My Summer Vacation - 2021 - Part 2

In case you missed it, check out Part 1. We left off after Wednesday's trip to the American Dream mall. 

Thursday morning we headed to Six Flags Great Adventure. The kids had been googling the roller coasters for weeks! They had additionally questioned our local New Jersey friends extensively for tips about the best rides, which was amusing since they'd be meeting us there in the afternoon. Most of the rides are similar to those at Cedar Point, the amusement park closest to our house. At Six Flags, we all rode Batman (like Cedar Point's Raptor), Nitro (like Cedar Point's Millenium  Force), Bizarro, Runaway Mine Train (I still have the bruise to prove it), Dark Knight, Skull Mountain, and then after our friends arrived, we went though the fun shooter ride, The Justice League. 

Hubby and Maggie continued on to Kingda Ka. Jack wasn't quite ready, but really regretted it later, when the ride just couldn't seem to keep running. Tears were shed later when he never got to ride that one. 

Hubby and Maggie also rode Superman and Zumanjaro, while Jack and I did Batman and the Dark Knight again. Oh, and we also took a cotton candy break. Because, cotton candy. I got a super fun t-shirt that says, "I'm only here for the funnel cakes," but I didn't actually get funnel cakes til the next day. 

Thursday night Jack really wanted to eat at the Ruby Tuesday attached to our hotel, but halfway back we found out they'd be closing at 8:30pm, just a few minutes after we'd get there. So we ended up at Piazza Orsillo, where one of our friends works. While it wasn't on the menu, my friend suggested the most incredible pizza! Instead of marinara sauce, it uses their vodka sauce, with cheese and basil and whatever magic they sprinkled on it. So delicious!

Friday we started out by heading to Point Pleasant. While hubby and Jack had gone there a few years ago while Maggie and I were at a baton competition nearby, it was the first time our whole family enjoyed hanging out at the boardwalk together. Since we could stay for ten minutes, or stay forever, we discussed what everyone wanted out of the day. Jack wanted to ride the train, which he had done on his last visit. Maggie wanted to shop for souvenirs. Andy wanted to get closer to the ocean without paying the almost $40 for us to go to the beach. I wanted to eat a funnel cake.

We started walking toward the end of the boardwalk, but as we got closer we realized it ended at condos, not a canal. So we turned around and got the funnel cake (and deep fried oreos!). YUMMO! While hitting each shop along the way, we went to the train at the other end of the boardwalk. The kids both picked some souvenirs, and then Jack got his train ride (with his sister along, of course).  Hubby did a bit of research on his phone and pointed the car toward Island Beach State Park to get closer to the water. It was a scenic drive and we walked the seashore for a bit before heading back to Jack's long awaited Ruby Tuesday dinner. 

Saturday we parted ways for a bit - I headed to New Hope, PA with my best friend for lunch and some window shopping, and hubby and the kids took a ferry and saw the Statue of Liberty up close, and Ellis Island. We then met up with our friend's family and all took a Seastreak sunset cruise to see the New York skyline and the Statue of Liberty. It was a beautiful night and a great, relaxing cruise. 

Sunday morning just involved getting up the first time I opened my eyes (a little past 6am) and getting in the car for the 10 hour drive home. I listened to The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, read by Tom Hanks, at the recommendation of some book-loving friends at Let's Peanut Butter Taco 'Bout Books on Facebook. It was a very enjoyable book (although I may have dozed a bit - audio books are so hard for me to focus on!). It was the story of Danny and his life surrounding the house he was born in. The book was very memoir style, recounting different memories that reminded him of other memories. It made me really want to see the house, larger than life in his young and adult mind. I'd give it 4 out of 5 stars. ☆☆☆☆

So now we're home sweet home, and ready for the last few frantic weeks until school starts. And then, just when I think I can take a breath, I'll start getting ready for my company's 'return to office' through September and October. Luckily my team is currently scheduled for mid-October. It could go later yet, but it won't happen any earlier. Glad I got a vacation in to enjoy and relax first!

My Summer Vacation - 2021 - Part 1

My family and I just got back from a great week-long vacation. We had plans every day, so I'll break it into a couple posts so there's room for some pictures ;)

Vacation, of course, starts as soon as you leave work! While I originally planned on starting our road trip Saturday morning, I didn't realize when we took the time off work that we already had an afternoon wedding to attend on Sunday. Congratulations to James and Erika 💕

Sunday is also when I made my terrible error in judgment. See, it was a mid-day wedding, with a wonderful lunch. And then we headed to Two James Spirits to visit a bit longer. Even hubby will vouch for me - I really didn't drink that much! But I ate even less. Whoops! Monday morning was a little rough, and the kids gave me a hard time about it for the first half of the trip. The good news? Maggie has said she learned a valuable lesson about drinking to excess. Yay for teachable moments?

Monday morning we did hit the road, only about an hour later than originally planned. It was 10 hours to our destination (beautiful New Jersey!), so we try to make the trip efficiently in one day, then we're ready for vacation, right? Along the way, we listened to Swindle by Gordon Korman. I don't usually listen to audio books, but car trips are the perfect time for me to be a captive audience. This was an amusing book about 12-year-old Griffin, who always has a plan. This first book in the series involved Griffin getting scammed out of a fabulous baseball card he finds on another adventure. It will take a tricky plan and a bit of help to get back what's rightfully his, and help his family in the process. Hubby and I were amused by the story (the dog was really the star!). I'd give it 3 out of 5 stars. ☆☆☆

Here we are enjoying a couple rides.

We got to our hotel after a very long car trip and hadn't had dinner. Yay for the best of friends (okay, they are the real reason we visit New Jersey!) who delivered us some pizza and garlic knots. With food in our bellies, we were ready for a good nights' sleep and more adventures to come!

Tuesday morning we headed to Sesame Place in Pennsylvania (barely). While the kids may be getting a little too old/big for this theme park, we couldn't resist spending a day there for the nostalgia. We've visited a few other times during previous visits. It's a water park and regular amusement park. The day we went was overcast, so we started with the dry rides. We had funny stories about nearly every ride from visits in the past. It was our first chance to ride Oscar's Wacky Taxi though! It opened after our last visit, probably in 2019. It was a fun roller coaster, and we were first in line to ride it that day. 

Wednesday was originally supposed to have rain in the forecast, but that changed about a week before we left. It didn't matter, I'd already made a bit of a schedule and we were sticking to it! Hubby and Maggie brought their ski gear to check out Big Snow in the American Dream Mall. Jack and I never wanted to go skiing, but we knew there was plenty more fun to be had! We'd started out considering the Nickelodeon Theme Park and DreamWorks water park, but they charged way too much for just a two hour visit to either. We wandered the mall (sadly, probably half of the merchant spots are still vacant). I got an adorable Alice in Wonderland mini backpack at Hot Topic, and Jack was so excited to finally get Animal Crossing's Tom Nook at Build a Bear.

We still have good times and fun memories to recount from Thursday, Friday and Saturday before our long drive back home on Sunday - check out Part 2!

Haiku My Heart - Battle of the Books Countdown

Battle of the Books
Close friends since early school years
Staying connected











I'm joining in with Haiku My Heart with recuerda mi corazon.

Battle of the Books. This picture is from last year's fifth grade battle, but now we're getting ready for the middle school battle with a whole new team. I'm tempted to say that I don't feel we're ready, but what is ready, really? My goal as coach was that the team members (all girls this time - the Greek Goddesses of Reading) enjoy themselves. So I tried to let myself off the hook from pressuring everyone to read the books. They all heard the announcement from the principal at least once a week reminding the battle team members to read all seven books. I didn't want their battle memories to be of the coach yelling at them to read. They've had practice battles at school now - they should know where we stand.

I want our battle team members to come out of the battle feeling like they built closer relationships with the other team members. I want them to remember reading as something enjoyable, not a pressure. I want them to hear next year's battle announcement and say, "Yeah! That was fun! I wonder what the other people I teamed up with last year are doing?"

The middle school Battle of the Books is next Friday - wish us luck!

Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month

Yeah - no catchy title for this post. I just saw a great post on The Badass Breastfeeder on Facebook that reminded me October is National Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month.

I started scrolling through the pictures of the women and their stories, and I won't lie - I got too sad to keep scrolling. It's just heartbreaking to see some of their stories. And my emotions can only review so much heartbreak in one sitting.

Statistics say that one in four women will experience a pregnancy or infant loss. I don't know whether to say it's 'good' news, but I'm surprised that statistic isn't higher. It seems like any time it comes up in conversation, I hear so many, "It happened to me," comments that I expected it to be even more than one in four. Because I lost two pregnancies, and that means at least three friends should have no idea what that's like, right?

I'd heard years ago that miscarriages are more prevalant now than years ago. I wondered at the time if they're actually more prevalant, or is it just the fact that pregnancy is detected faster than ever? In my case, I had a loss at around 10 weeks, and another at just a few weeks. If we weren't trying to get pregnant, I wouldn't have been peeing on a stick to test so often the second time. If I hadn't even known I was actually pregnant, I just would have been late, right? So that one was a little sad, but I hadn't really settled into the idea that I was pregnant again yet. It made it easier to move on.

Hey - if you want to keep reading my story, here it is. But it gets kind of gross. You've been warned. 

To backtrack to the first loss, though, it was a bit more of an experience. My Maggie (who is now 11 years old) was two-years-old at the time. I was pregnant again and we were thrilled. I hit the ten-week mark a few days before we were leaving for a Disneyworld trip, so we headed to the same midwife who had delivered Maggie to see if we could hear the heartbeat. She checked several times, and had me moving around to get different angles, but we couldn't find it. But I measured about where I should, and she reassued me that not finding the heartbeat didn't mean anything bad - we scheduled another appointment for after our trip, and headed on our way.

Just before we arrived in Florida (we were riding along in my parents' RV), I started spotting. The first time I just tried to shrug it off, but we stopped for some pantyliners at the next drug store. As it kept up for a few days, I tried to call the midwife, but she was at a delivery out of the country and unavailable. I'm a very practical person, so I just went with the thought that whatever was happening, was happening. I didn't want to ruin my family's vacation at the hospital, and I knew there wasn't much they'd do if I was miscarrying so early. I enjoyed the trip as best I could, while following the pregnant lady rules (no rollercoasters or thrill rides).

Since you already know the theme of this post, let's just fast forward and know that I no longer had a viable pregnancy. I wish it was really that easy. I spent all summer bleeding, sometimes spotting, sometimes too heavy to leave the house. Finally, after an all day trip to Indianapolis, I passed a hunk of yuck. Like, a chicken-breast size mass of tissue. I know, icky. Sorry. I figured the worst was finally done, although the doctor had finally scheduled me for a D&C in a few days. I'd be cleaned out and ready to start fresh.

My body had other plans that night. I woke up around 2am or so, in a bed soaked in blood. I called my doctor's emergency line. He said if I was conscious, I should go to the hospital 10 - 15 minutes away that already had my records ready for the D&C. If I lost consciousness, hubs should take me to the closest hospital. Alrighty then.

I arrived safely at the hospital I wanted to be at. We pulled up to the emergency entrance and I told the guard who came out to meet us that I was having uterine hemmorhage. He brought a wheelchair and got me to a triage room. I will never forget the kind empathy of the nurse who helped me there. She helped me onto the table and out of my pants. Then she chatted with me while she took my vitals (blood pressure was 60/40 by now), and then actually picked clots out of the mess between my legs. Bless her. If I recall correctly, I did bring them a basket of goodies the next week.

I vaguely remember chatting with the doctor when she arrived after reportedly running several nearby red lights (thanks!). I told her I was still breastfeeding my oldest and would prefer not to receive any blood products. She looked at me like I was crazy, but said she'd do her best.

For a very traumatic experience, recounting it actually doesn't really stress me out. The employees at the facility treated me wonderfully and respectfully. All of my wishes were met (well, except for the one about still being pregnant...). Everyone I met there did their utmost to treat me how I wanted to be treated, and I will forever be grateful that I didn't have anything else unpleasant to deal with, besides what my own body was dishing out.

That miscarriage experience is what made my second miscarriage, after just a few weeks of pregnancy later that year, seem like no more than a blip on the radar.

Happy Ending

They say that babies who aren't born become 'angel babies' and wait for the next pregnancy. When Jack was finally born a couple years later, we always said he looked like a grumpy old man. If he had been the angel baby waiting through the last two pregnancies, that meant he was just watching us for almost two years. No wonder he was grumpy.

Twisty Straws

Twisty straws are fun, right? When we have a twisty straw around, I can tell my daughter knows we're in for a good time. And I'm totally good with that. I love fun, and I love seeing my daughter expecting and having a good time.

But underlying the fun, twisty straws make me (and I'm sure it's just me) feel a little guilty. That's my own memories creeping up, and I know it and shove it aside. Maybe it's time to tell the harmless tale...

I remember years ago going to Cedar Point (a rite of passage, for anyone growing up in/around SE Michigan or Ohio) with my parents, probably my brother and my older cousin Linda. The funny part is, this ends up being a two-part story, but it really may have happened over a couple years, since we visited the amusement park at least once every summer when I was growing up.

We went up to one of the beverage vendors with a stand around the park somewhere so we could get a refreshing juice. My cousin ordered hers, and then it was my turn. I ordered the drink I wanted, and then asked for the fancy twisty straw. I remember immediately feeling like I'd done something wrong, when really all I'd done was state what I wanted. It was before I realized the value of things, apparently. I said exactly what I wanted and it never occurred to me that this would take more of my family's hard-earned money, but the drink would taste just the same. Just thinking through it again makes me feel wasteful and greedy. Who was I to demand a fun, twisty straw?

As I said, I don't even know if the second incident was part of the same trip, or I've just piled them together to put several unpleasant memories out of the way in one trip. We had lunch at an actual restaurant (instead of getting something at the outdoor food stands and eating it at the readily available picnic tables. The waitress brought us our beverages (I can actually picture this part and think mine was lemonade) as I noticed the table was wobbly. My ten-year-old (or so) self wanted to know WHY the table was wobbly, and I picked just the wrong moment and angle to investigate. As I leaned over the edge of the table to take a peek, one of my pigtails caught on my drink, and dumped the whole thing to the floor. Somehow, I'm still mortified, 30-some years later....

Why do these trying memories still haunt me? Such random moments, and I'm probably the only one from the day who remembers them. Yet sometimes just the sight of a twisty straw, or adorable pigtails, make me worry about unpleasantness surrounding them.

Huh.

A Memory for a Monday

Imagine a woman who acknowledges the past's influence on the present.
A woman who has walked through her past.
Who has healed into the present.

Imagine a woman who authors her own life.
A woman who exerts, initiates, and moves on her own behalf.
Who refuses to surrender except to her truest self and wisest voice.

This is just part of this poem by Patricia Lynn Reilly which we read in our class yesterday. How very moving. The key, of course, is imagining yourself as this woman. Imagine having that confidence in yourself and your place in the world. Powerful, indeed!

I just had to share that, first of all.


On another note, I remember a particular occasion where I don't think my mom thought I was getting the treatment I deserved when I was a young girl. I was invited to a birthday party, at the last minute. Obviously my school friend had invited someone else who couldn't make it, and I was invited the day of the party. Although I realized all of this, I didn't really care that I wasn't the first pick.

I wasn't a particularly popular girl in school, so it wasn't the first time, or the last, when my selection was probably just an afterthought. While I was book-smart, that very seldom endears kids to each other. I wasn't athletic, either, and isn't gym class when the most exclusionary 'dividing into teams' occurs?

I went to the party, with a card containing cash as a gift (and even that felt cold and impersonal - cash as a gift for another child?). This is where the memory ends for me. I went to the party, happy to be included, even as an afterthought. No one was cruel once I was there, and I was easily welcomed and included in the party's activities.

Not everyone can be the first pick, obviously. I think it bothered my mom knowing that I was a last minute invite, as well as dishing out cash for a gift to a child I must not have been very close with. But I wonder sometimes if she realized that I knew the undercurrents as well and just didn't care. It can be nice just to be included and be there, even if you know your attendance doesn't really change the event either way.

Easter Memories

As all the moms on the mom-boards I frequent start talking about what to do for their kids for Easter, I stopped to think about what I remember most about celebrating Easter when I was younger.

I don't remember going to 'community' events. Some people are taking their kids to giant egg hunts with lots of other munchkins. I remember going to the mall and having our picture taken with the bunny, though. We did that with Maggie yesterday (don't worry, I'll get the picture posted here :) ).

Easter morning, mom and dad had usually hidden eggs (the same one we had colored earlier in the weekend) around inside the house. When we got older and hadn't colored eggs, the hidden eggs were chocolate. Our Easter baskets may have been hidden a couple times too, but I think they were usually just waiting for us on the mantle. In our Easter baskets, we'd usually find candy, maybe a book or something else that fit well in the basket, and usually one other 'gift.'

My most memorable gift in my Easter basket was a pair of underoos. They were Wonder Woman underoos, and I don't remember if I'd asked for them, or if I loved them, but I vividly remember that I got them. And my grandma was there that year too.
I remember my dad's mom being there, and I remember my underoos.

After we were done with our baskets and breakfast, it was time to go to church. An Easter outfit for church was different than other Sundays because I wore a hat. I tried to find a white, straw-ish hat for Maggie this year, but none of them looked quite right. It will still be Easter for her, but without a hat. If I was more ambitious, I could scan in an awesome picture of my brother and I on Easter Sunday. He's three or four in the picture. My seven or eight year old self is on a mission. I'm wearing a yellow dress and white hat, and trying to hold my little brother, in his suit, STILL for a picture in front of the door at the end of the hall. I spent a lot of time trying to hold my brother still. Hahahaha...

What do you remember about Easter?

Woo-hoo! Go, Judy

I forgot to tell my husband last night that his first girlfriend is getting her own series! Yes, I'm talking about Miss/Guided with Judy Greer.

My husband tells the story of Judy's (her last name wasn't Greer then) house (well, actually her parent's house, since she and my husband were ten years old at the time!) being on his paper route. One day he finally worked up the nerve to go up to the front door and ask to talk to Judy. Her mom invited him in and they all had hot chocolate together. Awww....

BFF

I was thinking back the other day to my very first 'best friend.'

I must have been in first or second grade - there were only seven or eight of us in our class (private school...). At one point, her mom told my mom that I was the only one who was nice to her. I'm still not sure how true that was. How mean can constantly supervised kids be? Anyway, my mom told me. I wanted to be nice - who doesn't? So she became my best friend, because our moms were already under the impression that we were. 'Course, she may have already thought it too, to have given her mom that idea.

We stayed friends for a few more years, even after I moved away in the third grade, but I think we were always just slowly drifting apart. Thinking back, I don't know that either of us ever was very good friends to each other. Or maybe that's exactly what 'best friends' in first and second grade are.

Written By Me

Does anyone out there remember Writtenbyme.com? Now it's some hosting site or something, but five years or so ago, it was something great.

It was all writing. There was prose, poetry, news, personal stories, just about any category of writing you can think of. It was a pretty large community, if I remember correctly, and everyone went and 'rated' and left supportive comments (well, mostly) for all the other writers there. It was one of my first internet communities, and I really enjoyed it while it was around. I think this blog was actually started with my spare time shortly after Writtenbyme went away.

No point, really, I was just thinking back and wondering if I was the only one.

You're In

Yesterday made me think of a previous boss I had...a lot. Shortly after high school I worked at the local credit union and whenever we got locked out of the computer system, the branch manager would go do her administrative magic in the office, then stick her head out and shout, "You're in, p-p." Yeah, so it always sounded like, "Urine, pee-pee." Hahahaha...I love me some good potty humour as much as the next mommy, now, but yesterday it was getting less amusing.

Don't get me wrong, Maggie definitely enjoys peeing with her diaper off. We usually have a pile of towels off the changing table into the dirty clothes to prove that. Yesterday she pulled a new trick on me. It was our big Mommy-Maggie bath day. I was in the nice warm tub, and Daddy handed Maggie to me. She stood in the water for a minute, with the top of the water just below where her legs meet (since you already see where this is going, moms, you can now skip to the next paragraph). As Daddy walked out of the bathroom, he laughed a little as he heard the faucet start dribbling. "Maggie, don't pee-pee in here! This is our get-clean bath!" I told her. Daddy suggested draining and starting over, but then I wouldn't have had enough hot water for my shower in a very short time. Besides, urine is sterile, right?

After some lotion, she smelled just fine for her six-month pictures (and you can't really smell pictures anyway, right?), and Mommy was fresh enough from her lukewarm shower. After we went to bed, the hydrotechnics (is that a word?) started again. As I was nursing her at 1:45am, I realized her bottom felt wet. I was worried about a blow-out, of course. I hurried to go get her a fresh diaper. On the changing table what I found was that one of the tabs of her diaper had come completely undone. So she essentially peed in her terry pjs. Which don't hold a lot of liquid away from the sheets and Mommy's pjs. Ew. I changed pj pants, and the bed will get fresh sheets today (luckily they weren't wet, but I know there had to be some on them).

What a wet day! Now we're getting ready for church, even though I feel like I was 'baptized' yesterday! Hahaha

Paybacks...

My mom used to call us on weekend mornings to see what our plans were. Fine. We frequently planned dinner together later in the weekend, and it was good. The only problem was that she usually called well before we planned on being up and about. Today? I called a little bit ago, and my dad said they were just thinking about being up. We've been up for a half hour already here! (Thanks, Maggie ;) ).
So this afternoon we're going to head out to their house. Hubby and dad will probably play with electronics or HDMI stuff or whatever (since it's a bit chilly to work outside on cars), and mom and the baby and I will hang out and visit and play in the house. It's definitely good :)

Looking Back...Goodbye :(

My life changed completely and dramatically exactly 16 years ago. I'm a believer that no one grows up until something forces them to. Some people grow up when they get married, or have their first child, or maybe a lucky few are changed and grow up when they graduate from high school or college. I was forced to grow up when my best friend from high school died. She hung herself in her college dorm room.

It was a shock, of course. I can still remember how I heard. I had been working at my job as a cashier on a Sunday afternoon, and when I got home, my parents were there, along with my younger brother and my boyfriend at the time. I was kind of surprised, as my parents had been camping that weekend and didn't usually come back until Monday afternoon. The first thing my mom said was, "Colleen's mom called." I was annoyed, I'm embarrassed to admit now. Her mom had called a few times, asking if I had a textbook for Colleen to borrow, or something now silly like that. Before I could get too annoyed, my mom told me, Colleen had died. I collapsed. I literally fell to the ground. I thought that stuff only happened in movies, but my legs were no longer under me.

It turns out, Colleen's mom had called and talked to my 14 year old brother, who was then panicking. He did not want to be the only one available to tell me this horrible news. In a rare twist, my parents happened to call the house to see how the weekend was going. He, of course, asked them to come home IMMEDIATELY, and they did.

I went through the typical 'stages' of grief. At first, I was convinced someone else had killed her and it was all a cover-up. There was plenty of time to think about it, and only my own imagination to commiserate with. At her funeral, there was the group of people she hung out with in high school, and a whole bus load of people from her college about three hours away. She and I had gone to the mall together, or double dates, or just hung out, but I wasn't part of any of the 'groups' who missed her like I did. I was more alone than ever.

I still miss her. Whenever something substantial happens in my life, I know it will never happen to her. I wonder who she would have married. As I watch Maggie grow, I wonder what Colleen's children would have looked like. I'm sad that she's gone, and I'm sad that every event since has been different without her here.

Doh!

I hope Maggie's smarter than I was when I was dating. This morning I was thinking back to one guy in particular that I dated for a couple years, I think, with a nice 'break' in the middle.

We first went out when I was in high school, and it was completely uneventful. We went out for a summer or so, then split up. No problems. (Well, my mom would have thought there was a problem, since he was out of school and she didn't know it..but whatever. :D ) Some evenings, we'd double date with a friend of his and my best friend. She was never crazy about the idea (his friend was kind of a doofus), but we had fun together.

I called him again when my best friend died. I was just looking to talk to anyone who had known her, more or less. He and I started going out again. This time wasn't so simple. He 'forgot' when we started going out that he already had a girlfriend. Asshole. I finally found out and called the whole thing off, which was when he really turned on the charm. He was waiting for me after work with roses a couple times a week, and swearing she was gone and he'd never stray again. Unfortunately his whole family still thought I was a hussy. Dummy-heads.

The problems accelerated in a hurry when he was in a construction accident. He had someone call me to come to the hospital, and his mom called the other chick. Can you say awkward?? Waiting for him to come out of the hospital after surgery were his mom and sisters, me, his 'other' girlfriend and her sisters. I finally called my parents and they came out to. What a party, eh? And can I leave him when he's sick/injured? I should have, but that's hindsight now.

It all came to a head after he was out of the hospital, when she turned up on my doorstep and was threatening me. I was sick of it and called the cops. After looking into things, the cops called me back to say they'd found her at his house, hanging out. Whatever. It was finally over for good.

I wish there was something I could do to keep Maggie from making the same mistakes and being dumb over men. All I can do is encourage her own self confidence so she can hopefully know and believe that she deserves the very best!!

Peppermint Patties?

I remember driving by the Ford building. They had the motor vehicle logo, which is a blue oval, at the top of the building. My little brother couldn't yet read, so he couldn't decipher the squiggles in the middle which were the letters spelling 'Ford.' He did recognize the shape (kind of) and the color though. See, my mom LOVED eating York Peppermint Patties at the time, so he'd seen that bag and those wrappers around a time or two. He always called the Ford building the Peppermint Patty building, so of course that became a family tradition for the rest of us too! hahaha

No TV? No Problem!

I didn't even turn on our TV today. I'm sort of proud of that. I read half of a book for entertainment instead. The book I'm reading is just a romantic fluff, but I've always seen reading as somewhat valuable no matter what the actual text is. I hope Maggie gets my love of reading.

Did your local library have a reading club over the summer? Ours did. I remember coloring in part of a shape, or getting a stamp or sticker for each book read. If you filled in your shape completely, or got all of your stamps or stickers or whatever, you got to take it to the big party to celebrate at the end of the summer. Am I a complete geek to wish they had this for grown-ups too??

Oohh!! Shiny!

Don't ask me why it never occurred to my inquisitive mind before, but seriously, why did I never wonder about the shiny polished rocks in the tourist shops when I was younger? I always wanted said shiny rocks, but I never got it in my crafty head to make my own with rock tumblers! I had no idea how they got so pretty, but now I have the knowledge to make huge quantities! My little Maggie will never want for shiny rocks - we can make our own!

Surprise!

You didn't think I'd be able to make a WHOLE DAY wordless, did you?

I've been poking around this morning still thinking about my man's offer to send me on vacation. I don't know that there's really anywhere I want to go without him and Mags, especially not for a whole week! Last February (pre-Maggie), he and I went to Disneyworld. I would love for the three of us to do a Florida rental vacation, but probably not til she's a little older and better able to enjoy it.

Did you ever go to Disney as a kid? I remember our trip when I was in elementary school vividly. We were already to go, but then either my brother or I got the chicken pox, so we had to postpone it (since one of us was about to infect the other...). I was in the fifth grade and we drove down there and stayed in a camper (not sure if it was ours or a rental). I still remembered some of the attractions when my man and I went back this year. Disney rocks!

Insurance

Did you get your children insurance - like life insurance, I mean? I don't remember my parents having life insurance for us, but I sure remember when they got rid of it! I was probably in my early teens, and my brother is about three years younger. The time came when more and more people were getting computers, but we were never early on trends like that. When the time came for us to get a computer, our parents cashed in our life insurance. I wasn't really sure how to feel about that at the time - did it mean a computer was more important than my LIFE? But once we learned a few games on the computer, and my brother started finding his way around BBSs (is that even the right acronym?), everything was okay. And since we're both still kicking, I guess it turned out to be okay, not having life insurance. Hahaha