Playdate

Thank You, Fresh Vintage

Last September Michele and I visited a great booth at Renningers called Fresh Vintage. We picked up enough stuff to fill my van and her pick-up. A lovely, shabby pink cabinet for Perch home (Michele's store) and a large dresser with creamy, glossy paint for my bedroom. In addition I bought the cutest little pink stool with a vinyl seat, an old pink and blue lunch box, a pretty blue tackle box, some clear glass flower frogs and soemthing I've never heard of - sour cream glasses (like painted jelly jars except for sour cream - they really knew how to do things back in the day).

In my excitement I forgot to get everything but the large items. It wasn't until I got home that I realized I didn't have my pink stool. So sad!

So I emailed Colleen and over the course of the next 7 months we tried to meet up. I was going to be near Paoli in October for my sisters wedding but it was just too hectic for a side trip. And then we moved in November, the holidays were a blur, and here we were in April already.

I was hoping that Colleen and her sisters would be at Renningers again this Spring but they had too much going on with the annex and something like 12 kids under 6 between them.

So, after our Find & Go Seek research mission to Adamstown we made the detour through Gilbertsville where Colleen's sister lives. The GPS had some issues but we finally found it. As promised everything was there on the porch.

What a pain it must have been to hold onto my pile of stuff for so long. Many would have sold it, mailed a check and been done with it. We just had a garage sale last weekend - is there anything worse than stuff you don't want in your basement or garage? Not to mention the fact that this weekend they were celebrating at least two family birthdays. I really appreciate all of their effort and thoughtfulness! And the stool looks great in my entryway. My girls love to sit on it!

So, know I need to think of a way to thank Colleen. Any suggestions?

Seek and Ye Shall Find!

The next Find & Go Seek trip is fast approaching! This time the the bus is heading to Adamstown, PA (called by many Antiques Capitol, USA). Since Michele and I want to be sure each trip is chock-full of finds we did some re-con.

We checked out Renningers, Schup's Grove, Adamstown Antiques, Stoudt's Black Angus Antiques Mall and more. It was a long but fruitful day. We've come up with a great shopping schedule for the trip in June and did some of our own finding along the way!

I found a great table at a really great price (a rainy night and low turnout forced the vendor to cut his price by half). It's just what I've been looking for - I was starting to get frustrated and was almost tempted to settle on one I wasn't crazy about. Im so glad I waited!

Sometimes I'm a little bit gun-shy about big purchased like these and I hesitated even after the price cut. Just as I was about to walk away to mull things over another woman walked in. She only had to casually glance at the table when I realized I might blow it by taking my time. Michele said she wasn't going to let me walk and made sure we bought a tarp to keep it dry on the way home. What a good friend!

Here are a few other things I found:

- wire baskets - these are coated in a plastic - I love the colors. I'm using them for our shoes (good-bye hats and gloves)
- old croquet balls
- a "Watt" ceramic bowl in a lovely gray (on the white table in the entryway). Bowls like these are collectable but I'm using mine for keys and cellphone. Hope that's OK!
- awesome ice cream sign (after I bought it at Renningers I saw some for as much as $450)
- very happy, polka-dotted nesting bowls
- the pink stool is a good story - see the next post...

Sandy Aego

That's how my kids pronounce the beautiful Caliornia city we visited over spring break.  Indeed, it is sandy.

 

If you haven't been, you must go.  It's so lush and picturesque.  There are so many wonderful sites and all within several miles.  The picture above was taken near the children's pool in La Jolla.  That is where the sea lions bask in the sun.  We went there just after dragging the kids to the Salk Institute research building designed by Louis Kahn.  Never while in architecture school did we think we'd visit this great piece of American architecture with our two boys.

San Diego has so many great districts.  The historic Gaslamp district is beautiful.  Seaport Village has a great old carousel and cute little shops.  We had a great time at the city ports on the USS Midway learning about the inner workings of this amazing naval ship.  The boys got to sit in the cock pits of several fighter jets and Rob and I got to chat with retired officers who proudly served our country.  Very cool.  Old Town is the oldest city in California.  We had a delicious Mexican dinner right in the heart of the historic town center.  Balboa Park was the site for the 1915 and 1935 World's Fairs.  There are some intricate details on these buildings that were designed to be temporary.  It is a serious endeavor to preserve and maintain these buildings but as a result their beauty can be appreciated by future generations.

Within Balboa Park is the San Diego Zoo.  Its mountainside locale makes for a tiring day but the aerial tram and all the fantastic animals make the hike worthwhile.  A train ride just outside the zoo makes for a nice end to the day. 

The most fun had by the boys was in LEGOLAND.  Yes, a theme park where everything is made with Legos.  The animals...

...made with Legos!

The characters...

...all Legos!

The cities...

HOLY FUCKING SHIT...all Legos!!!

Okay, so maybe Rob and I really enjoyed Legoland more than the kids.

The city itself is very energetic and the people all seem like outdoor althetic types.  With the gorgeous settings, beaches and parks it seemed like everyone was out for a run, walk, ride, surf and swim.  The only chubby people were the tourists!  Who can blame us...every kid's meal came with a heaping helping of fries.  I couldn't find a vegetable on any regular menu.  Thank goodness for all that walking we did cuz I would have gained 10 lbs from all the tourist food.

Although I didn't get to indulge in our hotels finer ammenities, we did get to swim in the heated pools and the beach was a mere ten steps from our room door.  Not too shabby.  Paradise Point is located in Mission Bay and it was a little piece of paradise!

San Diego was totally worth two full days of travel (with layovers in Detroit going, then Minneapolis coming).  Although it wasn't a restful vacation it was truely memorable. 

California Dreaming....

   

Putting a new skill to good use

Joseph did something, I don't remember what at the moment. But it got him sent to his room.

When he finally was allowed out, he handed me this Post-It Note:

Hard to be mad after that.

What was I thinking?

I knew it was going to be hard. But I didn't know I'd be ready to throw in the towel so soon.

Joseph and Hannah are both on Spring break from school all week. And today, just Monday, just mid-day Monday ... I'm already over it.

Sigh.

Doesn't bode well for the rest of the week, huh?

Next year, I'm definitely going on vacation.

Who trusts Homeland Security not the F this up?

Seriously? I can't think of anything much more frightening than the scenario laid out in this Fox news article:  Dangerous Animal Virus on U.S. Mainland?

Homeland Security took over Foot and Mouth Disease research from the Department of Agriculture because bio-hazard risks now fall under their domain due to the potential terrorist threats. So Homeland Security and the White House want to move the research off the secluded island where it has been housed for more than 50 years and put it somewhere like Kansas or Georgia? What?

From the article:

Foot-and-mouth virus can be carried on a worker's breath or clothes, or vehicles leaving a lab, and is so contagious it has been confined to Plum Island, N.Y., for more than a half-century — far from commercial livestock. The existing lab is 100 miles northeast of New York City in the Long Island Sound, accessible only by ferry or helicopter. Researchers there who work with the live virus are not permitted to own animals at home that would be susceptible, and they must wait at least a week before attending outside events where such animals might perform, such as a circus.

Homeland Security and the White House say it will be safe because "containment procedures have improved." Exactly how have they improved if it can be carried on workers' breath? Why do we think we'd be better at containment than the British?

How many brain cells do these people have?

Ugh. Dear Lord, please let the Democrats win in November so we can be sure we get Bush's cronies out of these positions.

Crappy Croup!

Croup. It's a pleasure we've been dealing with in this house since Joseph got his first cold when he was about 6 months old. Every cold he got, whether caused by the actual parainfluenza virus or not, got "croupy." I'd know I was in for a long night of walking Wyoming Ave or driving aimlessly around town (or not so aimlessly to the 24-hour Dunkin Donuts Drive-Thru on Route 10) when he'd sit up in bed shortly after midnight and proceed to bark like a seal. Sometimes it was really bad and he'd sort of whistle with each inhalation, a sign of more sever croup called a stridor.

We've been pretty lucky with Hannah: she has had croup only once or twice in her three years, and never anything too serious. Until this past weekend.

She'd had a little bit of a cold for a couple of days. Saturday afternoon she looked a little flushed and she sounded a little hoarse, but she'd been running around with a bunch of kids all afternoon, so I figured it was just all the activity. But, sure enough, Saturday night (into Sunday) she woke up in the middle of the night sounding mildly croupy. We opened up her windows to let in the cool night air, bundled her up, and she went back to sleep no problem. Phew.

Croup is often worse the second night, but since Hannah is not usually affected I didn't really give it much of a thought. We put the kids to bed (Hannah's windows were still opened wide), we went to bed ourselves, and everything was just fine. Until about 5 a.m.

Adam heard her first and ran into her room. I followed right behind. There was Hannah sitting up in bed, barking, and trying hard to catch her breath. We decided I'd take her out for a walk. I took her out to the porch and ran in to get some blankets, and in just the time it took me to get back to her, she had gotten worse. I decided to put her in the car.

I was hoping that she'd relax in the car and that her cough -- and the scary stridor -- would improve, but I drove in the direction of the hospital anyway. It seemed to be getting worse, and Hannah was NOT enjoying the cool breeze coming in the windows. But she couldn't even talk enough to tell me to roll the windows up.

I called the pediatrician hoping, hoping she would say that if I could get her to fall asleep I didn't need to be concerned, but no such luck. Into the ER we went.

If you've never taken a child with croup to the emergency room, you may not know that the treatment is adrenaline. You may also not be aware that once they give your child adrenaline, you have to hang around for hours because sometimes it works initially but then there's a rebound affect and the croup actually gets worse than it was before.

Hannah improved rapidly after the first dose of adrenaline, but I could tell even without looking at the monitor (she looked like E.T. with the tiny little pulse-ox meter on her finger) that she wasn't back to 100%. Her breathing still seemed a little labored, but the real clue was that she was calm.

So, at 9 o'clock the doctor gave her another does of adrenaline and said he'd be back to check on her around 11.

She was better before that.

Nothing like trying to keep a kid who's jacked up on adrenaline in one of those tiny little ER rooms -- and trying to keep the tiny little ER room intact all at the same time. She was climbing on the bed (in certain positions she thought it made a perfect sliding board), she was climbing on the big red trash can (you know, the one for things soiled with blood!), she was slinging the curtains open-closed-open-closed, turning the lights on-off-on-off ...

At 10:40, one of the nurses came and checked her and said she was sure the doctor would send us home and that she'd page him to come examine her and sign off on the paper work.

Then we waited, and waited, and waited ... The ER had been very quiet when we got there, but at least 8 kids had come in since. The doctor was nowhere to be found.

An hour-and-a-half later -- AN HOUR-AND-A-HALF!!! -- he finally made it back to us and told us we could go home. Hannah was still flying, but I was exhausted and beaten up.

So, when Tuesday morning rolled around ... you'd better bet your ass I sent her to school on Tuesday!

Signs

Signs that I’m turning into my parents:

1) I turn off lights all around the house…even when my kids are sitting in the room.

2) I’m constantly cold and having to put on a sweater/scarf/extra socks…that is, when I’m not sweating like a pig.

3) I tell my kids that they are also cold.

4) I steal Sugar in the Raw packets feeling justified because my coffee cost $3.80 versus the $0.99 coffees I used to get.  (Unlike my parents, I bought the Equal and Splenda.)

5) I quote the costs of things from “the good ol’ days”.  Like gasoline and coffee.

6) I blame my kids for my gray hair (cuz it couldn’t be age!).

7) I say things like:

“I will stop this car RIGHT NOW if you don’t…”

“Well, if your friends wanted to jump off a bridge…”

“Because I JUST said so!”

"What did I say?  What did I JUST say?!"

“There are children who don’t have ANY food! Now eat what’s on your plate!”

8) I have to ask Ethan to read fine print for me.

9) I cut napkins and paper towels in half.

10) I save the rubber bands that the postman uses to bundle my mail, Whole Foods wraps around my berries container and the ones art projects are rolled with.  And I make a nice ball with them.

Let the ridicule begin...

Booing Bush

Could you do it? I just don't know that I could.

I mean, I'd want to. Hell, I'd want to throw rotten tomatoes ...

I remember being in third grade and saying something about "Carter." Mom corrected me, and said, "President Carter." And that's was the first thing I thought about when I saw this video: the inherent respect you are supposed to want to show your President, whether you agree with him or not.

Did you catch his face at about 55 seconds? And the way he just hit the mound, threw the ball, and turned tail out of there?

I can't tell if he's pissed or stunned. He spends so little time in front of unvetted crowds ... is it possible that he just doesn't know how people feel about him?

And did the announcer have somebody in his hear yelling, "Keep talking! Keep talking! Do NOT acknowledge the boos!"

I posted this video because it mashed the 2008 pitch with the pitch in New York after September 11. I'm not one of those people that was particularly impressed with President Bush's response to the attacks -- I mean, isn't that what a president, any president, is supposed to do? -- but I do find it stunning how much he has squandered in seven years.

I guess in the end I'm just bitterly sad that the country is in such a state that half a stadium -- half a country -- full of people feel so angry and hopeless and bereft and betrayed that they actually booed the President of the United States.