finals... ugh

Studying for my sociology final has me exausted. I think I'm done for the night. George and I went to see our three houses yesterday (with Abby and Georgie, since we couldn't find a babysitter) and I found my dream house!! George said if he talks to ketler tomorrow, and all goes well with the conversation, then he will call and put an offer in on the house!!!!! I hope so, because I really love it. I'll let you know how my final goes tomorrow, if I'm not too busy studying for my English final for Tuesday!

busiest time of the year

It was George and my anniversary yesterday. We spent last night looking at a house and afterwards we headed over to Denise's for Sean's birthday. G is at his company party tonight, and tomorrow we might go out for dinner - as long as Denise and Annie are still volunteering to watch the kids! My mom gave us a gift certificate for Villa Barone, so we may eat there for a post-anniversary celebration. George will not be home on Friday - he has another Xmas party, and Saturday we are looking at more houses! Possibly on Sunday, George is going to help Gary move some of his stuff into his new house. Busy, busy. I have to squeeze in studying and shopping somewhere too. My finals are coming up in a few days, and I have not even opened my notes yet! I am only done the kids shopping, and I still have to finish everyone else on my list. I will be happy when Christmas is over, and I can just sit back and relax for a day or two before I start getting this house ready to sell, and some of our stuff organized to move!

George loved the house we looked at yesterday, and I really liked it too... It's in our price range, and we loved the family room: it's 24' x 24'!! It's a huge room. We're going to look at a couple more houses, and we'll decide from there. Tune in again for more updates!!

M.

wiggles and squirms

I am now 18 weeks along, which means in 2 weeks I will be halfway done - baby is medium rare! Anyway, the little one I am harboring is a live wire in the middle of the night ~ rolling from one side of my belly to the other in record time, and tiny feet stretching as faaaar as they will. Only another month or so before it gets too cramped for that nonsense, lol. I am really loving pregnancy again, and I am really trying more than ever to cherish the good, bad and ugly of this one since it is definitely my last time. I have to schedule my ultrasound for next week!!!

George and I think we may have found the perfect house for our growing family - only a mile from my mom's house!! I'm excited to look at it next week. The house has 4 bedrooms, kitchen, dining rm, living rm, family rm, 2 fireplaces, wood stove, jacuzzi(!!), basement, deck, sunroom, etc... It is poifect, so far (without seeing it, of course). We shall see, and I will update as soon as I know more.

We have a busy week ahead... christmas shopping and house cleaning tomorrow, Lucia on Sunday, Monday I have class, Tuesday is George and my anniversary and Sean's bday gathering, Wednesday is George's (other) company xmas party, Thursday or Friday we look at the house, and then it's the weekend again!! Where does the time go?

M.

Yea!!

Yea!!! I am moving on to the fun stages of pregnancy!! No more feeling sick, and I'm getting my energy back! More cravings too. Along with the old cravings, I am also having yearnings for: sushi, belgian fries, pizza from Pietro's & jello. It shouldn't be long now before I feel the baby move. Since I am feeling better I am getting really excited about having another baby.

George and I are getting the house ready to sell. We looked at a house this weekend, but we more than likely won't be buying it. A few reasons contribute:
1. we were hoping to sell this house before we even started to look for a new one.
2. I would love to move out of the city
3. George and I weren't sure about the neighborhood.

When we buy our new house, I want it to be the same house my children come home from college to visit me in. I can't see myself over in this area for that long. We saw a few houses near my mom for very decent prices. I would love to move back closer to "home." The taxes are a little higher, but it all evens out when we wouldn't have to pay for Catholic school over there. I have a lot of ideas about what I want in the new house. George has set his standards too, so together we will not compromise on what we both want. Until next time...

M.

number 3 

Baby #3 (the head is on the left) 

Raise Your Voice

I went out tonight with Nat. We went to the Olive Garden to eat soup, salad & calamari, and we then headed to the movies. By the time we got there, it was 9:30. We wound up seeing "Raise Your Voice," which, by the previews, looked a little corny, but Natalie and I can make any movie Oscar worty by our terms - especially when we are the only two in the theater. We laughed from the previews all the way through to final credits, and the movie wasn't all that funny, nor was it supposed to be. But, all-in-all it wound up being a pretty cute movie. I just got home and settled in, and I'm about ready for a long nap. Talk to you manana. Nighty-nite!

still here

I'm still here. Sorry for the lack of communication!!! I'll try to get you up to date:

Starting with a little test I took. About two weeks ago I peed on a little "magic wand" and after 3 minutes: two blue lines appeared!! Much to my surprise: we're having another baby! I was a little taken-aback, so I didn't tell George right away... he got the news just a few days ago. When I finally got around to telling him, he was really excited! I didn't doubt that he would be, but I knew we were definitely not planning on baby #3 for quite some time. But he reassured me, "I love being a dad, and I love the two we have already, so why wouldn't I be excited?"
I went for an ultrasound yesterday. and have the pictures to prove it. I won't find out my exact due date until November 10th, when I return to the doctor.

Cravings so far: orange juice, calamari, avocados, nachos w/ extra extra artificial cheese product, frosted mini-wheats, bean soup and I have the urge to put mayonaisse on everything. As with all my pregnancies I also have a hankering for lemonade... but not just any lemonade - I am dying for an icy cup of boardwalk lemonade! I guess George will be driving me to the shore during the very off-season to buy me my treat!!

I've been feeling pretty nauseous to the point where I can't eat my first meal until about 4 o'clock in the afternoon... thus the life of an incubator. But I'm starting to wonder if the whole 'morning sickness' bit was all in my head. I've been fairly stressed about this pregnancy so far... especially since the doctor handed me the script for an ultrasound. But since I have seen my healthy little one, the morning sickness has vanished - literally overnight!! I have come to the conclusion that it was mostly related to stress. Once you have gone for an ultrasound and they don't find the baby's heartbeat, you panic that they won't find a heartbeat for the next baby, and the next, and the next. It's such a sickening feeling. Luckily, we are so blessed that in yesterday's U/S, the heart rate was present, and beating at a perfect pace. The size of the fetus showed that I am 11 weeks along... only 29 weeks to go! Eek! According to BabyCenter, the little one is a teeny-tiny 1 and 1/2 inches long - the size of a "fig."


Baby #3 (the head is on the left)


number 3

Abby came with us to see "her baby" yesterday. We passed time in the waiting room looking at pictures of the development of babies in-utero, from one of the magazines they give you with your "welcome to pregnancy" care-package at the OB office. She loved looking at the baby develop month after month, and when I showed her the picture of what our baby looks like at this point, she laughed. "It looks like a fish!" she exclaimed. She's right.

We went on vacation with my parents from September 25 - October 2. We drove to the Outer Banks and stayed in a posh, yet child friendly, 6 bedroom house right off the beach. Abby and Georgie had a great time, though we didn't do very much once we unpacked our bags... the perfect vacation, I say. But by the end of the week, we did venture out - far out. Lol. We went on a wild horse hunt... lucky for the SUV because, to find the horses, we had to drive 8 miles on the beach. Once you get off the beach at this point, the roads are all unpaved, sand roads... so needless to say, not for the 4-wheel-driveless. Abby was in her glory!!! She made a friend almost immediately. She named him "Spirit" from her favorite movie. He was an uncommonly friendly horse (according to the locals, anyway), who really took an immediate liking to Abby. Actually, one local said that in all the years he had been on the island he had never seen a horse come that close to a human. But this horse followed Abby everywhere she went. He must have sensed her love of horses. We have a bazillion pictures. Here are just a few:






I swear, in none of the above photos does Abby have anything in her hands to eat... I don't know what it was about her, but that horse was hooked! We all said it must have been the "Herbal Essences" shampoo she used in her hair that morning.

The ride home was long and grueling. It took us 10 hrs to drive what normally should only take about 7 hrs. Needless to say, Georgie was a mess. He cried - screamed - the entire ride! I completely understood his pain - like I said, it was a long, long ride.

she wee hello!

Abby and I are listening to her new favorite song: She Will Be Loved, by Maroon 5. I didn't even know she knew this song until we were driving home from the store tonight and it started playing on the radio. Low and behold, she started to sing along. I love her interpretations of the lyrics! She thinks Adam is singing "she wee hello!" when the words are actually "she will be loved!" Hehe! She's cute!

I'm researching online where to find some tapes my grandmom used to have for me when I was a kid that I think Abby would really like. I found out that they are all out of print, but I can buy them through an out-of-print Christian record company. The tapes are full of really cute stories for kids to teach them about God. I'll check with my grandmom first to see if she happens to still have them. I'd love it if she did, but if not I'll have to pay $20 for a cassette!! lol

I'm just about finished my essay for English class on Tuesday. Hooray! Tomorrow night I have Sociology class so I guess I should get my assigned reading done!

M.

Georgie's big mess!

I rented '13 Going On 30' from On Demand, and now I'm just hanging out with Me, Myself and I! Georgie went to bed at 7 and Abby's in my bed, so it's turned out to be a quiet evening. A well deserved quiet evening, it was a busy day and I was here to deal with the kids alone. George is at State College this weekend for football. (It was pouring there this morning, but by game time, the weather cleared up, and Penn State won 37-13.)

Anyway, back to explaining why I deserve a little peace. Georgie gave me quite a scare today. I was in the kitchen, cleaning up from dinner, and I heard him start to cry. I was about halfway down the stairs when I noticed that his whole face and shirt, his hands and his arms were covered with what looked like blood, and he was screaming. As I got closer, I could see it running out of his nose and mouth, and in front of him was a a very large reddish-brown puddle on the carpet. I started to panic, and asked Abby if she knew what happened.
"Did he fall?" I asked her with a sense of urgency.
"I don't know," was her only reply.
Just as I was about to pick up the phone to call someone, anyone, I noticed something in Georgie's mouth. I gave him a quick sweep with my finger, and pulled out a wad of paper. I looked at the soggy little ball closely and realized it was a crayon wrapper. It turns out that the originator of this disaster was a chewed up, slobbery crayon. What I thought was a massive amount of blood was really only a melted burnt-orange blob of wax mixed with tears and snot. It took me a good half-hour to clean Georgie and another hour to remove the mess deeply imbedded into the rug downstairs. Lol. Such is the life of a mom! Things always seems to get especially crazy when George is away!!

Gotta keep working on my homework, so I'll add more later! Plus, Owl, Zebra and Monkey are sleeping over tonight, so Abby asked me to make popcorn for her slumber party friends! Tata!


These pictures are after I cleaned his face up a bit! 


I guess I should have looked at his teeth before I panicked!  


Talk about "wax teeth!"


M.

pacemakers and fire alarms

It's been a while since I updated last! Been keeping busy! Last month we all went to the shore with Jay, Lisa and the kids for a long weekend. It was a great trip. The kids had so much fun together, and the weather held out nicely for us. On our last day there, we got a call from home saying that George's dad was in the hospital, having a pacemaker "installed." Apparently his heart stopped a few times, and they had to put the paddles on him to reboot. It's pretty much the same thing that happened to my dad a few years ago, when Abby was a baby. Everyone was very scared, as you can imagine. But everything went very well. So well that the next week, even though I worried Al was not going to be ready for such a trip, we headed down to the boat with Al and Dot for our annual cruise. Actually, not all of us went. Denise took Georgie for the weekend, since he doesn't bunk well on the boat. We dropped him off on Friday, and George and Abby and I enjoyed a couple days at home alone before we headed to the boat on Sunday night. ETA 11pm. This year Al was told not go any further than the canal with the boat. The jerking of the waves in the bay was enough to pull the wires of the pacemaker out of their stratigically placed points in his heart. Late Monday morning, maybe early afternoon, we scooted out of the marina towards the canal, but when we hit the bay, it was so calm that Al dismissed all doctor's orders and he and George kept right on going... to Chesapeake City, where we stayed for two nights.

I started back to class last week. My first day of English was the 7th. I've already had 2 quizzes, written 2 short essays, and I have a big essay due on Tuesday. Sociology just started this Monday, the 13th. So far I think I'm going to love both classes, but they're going to be alot of homework and studying. Sociology class was a bit of a waste on Monday. Someone pulled the fire alarm during the first half-hour of class, and we had to stand outside for 45 minutes until they got everything sorted out. But somehow we still managed to squeeze in 4 pages of notes and a pop quiz on the 20's by the end of the night.

Georgie has been walking everywhere!! He finally got the hang of it. We think Jayme taught him how. He does not like the whole concept of shoes yet. Everytime I put them on his feet, he either crawls, or he'll walk (actually, it's almost an exagerrated march) raising his feet as high as he can lift them, probably hoping the shoes will fall off mid-stride! I guess he'll get used to them, I don't remember if Abby had this problem or not.

M.

here we go a'packing

Lying in bed, thinking about what to pack for the weekend! Ugh! I hate packing! I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it! Do you get that I hate to pack yet? Hehe! Oh, well. I'll sleep on it... 'night


M.

Annie and Abby

annie and abby 

Good morning! I was thinking all night last night about the many things I knew I wanted to jot down for this journal during the past few months, but never did. And now, unfortunately, I forget most everything! I really hate that I do that to myself... but, I know things will come back from time to time, and I'll scratch them in as I go along. I should have lots of great pictures after this weekend! I can't wait to see the kids on the beach! Well, today is mostly packing for the trip, and trying to straighten up around here... wish me luck!

M.

tables are for glasses, not for *****

I sent George out tonight because I have alot to do around the house... So far I have accomplished nothing! Oh, well... it's nice to have things quiet for a while. I have to get back in touch with the administrations department tomorrow about my math class from the summer. Apparantly the school thinks I dropped the class. I was there every day, took every test, and the teacher gave me my grade on the last day of classes... I got a 98! I definitely want to make sure those credits are counted! I worked hard (and paid good money) in that class! Anyway, I have some stuff to do, but I just wanted to add in that Georgie is now climbing on everything!! I was cleaning the dishes earlier, and while I was in the kitchen, Abby yelled up the staris, "Mom! Georgie's on the table!! He's being so bad! But not me. I'm not bad. I'm a really good girl! Come and see!" I dried my hands and walked down the steps to find the baby on the kids table! He climbed onto one of the chairs, and then onto the table! What next? I think it;s so funny, that for a kid who's afraid to walk, for fear of falling, has no fear of climbing high onto furniture (or anything else, for that matter)!! He's a character! At first, when I came downstairs, he looked very guilty, like he knew he wasn't supposed to be where he was...

oops... am i in trouble??

So, anyway... he was so proud of himself that he made it onto the table! He was laughing & smiling like mad, and showing off his cup ...

check me out, mom!

...until Abby decided to climb up with him.

hey mom! she's in my shot!

That was a mistake! His ego was crushed that Abby too, shared this rare talent that he only recently discovered he possessed... He was so mad that she could climb onto the table too, and very upset that she stole the spotlight, even if only for a second!

crushed...

Ah, rivalry... it starts so young.

M.

my first entry in my new blog!

This is my very first entry in my new blog! I still have my journal on blurty.com, but I plan on moving those entries to this site eventually. Probably when we get back from vacation! The kids are doing great. Georgie is still not walking... sort of. He can walk, and has in the past, but after a few bad falls, he decided that crawling is still the safest mode of transportation! Oh well, he will do it in good time. He's so funny! His personality is definitely coming through more and more every day. Abby and I worked very hard to scrub her little house clean, and get it set up on the yard for her! She and Georgie played in it all day Sunday. Nick came over for a while on Sunday afternoon, and played in the yard with us. Abby was in the tub later that night, around 7, and Nick came back over, and informed us that he was going mini-golfing with his mom and dad... and he said Abby was coming with him. I asked Abby if she wanted to go, and she jumped out of the tub, and into her clothes, as fast as she could! She was sooo excited! They left to go golfing... I put the baby to bed and George and I watched Six Feet Under... by the time the show was about half-way over, Abby was home. She was so excited to tell me everything about golfing and playing skee-ball! She had a strawberry shake, that she was more than willing to share with George and me. Apparently, she only played 9 holes at the golf course, and whenever she would swing the club, she would hit herself in the chin! :) Gerri said she did pretty well, for her first time, though.

She had a very busy weekend... on top of playing in the yard on Sunday and golfing that night, she had James' birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's on Saturday. She had a great time there!


Chuck E. Cheese!

She played alot of games, and went on the "rides." (She played alot of skee-ball at Chuck E's and with Nick Sunday at Nifty Fifties.) James seemed to have a good time too, at his party!


abby and the birthday boy!

When we got home from party on Saturday, George wanted to get some yardwork done, so I put Abby and Georgie in the wagon, and pulled them to the playground. What a trip! It's uphill bothways! Very steeply uphill, I might add... You go down a big hill, and then as soon as you get to the bottom, you go right back up again, and on the way home it's the same: down the hill, then back up and up and up again to get home... Why can't it just be flat?? LOL

We are getting ready to start our late summer trips soon. Our first one is this weekend coming up, to the shore with Jay and Lisa and the kids. It should be alot of fun! It'll be Georgie's first time on the beach... (with the exception of last year.. when he was a newborn)! I hope he likes it! Abby is psyched! She can't wait!

Poor Georgie... he has been so beat up lately! He had a horrible diaper rash that would not budge. He split his chin open when he was trying to walk across the room, but instead fell into the side of the toybox. He got so bit up by mosquitos, that his legs and face were so swollen and irritated... some of the bites got infected. He has so many bruises from falling. He has multiple teeth breaking through, so his mouth hurts all the time. Nothing stops his appetite, though! He is such a good eater! He loves everything you put in front of him! We call him "chicken-little" though! He's afraid of everything... toys that make noise, stuffed animals, he's afraid to stand up... hehe! He's so cute!

Abby is determined to make him walk! She grabs him by the arms and drags him around the room, yelling, "Stand up, Baby G! I am going to teach you how to walk right now!!" He finally gives into her, stands up and takes a couple steps... and then as soon as she lets go of his hands to clap for him, he sits down and crawls away as fast as he can! They play really well together. They miss each other terribly when one is away from the other too long.

Abby got a book in the mail from my grandmom the other day! She ran all over the house with the envelope, screaming, "I got mail!! I got mail!!" I finally caught up with her, and asked if she wanted to open it, and of course, she did! It's a cute little book, called "All Things Bright and Beautiful." It's about everything God created.

While we were playing in the yard Sunday, we found a grasshopper... he was missing a leg,and wasn't doing very well. We put him on a leaf, and placed him in the shade to keep him comfortable. Abby would walk him around the yard occasionally, showing him the sites, every now and then... when she was done walking him, she would put him back in her little house. At the end of the day, I was putting things away, and I found the poor little guy, squished. We think it was either Nick or George that carelessly assaulted him. Abby came up behind me, before I could hide him, and asked what happened to the grasshopper? I had no choice but to tell her the truth... so I told he that he was really, really hurt, and really sick. I asked her what we should do, and she told me that she wanted him to go to Heaven, where he wouldn't be sick anymore. She then proceeded to pray to God, and call to him to come and take her friend to Heaven where he would be happy and safe. We closed our eyes, and counted to five, and when we opened them again, the grasshopper was gone, and Abby was so happy, she kept thanking God for her friend grasshopper, thanking him for taking her grasshopper to heaven, and thanking him for her family and friends... She's too sweet! She's going to marry my grandmom when she gets big, she said!

I signed up for my fall classes last month... English and Sociology... Woohoo! I start in one month! It's still just two nights a week. Tuesday is for English, and Wednesday is Sociology (I think... but, it may be the other way around. I have to check on that). The classes are three hours long. Three hours of writing English essays... ugh! I hope (but I know I'm wrong) that there is not an overload of homework! What do you think? Highly unlikely, right?

M.

happy birthday!

Quiet Girl
What kind of little girl were YOU?
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!
HAPPY BITRHDAY TO-OO ME!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEE-E-EE!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOOO-OO-OO MEEEE!

at the marina

abby & george at the marina! 

We took the boat down the shore this weekend... We had fairly nice weather, and Abby had a great time! Annie and Sean went for the ride on the boat too, so Abby was over excited, to say the least! I wasn't sure about how Georgie was going to be for the length of the boat trip, so he and I stayed home, and drove the car down later in the day on Saturday. First thing Sunday morning, we broke out Abby's swimmies and floatie, and headed for the pool. Annie and Sean were Abby's tugboats, as she had them pull her all over the pool! We threw a ball around for a while, and then Georgie took a dip. He sat in his floatie, and after the initial shock of the cold water, had a blast!

The whole weekend was an adventure, being this was the first that Abby spent any time away from home since being 'potty trained.' She did really well! I'm so proud of her! She even did her first #2 on the potty this weekend at the boat! (sorry Abby, I have to document this for all the world to see...)

oh, my aching back!

I threw my back out today, and I have no idea how. I woke up this morning, and was going about my normal day, when all of a sudden, I was paralyzed from the midwaist down, with the exception of excruciating pain in my lower back... I can't lift anything, can't bend, can't sit, stand or lie down. So basically, I'm effed. A hot bath and a heating pad, along with a mild sedative has been taking the edge off so far. We shall see how everything feels tomorrow. It's tough because I can't pick up the kids without really hurting myself again... but, I can get by picking Georgie up minimally, and Abby is OK doing alot by herself. My knee has been pretty bad too, which I have to see a doctor about. So anyway, between my back and my knee, which is now starting to drive pain into my hip, because I changed the way I walk to keep my knee from falling off, I am hurting! But, other than that, the grass is still pretty green on this side.

Oh, yeah, the wedding, the wedding... It was very nice, as far as weddings go. The ceremony and reception were both held at the BS country club. The ceremony was outside, in a gazebo, and it was a very quick one, only lasting about 10 minutes at the most. Sarah sang throughout the entire thing... she did beautifully. Afterwards, golf carts came around and carried us over to the reception hall. Abby, Sean and I rode over in a cart, while George stood on the back. Abby had a great time at the reception! She danced, and danced, and danced the night away!! She was so cute bouncing with her curls, and spinning in her long white summer dress!! She stopped just long enough to scarf down some bread, but then went right back to dancing! I guess I dropped her off at home around 9:30 or so, and then I headed back to the party. The reception was over around 11, and a bunch of us went back to the hotel where Kristen and Brian, and a few other people were staying, and continued to party. George and I, at the very last minute (12:30 a.m.), decided to get a room also, instead of attempt the drive home. The hotel people totally ripped us off!! Robbed us of $150 for one crappy room, for only a few hours. Grr! But, oh man! I woke up in that hotel room the next morning, and *crap!* I wished I was in my own bed, in my own room! I wasn't "hungover" hungover! Not in my usual way, anyway (which usually consists of a massive migraine). I was just very "stomach ill." But it was check-out time, and the maid was only two doors away from cleaning our room, so George (being the very nice husband he is) pulled the car around the the front of the hotel lobby, and came back to the room to get me. He very gingerly escorted me to the car... and took me home-sweet-home! I slept for half the day (in my bed! Yea!), and woke up refreshed... feeling like a new woman! Oh geez, it's late! I should go to bed! To be continued...

girls night out...

Abby and I went out for "girls night" tonight. We headed over to the mall, on a mission. We found two dresses for her almost instantly, and just as easily found a pair of shoes, and a new purse for her for the wedding tomorrow. Afterwards, we wandered around from dress to dress, until I finally settled on one I like OK. I ran down to the shoe department and found a pair of heels that work well with the dress, and I got myself a purse too. I figured if Abby got a new one, why not? We were both hungry... shopping will do that to you, so we got dinner and ice cream! Abby didn't care what flavor of ice cream she had, as long as it was pink (her new favorite color)! So, she wound up with rasberry sherbert. She was as happy as a lark. On our way home, we decided to drive by Al and Dot's (just because), and it so happened that Al was just pulling up to the house at the same time we were driving by. We stopped in to say hello, because Abby, of course, wanted to show off her new purse and dresses. We stayed for about an hour or so, but by then Abby and I were worn out (shopping will do that to you too)! We said goodbye, and headed the four blocks home. We showed George what we had bought, and then I quickly put curlers in Abby's hair, before she put up too much of a protest. She looks so cute with her hair all rolled up in the curlers!! It will look really cute for the wedding tomorrow too (when I take the rollers out, of course)! Anyway, I'll report back about the whole wedding on Sunday, I suppose!! Ta-ta!

remembrance of things past

Class again last night... I noticed on my way up to the second floor that all school stairwells smell exactly the same. I cannot describe the smell, but whatever it is, it took me back to my junior year of high school again. I do not know why it took me back as specifically as to my junior year. Maybe I spent alot of time going back and forth from floor to floor that year. Have you ever had this experience? Where your nose gets ahold of a scent and suddenly you you're transported back in time to a person, place or thing that you had forgotten for years? It happens to me all the time. A whiff of pipe tobacco, the aroma of bread being baked in a bakery, or any long-forgotten scent can instantly conjure up scenes and emotions from the past. Certain perfumes and colognes always remind me of certain people, past or present, in my life. Even tastes. Certain foods will do it too, and rightly so, because most of the flavor of food comes from its aroma.

---

In The Remembrance of Things Past, Marcel Proust described what happened to him after drinking a spoonful of tea in which he had soaked a piece of madeleine, a type of cake: "No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through my whole body, and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me," he wrote. "An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses...with no suggestion of its origin...

"Suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was of a little piece of madeleine which on Sunday mornings...my Aunt Leonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of tea....Immediately the old gray house on the street, where her room was, rose up like a stage set...and the entire town, with its people and houses, gardens, church, and surroundings, taking shape and solidity, sprang into being from my cup of tea."

Just seeing the madeleine had not brought back these memories, Proust noted. He needed to taste and smell it. "When nothing else subsists from the past," he wrote, "after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered...the smell and taste of things remain poised a long time, like souls...bearing resiliently, on tiny and almost impalpable drops of their essence, the immense edifice of memory."

---

Between the stairwells, and the tiny little desks, with hardly room for one opened textbook, I felt like a teenager again. Hehe. Class went well, but I'm still a little bored. I remember everything so far from my Algebra classes in HS... but I'm sure I won't be saying that for too much longer. I looked ahead in the book, and in about 2 or 3 more chapters, which is equivalent to about one-half of the next class, it should be getting a little harder.

The weather outside is lovely, beautiful, gorgeous!! 75 and sunny!! And the lumps that Abby and I decided to be, stayed in all day. It's a Jeremy Piven marathon day... I think he would probably fall under the category "People I Fancy But Feel I Shouldn't." I think he's kinda cute... awesome actor too. It sucks that he always seems to be cast as the sidekick/best friend. Hey Cusack! Why don't you play the best friend for once? Why don't you sit Piven down and explain to him why he can't let this fantastic girl walk out of his life?

George is going to "the" Korean restaurant with the Koreans and the other guys from work again tonight... The last time he went, he ate live octopus (still moving on the plate), and drank some Korean whiskey all night... he smelled like death when he walked in the door. As a precaution, I asked him, very nicely, to sleep downstairs tonight. No way am I having my sheets smell that bad again! Ugh!

Nothing much else to report... it's been a fairly uneventful week (sometimes no news is good news, right??)

GRAB THE BOOK NEAREST TO YOU, TURN TO PAGE 18, FIND LINE 4. WRITE DOWN WHAT IT SAYS: He stood in the dark for a moment, breathless, terrified, his heart pounding rapidly, staring at the fluorescent numbers glowing at him from the face of the clock, a clock he hated.

math 118

I got home from class a little while ago, and I hope it doesn't sound too insane, but I had so much fun! I really love my teacher (Deb)... she is very cool. I decided not to pick up my Algebra book before the class. I wanted to wait until I knew what book the teacher wanted us to use. I was glad I waited, because I definately would have picked up the wrong book... Most of the people in the class that got their book ahead of time didn't get the right one. Anyway, once we were shown the correct book to buy, we were allowed to go down to the store and pick one up before we started our first class. The air conditioner was broken in our classroom, so I thought I was going to hate my first night... It was so hot in that room!!! But we were told we could move our class down to the Study Lab, and we did. We did alot of work tonight! Deb said she moves fast, and boy, she wasn't kidding! I guess we kind of have to, being that it's only a 7 week course! By the time everyone had gotten back to the room from getting their books, and we moved down to the Study Lab, we only had about 2 hours left (out of a 3 hour night), and we blew right through that book. I have about 8 pages in my notebook, just full of all the algebra equations we did in class tonight... Not to mention the 5 workbook pages of homework... That's alot of math for one night!! :) I can't imagine how much more work we're going to do when we have the full 3 hours! Like I said at the top, I may sound like a complete dork, but I think it's fun!

On the way home, I stopped for a sandwich and did my homework at the restaurant. It's good to get it out of the way. I might do that every week, just so the everything is still fresh in my head, and there are no kids vying for my attention while I'm trying to do my work!

back to school

I start my first day of classes tomorrow night! I'm very excited, a little curious, and just slightly nervous to see what my instructor is like... according to the schedule, she's a woman... I haven't bought my algebra book for class yet, so I might try to head to the school a little early tomorrow and browse around the store before class...

I got alot more work done in the yard today.

George went to the Preakness yesterday with Al... Smarty Jones won! Woo-hoo! They had great seats, about the best seats in the house. Something like $250 tickets... right behind the finish... I think G took a video on his digital camera of the end of the race, right when Smarty pulls in front, and wins by maybe a bazillion lengths.

That's about it...

I ♥ George

i see dead people

I went to the movies with mom tonight... We saw 'Godsend.' The movie was really good... the couple behind us made the movie even better (funny, even). At every semi-scary or intense scene, they would both jump and scream... which, of course, made everyone in the theater jump. They kept scaring us more than the actual movie! I still have yet to understand the ending... probably one of those movies you have to see again and again to get more out of it. Anyway, after the movie, I introduced my mom to the wonderful world of sushi... It was her first real time with the whole experience. I think she liked it OK. I could tell she was definately turned off by some things on the menu, and I know she was worried about a few things that we ordered, but she was not squeamish by any means when it came to trying things. She tasted just about everything on the plate, and hardly made any faces... :) Hehe! I don't think anyone can love sushi as much as I do (with the exception of maybe George)!! The restaurant we go to is phenominal!! The entire place is immaculate, the food is so fresh, and the people are so hospitable... like you are in their living room!

Well, I am fresh out of things to write about... too tired!!

this week...

Mother's Day... very nice... I spent the morning just hanging out with Abby and Georgie, and then later in the day my mom and dad, and G's mom and dad came over for a barbecue. George made lobster and lamb chops... It was such a beautiful, beautiful day to be outside. Dottie and I wound up polishing off a "few" bottles of wine, and a couple martinis for the finale, and, to say the least, did not enjoy our Monday morning after. But, all in all, it was a great day!

To my throbbing head's surprise, Denise called around 11 the next morning, asking if Abby, Georgie and I would like to join her and Annie for lunch at the diner. I picked Dottie up at 1 o'clock, and off we went to lunch. It was so much fun to all get together in the afternoon, and we hope to try to make a habit of doing it more often. I know Abby loves spending time with Annie! When we got home on Monday, we never made it in the door. It was such a gorgeous day, Abby and I decided to hang out front. We pulled her baby pool out of the garage, and tried on her bathing suit from last year... the pool and bathing suit proved to be too small, but Abby didn't seem to mind it, just for the day. Sydnee and Nick took their pool out, which is much bigger, 120" or so, and Abby (and even Georgie) enjoyed swimming in it too!

Tuesday morning, I knew Kelly and James were coming over, so I headed out early to run a few "errands." I made a deal with Abby the night before to give up her binkies and bottles for good, but as a reward for doing so, I would buy her 2 new bathing suits and a big pool just like Sydnee and Nick's. She agreed after some discussion, and so we headed out first thing in the morning. She decided on 2 bathing suits she liked, and picked the pool. We grabbed a suit for Georgie and headed home.

Kelly and James showed up a few minutes after we pulled up, and the kids played outside almost the entire day. We inflated Abby's pool and even Georgie took a dip. He "swam" around in his infant tube for a while, and couldn't be happier.

Yesterday, the kids stayed out all day, yet again... I got a lot of yard work done (finally). I spent the day pulling weeds, digging out and transplanting bushes, shrubs and flowers... It looks 110% better, and now all I have left to do is turn the soil and plant grass seed in some areas.

I got a letter in the mail yesterday about my placement test... My placement was for English 101 and Math 118... not too bad... So I signed up for the math, which is basically an Algebra-II class... I'm happy I can skip Algebra-I... I start class on Monday! I can't believe how excited I am to be starting school again! :)

Today was the same as all the other days this week: swimming, running, playing and gardening!

Sorry this is very choppy, but I'm typing this very quickly... I have alot to get finished tonight since we haven't been in the house all week!

I had a pretty great day (compared to yesterday!). I got alot of cleaning done, so I can feel good about relaxing tomorrow (Mother's Day!) George is cooking tomorrow for dinner... and I think the only people coming are his parents and my mom. Dad will hopefully make it, but he works every Sunday now. He said he's going to go in very early, around 3 a.m., to try to make sure he is done in enough time to stop by. I hope he definately makes it!

Not a long entry tonight... gonna go relax, as soon as I finish putting new sheets on the bed!!!

a holy mess...

It's almost Saturday... Thank God, because that means George will be home all day tomorrow, and it also means today is just about over... it was a horrible day! It started out with Abby waking up with a fever, and she was so cranky (justifiably!). Georgie is still very grouchy and clingy, so he cried pretty much all day if I wasn't holding him, which made Abby upset because she wanted the extra attention today, being sick as sick as she was.

I was trying to put a load of wash in this morning, when I heard Abby calling for me and screaming the at baby at the same time. When I came out of the laundry room to see what was going on, I saw Georgie sitting in a puddle, splashing around and laughing. He was soaked. When I asked Abby why the floor was wet, she said, "Della peed." Sure enough, with just a sniff, I fully confirmed Abby's accusations: dog pee. So, I threw Georgie in the tub, scrubbed him with globs of antibacterial soap and brushed his teeth, just in case. Once he was sanitized and dressed, I put Della in the garage and mopped up her mess on the family room floor.

Within minutes of completing this task, Abby stated that she was hungry. I went upstairs, poured her a bowl of cereal, and as I was pulling the milk out, I noticed the food in the fridge was all very warm... After messing around with the temperature controls for a while, I came to the conclusion that the refrigerator was definately broken, and everything in it was for the garbage. I just went food shopping yesterday. I rummaged through the garage until I found the contractor garbage bags, walked back into the kitchen, and I filled the bags with my rotten groceries.

The next catastrophe came about an hour later when Abby was using the potty, which she is doing very well with, I might add. Anyway, I was parked on the bathroom floor, waiting for her to do her business, and she suddenly got very quiet and turned a palish-green. Before I got the chance to ask her if she was ok, she proceeded to projectile vomit all over me and the entire bathroom. I pulled her off the toilet, stripped her down, washed her up, and got her into a change of clothes. I set her up on the couch, with blankets, pillows, a movie, a bucket, and some more tylenol for her fever. She wound up falling asleep for about an hour, which gave me just enough time to clean the bathroom, get a shower, and wash the clothes I was wearing and the towels I used to clean up Abby and the bathroom. I thought my luck just had to turn around at this point, but the wood I knocked on must have been Formica after all. I don't know what inspired me, but I decided that while I had the mop out, I would clean all the floors downstairs. While doing this, I heard the washer start to spin and empty. As I was continuing to mop I noticed the washer sounds were much, much louder than usual, so I ran to the laundry room to find that the entire washer had emptied onto the floor. Apparantly the rag I had been using to clean some of the kids toys a few minutes back had fallen into the wash tub, clogging the drain. Thus all of the water had flowed over to the floor! At this point, my third set of clothes for the day were soaked, and I was beyond the point of breaking. I sunk to the floor and began to cry.

I don't even know where to begin, or more important, when this ends.

getting back my curves

I have to get my butt in gear! Trying to get back in shape, so I'm going to join Curves gym... it looks pretty cool. I've heard nothing but good things about it from people who go there... Between going there 3x a week, and school 2 nights, I'm going to be very busy! Not in a bad way, it'll make me happy to be doing something just for me again. It seems I'm always busy doing everything for everyone else, and I never get a chance to do my thing. Well, now it's time!!! I figure with going to the gym a few times every week, and eating better, I should be back in my old jeans in no time... I should be able to burn it pretty quickly, being that I'm still young. Sounds like a plan to me! Anyway, speaking of eating better, time to call for some takeout... lol! George said he definately won't be home for dinner, so we're on our own tonight. Georgie is in his playpen, and not happy about it. Abby won't get out of the tub... they just finished their bath together... they love being in the tub together and it definately makes it easier and faster for me to get them both washed. Ok, I'm gonna go make my appointment to visit the gym... then it's dinner time!

potty talk, baseball games & hitting the books

Georgie is still sick today... still just a fever and very cranky! Abby is still making progress on the potty! She woke up dry again this morning, and has been using the potty all day so far... George just called, and apparantly he was offered tickets to go to the baseball game today. Conveniently, he called me to tell me this five minutes before he was leaving work today to go to the game. I don't know why he'll still going to be late, if the game is an early afternoon game... he should still get home at normal time, wouldn't you think? God forbid we ever go anywhere together... he always has plans that coincidentally don't include me... guys night out, work related... blah, blah, blah... It might also help if we could ever get a babysitter... We can never seem to get one over here to watch the kids for the night so we can go out. I'm in the process of trying to find a teenager in the neighborhood so that I always have one on hand. It would be good to have one around for the summer too, so if I need help during the day, she (or he, I shouldn't be sexist... lol) could always pop over for a few hours and help me out. There's a girl down the street, she's about 16 or so. I think she is Bill English's granddaughter (Dot's neighbor). So, anyway, I guess it's not really G's fault that we always have to go out seperately. But, anyway... I'm trying to get alot done around here today, and I'll be so happy when it's done! The hard work always pays off in the end, when you can go to bed knowing how much you've done, and then wake up to a clean house!

I tried calling the counseler today for school, and they won't give you your admissions test results over the phone. I'm going to try to go tomorrow night (I have to be there before 6:30) and then I can get my class scheduled and underway! I'm looking forward to going back to school. It's going to be a little weird to sit back in a classroom again, I think. I felt like a teenager again while I was taking the ad. test last week. The pressure to do well came flooding right back, like I had never left a desk! I changed my mind after talking to Mom about taking English over the summer. She's probably right that English is alot of homework and essays to worry about, especially if I'm going on vacations. Math would probably be a better choice. I can always get the assignments ahead and do them while I'm away.

It's a beautiful day today! It's about 74 ° and so sunny. Not a cloud in the sky. A good day for a baseball game... a shame I'm not going... j/k

Naptime for Georgie is over before it ever started... he refuses to go to sleep! Gotta run for now. Be back tonight...

mean girls?

I am so tired! I never feel like I can catch up around here! I work my butt off all day, straightening and cleaning... feeding, bathing and changing.... and then at the end of the day, the house is just as bad, if not worse then when I started!!! I have so much to do, and I'm hoping tomorrow is a better day to do it! I have to call about my admissions test for college in the morning... I wonder how I did. Classes start May 17th, so I have to get a move on signing up for a class. If given much choice, I'll start with English... get that out of the way! I think I did pretty bad on the essay part of the test, due to lack of time... or maybe there was plenty of time and I'm just not used to writing on demand...

I went to the movies on Friday with Natalie... girls night out... it was great to get out for a few hours. I haven't done it enough lately, and I have no idea why... Anyway, we wanted to see "13 Going on 30" on Friday (chick flick night). We were trying to get into the 8:00 show, but it was sold out! The entire movie complex was full of teenagers wanting to see "Mean Girls!" That movie was sold out for all of that night and half of the next day! So, anyway, we got tickets for the 10 o'clock show for "13 Going on 30", and decided while we were waiting to walk across the street to Ruby Tuesday for dinner. After we ate, we headed back to the theater and got our popcorn and drinks and stuff... and on the way to our movie, we saw a line of teens, mostly girls, waiting to get their pictures taken with the cardboard cutouts of the stars from "Mean Girls.." How pathetic is that? It wasn't just one group of girls; it was a huge line! When they would go up for their picture, they would pose exactly like the "mean girl" they were standing closest to. There's something to show the grandkids! Anywho, the movie we saw was really good. I want to see it again... I'm probably waiting for the video, though. Tickets for the movie theater are just getting way out of hand, and I heard they are going to raise the prices yet again!

Poor Georgie has a fever tonight... No other symptoms except for the fever (running at about 102 °)... I'll see how he is in the morning, and if it doesn't get any better, I guess we're off to the doctor's! :( Alrighty... I'm going to soak in the tub and read my People magazine, and then I'm off to bed! ~Night

Just thinking of stuff I didn't add before... Friday when I was upstairs washing some dishes, Abby and Georgie came up with a new game... Indians!! Abby "decorates" herself and Georgie with markers, drawing "tribal" lines and shapes all over their bodies... When I came downstairs, much to my surprise, Georgie's hair was completely green, he had blue lines all over his face... Abby had colored all of her fingers, both legs and her face!! It was cute, but a big mess... the floor was the hardest to clean!

Saturday we went to Sean's First Holy Communion... well, we missed the church ceremony due to a migraine (mine), but afterwards we met the fam at Villa Barone for dinner. Good food! Abby had a great time with her cousins (as usual)! Georgie had his first taste of real Italian food, fresh mozzarella cheese, great homemade bread, still hot from the oven, and of course... pasta. I think he may have even eaten olives! He loved it! His stomach was so full, it was actually rock solid to the touch! After gorging ourselves at the restaurant, we all went back to Denise's for dessert, as if we didn't have enough food at dinner! Abby met Annie and Sean's new hamster. The hamster's name is Kiki, though Abby insists on calling her "Pinky..." They still have their first hamster, Buffy, too! If you can imagine, Abby was in her glory! Two hamsters! She wants her own now, but I keep telling her we can visit Annie and Sean's any time she wants!

She put on a "Hat Show" with Sean and Alyssa towards the end of the night, where the three of them would try on different hats they found around the house, and then come outside and model them for everyone! The funny part is that Abby, the usually shy and reserved little girl, was walking down the back steps and through the yard like it was a runway, and she was a very confident, assured model! She kept walking up to Al and telling him, "Look at me, Pop-Pop! I'm Beautiful!" She has continued the 'show' at home, where she has managed to pull out (and try on) every hat, scarf, glove, and mitten, along with all my jewelry and makeup... We turned the hallway into a runway, and she models for me and Georgie!

general update :)

Well, I haven't been writing in this thing for quite some time, to say the least.... I haven't had a computer for a while... my desktop was all messed up and out of service. I was using George's laptop for a bit, and then he surprised me with a laptop of my own! It has taken me quite some time to get this new computer set up to my liking and personalized! It's getting there, but my old desktop is holding my old files for ransom! Waiting patiently to find some way of retrieving them! Anyway, I love my laptop.. so much better than the dinosaur I was using before! Georgie is getting so big! Within the last 2 months, he has been crawling like crazy (so fast!) and walking along the furniture, getting into everything!!! He's broken many things. He can hardly sit still for 2 seconds, which is the total opposite of how Abby was... she was so quiet! I hardly had to worry about baby-proofing with her! She's still that way!
This week has been the big Potty-training week for her! She is doing really well. She slept 2 nights without a diaper or Pull-up, just underwear... and woke up dry! She runs to the potty first thing after she wakes up, and pees! She has been going for 3 days with just underwear on when she plays! So far she is "accident free" for 2 days (with the exception of going #2, which I know will take some time to master!) She is so funny! She has been watching "Spirit, Stallion of the Cimmaron" which is a movie about a horse, and has become horse obssessed! She has a toy horse she likes to ride, but recently I guess she wanted something a little more "live" than the stuffed horse... so she decided to ride Georgie!! The poor kid... I heard him crying downstairs, a very jolted cry, and when I went down to see what was happening, he was on all fours with Abby straddled on his back, jumping up and down, yelling "giddee-up Georgie!"
Georgie is on most solid foods now, his favorite being sliced bananas! Between him and Abby, we can't keep a bunch of bananas in the house for more than a day!
Other than that, I can't think of anything else (atleast for the moment). I'll get back here tonight and try to give a more interesting update!!

Abby's Birthday!!!

Abby's 3 today!! At first she did not want to turn 3. In fact, for weeks, she's protested that she was staying 2 forever! But last night she went to bed psyched that it was her birthday the next morning... and she would, in fact, be another year older! She woke up very excited, and anxious for the day to begin... and to pass time in the morning, Abby helped me hang a 'Princess Party' banner with Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Ariel, Jasmine, and Belle on it. She especially loves Cinderella, as I think all little girls do. We got dressed and packed our backpacks with all of the very important things that we can absolutely not leave the house without, and headed out the door, lolipops in hand. Abby enjoyed her cherry-flavored taffy, and I had watermelon! Yum! We picked up grandma at her house, and off we went to the Discovery Museum.

When we got to the museum, the first thing we saw were computers... they were there to write your own news article about your day at the museum! It's an adlib type of project... they have most of the story filled out except for a few key words that you fill in however you like! Here's how Abby's read (the underlined words are the ones she chose and filled in):

A Visit to the Museum
By Abby

After visiting the museum 1 time, this reporter has the full scoop on what it is like at the Garden State Discovery Museum. The first time I walked in the Museum's door I felt really silly.

Of all the activities the Museum had to offer, I liked having a party the best. It is something that 3-year-olds really like to do. There are even things to keep adults busy at the Museum. They especially like to play with Abby when they visit.

Even though I liked visiting very much, nothing is perfect. While the Museum has almost everything you can imagine, this reporter hopes they will add a dinosaur real soon.

Visiting the Museum is really a memorable experience. Personally, I will never forget when it's my birthday. I even got to see something I never saw before... an American Flag Cow!

After we wrote the article, we went into the first room of the museum, where they had a huge boat set up, with fishing poles to catch the "fish" in the "water" below! Abby loved walking up the long ramp, to the top of the boat... she caught many fish! We then played some games (grandma enjoyed these more than anyone, I think...lol)! Bean bag toss, tic tac toe with wiffle balls, etc... The next room had snakes, frogs, turtles, and weird bugs... it was pretty neat. From there, we walked further into the museum, where Abby "fueled" up and old Volkswagen, and then "drove off" into the sunset, with her grandma in the passenger seat! After driving around, Abby ran her own Pet Grooming Service, Veterinarian's Office (she looked so cute in her doctors coat and stethoscope), then she dressed in costumes and performed live on stage, she ran a diner... taking food orders for me and mom, after all this she still ran the checkout of the produce department... ringing up people's fruits and veggies... she baked bread, worked on a construction site, slid down a giant slide... and the list just goes on and on... Even Georgie got to play! They had an infant playground set up where he could crawl around safely and play with all kinds of cool toys! I could write all day about what we did, because that's how busy we were today. My little girl. So big. Out of all the little girls in the whole world, how did I get so lucky? God gave me the best one. I love you Abby! Happy Birthday!

alone at last!!

Later Thursday night...

G is out for the night... the kids are both asleep! I'm alone at last!! It's been too long since my last moment of peace. It's funny~ I pine for silence, then when I'm alone for a while, I start to go crazy! I begin to miss the chaos that is my life. I'm taking advantage of it tonight, though. I'll have enough mayhem in the morning! Especially being that the kids are both sick!

I'm looking online for some vacation spots. This summer G and I plan to take a trip with the kids (just the 4 of us, for once)! It'll be the first time that we don't share a vacation with someone else. I'm really looking forward to it! It's important for us to do "family" things where it's just us sometimes! This year it definately has to be somewhere we can drive to... I miss road trips! So far I've only gotten as far as to look at Boston, and it looks like fun. I've seen many pictures of the city and it looks gorgeous... such a beautiful place. I'm just trying to make sure there's enough to do with the kids. We shall see!

Tomorrow looks like decent weather (yea!)... still a little chilly, but nowhere near what it's been...the news says it should be around 49 and a little cloudy. Not as nice as today, but still looks as though I can take the kids for another walk. I hope so... They both love to be outside, and the fresh air is always good when you're sick. Refreshes the lungs.. lol It's good for me too... trying to lose some baby weight (8 months later!) and the walking always works for me! Thank god the bitter cold is behind us (for now anyway).

The Croup!

Thursday...

Tuesday night Abby woke up about 1 a.m. with a horrible cough... almost barking. I immediately self-diagnosed her with Croup, and then called the doc to confirm. He agreed with her symptoms and said there was not much I could do for her, just let it pass (about a week). She slept with a vaporizor last night (Wed). I slathered her with Vicks and fed her Tylenol and Robitutussin. She's got a very mild case so far... not much coughing and a very low fever. Her spirits are good and although she spent the day in bed (by choice) on Wednesday, she was up and running around today. I'm a little concerned because the baby is starting to bark tonight, and he seems to take to being sick much harder than Abby. She usually breezes through with minimal signs of illness, and he always gets the full version. But, so far, he's OK. *knock wood*

Temperatures hit about 52 today and the sky was clear. (My ideal weather!) I took the kids for a walk in the stroller. Abby loves the double stroller. She sits up front and I recline her seat so she can reach back and hold Georgie's hand. The whole walk Abby was pointing things out to Georgie... trees, birds, squirrels, cats in people's windows, leaves on the ground... she's very observant and I hope she teaches him to be as well.

On a sad note... Natalie's mom died Tuesday night. After spending 2 months in the hospital, she finally gave up the battle she fought so well for so long with her kidneys. I'm still amazed that through it all after putting in a full week of work on her feet and having dialysis 3x a week, she still managed to push on like it was nothing... I can tell you for a fact, I could not have handled it nearly as well as she did... The last 2 months must have been hell for her. She had most of her small intestine removed due to it being full of gangarine (spell?), her lungs were always filling with fluid (at one point they pulled almost 2 liters... I didn't know anyone's lungs had the capacity). Due to this, she had a breathing tube inserted around the clock. Not long before she had he transplant, she had bypass surgery from the damage from all the dialysis. I wished I had gone to see her before she died... she was always like a second mom to me when Natalie and I were growing up. Who knew she was really going to die, or who would let themselves believe it, anyway? I guess it goes to show that you just never know what’s going to happen from one moment to the next… Now that Natalie and I are "all grown up" we seemed to have grown apart. Funny how life changes... the people you know are not the people you once knew...

How does one obtain Superpowers??

Tuesday night...

Just another manic Tuesday! I've been slacking off on the domestic front (again) and I really shouldn't be wasting time on the computer. Tomorrow's another day, I suppose. When I become Superwoman, I sure hope that someone remembers to tell me! If I could get everything done all at once, I'd have it made for sure! I'm beyond exausted... and nothing's done around here to justify it. What is one to do? What kind of connections do I need to get those superpowers I've read so much about? Granted, it's mostly written about in fiction, but, hey... it could happen!

George had off from work yesterday (President's Day). Most holidays are considered 'Hallmark Holidays' like Valentine's Day, Mothers and Fathers days, etc... some are strictly set aside for cookouts/barbecues... 4th of July, Memorial and Labor days... but really, I think the main purpose for President's day is for major sales at auto dealerships and furniture stores! No one even seems to know it's a holiday except that we have off from work. I've never heard anyone wish a friend a 'happy president's day!' I dunno. It's a good excuse to sleep in on a Monday, atleast! Anyway, speaking of Hallmark holidays: it was Valentine's day this Saturday. Jayson came over to be Abby's date. Sarah and Alyssa were here as well, so George and I haven't really had a chance to celebrate alone yet, but we had fun anyway. Monday George, Abby, Georgie and I went down to South St and had dinner at one of my favorite spots (Pietros)...

I'm writing this on George's laptop, since my computer is out-of-service! Don't know exactly what the problem is, but then again I haven't worked very hard to figure it out!! I'm working on George to get me my very own laptop for my birthday. I figure 3 months is plenty of time to put the bug in his ear! (hint, hint George, if you're reading this!!)