dreams and sleepovers

We have friends who are building their dream home. It's on a five acre lot in 'horse country' and they'll also be building a stable to house their three horses. When they bought the property almost three years ago, they were beaming. You couldn't help but feel their joy! I think, for them, it was the idea that they'd be able to take care of their horses right outside their home instead of having to board them and visit them. The back-and-forth can be very draining. Owning five acres of gorgeous country land could have them floating on air, also! Fast forward to today, they're still living in the little two bedroom trailer on that property, trucking in water monthly and waiting for the local government to clear them on issues such as water well placement for their ground water and the pile of additional permits that they need to get their home built. It's very frustrating, and I give them such credit for sticking with it. The up side is, their horses are outside the trailer and they're together on their property. All that said, they really enjoy spending weekends away to get a break from the trailer life.

Last night, their youngest came over for a sleepover and what a hoot! We had a pizza party and watched movies (okay, I mostly hid from them and the noise but I was never more than a room away, hehe!). She skipped up to me at one point and said "it's ssooo nice to use a real bathroom instead of the tiny trailer bathroom!". It was sad and hysterical at the same time! The kids had planned to stay up and 'beat the record' for how late each could stay awake but DH put an end to the great plans at 11:30pm. Thank you, Matt! I was so tired but didn't want to be the mean mommy, hehe! (growing up, I remember my sleepovers and my mother hissing through her clenched teeth "you and your friends need to be quiet or else your father will have to come out here" lol!) He's off to work today so I'm left with the bunch of them, leftover pizza for lunch, more movies, and I'll probably be coerced into creating some fancy girlie hair styles for them. All those years of reading Glamour magazine really pay off once you have girls ;)

little white lies

Hhmmm. Must be that birthday I had last week, but lately I've really been seeking out comfort food so tonight's dinner will be Tuna Noodle Casserole. Where's the lie, you ask? My kids won't even walk in the kitchen if they detect fish has been there (I use that word 'fish' loosely for canned tuna, but you get the idea). They know it as Chicken Noodle Casserole *grin*. But I made the mistake of telling my Dad, and he's dieing to get one of them on the phone to spill the beans. In his mind,Tuna Noodle Casserole is cruel and unusual punishment, and he wants to 'protect' his grandchildren. When he tells them, I'm sunk. One less thing they'll look forward to for dinner, one less thing they'll eat without a hassle. Oh, and the day he does tell them is the day I'm FedEx'ing a dish of it to him, lol!

african violets

A warm memory of my Nana involves her african violets. Nan and Pop lived in a top floor apartment in the Bronx. Small, let me tell you, but she was the best in using every 1/2 inch of space to the fullest. Her front windows had glass shelves where her african violets flourished. Perfect sunlight and the radiant heat below. I would sit and study them while the grown-ups talked their grown-up talk and Nan prepared all the hors d'oeuvres in the teensie kitchen (us kids felt so fancy saying that, hehe!). I started collecting african violets because of her and had some lovely ones. Then I moved to CA. We drove across country, and I was so careful to take care of them (there are lots of bumps in 3,000 miles of road!). When we hit the CA/NV border, the 'dirt patrol' jammed his fingers in the potting soil of every one of my violets to be sure I wasn't transporting NY earth into CA. Violets have extremely sensitive roots and within days I only had one sickly plant left from the bunch I'd brought with me. Not the best of times, but I've rebounded slowly. For the longest time, I'd walk past them at nurseries. Now plenty of years later I'm up to 14 plants, I have a window that they enjoy, I tend to them most every day, and they're blooming like champions. And it's all for my Nana ;).

ps. My favorite place to find beautiful violets is http://https://www.bluebirdgreenhouse.com/ but I'd suggest getting the plants themselves as leaves can be very tricky to start. They package extremely well!

monday, monday

Mondays can get away from me so easily, what with everyone back at school and work. I did laundry yesterday so I'm protesting today and am not doing anything I should be, hehe! Oh, wait... I baked some goodies this morning. And I picked up the makings for dinner. And I prepared the meat for the dog's food (that's a whole other story). So I suppose I'm just not cleaning at all today. Oh, wait... I cleaned everything off of the dining table and gave it a warm sponge bath (where the kids sit, mainly!). Well, now it's time for a snack, and the snack of the day is popcorn. And what goes with popcorn? Movies, yes! Since my blog today is going nowhere, I'm going to list my favorite movies in no particular order because that could take some time.

1. The Wedding Singer. I don't know what it is about this movie but it always makes me laugh and it always makes DH leave the room, lol!

2. Under the Tuscan Sun. I could watch this over and over and never tire of it.

3. Baby Boom. Another faithful favorite.

4. Yours, Mine and Ours. I do love Lucy!

5. Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House. I'll love this movie forever and always come back to it with a warm smile! Listening to the prices involved in building a new home back then - well, it's a time warp!

6. Charlotte Gray. Kate Blanchett was wonderful in this.

7. Ever After. Probably my favorite Cinderella with Drew Barrymore.

8. 50 First Dates. Another Drew Barrymore. She makes me laugh, and it's fun to watch her in a comedic scene (you just know she's cracking up on set!). And isn't Hawaii beautiful?

9. Something's Gotta Give. See, this one should be higher on the list for sure, because Diane Keaton is so great in this! It makes me yearn for LI again and again.

10. Cinderella (the one with Brandy in the lead role). This is with the original Broadway score, which is done so wonderfully. Such a happy musical!

11. 13 Going on 30. Just cute, that's all.

12. The Matchmaker. The Irish countryside is beautiful and it's always a welcome flick.

13. Bridget Jones's Diary. Hilarious! I need to see the second one.

14. Chicago. I used to dance, so that explains this one!

15. What Dreams May Come. A dark movie, but if you ignore the story line and literally watch it for the color, it's amazing.

16. Big Fish. An odd movie, but a great story.

Gotta run now!

snakes... eeyyyywwwwwwww

The snake incident at my kids' school yesterday brought up a snake memory. Luckily, I only have one of those! When I was little we lived in Bedford in Upstate NY. There were rock walls all around the property and we had a pretty rock garden on the slope of a small hill in back of the house that we could see from the kitchen. It was tiered with the rocks that were dug up when the house was built, and every year my Mom would replant with all the annuals she loved. One day, while she was showing me some of the flowers she'd chosen, a litte garter snake poked its head out from between the rocks in one of the tiers to say hello. Yeesh, who'd think a woman could scream that loud?! She called the police (because that's what any non-country person would do, right?) and the officer promptly arrived. Here's the kicker. We were standing right behind him while he aimed and shot that little snakes head off. At the time, I remember thinking 'wow, that was going a little overboard', hehe! Regardless of that early drama, I prefer a snake-free school, home and yard and probably would have done just as my mother did! Yuck.

looking for the end

This week has been very busy, school-wise, and it's time for mom to take a breather. The teacher's birthday is today, party time follows lunch. The class will have a whooped up 40 minutes to sing Happy Birthday, open gifts, eat, run and scream then it's home. I saw them this morning and the excitement level is already at a critical level. My little one is giving this to the teacher. Just a pretty, mirrored box with the teacher's favorite candy (a necessary thing to know about your teacher!) and, of course, the mocha latte to go along with it. She'll need something to wash down those birthday muffins and to get her through to the end of the day, hehe! I fully realize that every mom isn't involved like I am and doesn't do what I do for the classes and teachers. Sometimes I'm jealous of their non-involvement but not at all in a bad way. It must be nice to not have this extra stuff to think about, and I would never fault anyone in any way for traveling the easy route. What I do is part of who I am - it's second nature (and it's a curse!). While I've tried to be less active, I just can't be. When I was young, first grade actually, I remember that was the one year that my Mom was room mom. Things were much simpler back then, but I absolutely remember the feeling of pride and joy when MY mom walked in with cupcakes and party makings. Such a strong feeling that to this day it's a driving force behind me. I see that feeling in my children's faces when I walk in the class ;). Hehe, and for the kids who've known me all these years, their faces also take on that dewey glow because they associate me with cupcakes!

Note to self: I've got to get out more with grown-ups!

busy day on the horizon

Don't you just love getting an early jump on the day? We're finally getting a good soaker of a rain today - the perfect backdrop for all I have to do. We've got a visit with the tax man tomorrow so I've some numbers to organize. That should be first on the list, hehe! Then we've got a small birthday celebration tomorrow for my little one's teacher so I'll be baking upwards of 100 mini muffins. How many mini muffins can each child eat without it being considered piggish? Better safe than sorry! Blueberry, Chocolate Chip and Cinnamon Crumble should do for the selection. Then its on to making my stew for tonight's dinner. While I'll hate to erase the sweet smell of all those muffins, a rainy day is perfect for a large pot of stew with some crusty sourdough. I put that particular meal off till today just so we could enjoy the rain ;). Now to get everything started...

In case you're wondering - no time at all today to get to those magazines, lol!