixed bread. We all left rather stuffed.
Sunday was race day. It was great that the clock went back to standard time. It gave Kristin an extra hour of sleep. Following someone running a marathon is no easy task. Somehow, 3 adults managed to miss her run past at mile 18. After a while, we realized that we had to have missed her. We cruised on and set off for mile 23. Hubs ran to catch up with her. Tom and the girls busted it to get there. K- was busy vomiting next to a fence in Harlem and we just missed her. She looked good, was running well and finished the race with a time of 4:08. K- and I took the long route back through Central Park and met up with Hubs and the family at the hotel. We ate some lunch, spent about an hour together and it was back to the airport for us.
After being seated in the second to last row in the bitty back of the plane with a continual buzz and my claustrophobic nerves completely shot, we arrived home at 9:30 PM to our little regional airport. Our wonderful neighbor Mike scooped us back up and deposited us back home at 10:00 PM.
Things we learned:
- You want to take the yellow cab only. The others are privately owned, not regulated and they can jack up the prices.
- Cab drivers will sometimes refuse to take you if you have children.
- Cab drivers will sometimes refuse to drive you to the airport.
- I watched the Jimmy Kimmel Trick or Treat with Cousin Sal so many times on taxi TV that I could probably recite it from memory.
- If you don't sit back in a cab and the cab driver must slam on his brakes (which they do often), you may smack your head into the plexi divider. My niece is okay.
- People are kind in the city.
- It is not a smoke-free city. Someone stood right behind K- while we were watching seals at the Central Park Zoo and light their cigarette. They were speaking a different language. My guess is that smoking right on top of small children in their country isn't frowned upon.
- People don't always wear sensible shoes in NYC.
- The subway was too confusing.
- NYC is a completely walkable town.
- Skating at Rockefeller Center would have been $50.00 for just me and K-. No thank you.
- We walked probably no less than 20 miles during our entire weekend. No kidding.
- I heard more languages than I've ever heard in my entire life.
- When the bike courier crashed on the road, the cab showed no mercy. He laid on his horn for the courier to get up.
- Pedicabs are $150.00 an hour.
- Carriage rides start at $50.00, I believe. We just kept thinking of the handsome cab on Seinfeld. RUSTY! We always yelled it and it never got old.
- I found that I could quickly hail a cab all by myself.
We learned much more than this, but I must go deal with the laundry that was generated from said trip.
Have a great day!
Landed at LaGuardia at 8 AM Friday morning. Pilot said that we "got out by the skin of our teeth." Snow moved in and we accumulated a quickly melting inch here at the home front.
Took a cab to 49th Street and 5th Avenue. This is what is there. They didn't open until 10 AM and we still had about an hour.
We cruised on over to the Today Show. They were finished with their outdoor taping "on the plaza," but we were able to watch Al Roker and Ann Curry through the window as they recorded live. Kind of cool.
We were going to go ice skating at Rockefeller Center. If K- would ice skate for more than 10 minutes, I would have found it to be a must-do.
We walked around in circles while looking for Dean and Deluca for breakfast and couldn't seem to find them. We stopped by the Magnolia Bakery at Rockefeller Center. K- had two delightful chocolate chip cookies for breakfast and I had a fantastic lemon bar. "Mommy, we normally don't have cookies for breakfast. This is just a special special for New York."
We walked to Nintendo World where I thought that my husband nearly died and went to heaven right at that spot. K- and I stood outside the door to eat our bakery before we went in. The guard kind of giggled when we came in and I asked if it was okay for us to walk around with our back packs. "Ma'am, there aren't any homeless people in here so I think you'll be okay." Of course, I was meaning that I didn't want him to think that I was going to haul out with half of the store, but he understood. He chuckled and appreciated my asking.
Finally, the time had come that AG was open. We walked up there, dropped our bags off at their coat check (thank you AG for such a kind service) and Hubs announced that he was going back to Nintendo World. AG isn't his thing. We split for an hour. He was able to have some time to really look and it gave K- ample time to choose her purchases. I can't find them on the website and I wonder if they were a New York thing only, but for her doll she got a coat, a set with a beret, scarf and mittens, a pair of ice skates (they are like wrestling a toddler into a newborn onesie) and a two piece bathing suit. By the time we got to the entrance door and I was dialing Hubs, he came on through.
We visited the Lego Store at Rockefeller Center. It was very neat and extremely crowded.
We decided to take a walk towards our hotel. We were all so hungry that we couldn't see straight. Hubs suggested that we stop here, as he saw a Starbuck's through the window glass. It was marked "Open to the public" so in we went. We had a lovely lunch downstairs. While we ate, they had belly dancers. It was a great teaching moment for me to share with K-, as she has occasionally asked if she was fat. I told her no, then seeing the belly dancers, it gave me an opportunity to point out that they looked like K-. They have a little bit of a Buddha baby belly just like she has but, "Look at them K-. Aren't they just beautiful? They are just a little squishy around the middle and look at their beautiful costumes and dancing. I think that they are wonderful. See, not everyone is teeny tiny but everyone has a beautiful body." She agreed and was pretty excited to see that.
We went for a long walk through Central Park. Just an absolutely delightful time. We cruised past the zoo on our way through. We enjoyed the drum guy, climbed rocks, saw Balto's statue, and since we have the stuffed Balto at the Cleveland Natural History Museum, it really meant something to K-. Hubs got himself a little turned around and we ended up right back where we started. I admit that I got slightly bent that we made a full loop and I was telling him that. (I have no sense of direction, so give me a little clap for realizing that we were going the opposite direction.) We had 45 minutes to make it to our hotel, but we counted the blocks and knew that we could make it.
We got to our hotel, dropped our bags and hauled off to our next destination. Friday nights are free nights from Target, but you have to stand in line. Y'all, the line was half way around an entire city block. The line went fast and they do allow everyone to get in. You have to get a ticket, though.
The art was wonderful. I had to laugh that my nieces who attend rather conservative Catholic school may be scarred. I believe that this art museum was their first experience in frontal nudity at all. There was much giggling going on with them. There was much horror on the face of my sister and brother-in-law. I shuttled the children on to the next thing. When discussing it with Hubs, he told his sister, "Well, what did you expect? You brought them to the Museum of MODERN Art." I kind of chuckled.
:insert note: K- is the daughter of an artist. She has been to many art museums and has seen many works involving nudity that have been done through the ages. Please don't think that is something that she encounters at home. She's just kind of used to that in a museum setting.
After, we moved on to some lights and glory of NYC. As crowded as it was, the people do keep a pretty good pace. My nieces stopped in at the Disney Store to purchase their souvenirs.
We hailed some cabs and Kristin called to order pizza on the way back to the hotel. It was funny that she dialed as we were driving, then neither one of us could recall the exact location. Hubs and Tom found it and the pizza was great!
Saturday took us to Battery Park where we waited for this. We had to go through an airport security style screening before entering the ferry. When we arrived, we had to go through another airport security style screening to enter the statue. We had pedestal tickets and we were quite thrilled. We were able to catch a ranger tour which taught us so many fascinating things.
Of course, everything in NYC generally takes a touch longer than what you'd imagine. We had tickets to a show and we had to get a move on. Kristin had plans for us to haul back to the room, get changed and cruise on down. We had to do it a bit faster than we had originally thought. It was all good.
On the way back to the room, we passed by this. There were no signs and nothing significant to mark the importance of the site. I admit, we missed it when we drove past the first time. I did catch some fly-by in a cab photos. While driving past, Kristin told us the story of how their friend Todd Weaver died in the south tower. He last spoke to his friend Andy and told him that the alarms had gone off, but they told them to stay.
I must tell you about the show. Oh. my. goodness. I admit that I'm not a musical kind of girl. Mary Poppins is one that I do love, though. It was so wonderful that I was in tears in the beginning. To be in a place to and have the opportunity to see such a production was just an experience that I'm glad that K- and I could share. My favorite part? Where Burt was suspended from upside down on a platform above the center of the stage singing, tap dancing with arms flipping around and everything while probably about 40 - 50 feet up. Wow. That is some talent.
After the show, we cruised back to the room. I changed back into my tennis shoes and we walked our route to see Kristin run the marathon. We made our plans and headed off to have dinner together. We went here. Everything is family style, so we shared meatballs, penne with a creamy tomato sauce, chicken parmesan, steamed broccoli and a mixed salad with a basket of mixed bread. We all left rather stuffed.
Sunday was race day. It was great that the clock went back to standard time. It gave Kristin an extra hour of sleep. Following someone running a marathon is no easy task. Somehow, 3 adults managed to miss her run past at mile 18. After a while, we realized that we had to have missed her. We cruised on and set off for mile 23. Hubs ran to catch up with her. Tom and the girls busted it to get there. K- was busy vomiting next to a fence in Harlem and we just missed her. She looked good, was running well and finished the race with a time of 4:08. K- and I took the long route back through Central Park and met up with Hubs and the family at the hotel. We ate some lunch, spent about an hour together and it was back to the airport for us.
After being seated in the second to last row in the bitty back of the plane with a continual buzz and my claustrophobic nerves completely shot, we arrived home at 9:30 PM to our little regional airport. Our wonderful neighbor Mike scooped us back up and deposited us back home at 10:00 PM.
Things we learned:
- You want to take the yellow cab only. The others are privately owned, not regulated and they can jack up the prices.
- Cab drivers will sometimes refuse to take you if you have children.
- Cab drivers will sometimes refuse to drive you to the airport.
- I watched the Jimmy Kimmel Trick or Treat with Cousin Sal so many times on taxi TV that I could probably recite it from memory.
- If you don't sit back in a cab and the cab driver must slam on his brakes (which they do often), you may smack your head into the plexi divider. My niece is okay.
- People are kind in the city.
- It is not a smoke-free city. Someone stood right behind K- while we were watching seals at the Central Park Zoo and light their cigarette. They were speaking a different language. My guess is that smoking right on top of small children in their country isn't frowned upon.
- People don't always wear sensible shoes in NYC.
- The subway was too confusing.
- NYC is a completely walkable town.
- Skating at Rockefeller Center would have been $50.00 for just me and K-. No thank you.
- We walked probably no less than 20 miles during our entire weekend. No kidding.
- I heard more languages than I've ever heard in my entire life.
- When the bike courier crashed on the road, the cab showed no mercy. He laid on his horn for the courier to get up.
- Pedicabs are $150.00 an hour.
- Carriage rides start at $50.00, I believe. We just kept thinking of the handsome cab on Seinfeld. RUSTY! We always yelled it and it never got old.
- I found that I could quickly hail a cab all by myself.
We learned much more than this, but I must go deal with the laundry that was generated from said trip.
Have a great day!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Hit the ground running.
I'm typically a hit the ground running kind of girl. I don't slowly get out of bed. Nope. I'm off and on my way.
We returned from NYC on Sunday evening. We got home at about 10 PM and after I made everyone strip in front of the dryer so that I could bake the lovin' death out of our clothes and shoes before laundering them, bagged the luggage in giant ziploc bags (I have a big fear of bed bugs y'all), we all got bathed and tucked into our own beds. (We shared one in NYC.)
Monday morning started bright and early at 6:45 AM, we drove to school, I had a meeting at 8:45 AM and then on to work.
I worked until 9 PM. My precious child was asleep before I got home. That's a good thing since she fell asleep in class earlier. She said that the teacher "turned the light off and put plastic on this thing and my eyes just closed and I fell asleep." "Do you mean an overhead projector?" "Yes and I was just so tired mommy. Don't worry! I didn't get in trouble!" "Well that's good. Did Mrs. S- wake you?" "No, she let me sleep." Mrs. S- knew that we had a long weekend and that we got in late. Very thoughtful of her, but we've made sure it didn't happen anymore.
Tuesday morning I dropped K- off at the breakfast line at 8 AM and went on to work. I worked from 8:15 AM - 9 PM. While at work, my coworker put Christmas lights on the step that she was going to deal with in a bit.
"Julia, if you leave those on the steps, someone is going to fall and kill themselves."
She nodded and ended up helping customers. I kept on with my shuttling things from upstairs to downstairs. I hit about halfway down the flight of steps and went sailing. It felt like I stepped on marbles and my legs went out from under me.
THE LIGHTS!
I landed on my butt and skidded down the steps so hard that I ended up blowing the door open at the bottom of the steps with the force of my feet. I was so afraid that someone was standing at the bottom of the steps. I would have absolutely knocked them out. Thankfully, there was no one there in the area of the door. The customers looked at me and were horrified. They came over to see if I was okay and after a quick body part inventory, we determined that I would be okay. I limped along mumbling about the lights. (No, I didn't swear.) I was sore, cranked an ankle, landed on my right side and was kind of jarred, but I was okay. Advil, a long bath and the heat therapy of an electric blanket is what kept me from stiffening up. I'm okay, not broken and only have three bruises. It's all good. No, I didn't leave. I had stuff to do.
This morning, I dropped K- off at the breakfast line again and started up at 8:15 AM. I was able to get so much done before everyone got there at 10 AM. I got so much done that even though my coworkers kept finding more boxes of ornaments and decorations for me to include in my already overly packed display, I was able to leave on time for the first time this week.
It treated myself to a nice, long, hot bath.
I'm now contending with laundry. I haven't been able to touch our NYC laundry. I have the laundry from the week and the clothes that we had on our last day in NYC that I'm dealing with now. I'll pull and bake the bags and clothes tomorrow and then wash.
I would also like to clean my house. It was clean. We weren't here for three days. Still, I haven't been on duty here for three days and it looks it. The floor needs a dusting. The bathroom counter needs freed of products. Well, there's other stuff too.
I'm glad to be home, though. Traveling is good and you get to see great things. My heart definitely loves home, though.
I'll fill y'all in on the NYC details tomorrow. Must go flip some laundry.
'Night.
Smiles in my day:
- I got to see my kid awake this evening.
- I'm able to walk upright and I'm not as sore as I thought I would be.
- Hubs reported that the main road that they've been working on since before Spring Break is finally opened.
Have a great day!
We returned from NYC on Sunday evening. We got home at about 10 PM and after I made everyone strip in front of the dryer so that I could bake the lovin' death out of our clothes and shoes before laundering them, bagged the luggage in giant ziploc bags (I have a big fear of bed bugs y'all), we all got bathed and tucked into our own beds. (We shared one in NYC.)
Monday morning started bright and early at 6:45 AM, we drove to school, I had a meeting at 8:45 AM and then on to work.
I worked until 9 PM. My precious child was asleep before I got home. That's a good thing since she fell asleep in class earlier. She said that the teacher "turned the light off and put plastic on this thing and my eyes just closed and I fell asleep." "Do you mean an overhead projector?" "Yes and I was just so tired mommy. Don't worry! I didn't get in trouble!" "Well that's good. Did Mrs. S- wake you?" "No, she let me sleep." Mrs. S- knew that we had a long weekend and that we got in late. Very thoughtful of her, but we've made sure it didn't happen anymore.
Tuesday morning I dropped K- off at the breakfast line at 8 AM and went on to work. I worked from 8:15 AM - 9 PM. While at work, my coworker put Christmas lights on the step that she was going to deal with in a bit.
"Julia, if you leave those on the steps, someone is going to fall and kill themselves."
She nodded and ended up helping customers. I kept on with my shuttling things from upstairs to downstairs. I hit about halfway down the flight of steps and went sailing. It felt like I stepped on marbles and my legs went out from under me.
THE LIGHTS!
I landed on my butt and skidded down the steps so hard that I ended up blowing the door open at the bottom of the steps with the force of my feet. I was so afraid that someone was standing at the bottom of the steps. I would have absolutely knocked them out. Thankfully, there was no one there in the area of the door. The customers looked at me and were horrified. They came over to see if I was okay and after a quick body part inventory, we determined that I would be okay. I limped along mumbling about the lights. (No, I didn't swear.) I was sore, cranked an ankle, landed on my right side and was kind of jarred, but I was okay. Advil, a long bath and the heat therapy of an electric blanket is what kept me from stiffening up. I'm okay, not broken and only have three bruises. It's all good. No, I didn't leave. I had stuff to do.
This morning, I dropped K- off at the breakfast line again and started up at 8:15 AM. I was able to get so much done before everyone got there at 10 AM. I got so much done that even though my coworkers kept finding more boxes of ornaments and decorations for me to include in my already overly packed display, I was able to leave on time for the first time this week.
It treated myself to a nice, long, hot bath.
I'm now contending with laundry. I haven't been able to touch our NYC laundry. I have the laundry from the week and the clothes that we had on our last day in NYC that I'm dealing with now. I'll pull and bake the bags and clothes tomorrow and then wash.
I would also like to clean my house. It was clean. We weren't here for three days. Still, I haven't been on duty here for three days and it looks it. The floor needs a dusting. The bathroom counter needs freed of products. Well, there's other stuff too.
I'm glad to be home, though. Traveling is good and you get to see great things. My heart definitely loves home, though.
I'll fill y'all in on the NYC details tomorrow. Must go flip some laundry.
'Night.
Smiles in my day:
- I got to see my kid awake this evening.
- I'm able to walk upright and I'm not as sore as I thought I would be.
- Hubs reported that the main road that they've been working on since before Spring Break is finally opened.
Have a great day!
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Bailey's Leaf does NYC
We've been.
We're back.
We're tired.
We are in love.
NYC was that and more. Truly, tales that will take many posts to tell. Right now, I'm transferring 459 photos.
Why were we in NYC? My sister-in-law is a marathon runner. She has run Chicago twice, Boston once and now NYC. She and my brother-in-law were kind enough to haul us along on their adventure.
The important stuff to know is that she finished with a time of 4:08. She would have finished sooner, but she had to make a bathroom stop. We missed her at mile 18, but the family hoofed it, Hubs was able to catch up with her and Tom and the girls were able to see them both run by. Where were K- and I? Well, my daughter was having a reflux moment against a fence in Harlem. Ah, yes. Fine moments in life. Though she grossed some people out, she did what she needed to do and bounced right back with running. We made it just after Kristin ran past.
Drat.
Truly though, the vital people got there.
Hubs was pulled a quarter mile away from the finish. He called me. We had broken away from Tom and the girls and K- and I were on a leisurely hike through Central Park on our own. We hiked over rocks, around fences and through the Central Park Zoo. It took us several blocks, but I was able to hail a cab and get back to the hotel.
Here? It snowed while I was gone. I am sad that I missed our very first snowfall.
With that, I promise that there are lots and many of pictures. I also promise that this is the week that my 12 hour days start until Christmas is fully displayed at work. Once again, I will be a little scarce, but I promise, me and my tired body are around.
But hey, what do I have to complain about? I didn't just run 26.2 miles.
Have a great week!
We're back.
We're tired.
We are in love.
NYC was that and more. Truly, tales that will take many posts to tell. Right now, I'm transferring 459 photos.
Why were we in NYC? My sister-in-law is a marathon runner. She has run Chicago twice, Boston once and now NYC. She and my brother-in-law were kind enough to haul us along on their adventure.
The important stuff to know is that she finished with a time of 4:08. She would have finished sooner, but she had to make a bathroom stop. We missed her at mile 18, but the family hoofed it, Hubs was able to catch up with her and Tom and the girls were able to see them both run by. Where were K- and I? Well, my daughter was having a reflux moment against a fence in Harlem. Ah, yes. Fine moments in life. Though she grossed some people out, she did what she needed to do and bounced right back with running. We made it just after Kristin ran past.
Drat.
Truly though, the vital people got there.
Hubs was pulled a quarter mile away from the finish. He called me. We had broken away from Tom and the girls and K- and I were on a leisurely hike through Central Park on our own. We hiked over rocks, around fences and through the Central Park Zoo. It took us several blocks, but I was able to hail a cab and get back to the hotel.
Here? It snowed while I was gone. I am sad that I missed our very first snowfall.
With that, I promise that there are lots and many of pictures. I also promise that this is the week that my 12 hour days start until Christmas is fully displayed at work. Once again, I will be a little scarce, but I promise, me and my tired body are around.
But hey, what do I have to complain about? I didn't just run 26.2 miles.
Have a great week!
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