3 hours to go....

Ok, so this morning hasn't gone exactly smooth.  Hoping to heck it isn't an omen.... Last night I bought 40 crickets for Spencer's turtles to eat while we are gone.  Problem is, I forgot to tell him I bought them.  So this morning when I remembered,  they already had suffocated in the little plastic bag that the pet store lady put them in.  

Decided to take my shower to relax.  Well, my new can of shaving gel fell off the shelf, broke and exploded all over the shower.  I managed to get some of the shaving gel out to use, but my skin ended up having a reaction to it.... :::STILL ITCHING:::

Ok, so still not so bad.... I can deal with it.   But then Spencer called me to inform me that his glasses broke, so I made an appointment with the optician to have them quickly repaired.  The little ones are acting up, too hyped up from excitement.   And lastly, dear mother-in-law just decided to call.  Apparently the tenants told her this morning that they had no hot water in the shower.  Not sure how that can be seeing their hot water comes from the same water heater as hers....  A mystery for Mike to figure out when he gets home from work.

Well, still need to pack, have one more load of laundry to put in the dryer, the dishwasher to run, and bills to mail.   Thinking me and God need to talk....

"Hey God?  It's me, Michelle....

 

Only Two More Days

Only two more days and we are off to Florida.  Yes, the countdown begins....  I should stop counting and start packing.  I haven't done a thing....  I'm a true procrastinator, it drives me crazy, lol.  The last time we visited Florida, Sammi was only 7 months old. :::see picture above:::  Feels good to be going back, 'tis time.  We'll be visiting my parents, who are snowbirds; my brother Danny and his family; and my favorite Aunt and Uncle.   Oh, and of course we'll be visiting Mickey Mouse.... 

The house is buzzing with excitement, everyone has been counting the days.  Sammi has been X'ing the days off on the calendar until *Mickey Mouse*.  We haven't gone on a real vacation in about 3 years, so it's much needed and long overdue.  We are driving 1,302 miles to Florida.  Should be interesting with the two little ones, hoping for the best, but prepared for the worst.   :::Wonder if anyone would notice two carseats strapped to the top of the van?:::  Hoping the trip down isn't too bad, because if it is, we'll really dread the 1,302 miles back to New England, lol....

Ah, well no negative thoughts here.  I really do think we'll have a great time.  That is if I ever get my butt in gear and start packing.  Be back on the 28th, with lots of pictures and stories to tell.....

Happy Valentine's Day

"Loving is not just looking at each other, it's looking in the same direction...."  ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

 

   Happy Valentine's Day!!    

Bad News, Good News....

Bad News:  This morning Mikey (who's just starting to potty train) came to me and said, "Mom, I have to pee bad".   Bleary eyed from sleep, I rushed him to the bathroom.  As I was helping to take off his sleeper, I realized too late that it was more than pee.  In fact, somehow the poop in his pull-up made a u-turn and covered the inside of his sleeper, and my hand.  To make things worse, he had corn last night for supper.  Why can't our bodies digest corn correctly? Gross....

Good News:  The poop on my hands made my hygeine much better than usual.  Every time I thought about it, I had to go scrub & disinfect my hands again.  Thank you Purell.  The other upside was I've had no problems keeping to my diet today..... 

Bad News:  Last night torrential rains began to fall, the storm is not supposed to pass until sometime tomorrow afternoon.  Although usually one would think rain is better than snow (you don't have to shovel rain), this is not the case.  With still a foot of snow on the ground and the earth frozen solid, the rain has no place to go.  Except in my basement.  Since last night a steady stream of water has been pouring in....

Good News:  At 5pm today, the rain turned to snow.  The stream of water into the basement has finally stopped.  We are expected to get about 6" of new snow, but no problems here.  We picked up our snowblower (that broke in the last blizzard) last Friday.  And anyone who doesn't like snow?  You can blame this storm on my hubby.  After we picked up the newly repaired snowblower he said, "I hope we get at least one more good storm so I can try it out..."

Bad News:  Anyone who is a regular reader of my journal knows that my two little ones are mischievous, truly partners in crime.  Although I have child-proofed my house to the best of my ability, they ALWAYS find something to get into.  Yesterday morning they asked to go play in their room.  Happy that I could watch my show on TV,  I let them go play.  All was going well until they became too quiet....  As I entered their room Sammi came running up to me.  "Mommy, Mikey has Daddy's marker."  There stood Mikey with a permanent black sharpie, the cap was loosely on.  I took a quick look around, and I couldn't see any writing.  Relieved that I caught them in time, I took the marker and put it out of reach.  However, later that day I realized that I didn't inspect close enough.  As I was walking into their bedroom I noticed graffiti on the doorframe.  (See above picture).

Good News:  When I saw the graffiti, I called Sammi over.  As I showed Sammi I said, "Are you sure Mikey was the one with Daddy's marker?"  Knowing I busted her and she'd have to confess, I waited for her answer.  After a long pause, she sweetly looked up at me with her big brown eyes and said.....

"Mom, I loooooooooove you."....

I couldn't help but smile and tell her I love her too.  And after a talk about not writing on the walls; I was truly impressed that she wrote her name & she's only 3 years old.  She amazes me....  In the future, someone should tell her that when you write graffiti, you shouldn't autograph it, lol. 

Bad News:  Bills.....

Good News:  We received our tax refund check in the mail on Tuesday. Woohoo!!  In eight more days, Florida here we come.  And, oh yeah....  Maybe we'll pay a few bills too.  : )

             ©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©

Quote for today: "It's not what happens to you, it's what you do about it."     ~~W. Mitchell

A Patriot's Celebration...

Picture by Stephan Savoia, AP

On Tuesday morning I let my teen skip school and ride the train into Boston for the Patriots rolling rally.  I had originally said "no" to his plans, (and said "no" about a hundred times after when he begged) because I didn't feel he would be safe traveling into Boston with just a group of teens.  Teens who aren't wise to the way of a big city can get in trouble. I only agreed on Tuesday morning,  when his best friend's Dad decided to go along.   Over protective?  Maybe....    

Over a million people crowded the parade route to see the Super Bowl champs.  I told Spence that I didn't think he'd even get close enough to see them.  I was wrong.  Spence came home so excited, he was glowing.  He was in the front row on Boylston Street and he could have touched the duck boats the Patriots were riding in.  He saw his football hero's, their Super Bowl rings, their three Super Bowl trophies.... He bought the official Super Bowl hat, a few newspapers and took lots of pictures.   I'm truly happy I allowed him to have that experience. 

But all did not go smoothly in Boston.  He passed by several gangs and their threatening appearance unsettled Spencer.  He told me, "Mom, you just knew they were packing guns."  Although the parade went smoothly, there was a problem with the trains.  Apparently because of the sheer numbers of people, the trains shut down for awhile.  Police officers had to ask thousands of people to leave the train station.  A small riot between two schools broke out and 30 people ended up being arrested.    Spencer was there when the police horses came in and tried to maintain order.  His friend's Dad decided that he had had enough, and took the boys out to the street to hail down a cab.   Sixty dollars later, they were safely home...

I'm not sure what kind of grief Spence will get from his teachers for not being at school yesterday. I told him not to wear his Super Bowl hat to school, because I  called him in *sick*.   But hat or no hat,  I know when they see Spence still glowing from the excitement of yesterday, they'll know that his Mom lied.  Oh well, it was worth it.  Just ask Spencer....  

Chicken Wings and Commercials....

                                                                                      

I've been wanting to put in a new entry, but AOL has some sort of glitch right now.  For some reason I can't add pictures from Hometown.  Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!  It's so frustrating.  Hopefully they'll fix the problem soon....

Today is the Super Bowl.  I have my chinese chicken wings marinating and ready to go in the oven, my pasta salad with chicken & fruit chilling in the fridge.  Oh yes, the Super Bowl is all about the food (and commercials) to me.  We're also having meatballs and nacho's, and for those more health conscious; a veggie platter complete with jalapeno peppers..... For dessert we bought mini belgian cream puffs, delicious!  I've already eaten a few of those, shhhhhhhhhhh......

Mike thought it would be fun to have some friends over for a Super Bowl party, I thought it would be fun too.  That is, until I realized he wasn't going to be around this weekend to help prepare for the party.  Yesterday prior committments kept him away until 10pm, and now he is at another meeting that he couldn't get out of.  Trying to clean the house is almost impossible with the two little ones under-foot.  Of course, they want to help.... but unfortunately their help usually means more work for me.  I have decided that I will just have to accept that my house won't be it's usual *clean-the-house-extra-good because guests are coming over*....

Well, off to at least make my bathroom sparkle....  Then I think I'll put on my $5.99 Patriots t-shirt from the drugstore, pop open a Bass ale and wait for the company to arrive....

"Go silly in Philly, stuff those birds in Jacksonville."  GO PATS!  

A Self Portrait

Sammi loves to draw and color....  Sometimes when things get too crazy with the little ones, it's the one activity that allows me to have some peace.  Last week, after drawing for awhile she brought this picture to me.  I asked her who it was and she said, "It's me.  See my curly hair?"  Her art now hangs prominently in our gallery, otherwise known as the refrigerator....

Introducing Sammi's first self portrait....  Gotta love the nostrils on the nose!  lol....