Stalkers

Yes, we're stalkers. The kids, my sister and I. I'm sure there's a 12 step program for it, but I don't care!! I got a very excited call from my sister one Wednesday in late September telling me that a TAPS van was parked outside Trader Joe's. TAPS stands for The Atlantic Paranormal Society and they are featured in the SyFy Network show "Ghosthunters". Heather, Devin and I are avid fans of the show, and Heather has met Steve G., as you may recall.

So we jumped in the van and drove over there to sit outside with my sister and watch and wait to see who came out. Yes, clearly stalker behavior.

When the man and woman came out (one who we think is a camera man, the woman we've seen on the show before) we thought, oh why not, let's just take this a step further. So rather than being rational human beings and walking up and saying "Hi, we're fans of the show", we, well, stalked them. We followed them onto the highway, through the streets of Hartford to a local hotel. For the record, I make a LOUSY tail. My future as a PI is highly unlikely.

A friend of my sister's texts her and says "Hey, heard they're shooting at the Mark Twain house tonight." So, rather than continue waiting outside the hotel we drove over to the MTH to see what was what.

Sad news is we didn't get to see Jason, Grant, Steve, Tango or any of our other GH favs, but I'm pretty confident there is a camera shot of the parking lot from the episode where you see my van going through the parking lot with 4 giant stalkers in it. We're harmless, really.

Happy Birthday Lindsay!!

We had Sunday dinner/game night/birthday celebration for Lindsay at Mom H. and Tommy's back in September. The pictures are sort of sad b/c I took them with my phone, but you can still tell we had fun and that my beautiful sister in law is still an entire decade younger than me!! Happy birthday!!

(I also never miss an opportunity to take pictures of my adorable niece!!)

Locks from My Love

I think Julia believes the sole purpose of her hair is to continue growing it until it's long enough to cut and donate. This is her second donation and she was just as excited about it as the first. We went to our good friend Sally at Cuts for Peanuts in Avon, as we always do, and with a few snips, she was sporting a new do and 4 clean braids to donate!

This time we are sending her hair to Pantene's Great Lengths, another great organization that makes wigs for people who need them. The benefit to this program is you only need 8 inches of hair versus 10. We couldn't quite get to 10 this time, so this was a nice option.

Look at my sweet girl, beautiful inside and out!

A Great Fall Day for a Birthday!

My dear friend Ellen called one week in September and said "Have you seen the forecast for Sunday? It's going to be gorgeous. Let's all go do something together, preferably outside!" Now, she's a sneaky little monkey b/c nowhere during all the plan making did it come up that it was also her birthday, but I already knew!!

So we headed down en masse to Lyman Orchards. They have pumpkins, sunflowers, a corn maze, acres and acres of fruit trees and a great store in the middle of it all. It really was a spectacular day. Bright blue fall sky and warm still. The kids all got to pick apples and peaches with us, we did the corn maze and looked at the sunflower maze (note for next year, fruit and mazes are cash only - thanks John!!).

We took some family shots and bought the most amazing chicken pot pies for dinner. YUM! We headed back to their house and snuck in a little birthday cake to go along with it. So kudos to the birthday girl for coming up with such a great plan!!

Brief (3 month) interruption...

I was a somewhat dedicated blogger until a few months ago. I blame the lapse on 2 things: 1) Facebook and it's immediate access made Blogging seem like snail mail and 2) I decided to take a small trip/flight/fall down the basement stairs on Sept. 12th. So, I'll use this space for the purposes of a cautionary tale...if you've already taken your Ambien and are doing the zombie kitchen snack wander, when you spill almonds all over the floor, don't bother trying to get the broom and sweep them up, just leave it until morning. Otherwise, you could look like this.

The benefit of a few months has at least provided me with what the going rate is for a spill down the stairs. It rounds out at about $7,000 when you include the ambulance ride to the ER, labs, drugs, IV fluids and a big ol' CAT scan.

So, yes, I was night wandering after taking my Ambien (take it, then just go to bed!!) but on the flip side, I was so relaxed and out of it that it didn't really hurt and I don't really remember it all that well. Since it was the middle of the night (like 3 am) I yelled for Neil but couldn't wake him up. So I yelled for the second lightest sleeper in the house besides me - Devin. He came down right away and got Neil and woke him when I asked him to. Neil took one look at me and said, "Uh, I think I'm going to call 911."

When you call 911 in our town they don't waste time finding out exactly what is needed for trucks and personnel at the scene, they send one of everything (firetruck, ambulance, police cruiser, paramedics) which is great b/c they get here like asap. So, about 20 people flood into the livingroom strapping me to a backboard and neck collar. The first responder was a town police officer who we and the kids all know since he has kids in my kids class/school and he's also one of the officers with a canine, so they do a lot of the scout, Brownie meetings etc. I wasn't horrified until later to realize I was just wearing my nightie! He was also the one who stayed at the house with the kids until my sister got here. Got to love having your kids watched over by one of the town's finest! Doesn't get much safer than that!

I remember fighting to stay awake in the ambulance (Ambien finally kicking in and deciding to do what it's supposed to) and answering all their questions. I remember the tiny little room, the CAT scan and finding out I had no broken bones (miracle!!). I also remember them asking me over and over if I was in any pain and offering morphine. I kept saying no b/c it really didn't hurt at that point (shock, sleep, Ambien, my extra high threshold for pain?) so finally I agreed, just to make them go away! They kind of laughed and said, well, it's going to hurt later (for the record, they were right).

They released me in the morning and my sister and the kids came to pick us up. I headed right to bed and called my parents in Maine. I think Mom said something to the effect of "My poor baby, I'm coming right home!" I laugh, but now that I'm a mom, I get it and would have done and said the same thing.

I spent a couple days just in bed, feeling sore and taking pain meds. By Monday I was on Advil and would go downstairs with a spotter.

The worst part was being out in public. People look at you with this look of pity like someone is beating the crap out of you. We were all out to dinner one night and I was looking at Neil's whole posture and demeanor. He was apparently getting looks of the opposite nature! Poor guy! He was a very attentive nurse, reminding me once again, what a lucky girl I am.

I had several great nurses (in addition to the ones at the hospital). My sister Heather had the first watch until Mom got there. She took care of me, the kids, she was Florence Nightingale with better hair. My Mom, of course, came and took the next two days watch. She made us food and brought over her arsenal of movies to watch! And even the kids did a lot which was so neat. One of those great little moments when you get to see them be caring and nurturing because they've been cared for and nurtured. Even Max the cat stuck to me like glue, even more so than usual. He sat right by me like he was protecting me from further harm.

So, long story, but all I have to show for it now is a copay (thank you health insurance!!) and a little scar over my left eye. I kind of think it makes me look tough!

Photos from 9/12, 9/15, 9/17 and 9/30.

Labor Day Weekend in Maine

I have finally shaken off the feeling that I need to go back and "catch up" on all my old posts before I can post new stuff. Meh - whatever! Here are some great shots from our weekend in Maine with my family. It was one of the most mello, relaxing and best weekends we've had yet. And what's funny is we didn't do a ton of stuff, maybe just the quiet pleasure of each other's company was what we needed.

We took a day at the beach, the kids got to play with the next door neighbors, Neil did some running, we did a little shopping, we did some rock climbing, some crabbing and some time chilling on the deck.

What do you think of the new family photo? No doubt where our loyalties are huh??

The Magic that is iPhone

Scrolling through some photos to edit and found this one that made me laugh. Thank you to Bec and the magic apps in her iPhone. This is what the adults really did after the kids (and Neil) went to bed in OBX.

First Day of the "S" Word...(School!)

All week the kids have been moaning about school. Granted, they were in one of the country's greatest vacation spots EVER (OBX) so I cut them some slack. It became very apparent on Sunday night (after a 12 hour drive home on Saturday) that Devin was actually a little bit happy about going back (but continued to deny it with a sly little smile) and Julia grew increasingly more wary.

Julia is like me, massive control freak. If I know it, I'm on it, I own it, I'm the queen of the world. Unfamiliar territory...meh, not so much. So, she starts to panic a little, but quietly, in a control freak kind of way.

They were both up with the birds today and bursting with excitement. Devin even got dressed, took his allergy meds and BRUSHED HIS TEETH WITHOUT BEING TOLD. This might be a 5th grade miracle, people.

Julia, asserting her 3rd grade girl independence wore the exact opposite of anything I would have chosen for her. I stayed mum, I still wear socks that match, so what the hell do I know?

They allowed 2, count them 2 pictures on the front steps. Usually I'm allowed a few out-takes, but not this year! Devin ran ahead. Never got to wish him luck, have a good day, don't forget to write - NADA. A pack of girls swallowed him up in hugs and "HI DEVIN!!!" Neil and I shot each other a look and burst out laughing. Any predictions on when the first girl calls the house??

Julia, now one of the school's "big kids" gets to line up on the ramp for her first year in an upstairs classroom. Oh the joy, ohhhh, the trepidation... She told me not to come with her, then quickly changed her mind and pulled my hand, then dropped it and kissed us and took off. Turned around and never looked back. That's my girl!!

They were both bursting with stories about friends, new and old, teachers, new and old and both agreed it was a great first day. Oh, the relief!

So it begins. But really, shouldn't they both still be in kindergarten??

OBX 2009

FANTASTIC week in the Outer Banks with the Hannas and the Odells. Great drive down, tolerable drive back (not counting NJ) and just great stuff in between. We had a couple red flag days at the beginning from the wave remnants of hurricane Bill, but it was all typical NC surf after that. The first day or so had big surf and the tide came up so far there was literally no beach. Water right up to the dunes (never saw that before). We made runs down there the first night after the kids went to bed.

The women got the first run. "Oooh look how far out I'm going..." (Deb)

"Has she been drinking?" (male bystander)

"Uh, yeah." (me)

"Mmmm, keep an eye on her..." (male bystander)

Ok, we were being a little bit wussy about it, but, out of concern...

Kids managed to have fun in the red flag (no swimming) days. Lifeguards seemed to be ok with going in knee deep. So, we sat in the surf to keep cool. Sadly, on day 2 I forgot to apply sunscreen to my legs (senior moment?) and got a bit fried.

We did something new and rented Jeeps this year to drive up to Swan, NC (where it's only sand roads and 4 wheeling) to see the wild horses. It was REALLY hot and sunny, and the Jeep was a bit bumpy for some of us (Bec has bruises, that's all I'm sayin') but the horses were so neat. We also saw dolphins breaching in the ocean, and lots of neat houses you can't see unless you have 4 wheel drive. It's VERY tempting to rent up there sometime...

Kids had a ball playing with the other kids. We barely saw them! There was a lot of gimp, matchy "squirrel" (aka skunk) nightgowns, DS "pictochatting", pool and beach play.

The adults always seem to have fun (despite 1 day of broken A/C. I think it reached 85 degrees on the top floor?) with cards, guac, Oreos and a couple of adult beverages.

I took lots of pix, did some skinny dipping (gasp) and only used the outdoor shower (which I miss dreadfully).

The only low point was on Friday when a 12 year old boy from NY went missing in the surf about 2 miles south of us. The local rescue and Coast Guard searched until dark, but couldn't find him. I spent that day until 5:00 at the beach and couldn't quite keep my eyes off the water, hoping to see him bobbing to safety. His family has not been far from my mind ever since. It only shows that life can change in an instant, and you have to enjoy every minute and grab every morsel of joy out of it.

So, thanks to the Hannas and the Odells for helping to create another year's worth of great vacation memories, they will last a lifetime for all of us!!!

You know you're old when...

...your cake catches on fire. Just sayin'. Happy Birthday, Sissy!!