Am I There, Yet?

 

A few years ago I took a quiz called Find Your Spot.  It’s a quiz that helps you determine where you should live based on your preferences on everything from climate to religion to leisure.  It’s a fun quiz, so I decided to take it again. 

I also forced my husband to take it because I wanted to see if we had any commonalities.  It turns out we did have a few places in common.  We both enjoy being in a larger city as opposed to a rural community.  We both have warm weather preferences.  In fact, four out of our top 12 were the same.

My top city?  Norfolk, VA.  I’m not too sure about this one.  I spent a little time in Virginia and wasn’t a big fan. 

Josh’s top city?  Charleston, SC.  I’ve never been to Charleston, but it’s near the ocean.  That’s a good thing…except during hurricane season…right?

Our common cities?  Tucson, AZ; Augusta, GA; Chesapeake-Virginia Beach, VA; and Houston, TX. 

We were both surprised that we both had so many southern states on our list.  In fact, the only city on my list that wasn’t in the south was New York City.  The only city on Josh’s list that wasn’t in the south was Cincinnati.  In fact, (I hate to admit this) I’ve always thought I wouldn’t enjoy living in the south.  I’ve never really been there, except for our trip to the outer banks in NC last year.  I was thrown off a little at first.  We had to stop at several grocery stores on our way to our destination to try to find some items that weren’t being sold on the island we were staying on.  I would walk into the produce section and the men working there would catch my eye, smile and greet me.  It made me uncomfortable at first, and then I realized it was that so-called southern charm.  I’m in New Jersey…I’m not used to deliberately friendly people.  Josh was thrown off by all the women calling him “honey” and “sugar” and other sweet names.  That’s my only southern experience. 

Can you see me picking up a Paula Deen accent, y’all?

So…question for you…where should you live?  Find Your Spot.

 

Today school was cancelled for Lilly.  We had snow today.  This is the first day this season that we had snow all day.  We had a little bit of snow earlier in the season, but it was in the evening and only lasted for a couple of hours.  What’s weird about the snow today is that Monday was a gorgeous day (in the 60s) and I told the kids to leave their coats in the car when we went out.  Today we get three or four inches and there’s no school.  I’m not used to that…this is a bit of a culture shock.  Having moved from the mountains, I’m used to driving in snow and taking my daughter to school on wintry days.  I expected some school delays (the roads weren’t cleared off and it was a bit icy out this morning), but I was not expecting a cancellation.  Lilly was thrilled to have another day off school.      

Titus’ school still ran on normal schedule.  I’ve heard rumors that it’s illegal to drive in New Jersey with snow on your car.  I can’t confirm that, but didn’t want to find out.  So, I swept all the snow off.  I had about three inches of snow on my car…nothing I couldn’t handle.  I took Titus to school this afternoon.  There were only 7 other kids in school.  Only the SUV moms (and me) ventured out this afternoon.  (FYI to my Oregon friends…very few people drive SUVs out here…this is why there were only 7 kids in the entire school.)  Titus had a great time at school.  Nobody from his class showed up, so they combined classes and he made some new friends.  He was the oldest kid there so he got to be the helper.  He was thrilled.

Today was a good day…but, I’m still ready for warmer weather.  Hopefully this white stuff won’t stick around for too long.

 

My husband went on a date with another woman last night.  She was beautiful, too.  Normally, I would be upset about that…but this other woman is our daughter.

Lilly seems to think that Valentine’s Day is all about the Daddy/Daughter relationship.  It started when we lived in Oregon and our church would host a Daddy/Daughter Dessert around V-Day.  This was a highly anticipated event for her.  We would go out and get her a new dress.  She’d dress up, put on her favorite jewelry, paint her nails and get her hair done.  It was a big deal.

Last week Josh was in Phoenix for a conference.  Both kids were upset about this because he was gone over Valentine’s Day.  Lilly said, “I just don’t understand why they would plan a conference over Valentine’s Day.  Don’t they know that you’re supposed to spend time with the people you love on Valentine’s Day?”  I couldn’t argue with that.

So, last night was the night for Josh to make it up to her.  He put a note in her lunch box asking her to go out with him and let her choose where they went.  There’s a really great restaurant in Princeton with wonderful (and over-priced) food.  Josh and I have been there a couple of times and Lilly overheard us talking about it.  She asked about it and decided that’s where she wanted to go.  I completely encouraged her in her choice.  If she has high standards about where she expects her daddy to take her, then maybe she’ll keep her high standards when it comes time for her to start dating. 

They had a great time.  After the meal, Lilly asked her daddy if they could stop at a nearby chocolate shop to pick up some chocolate for dessert.  That’s my girl!

Of course, Titus felt left out.  I offered to take him out as a Mommy/Son date.  He rejected me.  It’s just not the same.  He hangs out with me during the day, but going out with daddy is a special thing.  Tomorrow night they are having guys’ night out.  I’m not sure what they’re planning on doing, but Titus has already mentioned McDonald’s.  I’ve got time to work on his taste…don’t I?

Friends don’t let friends eat cheap chocolate.  So, here’s some chocolate for you, my friends:

Mmmmmm….Don’t those look amazing?  That’s the exotic truffle collection from Vosges Chocolates.  If you’re ever in Manhattan, don’t miss out on this treat.  I won’t tell you that this collection costs $75…I wouldn’t want to scare you away. 

If that’s too cheap for you, here’s a nice chocolate collection from Richart:

This collection comes with a temperature controlled vault.  Not bad for $825.  LOL!!! 

O.K.  So, my real friends know I’m cheap and would never spend extravagant amounts of money on chocolate…but, I have been known to purchase one or two pieces of over-priced gourmet chocolate at a time.

Now, for my friends who have a strange aversion to chocolate, here are some adorable designer handbag sugar cookies:

Eleni’s sells these adorable creations in the Chelsea Market.  Aren’t they cute?  Can you believe they’re being sold for $75?  Now, some of my creative friends would probably find a way to create their own cookies…maybe I’ll try that some day.

Anyways…Happy Chocolate Day, friends!  Enjoy your day and don’t eat cheap, waxy chocolate!

 

Me:  Good morning, Sweetheart!

Lilly:  Good morning.

Me:  Did you get some good sleep last night?

Lilly:  Yes.

Me:  I already called your school to tell them you aren’t coming in today, so I let you sleep in.

Lilly (showing disappointment):  But, I feel better today!

Me:  I’m so glad you feel better.  But, the school has rules.  You have to be without a fever for 24 hours before they let you come back to school and your fever was 103.9 last night.  Let me check your temperature.

I take her temp and it’s 101.6. 

I thought that Lilly was in the clear.  Titus got better and she was fine, except for a cough.  Here’s the scary thing about my daughter:  she really doesn’t complain much.  She’s very sensitive, but she keeps a lot to herself.

On Sunday, we went to church and I dropped both kids off in their Sunday School classrooms where they hung out with their friends.  We got home from church and were eating lunch when Lilly says, “Do I have to eat all of this?  I’m not really hungry.”  This isn’t normal for her so I ask her if she’s feeling O.K. and she then mentions that her tummy hurts a little bit.  I feel her forehead and she’s burning up.  I get out the thermometer and she has a fever of 103.4!  I couldn’t believe it.  I immediately thought of all the kids she had just interacted with.  I could not believe I took her to church without a clue that she was sick.  Yes…I’m the mom responsible for the schools being empty this week because I take my sick child out in public and let her play with her friends.

Anyways, she’s had a fever ever since.  It mostly hangs out in the 99 - 101 range during the day and then spikes at night.

I’m tired of this.  I’m so ready for a healthy household.

I was in Target tonight and my cashier was talking to her co-worker.  She asked, “Can you tell her I need quotas?”  I was standing there wondering what quotas Target employees are required to meet when she finished her thought.  “I need pennies, too.”  That’s when I realized she was asking for quarters.  I’ve lived here almost 15 months and I’m still caught off guard by the Jersey accent.

 

I’m such a bad mom.  I sent Lilly to school today with an inexcusable tardy.  If I were a good responsible mom, I would’ve had my kids in bed at a decent hour and up and ready to go to school on time.  I do this most days, but isn’t it O.K. to break the rules every once in awhile?

Last night was Kids Night on Broadway.  Kids go to shows for free…not to mention all the other fun discounts and activities in the city.  How could I turn down free tickets to a Broadway show?  We went and saw Mary Poppins.

We had a slight “off” night last night.  Some days we go to the city and things just flow…the trains arrive within minutes of us showing up, our meals come on time, etc…  It’s as if the world was choreographed just for us.  Last night wasn’t one of those nights.  Josh had to work a bit late, so we got to the train station right as our train was leaving.  The subways did the same.  We’d watch the subway train leave as we were on our way to the platform.  Even on our way out of the city, we had to hustle to get to our train and barely made it…only to find out that there was only one track working through the tunnel last night.  We were only 13 minutes late getting out of there.  Not too bad.  The only bummer to all of this was that we weren’t able to stick with our original dinner plans.  We had to settle for Nathan’s hotdogs.  Ick!

In spite of our bad timing, it was a wonderful evening.  The weather was gorgeous.  Even last night, the kids were asking me why I made them bring their coats.  It was rumored to be around 62 degrees.  I didn’t double check that, but it sure felt warm.

In the theater district, the Laugh Factory guys were on the streets trying to sell tickets…as always.  They’re usually fairly easy to ignore, however this time one of them grabbed my attention.  He caught my eye and yelled out, “Hey Lady, your baby will be a comedian some day and it’ll be because you came to see my show.”  It caught me off guard and tickled my funny bone.  I had to laugh out loud.

Mary Poppins was really great.  I wish they would’ve stuck to the original plot line a little better, but it was still fun and entertaining.  There were enough classic songs and lines to keep the nostalgia around.  The kids both loved “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”  My absolute favorite number was “Step in Time” with the chimney sweeps on the rooftops.  I could’ve watched them do that one over and over again…it was so fun.  Bert was by far the show stealer.  He was fantastic and fun to watch.  To be fair, we didn’t get to see the “real” Mary Poppins.  Her understudy was performing last night, but she was still very good.

Joe Gibbs was in the audience watching the show.  He was seated in the section across from us.  I, of course, was totally oblivious to the people around us.  I never notice celebrities.  Josh noticed him during intermission when he took Titus out for a little walk to stretch his legs.

Our train ride home was interesting.  We weren’t the only Jersey family to take advantage of Kids Night on Broadway.  There were a few other families in our section of the train.  Most of them were pretty quiet.  A lot of the kids were sleeping…as were ours.  One family in particular didn’t take advantage of the quiet time to get some rest.  It wasn’t hard to figure out they had also attended Mary Poppins.  One young girl sang Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious at the top of her off-pitch lungs for far too long.  I wouldn’t even consider it cute if it were one of my own kids singing it…especially after midnight.  I found myself silently singing along with her, “S-T-U-F-F an S-O-C-K in it.”  Yep…that’s my naughty streak coming out again.

So…this is why my daughter had an inexcusable tardy this morning.  We got home around 1:00 AM and I let her sleep in.  She made it to school an hour late.  I think she’ll forgive me and the school will just have to get over it.

Was that a fantastic game, or what?  We had so much fun last night.  I caught myself biting my nails a few times and I even jumped out of my chair during that last TD.  That’s not too weird, except that you have to picture me and my pregnant belly jumping…it probably looked pretty funny.

The chili turned out great…the fruit dip turned out terrible.  But, I just got a tip in a comment on where to find marshmallow creme.  I’ll have to throw another party to prove that my Muna friend’s fruit dip really is fantastic.  I just didn’t do it justice by trying to melt down mini-marshmallows.

I wanted to share a few pictures.

This one is of Lilly.  She lost another tooth Saturday night, so she’s now missing 4 teeth.  This one is significant because she’s developed the lisp.  I can’t help but smile when she tries to talk.

This second picture is of my first attempt at Fair Isle knitting.  I made a baby hat for a friend of mine.  I’ve decided not to give it to her because of too many imperfections.  (I can be pretty insecure that way.)  But, it was fun to try and it’ll turn out better the second time.

 

Now…the last picture is one of my belly because some of my long distant friends and family have been asking for it.  I tried to re-size it to tiny because I have a ridiculous facial expression…LOL!!!  But, you should still get the idea.  I still have three and 1/2 months to go:

 

That’s it!

Happy Monday!

 

Yesterday was an official holiday on the calendar.  It was Groundhog’s Day.  The kids somehow heard about this and were excited about another holiday.  They asked, “What do we do on Groundhog’s Day?”  I said, “Nothing.  We watch the weather report on TV.”  They thought this was lame.  Holidays were made for celebrating.  I said, “Don’t worry, tomorrow’s another holiday.  It’s Superbowl Sunday.”  They asked, “What do we do on Superbowl Sunday?”  I said, “We invite people over and eat lots of junk food and watch a football game on TV.”  They thought this was about as exciting as watching the weather report until I told them who we invited over.  There excitement came back.

We invited some friends over for tonight.  I’m cooking a big pot of chili with lots of toppings.  We’ll also have some veggies and veggie dip, cornbread and cut up fruit with fruit dip.  Now, my big fat secret is that I wanted to go fast and easy with all of this, so I decided to buy a cornbread mix instead of making corn bread from scratch.  The problem is that this is a big no-no on the East Coast.  Only freaks make cornbread from a box.  Well, I’m one of those freaks.  Actually I was a frustrated freak when I couldn’t find a cornbread mix at the grocery store. 

Last night I decided to make my Muna friend’s recipe for fruit dip.  It’s so simple and so delicious.  All you do is mix softened cream cheese with marshmallow creme.  Yumo-O.  (Sorry…I’m a big fan of Rachael Ray!)  Anyways, I texted Josh at church asking him if he could stop at the store on his way home and pick up cream cheese and marshmallow creme.  He stopped at the store, looked in the candy aisle near the marshmallows, looked in the baking section, looked near the ice cream toppings and didn’t have any luck finding it.  He even asked some people who worked there and they had no idea what he was talking about.  So, he picked up a bag of mini-marshmallows and I’ll melt them down for my recipe.  It should work.

I guess it’s safe to say that I’m still experiencing culture shock after living on the East Coast for 15 months.  No cornbread mix and no marshmallow fluff.  I’m more redneck than I care to admit.  (Just for the record…my chili is from scratch and I don’t take shortcuts.)

I’m also still kinda weirded out that the game doesn’t start until 6:00 tonight.  I’m used to afternoon games.

However, I do have to admit it’s fun to live in the northeast with two northeastern teams playing.  Josh isn’t a big fan of the New Yorsey Giants, but we’re living in Giant territory (we’re about 45 minutes from the stadium…depending on turnpike traffic) so a lot of our friends are excited about the Giants.  Also, since they’re the underdog…I may cheer for them tonight.  However, Tom Brady is fun to watch…so I can’t say that all of my allegiance will be with the Giants.  It’ll be a fun game to watch either way.  Some would call me a flake or fickle.  Some would say I need to pick one team and root for them.  But, I have fun doing it my way.

Titus and I are both feeling better today.  We’re both on the tail end of our colds.  Hopefully we’ll have those under control by tomorrow.  I really want to feel good this week because we’re taking the kids to see Mary Poppins on Broadway this week.  It’s Kid’s Night on Broadway (kids go free) and we had to get our tickets ages ago.  I’d hate to have to give them up because one or more of us is sick.  We’ve been looking forward to this for a long time.

Enjoy the game!

I thought I should post an update on our son.  He’s doing much better today.  We were concerned about dehydration yesterday because he wasn’t keeping fluids down.  I called his doctor and she had me try a couple of tricks to keep fluids in his tummy and they seemed to work.  She called me back twice yesterday and once today to check on him.  I really appreciate her attentiveness.

Titus’ appetite was back today…along with his smile.  It was so great to see those dimples again.

The bad news?  I committed a big Mommy No-No.  I was so busy caring for my son this past week that I forgot to take care of myself.  Now I’m miserable.  I had a fever today along with other cold-type symptoms.  My head hurts, my eyes hurt, my nose hurts and won’t stop running, my ears hurt, my throat hurts, my chest hurts and I can’t stop coughing.  I can’t sleep because of these symptoms, but my body is exhausted.  I went to the doctor today and he told me I had a cold and I’m probably fighting some other virus.  He didn’t prescribe anything for me because I’m pregnant, but told me to keep doing what I’m doing:  steam, hot lemon tea, plenty of fluids, etc…  I was hoping he’d have some magical pill to take my pain away.  Ack!

I don’t have time for sickness in my life right now.