Playing Catch Up

It's been over a week since I last posted (though in my defense I have been doing stuff on facebook), so sorry to family & friends in England that pop over frequently to see the boys. I've been doing lots of traveling (still more on the horizon) and we've both been swamped at work. And to be honest I've had a bit of writers block and feel like I have nothing interesting to say. Anyway, I'll try my best to update everyone with our comings & goings this past week:

Our 12 year old HUGE telly with a sound system similar to white noise is officially retired! Today we bought a 40-inch Philips LED flat screen TV. We haven't bought anything nice for ourselves for 5 years so no, I do not feel guilty at all. Not one bit. And it's so nice to not have to whisper to Craig "what did he say?" every 5 minutes.

We've been flip-flopping for a month about whether to send Jack to kindergarten this September as he'll be the youngest in class. The alternative is to hold him back in pre-school for another year, like a lot of parents do if they have boys. I have spoken to parents, teachers, the Internet and just about anybody else with a passing interest. As of today we have decided to send him. He's ready and if he struggles we'll help. I'd love to hear from any of you with a similar story to tell.

Our tax rebate came along and instantly got earmarked for all the boring stuff that does not include 4 flights to England. Insulating walls, replacing windows and paying down credit cards is not quite as exciting is it but in the whole scheme of things makes me sleep a bit easier at night.

The boys are doing great. Jack is making me laugh every day and Danny is becoming very vocal and loving. I'm really enjoying this moment in time with them.

One second-to-last thing: We have a friend whose son is trying really hard to get a scholarship for college. He's a great lad and most deserving. If he wins this competition he gets $25 k towards his college fees. It takes about 30 seconds to vote for him so PLEASE do. You could also watch his video if you have a minute but you don't have to. His name is Travis Jackson - click HERE to vote for him. Thanks!

And lastly, you you may wonder how I'm doing with my George Bush book "Decision Points"? Well, he comes across as human, likable, and down-to-earth. Not a leader though, even by his own standards. But good Lord it's a hard book to stomach when he distances himself from the Scooty Libby incident and it's even harder when he talks about his restrictions on stem cell research based on his "every life is sacred" mantra (didn't he have a lot of men killed on death row in Texas when he was governor and didn't he invade two countries?). So I've put it down for a couple of days, and let's be honest, I want to enjoy my new telly. Talking of which, the American version of "Shameless" is now on so I have to say tootle-pip.

Chocs Away!

It's 1.25am and I should be in bed seeing as the kids will have me up in 5 hours time, but I just got back from a trip and I'm wired. So I'm sat having a glass of wine and enjoying having my shoes off before I go to bed.

I flew to Hershey, Pennsylvania yesterday (for work) and got back late tonight. I brought home $35 worth of Hershey chocolate. Well you have to really don't you? It was a great trip but blimey I'm glad to be home. From 7.30pm to 11.50pm tonight I sat on the plane with a man who sold telemedicine equipment and who told me all about it IN GREAT DETAIL. While I was thinking please Lord just kill me now. A fork in the eye would be preferable to this agony.

Then on both flights tonight the turbulence was horrific. Truly scary. When we landed in Columbus the pilot banked around over the airport, the plane dipped, wobbled, shook and then the lights went out. You could feel the collective intake of breath and then nothing. No talking or breathing or anything, just absolute silence till we touched down. Phew.

THEN (can you tell I'm wired?), we were all taking it in turns, as you do, to get up from your seat and let the person in front of you exit first, and there was a woman (not a girl, a grown women) behind me trying to shove me along, squeeze past me and generally being a rude cow. So I finally put an end to her shenanigans by spinning my head around, Exorcist-style and giving her a look. BACK OFF. And she did.

So now I'm home. Been in the kids bedroom and given kisses, caught up on email, FB and now blog. One more quick tipple and I'm off to bed to snuggle up to Craig and enjoy the rest of my weekend. There's no place like home.

My Recent Books

I Just read "Life" by Keith Richards - a biography of sorts but he obviously had help from a writer and from his family and friends offering their memories of the 60's, 70's and 80's. 90's too maybe! Great book though and I have so much respect for him now as a musician. I had no idea that he's written so many Rolling Stones songs and that he's such an awesome guitar player! Like most people, I see a front man like Mick Jagger and think he's the whole thing. The book was entertaining but not as funny as Ozzie's book, probably because it spent a lot of time on music which I suppose it should do. It's also pretty fascinating to read about his relationship with Mick which is very definitely all work and no play. No love lost at all. One of Keith's biggest gripes has always been Mick going off and doing his own gigs but then singing Stones' songs, so when my friend at work told me that Mick performed solo at the Grammys last Sunday I asked "Did he sing a Stones song?" all defensively, like Keith was my mate. It's funny how books make you feel close to a person isn't it.

Now I'm half way through "Memoires of John Lennon", introduced & edited by Yoko Ono and liking it. It's an easy read and I loved John. Favourite songs? She's leaving home (Sgt. Pepper) and Imagine.

Next, and waiting on my coffee table, it's "Decision Points" by GW Bush. Yes, I know I hated the guy in office but I really want to know what the hell he was thinking. I want to read his book and maybe understand why he completely lied and F'd us the way he did. When I picked it up at the library (I had reserved it) I noticed several people giving me the evil eye while I continued to browse books. I wanted to stand on a chair and shout "I hate him too! But I have to know WHY he did what he did!".

I'll give it ONE chapter and if he's too annoying I'll stop. I think I did two chapters of Maggie Thatchers book before I wanted to physically throw up and had to chuck it in the trash. There's only so much you can stomache from some people hey.

My Favourite Pix of the Week

It's been a long week! To finish off in style, I had to take Danny to work with me today, bless him. He did okay cooped up in my office for about an hour before he got stir-crazy. It was comical though because in true Danny-style, he kept me (and my Facebook friends) amused with his antics. From the moment I got him there he: pushed the "call for help" button in the elevator, trashed my office, wrote on my desk, emptied my recycle bin, ran off, bashed me over the head with an umbrella, threw food everywhere, and unplugged my Internet. The last thing was the most awful, because I didn't realize he'd done it and I called our IT guy (sorry Brian) to try and troubleshoot it before I figured out what he'd done. Little monkey. Would I take him to work again? In a heartbeat! How can you possibly not like sharing an office with this character?

Jack has a new superhero outfit! He's obsessed with the new tv series "Samurai Power Rangers" and wants to be Kevin - the blue one. He's also undecided right now whether to be Kevin or a trash man when he grows up.

Looking over their plans & deciding how to make their cushion house in the front room.

Once built, they like to work on it with their tools.

Am I the luckiest person on the planet or what?

Not a Good Way to Drop 5

I had food poisoning yesterday and I'm not sure of the culprit. Smelly cheese or raw veggies possibly. I spend most of the day in bed and went to the loo 13 times (yes, I counted). At one point I did the "lie on the cold tile floor and hope for a quick death" thing too. Although while I was down there it did occur to me what a nice job Craig did with the new travertine tile.

Today I feel much better and am thinking of it as a good start to my diet. What better way to shed 5 pounds in one day! Of course everything I consume for the next week will be stored and held onto. Sometimes it seems like our bodies work against us. It reminds me of a class on transcendental meditation I went to years ago with my friend Wayne. They said we had the ability to think but also to stop thought, to shut our minds down so we have no thoughts. I wanted to raise my hand and say "wouldn't we think "Blimey, I have no thoughts!"? I think they could see me and Wayne weren't taking it too seriously so we left before expulsion.

So back to the diet then. I talked about baby steps a while ago when in fact I did big backward strides. I have hung my lovely jeans in my bedroom to give to me motivation but that's about it. Maybe when it warms up a bit I can venture out for walks ...

Danny's Party with Friends

We had Danny's 2nd birthday party today at a local play-gym, which is an American version of a Wacky Warehouse. Ten kids were invited to play, eat pizza and play arcade games and they loved it. Adults tried to have fun and ignore the shrieking.

It was a tad awkward when Craig and I got there first thing this morning when the place was empty and the only other adult in there was our old pediatrician that we dumped! Arghh! Craig whispered to me "is that Dr. B?" and I looked and just at that moment Jack yells at him in great excitement "Dr. B!" and so we had to have a cringey uncomfortable conversation for a few minutes. Thank God he didn't ask why we left him or I'd have had to say "because the last time I came to you my son lay at your feet crying complaining of tummy ache, you ignored him, told me he was making it up and that afternoon he got admitted to hospital you moron". But thankfully we didn't have that conversation.

Anyway, me and Craig made the cake last night and it took us till 11pm and at least two bottles of wine to do! It's surprising how confident you are with an icing bag with a couple of glasses of Chianti inside you.

Our little group, consisted of friends from old day-care, current pre-school, work, and social life. It did occur to me that none of them knew each other, but they were all linked to us, you know, like the 7 steps to Kevin Bacon ha ha ha.

It really doesn't get any better than this for the big D ...

Bizarre Weather!!

This is quite possibly the most bizarre weather I have ever encountered. Freezing rain tonight that turns immediately to ice, coupled with thunderstorms! I have seen a couple of flashes of lightening which I didn't think was possible?

Snow and arctic 25 mph wind forecast for tomorrow.

No doubt our electric will go off due to the weight on the power cables. We've already heard tree branches crashing to the ground. Got candles & torches at the ready ......