"Mmmmmm, Jamaican Red"

I debated posting this, but it made me laugh, so here it is. Today was a rarity, not only was John not out of town, he was working from home, and actually had time to go out to lunch. - Mostly he's so busy he can forget to eat. There was a certain sandwich he was craving. When he worked in Tempe by ASU, (this particular place does really well by college campuses)he was introduced to a little sandwich shop, Cheba Hut. Kinda like Quiznos, all the sandwich's are toasted. But, um, unlike Quiznos, this place has a certain theme which is pretty entertaining to people like me whose sense of humor is a little off. So, I took some pictures which made me laugh. Surprisingly enough with my cellphone, they turned out pretty good.

John got his fix with his Jamaican Red, (hence the title) I tried a Panama Red, which was a really good chicken parmesan, kinda spicy. To finish it all off I got a "special" brownie, which I saved for later when I got the munchies.

Battle of the wills

So my little Christopher can be the sweetest thing. Today is not one of those days. I promised myself that I would only use my blog for good instead of evil, and do my best to not use it as a place to vent my frustrations for the day. You know, messy rooms, bad grades, etc. etc. Should my children read this, I want them to have no doubt in their minds that I love them and think the world of them. That said, I'm taking a pass on that today,at least with my darling, sweet baby because what nearly two year old doesn't try your patience on a daily basis? Today is no exception.

First, a little background. When Zach was 2 he didn't talk. I would literally dream he would say "mommy" and then when I woke up I would cry because I realized it was just a dream and my little boy wouldn't even say that much. This went on til he was about 3 then the words started coming, slowly but surely. I think at 3 he would say like 4 words. Somewhere around 2 1/2 years I started teaching him sign language. He caught on quick, and life was easier. A friend of mine teaches all her babies just because it's actually easier than talking and it cuts down on the crying and temper tantrums because they can actually communicate with you. So now we are working on Christopher. "Please" is a good word to start with, because they can use it all day long. It's a simple motion where you rub your chest. Of course with babies anything in the torso range is generally fine. Christopher's got it down and when he gets really excited about something, like he wants me to open a piece of candy, he'll rub his belly with both hands.

I have mentioned before that Blues Clues is his favorite show, (and thank heavens for the DVR so I don't have to hunt down DVD's, they aren't so popular these days, although we have tapes and dvd's left over from the other kids, but at least I get to watch something new) So last night he wants to watch TV. I ask for his 'please' and he throws a total temper tantrum. This little dance went on for like 2 hours. I'd tell him to say please, even remind him what the hand motion is, and he would shake his head, cry, cover his face with his hands, and/or throw himself to the ground. I'd leave, and come back when he was calm and we'd try again. At one point he was sitting on his bean bag, in front of the TV, with his blankie, and his sippy (more on that) in the dark , in front of the TV just staring at the blank screen. Still no "please". Today it's the same story. You might be thinking that this is good, and TV rots their brains anyway, and yes I pretty much agree. Except he has taken to ripping apart my house. Emptying the pantry, book cases, the game closet. He's also messing with all the electronic equipment trying to see if he can bypass me and just do it himself. Fortunately one of the other kids already broke the power button off the TV ages ago, so you have to use the remote. And I admit to wishing I could just give in and turn on the electronic babysitter so I can go clean up some of the other parts of the house he has already terrorized.

I mentioned the sippy cup a bit ago. That is a battle I think we finally won. (knock on wood) We've been working on making the transition from bottle for ages now, but it's been a nightmare. We've bought several different kinds, and even though they are "spill-proof" he finds a way around that, ripping the lids off the semi-disposable cups, etc. etc. the list goes on. Every kind we offer him, he either finds a way to dump it all out, make a giant mess somehow, or flat out refuses it, then goes like a whole day without drinking anything. So we'd give up for a short while, but he's been making giant messes as well with the bottles. Biting through the nipples, holding it upside down so it can drip all over the front room furniture, the list goes on, and on. Finally, we re-introduced the playtex kind, with the screw on lid, and the separate valve inside the lid, probably one of the more expensive kinds, and there have been no problems for like 48 hours. So yay! At least that's one battle won. (knock on wood- my kids have a habit of making a liar out of me)

A Blessing and a Curse

I'm so sick of Dr.'s appointments I could scream. Lately it's been like twice a week. Kids have been tested for strep, (two negatives), bladder infections, (no again) and ear infections. (bingo! we have a winner!)

Yesterday Madison was supposed to go in for her 8 year well child check-up - they informed me she needed a few boosters, so I made an appointment for her, but at the last minute sent her to school and took Nick to the doctor to get his ears checked out. (ear infection) I had to reschedule her well child, schedule Nick (he needs shots as well) that will be this Thursday. I know Christopher is like 6 months behind as well.

Last Friday afternoon I spent more than an hour in the waiting room at the pediatric urologist so that he could tell me that Zach has a pretty large cyst on the end of his penis that needs to be removed. What I thought was a blister actually isn't. (I made some comment in a post a couple weeks ago) I thought the worst that was going to happen was that they'd drain it or something. No. Next Wednesday they will be cutting it out. It's supposed to be "a simple procedure." I promised to buy him a present. He wants a Build a Bear. I feel so terrible the kid could ask for a PSP or a Nintendo DS (that's the current hand-held system, right?) at this point and I'd give it to him with a smile.

My poor kid. Unfortunately he has the best memory. I'd like to say that I think he's young enough to forget, he's only 5, but for instance just the other day he asked me "Remember last March when we went to Legoland?" And I'd have to think, "was that March? or was it April? I think it was during spring break, so it was probably in March. How does he remember what month it was??? " I'm going to be a wreck come Wednesday. Other than actually having babies, or having my preemies in the hospital, this is the first major thing ever for any of my kids. Well Zach was dehydrated really bad once when he was two and he had the flu, so he had to be admitted then, but this is the first time for our family when the word "anesthesiologist" isn't accompanied by the word "epidural".

So the point of my title? I hate doctor's office waiting rooms. I hate making appointments, pulling my kids out of school, racing to get there on time, finding babysitters when necessary, etc. I hate immunizations in general. I get this knot in my stomach when they mention the possible side effects. It started when we worried Zach was autistic and a friend of mine with an autistic son filled my head with worry that immunizations might have caused it. (She totally believes it in her case, or at least she did 3 years ago.) My Doctor is adamant they are safe, but there is this little voice in the back of my head telling me I am pumping poison into my children.

On the other hand I am grateful for the medical care available to my family. I am grateful that the immunizations do protect my kids from diseases that children have died from only a couple generations ago. I am grateful for insurance. Ours isn't the best, but it is infinitely better than the alternative. I am grateful to have easy access to the medicines my family needs and the "simple procedures" I'd rather not think about. I guess this makes this my Thankful thing #3.

Random New York Ramblings Part 2

Apparently I had more to say than I thought. Can you tell I had fun? It was such a huge place with so much to do and see. Here's me at Rockefeller Center. I really wanted to go ice-skating, but we were totally pressed for time. And I had a massive blister on my foot I was doing my best to ignore. I wore my walking shoes, but I don't think they were up to the task. sigh. Next time. Shopping was fun. We of course went to the big FAO Schwartz store. That's where the big piano from the move Big is. And no I didn't play on it. There was a line comprised totally of little kids and they'd let like 3 or 4 stomp around on it at a time. It was pretty obviously not a grown up thing to do. Then some of the workers would do the whole duet scene from Big, you know the one where Tom Hanks and his boss play chopsticks. It must be harder than the movie makes it look. Glad I didn't attempt it. Not that I can even play chopsticks on a regular piano. I can do a pretty terrible rendition of "Happy Birthday" however. They had a little Harry Potter store inside so we got Nick his very own Gryffindor tie. He thought that was pretty cool.

For Madison we went to American Girl Place to get her present. She loves American girl dolls. (she has three already)What a zoo! That place was crazy. It was like three stories and packed with little girls and their overwhelmed parents. They even had a doll boutique were you could get your doll's hair done. Starting prices were like $20 and the wait was 2 1/2 hours, unless you had a reservation. Are you kidding me? Madison was like (picture hands on hips, full attitude)"You better believe we'll be getting my doll's hair done if I ever get to go." I'm choosing to believe she said "doll's hair" (singular) as opposed to "dolls' hair" (plural).

The Toys R Us is so big, they have a Ferris wheel inside. We just got Zach some Cars building blocks. I'm sure you could get them at any Toys R Us, Target, or Wal-Mart, but we just didn't know what the dickens to get the kid. We didn't think he'd get that thrilled over a t-shirt or anything.

So here's a funny story. In Times Square they have this whole Hershey's store. Everything Hershey. Even bubble bath. Being the chocoholic that I am it was a matter of principle that we went in. I picked up a little white teddy bear dressed as the Statue of Liberty and it had a little bag of Hershey's kisses with it for Christopher. I also picked up a tin of kisses for the kids to share. All the little tags on the kisses said a bunch of different things like "i love you" or "thank you" among others. For myself I also picked out a half pound Hershey bar. It said "Times Square" right under the word "HERSHEY'S". Believe it or not I just planned to keep it. I am a chocoholic, however unless the situation becomes desperate, I have more refined tastes when it comes to chocolate. (I found a really good little chocolate store near the skating rink at Rockefeller Center. I got like 7-8 small pieces, and nearly choked when it came to $16. I neglected to notice that they were charging $75 a pound. John noticed. He didn't pick out anything for himself.) So remember I planned to keep the bar just because? (who knows how long it really would have lasted, I think it would have driven the kids nuts to have chocolate you can't eat-they are my children afterall). I just finished showing the kids the spoils of my trip and handed out their presents when I turned my back just long enough to let Christopher rip the wrapper into like 3 pieces. I snatched it away and carefully taped it back together and put it somewhere where I thought was safe. The next day I was sitting right here checking my e-mail, etc. and Christopher comes waltzing out of my bedroom, totally casual-like.See all the little nibble marks? It's as big as he is. Can't say I blame him though. He is my child after all. I still have the wrapper, but it will probably be in the trash by the end of the week.
At one point we stepped out of the subway and it was like being in another country without realizing you had even left. I still haven't been able to figure out what was going on, but we literally found ourselves right in the middle of a parade. A small parade as parades go, but still. There were the Chinese dragons (three that we saw) guys playing drums, and a procession of flags. The dragons would stop at each of the shops and go inside. Some of the shop owners were hanging produce outside their shops as well. (totally couldn't figure that one out) I thought maybe it was a Chinese New Year celebration, but this was on the 17th, and according to the internet (I checked my facts on this one) Chinese New Year started the 7th and ended the 15th. So who knows? It was still pretty cool. Then you turned the corner and suddenly you are in Italy. Well, Little Italy is not quite like being in Italy but they had really good pizza and cannolis. Another place we liked to eat was this diner down the street from our hotel. The Stardust? I think? All the wait staff are Broadway hopefulls and they take turns perfoming while you eat (and sometimes while they are serving at the same time)
That's our waiter doing a duet just before we left. We made sure to stick around until he sang. Make him really earn his tip. That place always has a line, but we happened to show up at a slow time. (10 minutes before they quit serving breakfast)We somehow managed to stay on Mountain Standard time, so we slept in and just stayed up really late. Here's just some random pictures I found amusing or interesting or whatever.
Even the Police Department in Times Square has flashing Neon Lights. I just found the name of the bank amusing. If only we had more time. That's Macy's. The red sign is advertising this particular one as the "World's Largest Store". I'm sure if I had three weeks I still wouldn't have been able to do everything. I guess I'll just have to go back! (although I doubt if I will be forgiven as easily if I leave the kids home a second time) THE END.

Random New York Ramblings

John and I went to New York on a quick weekender get away "just because." It was close to Valentines day, so that's how we celebrated, but it's not WHY. He won 2 round trip tickets at some convention a little while ago to anywhere in the continental United States (which means Hawaii is out), Canada, (no real desire, I hear it's pretty and nice, but it's not on my top ten at this point and I don't have a passport ) and Mexico (Swimsuits are not my friend and I don't drink plus there's still that whole not having a passport issue). So I picked New York, because that's where I honestly wanted to go the most, but actually believing that idea might get shot down because of how expensive everything else is. We might have free airfare, but that's it. Hotels, entertainment, food, other expenses. So I was pretty surprised and excited when John just said "okay."

Instead of doing individual posts on everything, I'm just going to ramble for a bit and hope I don't leave anything out. First off I'd like to say that I think New Yorkers in general are nice. Every time John and I were standing on a street corner examining a map, and looking generally tourist-y and lost, some local would always come up and ask us if we needed help and we were always grateful for it. Also I think in New York traffic signals, signs, etc, are just general guidelines. Suggestions really. Red and green lights were carefully observed, but speed limits, and crosswalk signs are apparently there for decoration. I think the rule is, if you can, then go for it. I first noticed this after our plane landed and it was like 2 in the morning cause we had a bunch of delays in Dallas, and the cab driver just whipped through town going like 20 over the speed limit,(which around here is criminal- don't ask me how I know that). Also, people cross the street whenever they want as long as there are no cars coming. I thought the honking was funny. I think they actually drive with their thumb covering the horn. I use my horn so rarely, I have to think about where it is, and usually end up hitting my airbag instead. I think car horns there are more like "I'm coming through, get out of the way if you get hit it's your own fault." Not that it's an actual possibility, because John would have to make like 20 times what he makes now to maintain our standard of living, but I found myself thinking that if we lived there, I would not own a car. Too scary. And I'm a pretty lousy parallel parker. Our hotel room was teeny, but our requirements for a hotel were that they were close to the Theater district, clean, reasonably priced (everything is relative) and generally respectable. We are pretty sure our master closet at home was bigger (really not exaggerating on this, but our closet is pretty big as closets go)- the bathroom might have tipped the scales in favor of the hotel room, but without a tape measure we'll never know. Which was okay though. It was nice, clean, and we were only there to sleep. It was cold outside the first couple days. I ended up buying a hat and gloves from a street vendor and also a Coach purse. Well a faux Coach. Foach. Whatever you want to call it. That was pretty funny. There's these guys standing around with big giant storage bins and in the storage bins are large bundles of what I can only assume were other purses wrapped up in bed sheets. I guess the law is they can sell them as long as the cops can't see the actual merchandise. So you'll walk by and they'll be like "want to buy a handbag?" "want a rolex?" "want some sunglasses?" Then they will quickly show you the stuff so they can put it away before a cop comes by.

We didn't actually make it out to the Statue of Liberty, there was a line, and there was just so much to do that day we only had three days to do everything(and it was cold) So we just stood on the dock and took pictures. I think the Statue of Liberty is technically in New Jersey. I did not know that before.

This sculpture was in the park near where you bought your tickets to go see the Statue of Liberty. Pretty incredible. Which brings me to other World Trade center things.

That's one of the big holes as seen through a fence. Believe me it is bigger and more awesome to behold in person. There's a guy (I'm fairly certain he's homeless) but he spends his whole day there trying to educate tourists about the massive destruction of it all and what happened that day. Apparently they are even now tearing down the tenth building that was damaged in the attack. I guess it was too close and too old and damaged beyond repair, so the scaffolding around it is to help tear it down brick by brick rather than build it up. (There's just no way to implode it like it was an old casino in Vegas or something, no place for the mess to go) - I should have taken a picture. There are so many times over the past week that I have said "I should have taken a picture." One of the things that particularly affected me were the Fire Houses. Each and every one of them had plaques out front honoring the firefighters from that particular fire house who died in the World Trade Center. This particular fire house was right across the street. They were probably the first ones there.
This last picture is a picture of a memorial for all the firefighters who lost their lives, not just the ones from that particular Station. I counted. I think it's like 342 or something. (I'm sure I counted correctly, I'm just not sure I remembered correctly). For the rest of my trip it was somewhat eerie to see the fire trucks flying down the street with their sirens blazing and the American flag flying behind. I could easily imagine that day, well minus all the terror and what-not, I won't pretend I understand what it was like, cause I never will. New York firetrucks have a different siren than the ones I've heard before, I think it was the sound more than anything that would give me pause when they would go by. One cool thing though was as we were running out the door to get to Legally Blonde on time, a bunch of firetrucks came flying up the street and stopped at a building just across the street and I saw a fireman climb the ladder on his truck to a window in the building. I'd never seen that before. I hope whoever the fireman was after was okay, but I'd never seen them use the ladder before, except in movies.

The Empire State Building

So don't let Sleepless in Seattle fool you, that's not how it really is. If they told you the true story of what it's like getting to the top -and it's not really the top, the top is another 20 stories up, just getting to the observation deck is completely different than in the movie. For starters, in defense of the movie, you wouldn't want the whole story, cause it's boring, and secondly, the movie was pre- 9/11 so Meg Ryan probably wouldn't have had to go through security either. Reality is a bit more like this , you get in line for security- they check your bags, you go through metal detectors, then you get in a second line all the while people handing you pamphlets and brochures, I think they are actually trying to speed up the process, because you have to make some decisions. Elevator to observation deck- $19.50 EACH, elevator to top floor (small room inside, no outside viewing) and additional $15.00 each. (Crazy to spend that much just to ride in an elevator.) Map of what you are looking at from the observation deck $8.00, headphone rentals so you can get an audio tour from Tony the Cabbie $3.00. We bought tickets to the observation deck and a map.

This is a picture of one of the people telling you about all your options. We had plenty of time to stand around and chat while we waited in line and she was asking me about my camera, so I took her picture. (our total wait time was somewhere in the vicinity of 45 minutes, but there were several lines.) She was really nice. After we bought our tickets to the observation deck, then there were more lines. There was one where you had to get your picture taken and while you are up on top they develop it with a picture of the Empire State building in the background. And then on your way back down you go check out your picture and (they hope) you pay whatever amount it is for that picture. Really cheesy. To tell you the truth, we followed a group of people who bypassed that room, (they weave you in and out of rooms and down hallways) and slipped through the little rope and followed the rest of the people on to the first elevator. We did get busted and yelled at, but they didn't do anything. After all that money spent just getting on the elevator, I wasn't going to buy a seriously cheesy picture. And yes, I know it was dishonest and we cut in front of other people, but the one family who saw this didn't mind, and we let them on the elevator in front of us. (we were all on the same elevator, it's not like anyone had to wait longer) I thought the whole standing in line and getting your picture taken was ridiculous, that's why I brought my own camera, and I guess it keeps you busy waiting for the elevators to deliver the people to the top, which by the way, it doesn't. There are in fact two elevators. The first only goes to the 80th floor, then you have to get out and get on a second elevator. The view however was pretty impressive and worth the time and expense, (although I'm not sorry for trying to slip past the picture people, lots of people were doing it, we were just the ones that got caught)

Me on the observation deck. I'm fairly certain that central park is in the background.John on the observation deck, couldn't tell you what the view is. Not even with my fold out map in front of me.Statue of Liberty as seen from the Empire State Building. (My camera can zoom in pretty decently)This one is looking south. The Twin Towers would have been in about the middle of the buildings, kind of where the gap is,where the skyline dips a bit, and they would have towered above the rest of these buildings. Brooklyn is on the far left, the Brooklyn bridge can barely be seen in the back ground, and the Statue of Liberty is barely visible on the right side. The big smudge in the lower right corner is of course Christopher's fingerprint.

So, two more elevator rides down, a detour through the gift shop and past the picture stand (no need to stop there!) and you are done.

Wiggly Blonde

Just kidding, the title is actually Legally Blonde, but when Madison was little that's what she used to call it. She liked the movie a lot because the girl, Elle, always wore pink. And she had a dog. Which, in a totally unrelated subject, just today Madison was looking at something and it asked her what she would do if she were President of the United States. She'd get a dog. Any-hoo, we pretty much had just three days in New York- Saturday, Sunday and Monday. They don't do shows on Mondays. John thought that maybe since it was a holiday they might, so he looked and looked, and found nothing on the internet (and if he can't find it, it's not there). We resigned ourselves to only seeing two shows and we were walking down the street towards Times Square to go to the big Toys R Us there, and we just happen to pass a line forming outside the theater for "Legally Blonde- the musical". So we went in and checked it out, and they were indeed having a show that night, it started in one hour, they still had the best seats left, oh and by the way, they were practically half price. Sold! We still had time to run to Toys R Us, take Zach's present back to the hotel and John changed out of his sweatshirt (I was dressed a little better, but I still had Nike's on). Of all three shows, it was our least favorite. It wasn't terrible, but we're glad we didn't pay full price. If we had the choice, we would have rather seen Lion King, or Little Mermaid, but beggars can't be choosers. It was still fun. I liked the dogs the best.

Spamalot

This was John's must-do for the trip. He's a huge Monty Python fan. We had pretty good seats for that as well. I admit I enjoyed it too, and I asked him what was his favorite part (cause I have very little to say on the subject) and he thought the whole thing was pretty funny. It's pretty much the "Holy Grail" movie with singing and dancing, and some other stuff that I don't remember in the movie, but then again, it's been awhile. (since jr. high?) My favorite part of the movie which they did put in the show, was the whole "It's just a flesh wound" scene. Not as good as the movie, but pretty impressive in and of itself. And the French were particularly obnoxious. John wants to get himself a pair of coconut halves so he can pretend to be a horse. Before we went to New York we ordered him a t-shirt as well. It says "The Knights who Say Ni" It has a big shield on it and at the bottom of the shield it says "Bring us a shrubbery!" John thinks it's hysterical.

We're thinking that Tim Curry starred in the original production, which we would have liked to see that. I'm thinking the current King Arthur (Tim Curry's role) was cast as a Tim Curry replacement, not necessarily as a King Arthur- he was there to BE Tim Curry as King Arthur. (If that makes any sense?)

However we did get to see Clay Aiken, which we were excited about BEFORE. We're not big American Idol fans in this house, but we're guessing that's the only reason why he was cast. He seriously brought nothing to the show except his name. A couple times for a moment he would sing, and you'd think "wow he has a voice" but those were really short moments. And I am guessing the boy can not dance. When he was on stage, he looked really awkward, and he was generally absent during ALL of the dance numbers. I had visions of the choreographers just telling him to go. Get off the stage. And he's not even cute. Just goofy looking. He grew his hair out for the show, so it's shoulder length. It's pretty awful. I didn't mean this to be an "I hate Clay Aiken" post, cause I really have no feelings about the guy in general (I don't think I even saw any of that season of "Idol") but he really irritated me.

Edit- I've been informed by an irate fan that he didn't grow his hair out, but that it was a wig.Which totally makes sense in retrospect because that would suck having to go out in public like that, but from my vantage point (3 row mezzanine, center)it looked pretty real to me, so I'd like to formally apologize to any fans out there, I'm sure he's a great guy, should he ever do broadway again, I hope he can do a show that will more adequately show off his skills, but even though I said I'm not an "Idol" fan, I don't live under a rock, and I've always thought he was really goofy looking. I won't take that back, or the fact that he generally irritated me.-sorry just my opinion, and I won't apologize for that! (To tell the truth I was glad to see that America could vote for someone for vocal talent and not necessarily a pretty face)

Happy to say I saw it, I enjoyed spending time with my husband, I'm glad he got to do something he wanted to do, since the rest of the trip was pretty much "all about me" - not that I'm that demanding, John's just that way. But I don't really need to see it again. - unless of course Tim Curry reprises his role, and they get rid of Clay, then you could talk me into it.

Wicked

One of the big things I wanted to do in New York is see some shows on Broadway. My first choice was Les Mis, but they ended their run in New York to go back on tour. (I was devastrated) My second choice was Wicked. So not disappointed in those turn of events! I am still a snob at heart and would love to say I saw Les Mis on Broadway, however, now I can say I saw Wicked on Broadway! (It's much more Ozmopolitan)

I passed up the opportunity last year to see it in Phoenix, which I sadly lament that decision, but you see, I read the book first. Hideoteous. Horrendible. I am almost totally usually of the opinion that the book is always better. This was the first time I was disappointed. It's an awful book. Did I mention hideoteous? A friend of mine introduced me to it, but she hadn't read the book yet, just loved the music from the musical. So I jumped online, and bought the hardback copy (something else I am snobbish about) and read the whole thing. Don't judge me- I kept thinking, "it HAS to get better!" It doesn't. The book is terrible. Horrendible. It leaves you going "They made a hit musical out of this!?!?!" Very Confusifying. In the book the only redeeming character is Elphaba (the wicked witch.) She dies. The love of her life, Fiyero, dies. Glinda is a shallow "witch" and undergoes no character reformations. The Wizard is actually an evil dictator, and Dorothy is a whiny brat. There is no happy ending, which is why I think he made a book two, about Elphaba's and Fiyero's son. However, I do not now know, nor do I care to ever know if that book turns out better, the first one is so horrendible. So, I was pretty hesitant about seeing it when I had the opportunity before, but after talking to people I totally changed my mind. The musical is so much better.

My other real regret is not being able to see it when Kristin Chenoweth was in it. (She wasn't in the tour, so even if I had seen it before, that wouldn't have changed.) But she was the original Glinda, she's on the soundtrack. She's also in my new favorite TV series, Pushing Daisies. There's been this big TV writers strike for months, so there is no new episodes of nearly anything on TV these days and I am really looking forward to seeing new episodes of Pushing Daisies in HD on John's new TV. (totally side tracked there!)

Anyways, I loved it! Even John liked it a lot. We had really good seats. Elpahaba totally rocked. She was amazing. I even admit to my eyes watering a bit. I had been listening to the soundtrack for a couple weeks before, just so I could learn some of the songs. Also a few weeks ago I was telling a friend of mine that I was going to go see it, and so she suggested that I buy a t-shirt off the Internet instead of at the theater, cause I could save money. So I did. It's not an official "Wicked" t-shirt, but it made me laugh. It says "Of course I'm in a bad mood, Someone dropped a house on my sister!" My kids didn't get it. So sad. I should at least rent the original movie. Or TiVo it or something. During intermission however, I sent John to get me some milk duds and the nicer program. He surprised me with the "upgraded" version. It's a hardback Grimmerie. Pretty swankified if you ask me. He also surreptitially bought me a necklace and earrings he thought I'd like. (sorry girls, he's taken!) So, um, yeah if I'm wearing a black necklace with green swarovski crystals with what looks like a witch's hat for a pendant, it is a witch's hat. (And yes, I've been known to wear it to church) Even if it's not Halloween. Just FYI. I'm not sure that it ousts les Miserables as my favorite, but I just may be a Wizomaniac yet. It's the Wickedest! (my Grimmerie has an Ozian Glossararium in the back. I'm expanding my vocabulary!)

Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met. It was so awesome. You could spend days in there and still probably not see everything. We had to pick and choose what we wanted to see. They had a whole floor dedicated to the art of fashion. (We skipped that) But they had a whole wing dedicated to Egyptian artifacts which was pretty amazing. I've always been interested in that stuff ever since I was little. There was one point when I actually considered being an archaeologist (my spell check worked!)-admittedly probably around the time I saw my first Indiana Jones movie, but when I looked into the realities of it (long periods of time with no air conditioning, showers, or toilets, plus they don't make very much money and can go YEARS without finding anything, and there are bugs) I was put off slightly. Still I fantasized about being the first person to see this stuff in thousands of years while looking at it on display. The Met has more Egyptian artifacts than anywhere in the world, except the museum in Cairo. That is awesome. It even has a whole temple in there. (the picture of John). I guess the story goes that they were going to build a dam and it would have flooded the area with this particular temple, and since the USA had been donating generously to helping preserve this stuff, they donated the whole temple to us. There was a whole room dedicated to recreating the site. It was pretty neat. I also thought the 200 year old graffiti was funny.

I think that picture says "Leonardo 1820" There was a bunch of that sadly. Just goes to show that the times may change, but people don't. After this we had lunch. In the nicer months you can eat out on a terrace outside overlooking Central Park, but as this was February, they have this cafeteria in the basement. It was cafeteria style, but not your average cafeteria fare. Then we went and saw all the masterpieces. It was pretty surreal seeing this stuff first hand. Monet, Degas, Picasso, Rembrandt, the list is endless. I took some pictures, then ended up buying a book cause I knew any picture I could take wouldn't do it justice. My pictures also have that blurry spot in the corner and the book gives details (names, dates, other interesting facts). I also bought a set of magnets of famous paintings. John has an aunt who has a whole masterpiece painting collection in magnets on her fridge. She seriously has like a hundred. I'd have to clean off all the junk off my fridge to do that, but she's been working on her collection for years, so I figured I have time.

They also have whole rooms totally done up and furnished like they were back in the 1800's in England. (actually older, I am sure. I should check my facts on this, I do have a book downstairs.) I mention this only because on the plane to New York I started reading this new series that is pretty much "Pride and Prejudice" told from Mr Darcy's point of view, So to me I felt like I was Elizabeth Bennet touring Pemberley for the first time they way the commoner folk used to tour the grand estates to see how the other half lived. I loved it. I'm pretty sure John would have skipped that part for something he found more interesting, but there you have it. We also walked through the modern art wing just for fun. We are SO not modern art people. I had to keep a straight face when I walked by this group of people discussing some picture that looked like paint splatter. It was so totally stereotypically modern art and the people discussing it added to the stereotypical-ness of it all. It was all very laughable from my clue-less, modern art-uneducated point of view. So totally worth the $20 suggested donation. (apparently you can tell them to stuff their suggested donation, but you have to at least donate something. )

An explanation is necessary.

Okay that picture is one I tried to take of Christopher in his newly discovered Blues Clues shirt. That is the same shirt Nick wore when he was roughly the same age, well maybe a little older. All four of my kids have been avid Blues Clues fans and all of them have worn and loved that shirt. Sure enough, when Christopher spotted it in his closet, he went bananas and had to wear it. I tried to take a picture for posterity's sake and was rewarded with a fingerprint on my camera lens. Here is where the explanation is necessary. I forgot to wipe it off! In most of the pictures from New York and the previous one from Valentines day, there is a slight blur in one of the corners! I'm so mad at myself I could scream. -one more explanation entirely unrelated to the pictures- spelling makes me crazy, it's one of my "things" (however my grammar generally sucks) it irritates me to no end when I read things meant for the public view that are obviously misspelled I mention this only because as much as I try to double check my own spelling, the little spell-check icon for my blog works less than half of the time. Sometimes I will actually open a word document and type the word just to see if it gets a red underline, but I'm sure I'm going to miss some. Not that I am really putting this out there for public view, but it is really more of a personal thing, but still, I needed to put that out there, that I do care whether or not things are spelled correctly, that most of the time I know how to use a spell checker, but things will most likely slip through the cracks. (why doesn't that stupid spell check button work!?!? why is my computer genius of a husband always out of town when I need him? Why do I generally feel like my IQ drops 50 points the moment I sit in front of a computer?)

Valentine's Day!

Okay, I know this is a week late, but I've been busy. That and I don't know how to upload (or is it download?) pictures from my camera to my computer because I am severely handicapped by my marriage to a computer guru. However for the sake of jounaling or whatever you want to call it, I thought I would just mention a bit about this particular holiday in our house. It's not a big one for us, and wasn't terribly important in my family growing up, nor I suspect in John's, but over the years it has grown ever so slightly year by year to something I think the kids look forward to. This year was celebrated wtih a heart shaped pizza and a giant heart shaped Rice Krispy treat (with sprinkles!) - that dessert was new this year. In year's past we've had pink heart shaped pancakes with some sort of berry syrup and/or berries. One year I bought champagne flutes with pink and red hearts on them and the kids insist on using them every year since. We used to drink Schweppes Raspberry Gingerale until a couple years ago when the stores stopped carrying it. (the jerks. One of these days I might get around to writing a letter. ) We made due with cherry limeade this year. Good, but just not the same. I generally try and get the kids a little present like a book or something. This year all they got was a Hershey's valentine chocolate bar. We decided that they'd be getting enough presents in the next few days anyway. Sometimes I try and make sugar cookies, but I had too much on my plate already this year. John and I left the next day for a little weekender to NYC, and I had to clean, pack, help kids with school projects, etc., etc., etc. more on that trip in posts to come.- instead of trying to summarize a whole week into one post I thought I'd break it up into topics, then I could do it at my leisure without feeling like I was writing a novel.

Thankful thing #2

My Bed. What a difference a good night's sleep makes! When Madison was a teeny baby and kept me up most of the night I started to notice a pattern. I needed 4 hours of sleep just to feel sane. Just sane. Less than that and I was tempted to chuck her out the window. I needed 6 hours to feel functional. Brush my teeth, feed the Nick (then 3) something somewhat nutritious (notice I didn't say COOK- cheerios are nutritious), dress him and myself for the day, etc. But I need a good, solid 7-8 hours of sleep to feel productive. - You know, cook, clean, go to the grocery store, maybe excercise.

Yesterday was a very bad day. Sunday Christopher was sick and took a nap around 2:00 pm. I checked on him around 9:00 to make sure he wasn't dead (seriously) and then decided to let him sleep longer, since I figured when I snuck in there and covered him up he barely stirred, he must need the sleep. So at 12:30 am he woke and was up for the rest of the night. I put on a blues clues video and managed to catch 45 minutes here and there, but I probably got less than 5 hours. Remember I need 6 to be functional? Well Zach stayed home sick, the school called and I had to go get Madison (her tummy hurt) and I had to take the younger boys to the Dr. to check them out. I think they are all fine, Christopher tested negative for strep and seems to be nearly himself again. Zach has an appt. with a urologist- (good thing he's only 5, if were old enough to know better, he'd kill me for writing this, but at this point he'd show anyone who asked) but I had to have him stay home because it was like he lost all bladder control on friday. He must have wet himself half a dozen times a day.- (it might be just laziness) but at any rate, instead of screaming at him any more to use the toilet, I gave him the benefit of the doubt and took him in. I still don't know what the problem is, he went to school today and they haven't called for me to come get him, but he has this jelly-belly sized blister on the end of his penis. (sounds lovely, eh?)He says it doesn't hurt, but we need to get it taken care of. So that was my day yesterday.

Last night I got seven un-interrupted hours of sleep and feel much better. I even cleaned my bathroom and vacuumed my room among all the other random things you do in a day just to keep things running. (Trust me, that's a VERY productive day)

Unfortunately I have to admit I sleep better when John is out of town- I have a hard time going to bed, cause it's weird to get in an empty bed, so I stay up later to make sure I am really tired so I nearly fall asleep before my head hits the pillow and then the paranoia doesn't have time to set in. But when he's here he generally likes to cuddle, so I don't sleep as soundly when he's there. Ah, the things we do in the name of love.

What Superbowl?

Just kidding. We watched it. Sorta anyway. I was asleep on the couch by halftime, and once the munchies were gone, so were the kids. They did however show up at the end to see who won. John was of course away on business. Boston this time. Home to the Patriots? (I'm so not up on my teams). He had to be there by 8:00 am Eastern time tomorrow, which meant a Sunday flight, and also meant he had to miss the game here. Don't worry about him though, he said there was a "pub" downstairs in the hotel that was showing the game.

But you have no idea how ironic it is that he couldn't be here. He just barely got his brand new gi-normous 61" flat screen HDTV last week, he was worried it wouldn't get here by the Superbowl, but it did. This TV has been anticipated for like 6 months. Seriously. As a present to himself for passing his CCIE (Cisco Certified Something-or-Other) he wanted to get a new big screen TV. As opposed to the small-ish tube TV we were currently using. The Cisco test was a really big deal. Years and years of work and training and intense months of studying finally lead up to the culmination of this one certification. He's one of less than a hundred in the world, and one of only a handful who don't actually work for Cisco. He deserved his TV.

There was just one glitch- we had no place to put it. Our former smallish TV occuppied a smallish entertainment center and that was home to a bunch of other stuff- so we needed a new place for all the stuff, and so I said "That's great hunny. You pick the TV, I pick the furniture that goes around it." I know, selfish, but I have my reasons a) I had to pick up the slack around here when he was studying, or out of town- and b) I have to look at that wall each and every day, all day long. That is my work space. I want to enjoy what I see.

So FINALLY he picks a TV and I pick an entertainment center (and it was on sale! and exactly what I wanted) and so we order the furniture, and wait for like 2 months, then order the TV, and we got a totally awesome deal on that as well. But not at your standard electronic store. My brother works for an A/V company and he was able to get us exactly what John wanted for like the best price ever, but we had to wait a few more weeks and go pick it up ourselves, because it was from this warehouse clear the heck up in Scottsdale. So finally Tom (my brother) calls me and tells me it's in and I can go get it, but wouldn't you know it, John is out of town. This place is totally a 9-5, M-F shop and John wasn't going to be home til Saturday. (this is Thursday) So it's just a TV right? It can't be too big for my Yukon XL. So I take out the car seats (except for Christopher, he gets to come) and put down the back seat and start my 35 mile trek to Scottsdale. So I show up, and I might as well have had SAHM (Stay at Home Mom) tattooed on my forehead for the looks they gave me, and then they saw my car. -If I thought the looks before were bad- The TV was way too big "can't you just take it out of the box and lay it down?" "NO." End of story. I leave without the TV. At this point I have no idea what to do, anyone with a truck that could either help me or would be willing to let me borrow it would be needing it for work, (because remember they are only open during standard work week hours?-no weeknights, no Saturdays.)

So long story short- After 2 days, 140 miles, a lot of stress, and frustration, a kind neighbor who will babysit Christopher, and a $100 payment to the good folks of U-Haul, John finally gets his TV. It's big, it's pretty and it's here for the Superbowl! yay! The kids and I tried to get into the spirit, but I already told you how that turned out. I am irritated that I missed a lot of the commercials. (the only reason I even bothered watching)

GNO (Girls Night Out)

Well sorta, anyway. I guess it was more of a day thing. Disney is doing this one week only 3-D movie thing of a Hannah Montana concert so we got to go to that today. I made sure to get tickets in advance this time, I was about 4 hours too late for the actual concert tickets which I guess was last week, Madison was totally disappointed. But understood when we flat out refused to pay scalper prices. She's way into Hannah Montana and all that these days. Which really I can't complain about. Maddie could definitely find worse role models out there.

So I got the tickets a couple weeks ago, pretty much the day I heard about it, and we were at the theater more than an hour early, sitting on the floor in line, eating our popcorn and drinking our cokes. (super fun) Before the movie started I sat contemplating whether or not my walkman could drown out the noise from the concert, but I figured I paid for it I might as well get my money's worth. (confession- I was quite surprised at how much I did enjoy it, not that you would have caught me there without my wannabe-tween in tow) Of course Madison thoroughly enjoyed it and thought it was the best.

However at some point during the movie/concert surrounded by a packed audience of little girls and their moms I began to worry that the day might come when she'll be too cool for the likes of this stuff. Too cool for the clean lyrics of a cute pop star, and definitely too cool to hang out with her mom. This is where it gets tricky- I LOVE that she's my girl. I love that we share the same love of so many things. I love that we share the same birthday. In fact (and I just did the math a couple months ago) she will turn 16 the day I turn 40. I told John to start saving his money. That will be some party. Right now we're talking an 80's party- I threw John a big one when he passed his CCIE (I'll try to explain some other time) and Madison thought it was the best and "when can we do it again?" I tried to explain that it's just not the same when you try to re-do that type of thing, but she's got her heart set on it. UNLESS she truly is my daughter and there comes a time when she wouldn't be caught dead hanging out with her mom at the mall let alone spending her sweet sixteen with a bunch of middle aged women. (but let's be honest-who would?)sigh...

PS the title of my post is a Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana's alter ego- for any of you who live under a rock ) song title- I didn't know that before today, but I thought it was fitting.