past 4 days

Late night gab fest, catching up on life via wine, greasy pizza, a few smokes (gasp!) and much needed uninterrupted adult conversation (um, gossip) on the deck at Rem's house.
Its good for the soul.
The yard looks fabulous, I will add!


Despite the prediction of a yucky weekend, we lucked out and the weather was amazing for a couple of days spent at the beach with Uncle Al and Georgia in Narragansett, RI.

• sunshine and swimming
• out to lunch at Charlie O's
• the girls hanging out with Uncle Al and Georgia
• clam cakes and chowder (red & white) at Iggy's .......omg, yummy!
• leisurely drive in town, past the wall, up Ocean Road and through Point Judith
• a lazy afternoon walk to get ice cream and Popsicles
• chillin' on the deck (after the kids fell asleep) with some mojitos (the boys had beer) and lots of laughs........ until the rain rolled in around midnight
• slow and relaxed morning with the ocean breeze passing through

I wish we could stay the entire summer in Narragansett, but a few days will work for now.

Got home and the kids spent time in the pool swimming, as I watered the grass and tended to my gardens.

Now its time to catch up at home with laundry and cleaning after a weekend playing!

tmi...

There are very few situations that can bring our whole house to a standstill during the ever-chaotic, "post-dinner/pre-bed" time of the day.

Apparently (and unfortunately), when a 2 year old decides that it is OK to poop in the bathtub, in which she is sharing with her extremely anal retentive 4 year old sister.......it qualifies as one of the scenarios that stops mommy and daddy dead in our tracks.

no more teachers, no more books.....

Here we are, it is DJ's last day of 7th grade....he did really well this year and is excited about summer vacation.

I am not so excited with the impending changes in my schedule......past experiences have proven that it takes a few weeks to iron out the wrinkles of a new routine.
In this family, we all have a bit of ocd-like tendencies, so everyone seems off when there are adjustments to be made......its fun (said sarcastically).

There will be mass chaos in the home for a while, but its summer and we have lots of fantastic things planned so at least we will be busy.
Of course, that is contingent with a half sane mother in the mix.

Wish me luck!

a message to Chris.....

World of Warcraft is stupid!

a chance meeting

Browsing the aisles of the local grocery store (sans the small ones) this past Saturday evening, a very nice, older looking woman approached me to compliment the tattoo that I have on my arm. I graciously accepted her compliment, thanked her and started to move on with my shopping as she continued to talk to me. She was explaining to me that butterflies have great significance to her and she saw that my tattoo has 5 butterflies, this is when I stopped to listen to her, in the middle of the juice aisle.

She was telling me that when she prays for something important, she asks God for butterflies.

I learned that her husband is on a donor recipient list for a liver and that when they were leaving the hospital recently, she asked God for a sign that he would receive a liver and be well.....when they stopped at a stop sign, a monarch butterfly flew past her windshield.
Positively, she assured me that her husband was going to be fine, she just knew it.

I smiled at her, as her she walked forward and I realized that I wanted to know a little more....I am not one to initiate conversations with strangers, but I was drawn to this woman and her spirit.
So, I made my way to where she was and I asked her if her husband did get the liver, she told me not yet, but he will, God showed her.

She went on to tell me that she prayed about her husband when she was dating him, asking for guidance in knowing whether he was the one for her to share her life with. Butterflies were brought to her and she knew that "Al" was her soul mate. She was beaming as she was telling me this.

This is when I kind of had the wind knocked from me.....
because my Dad's name is Al and I was inspired to get the angel in the tattoo that she was so focused on, in remembrance of my Dad....who I feel is always with me.

I know that we were meant to cross paths and gift each other with something very significant to our life and faith.
Things like this happen to me periodically (I'll have to write a post on some of the weird things that I have experienced) and I always find so much comfort knowing that I have an angel with me.

I hope that the woman got as much out of the chance meeting as I did.....somehow, I feel that she did!

nice tan

exactly why I will not tan as a hobby again.....




Sunscreen people, please!

burned

I love the look of a sun kissed, golden tan....its an easy way to feel 10 pounds thinner, legs seem leaner with a bronze tone going on and everyone looks cute with a little color.

I have to admit (sheepishly) that there was a time when I was that girl who tanned as a hobby and I was good at it.

In the beginning stages of the tan process, I would take it slow, to avoid a sunburn and allow the tan to build into a deep shade of brown....once brown, the SPF 4 was replaced with baby oil to keep things cooking. Effective, yet so barbaric.

For me, there was no discrimination between the sun and tanning beds, I was an equal opportunity girl trying to achieve a deep tan by all means available.
I am completely aware of the dangers of unprotected exposure to the sun and tanning apparatuses, so I do things much differently now......I will not allow myself to look like Magda (There's something about Mary).
I am happy to report that I no longer worship the sun by laying out, drenched in baby oil during the prime hours of 10 am to 2 pm.....no, those days are long past.
I realize how stupid I was, thankfully I have had no adverse effects manifest as a result of my ignorance......I am very lucky.

These days I use lotion with SPF 30 on my face at all times, regardless of if I am inside or out.....I use SPF 50 when I am planning to be in the sun. I use lotion with SPF 15 all over as a body moisturizer, use a self tanner for color on my body and bronzer powder on my face. Basically, I want to be tan without actually being tanned.

Fortunately, I have been able to elude the Oompa-Loompa look, the gripe that I have with self tanners is the smell, its a recognizable and pungent odor that lingers. If I can smell it on myself......I know I reek!

I have tried a lot of sunless tanning products and in my search of a stench-less self tanner, all have some sort of scent. Finally, I found Famous Dave's Moisture Tan......my fave!

It doesn't have any scent at all, it goes on easily, absorbs and dries quickly, it leaves my skin so soft and the tan is so natural. It does what it claims and if you don't agree, the company will refund your money.

So, bring on the cute sundresses and shorts, be tan with healthy, happy skin and without smelling like the inside of a sunless tanner bottle!

terrible 2's

Not only is the littlest one.....

• protesting sleep and naps with a vengeance


• perfecting the art of throwing the perfect tantrum, with lots of practice throughout the day


• a picky eater


• a doctor hater (no offense, Dr.Latif)


• a permanent attachment to mommy


• a fearless daredevil


• frustratingly independent


• capable of breaking me down (after a long week and little sleep)


• a nudist


• opposing both diapers and using the potty.....


• a monster

she is also....

• the cutest monster ever


• smart


• a love bug


• funny


• independent


• mama's girl


• so very cuddly


• her sister's best friend


• curious about everything


• daddy's girl


• my last baby, so I will enjoy all of this madness because it really does go by so fast!

Chris left a fun post about the Celtics here.

cuteness

I just ordered one for each of the females in my house.....the boys are on their own with the grey ones!

They did it!!

The Celtics are the champs!!





They DESTROYED the Lakers.......

Happy Father's Day Chris!!

I can't begin to thank you enough for everything that you do for us.....you are the best!

wtf.....

Whats up with the stupid, random, stray hair, that feels like a splinter, jutting from the lower region of my chin?

Let's go C's!!!!

Who doesn't love the Celtics?!!

Down by 24 to catch up and beat the Lakers 97-91.


One win away from taking it........go Celtics!

Its a plan Stan.

Here we are making our way through June and like many other people, I have much of the calendar marked up with things arranged for our summer months.
Because Chris started a new job about a month ago, our vacation time is set aside for weekends and a couple of scattered weekdays preceding the weekends.
Having to contend with birthday parties, cookouts and me working at the salon on Saturdays, it is necessary to really plan out the time away from the house, if we want to make it happen.

So far we are booked out on weekends for the next 9 weeks, leaving some flexibility in August to play around with. It is fun to see and anticipate the mini-vacations and day trips that we have going on.

What are we doing, you ask?

Let me fill you in.....

Canobie Lake Park

Dillan's 1st birthday party

Bella's 1st birthday party

Narragansett RI for 3 days (with Al, Georgia & parents)

4th of July weekend festivities

Lake Compounce in Conn for 4 days

DJ has a week long cable television workshop/camp (will create a 30 min commercial to be aired)

Hopkinton State Park

Mystic, Conn

DJ's 14th birthday (non-party per request) celebration

Water Country

Dinner to celebrate Chris' 1 year anniversary of being a non-smoker (August 6)

Camping with family....(have to sell Chris on this one, so maybe not)

Cheers to a fun summer!

No soup for you!

So, Melissa had a post about making a creamy asparagus soup with freshly baked rolls (all from scratch) and I was intrigued by it....enough to contemplate trying it out for myself.


Melissa's soup....



OK, so I fell a bit short on time and improvised with the ingredients to come up with a pretty yummy side dish to go along with our dinner of turkey meatloaf and fresh rolls (not from scratch....from Pillsbury).

My version, roasted asparagus and red bliss potatoes:

• 1 pound small red potatoes cut into small chunks
• 1 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• half tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 half red onion chopped
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
  

• Preheat oven to 450°F.

• Place large skillet over med heat
• Drizzle olive oil onto hot skillet and add potatoes and onions
• After a few minutes, add in the asparagus
• Cook until potatoes start to brown up
• Spread vegetables in baking pan and roast in preheated oven
• 15 minutes or until crisp-tender and golden
• When done, drizzle vegetables with vinegar and toss lightly
• Sprinkle vegetables with salt and pepper
• EAT!

I made this last week when it wasn't so wonderfully hot out....there is no way I would be cooking in this heat!

Game 2

Celtics take another win!

the hotness

I loved me some hot, sticky, August feelin' weather this weekend!

Spent lots of time in the pool keeping cool, poking around in my gardens, cutting the grass, playing on the swings with the kids, washing the cars, cooking on the grill, drinking Dell's frozen lemonade, just taking things slow.....totally enjoying a relaxed 2 days at home.

So dreamy.

It was pretty hot and we did have to turn the air conditioners on to keep the house cool, but we were outside so much gobbling up the summer-like weather that we didn't really want to be inside. We all seem to like to be out in the thick of it!
It makes you slow down and just be, just hang out and keep it easy.
I love feeling that sun-soaked, tired feeling at the end of the day, then jumping into a nice cool shower to recharge.......the perfect way to end a perfect day!

Looking forward to a good, long sleep tonight....after the C's win.....they are on fire tonight!!

time for some pics...

Celtics

Chris is a happy guy!

Celtics win!

one day at a time...

One of my biggest struggles (we have many) with having a teenager on the spectrum, is keeping him on track with his daily tasks. He has a way of slipping into his thoughts (obsessions) and straying off of the path....which means that I am constantly repeating and reminding him of the sequence of events that make up our predictable routine.
Of course, he gets frustrated with me, and insists that he knows what to do.....so I will back off until he is distracted with the girls, the dog or himself and I have to ultimately step in and redirect him. I realize that it is not his fault, but because he is so rigid, it can be incessantly difficult for all of us.

There are 11 days left of school and the steps have been the same all year, yet I still have to oversee everything..... even though he knows what needs to be done before getting to the bus. We can do charts and lists, but it is inevitable that I still have to keep pushing him along, he simply cannot merge his thoughts and actions without getting sidetracked, its all part of the disorder.
I am hopeful that a summer planned with fun activities will be favorable to all of us and I can work on life skills with DJ allowing him to have input and practice for 8th grade.

Sometimes, as we get older, these things start to click and just make more sense......I am hoping anyway.

just a little PSA to pass along.....

This is the best razor ever!
Now that its warm enough for my legs to be out of jeans, I have to shave regularly, this razor is a time-restrained-woman's best bet for quickly getting in and out of the shower with clean, shaved legs.
Simply wet and shave.....no need for grabbing the soap and fully lathering up, just shave....and in my experiences it is nick proof!
Try it for yourself.

Schick® Intuition®
There are two simple steps to smoother skin, and Schick® Intuition®

helps you accomplish both.

Quite simply, the combination of exfoliating skin - removing dry, dead skin layers, then moisturizing and adding important nutrients is the best way to achieve smooth, healthy-looking skin.
The triple blades of the Schick® Intuition® and Schick® Intuition® Plus® razors exfoliate as they shave, preparing legs to maximize the impact of moisturizers.
The moisturizing ingredients found in Schick® Intuition® Plus® formulas are a simple way to help you apply moisturizers immediately after the exfoliation process.

Hello Summer,

I am anticipating your arrival, a few more weeks and you will be here.

I will be sad to see spring go, as she has had a lovely stay and I have spent so much time with her, planting, growing, playing and enjoying a delightful season outdoors relishing her presence.

She will be leaving behind blooming flowers, lush grass and charming gardens that we have worked on together with great diligence and pleasure, she will be missed.

But I am so looking forward to my favorite season, summer, to make her appearance.

We will wake early to spend our days outside, take day long adventures to our favorite summer spots, go swimming, cook and eat meals together outdoors, relish lazy afternoons in the sun, appreciate warm rain showers and be in awe of abrupt, hurried afternoon thunderstorms that follow with enchanting rainbows.

The days are longer and relaxed with the background sounds of kids playing, birds singing, lawn mowers running and dogs barking from every direction.

The smell of freshly cut grass, fragrant flowers in full bloom, food cooking on the grill, coconut scented sunscreen and citronella bug spray fill the air.

Summer, you are magical.....

how I wish you could stay longer.