The "good" living room

First, please disregard all the junk piled up on the bookcases in the back.  This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago after we first moved...  You know what, sorry for trying to make an excuse, it still looks like that now.  BTW, that is not a television there.  I just propped up a mirror because I need to get it out of the way.

Anyway, as you can see, I have a sofa!  It's not the white one that I was eyeing up but when I saw this navy blue one and its clean lines on the arms, I just had to have it.  So I drove the three hours to North Jersey to pick it up.  And knock on wood, I still haven't run into any Craigslist Killers.  See, Tara!

So I got this baby home and threw it in the living room.  That weekend, two of Melissa's kids, Amias and Isabella, slept over.  In the morning, I walked in to find this happening.  Ladies and Gentlemen, this is supposed to be "My" living room.  You remember,  the room without a television and therefore, the kids would stay away!  Remember that plan?  Well that's all shot to hell now.  Because according to Johnny, "I can stretch out on this sofa".  I totally forgot that kids don't need televisions these days when they have Iphones and Ipads!  Kids can be anywhere!!!  So say goodbye to the "good" living room.  I now have no place to hide.

FYI, if you stick with me long enough, you'll hopefully see this room change.  I'll reveal it to you in bits and pieces over time.  For right now, that's my plan!

And while I have you, thanks for your comments on CeCe(short for Claire's Cat) on Friday.  I Love to reply to comments but our weekend was crazy-nuts busy.  Even for us!  So when I sat back down to look at my blog on Sunday night, I thought to myself, "I can't even go there".  So just like with Algebra, I gave up!  Still, I appreciate it and thanks and welcome to the new folks who came out of hiding to say hi.  Please stop in again.  I promise to get back to you.

Your Friend, m.
p.s.  come back on Thursday.  I have a guest-blogger/writer/post-er?  I don't know!  Just get back here!

Hello, Kitty!

Meet Cece!

Claire had wanted a dog for her birthday and, seriously, we were so close to getting another one.  Sadly, our local Humane Society is filled to the brim with Pit Bulls from the city.  Yes, I know that there are good Pit Bulls out there but I'm not ready to take the chance on one with my kids around.  So on the way out, we stopped into the area where they keep the cats.  Honestly, who can pass up a little kitten with their big eyes and ears?

When I was a kid, you know, back in the 40s..., you went to the Humane Society and five seconds later, you would be walking out with a dog.  Now, you practically have to give blood to adopt one.  Seriously, I've written before how much work it is and how it's almost easier to adopt a kid than a cat.  Still, the Humane Society does a great job at prepping(medical, spay/neuter) the animals so at least you start off on the right foot.  Or paw, whatever!  So after a week, little girl Cece moved right on in with us and everyone is happy.

Well, everyone except for TomCat!

Not pleased at all.

Your Friend, m.

All Swim!

Yes, I broke my own photography rule by having them pose for me.

Well, as you can see, the pool and the trampoline are up.  I was standing in my neighbor Jill's yard recently and I thought to myself, "Thank God no one can see this ugly-ass pool from the side of the house.  But then as we we walking to a party the other day, I noticed that you can see half of it from a block away in the other direction.  

I'm kind of praying that most people aren't peering into our yard but since we're the new kids on the block, I'm guessing that most people are.  Maybe they think we're trend setters and that every home should have a hideous above ground pool ruining their landscape too!  Let's hope.

Still, the kids are loving it.  And as ghastly as it is, at least I don't have to drive them to a community pool to go swimming.  I guess that's one good thing, right?  In fact, I should give them a bar of soap and kill two birds with one stone.

Your Friend, m. 

We're not worthy!

"We're not worthy"

Fred said "I feel as if this house is too good for us".  I agreed with him.

We've been here a little over a month now.  And still, it feels as if we are staying at another person's home.  A few years ago, Friends of ours let us have their vacation home for the week.  It was in the mountains and we totally loved it there, when the kids weren't running us ragged.  Fred mentioned that it's like being there.

Last year, we practically spent the entire Summer at my parent's place at the beach.  And although the kids have gone down, Fred and I haven't.  We both agree that we feel as if we are already on holiday.

As mentioned before, I've never lived in a house that I haven't had to totally gut or, at least, knock down a few walls.  And although there are things here that are dated and I'd like to change eventually, I don't feel the pressure to do it right away.  In fact, the oak kitchen cabinets are starting to grow on me.  So much so that I wondering if I'm actually becoming Straight.  ha!

This house is more than double the size of our last one and we have more room than anyone would ever need.  At the same time, I want to adopt again.  In fact, I'm feeling the pull for tons more children.  Will it ever happen?  I don't know!  And how many more children can this house hold before it starts to close in on me like the last one?  We'll see.

Lastly, our new neighbor/Friend, Paula, threw a party in our honor on Saturday night welcoming us to the neighborhood.  I hope to introduce you to her shortly.  Around 9:30PM(yes, I was up That late!), Fred remembered that it was our Anniversary.  And then he reminded me.  I always remember the very fine details of when we met over 22 years ago and I consider that our Anniversary.  But for the life of me, I can never remember the day we actually got Married four years ago.  Or was it five?

Your Friend, m.

I caught Fred cheatin' on me

With the living Dead!

The picture above was taken this past Winter.  I posted it on my Facebook Fan Page for Our Simple Lives, that I horribly neglect, but I never posted it here.  After watching Season One of The Walking Dead, Fred bought this book.  And I didn't think anything of it.

Fast forward 5 months or so and we start watching Season Two on AMC just last week.  Fred and I watch t.v. in bed while the kids are in the rooms falling asleep.  Anyway, while we watch shows, we talk all through them guessing what's going to happen next.  Please know that if I ever watch t.v. with you, I'll keep my mouth shut.  But this is our way.  So we're watching and he says "I didn't picture the farm like that".  That's when I realized that Fred was already aware of what was going to happen.  And I felt betrayed!  I prefer to watch television with Fred and I like that we can experience a show together.  I also love when Fred laughs at something.  His "getting" the American humor always makes me laugh.  But now he knew what was going to happen and I felt alone and cheated.  He tried to cover it up quickly by saying that the show was nothing like the book but it was too late.  The cat was out of the bag.  I could no longer trust that what we had together was sacred.

It's one thing thing to find that he would be with another man, or even a woman!  But to be sneaking around behind my  back with Zombies is something that I just can't handle.  I mean, how can I compete with dead-eye, pale skinned creatures with bile running out of their mouths?  Seriously, I'm game for most things but that's pushing it!

I don't think our relationship will ever be the same.

If your spouse has ever cheated on you, then I'm sure you know exactly how I feel.

Your Friend, m.

p.s.  Books are the instrument of the Devil!

p.s.s.  Tracy, I did this post in less than 11 minutes. Are you proud of me?

Freeze-Frame!

"Now Freeze!"

Somewhere, in that pile of Joy, is Claire's birthday cake.  Right after singing Happy Birthday to her last Wednesday, I saw this "moment" and just knew that I had to capture it.  Now I'll never forget.

Your Friend, m.

"See the pretty girl in that mirror there"

"Who can that attractive girl be?"

Why, it's no other than my baby girl, Claire.  And recently, she had her hair all braided up for Summer time.  To keep Claire's hair looking fabulous, I spend a lot of time working on it.  And when Summer comes and she hits the chlorine filled pools, her hair because a total disaster.  And if you don't get that chlorine out of it before it dries, good luck bringing it back to those cute little twirly curls that she sports.  And these braids should help to keep out the tangles.

So we finally made an appointment and took her in.  I made a little video at the end so you can see the entire process from finish to end.  But I won't leave you in suspense.  This is what she looked like right after her appointment.

Because she wanted longer hair, the salon owner added three inch extensions to her hair.  Let me tell ya, Claire loves it!  And she's constantly putting it into different styles.  You never know what she's going to end up with next.

So in between the following photos and before the video, I wanted to share with you some of her personal beauty secrets.


1.  Make sure you take "Only" the best features of your Mother and Father.

2.  Be the only girl in your entire household.  You will always be the prettiest.

3.  Never do the ugly-cry.  Only pout a little and tear-up.  Pouting will make you appear as if you have fuller lips.  And depending on the lighting around you, tears may look like sparkly diamonds on your cheeks.

4.  Always have a couple of gay men around you to do your hair, lay out your clothing and check you before you leave the house.  Mirrors don't tell you everything.  Gay men will be brutally honest.

5. Be carried around whenever possible.  Especially if it's a hot day and you're walking through a City.  People who are carried always appear more regal.

6. Make sure that you have a grandmother who has no sense of money but carries her husbands credit cards with unlimited balances.  You will never run out of pretty shoes and dresses.

7.  If you are served vegetables, take a bite, announce that you're full and ask to be excused.  Then sneak chocolate from the Halloween stash, eat it quickly in your room and then stuff the wrappers under your bed or in your drawers.  By rushing to hide the wrappers and quickly eating, your body will use up the calories from the candy.

8.  Make sure to get lots of hugs and kisses everyday.  The love that you feel inside will start to show up in your skin and hair.

9.  Laugh a lot!  People who are laughing always appear more attractive.

10.  My most important beauty tip if you don't have time for steps 1-9, is what I call, the 3B rule.  Be Born Beautiful!  This little secret has taken me a long way.

-----------------------------------

Wow, great tips Claire!  And my hope is that you all can use some of these in your daily beauty routine too.

I know, a lady hates to divulge her age.  But hopefully, Claire won't mind this one time.  Today, my Baby Girl turns 9!

A card from Uncles Charles and David that arrived yesterday.  She'll call them today to thank them.

If you have it in you, and no bullying like I did with you last week on Jim's birthday, she loves getting E-Cards.

And now for some more advice!

FYI, my Claire is more beautiful on the inside than she'll ever be on the outside.  If I, I mean, if someone falls up the stairs, she'll rush to see if you're alright.  While the boys just point and laugh.

Last week, I did three posts and it almost killed me.  And although it's only Wednesday, I need to stop at two posts.  I'll be back on Monday!

Claire's Dad, m.

Read all about it!

More about Joshua

I told you that I was going to talk about Joshua again today.  And then, after a few of you commented, I felt like this post would be very similar to Friday's post.  So to save you all some trouble, feel free to skip all my "yakkity-yak", just look at the photos and then copy/paste your comment from Friday into this one.  And I'll still give you "comment-credit".  I grade on a curve so you all are safe anyway.

Friday's post was suppose to be about Joshua being helpful around the house.  Like in this photo.

FYI, all these photos were taken last month at the old house.  I told you that I have a lot of catching up to do!

But then, I touched on Academics and then you all started going crazy(I love that about you) about children's special gifts and not everyone was cut out for college.  I thank you and I totally get that!  At this point, I only see Claire and Jacob pursuing higher education if they want.  I always have, and still do, worry about John the most who only seems interested in hanging out with his Friends.  He's come a huge way since being "asked" to leave Catholic school two years ago.  But still, it's my job to worry.

Speaking of Catholic School..., if you've been with me long enough, you know that we had the kids there from the beginning.  Then John moved over into public school and that went well and everything was good in the world.  But then Joshua struggled and by the end of the previous school year, I met with his teacher, school counselors and Principal to see what we could do.  They were all lovely people and their suggestion was to either keep him behind a year in their school or consider moving him into public school where there are resources available to help him keep up.  So Fred and I discussed that we would move him to the public school system.  And since we would have two kids there, we might as well move all four over.

And I can't even tell you how many posts I wrote about that transition.  Just so you know, they all transitioned well.  I was the one clinging to their old school with all my might.  I secretly hoped that they would end up back there.  And damn if they didn't all flourish!  Especially Joshua.

We were so worried for him.  He could barely read the most basic of kid's books without stumbling on simple words like "the".  And then I would have him spell the words to "sound them out" and he would be lost as to what actual letters he was seeing.  Not being a teacher, I would get totally frustrated.  Obviously, Fred had more patience with his reading.  Joshua also joined a special Reading "club" as we called it, that met twice a week after school.  Somewhere over the year, especially with the help of his teacher, Mrs. S., he became a Reader!

I think I can clearly say that Reading is the school's number one focus.  Even if they don't have homework, the little ones are to read two steps(15 minutes per step) an evening.  John is required to read for an hour.  Claire will ask if she can read in bed before going to sleep.  She is the only one whoI trust who would actually say that and mean it.  And so I allow her.  But still, when I don't have time to stand there and listen to Joshua read, I ask her to do it for me.

This is not a punishment for her.  She loves this sh*t!  Sometimes, Claire will "play" school and have Jacob and Joshua be the students.  But soon they realize that Claire's school is actually harder than real school and beg to be excused.  I've told you before how Claire is driven.   It's all cute and all until someone gets hurt!  But she's very good at listening to Joshua read and is quick to help him out with words that he gets wrong.  So they make a great pair.

When I retrieved him from school on his last day, Mrs. S. met me at the door and reported to me that she was thrilled to have him in her class, she'll miss him terribly and he had made great progress over the year.  And his report card proved that!  So all is good with the world again!

Now, regarding my precious little Barracuda Nazi Pitt-Bull ...

Come join me on Wednesday when Claire will share with you some of her secret beauty tips.

Your Friend, m.

A chip off the old block

Big man, little man

Joshua has become Fred's little helper around the house.  If Fred is working on something, you can bet that Joshua is trying to assist him.  As much as I worry about Joshua, academically speaking, he seems to know what he's doing when it comes to working with his hands.  Knowing that, I feel a little better about his future. If he is passionate about doing something mechanically, I'll back him 110%.

Of all my lazy kids, Joshua is the least lazy.  Claire is pretty active but not when it comes to cleaning her room.  John will move his butt but ONLY if there is something in it for him.  And then of course, Jacob, who works so hard to avoid work.  Seriously, he is the King of Lazy!  It really is hard to believe that he and Joshua are twins.

I don't want to write too much because my next post will also be about Joshua.  I just wanted to let the world know how very proud I am of my little guy.

Enjoy your weekend!
Joshua's Dad, m.

Fireworks

Happy Birthday to America and Jim of Ocean Breezes

Actually, Jim has already seen that photo above.  I emailed it to him last month just to say "hi".  Anyway, here's the deal.  It dawned on me, over the last few months, that whenever I take photos of flowers, which is rare, I always think of Jim.  Jim's a big nature-freak and loves to photograph it.  I know, you're thinking, "Hey, I take pictures of flowers too.  Why don't you think of me"?  I'm sorry, I don't have an answer for you.

So for Jim's birthday today, I thought that I would share some recent photos that I took that are mostly from our garden.

Seriously, I have no clue what any of these flowers are called.  You think I have time to worry about such things? But 10 to 1, Jim can name them all.  You see, Jim's a Hippie.  I would say that he's a former hippie but that's like calling an Alcoholic a former Alcoholic.  Because as I hear, once you're one, you're always one.  Same goes with hippies!  They never left the 60's.  It's like a bad acid trip!  Or maybe the ultimate one.  I don't know!

Regardless, Jim loves himself some nature.  And, I think, that being one with it is his quest in life.  "Jim, you could correct me anytime here.  When it comes to nature and all that jazz, I really have no idea what I'm talking about".

Still, when I see these photos, I think of Jim and his photos.  Seriously, go check out his stuff.  Photos, that is!  I don't want his Husband, Ron, to get the wrong idea.  I got a crush on both of them.  Fred's okay with my crushes as long as the guys are over 60 and in foreign countries.  Works for me!

When I visit Jim's blog, I love to tease him too.  He's way too deep for me and loves to think things out loud.  I, on the other hand, am pretty one-dimensional and like to spurt out the first thing that comes to mind.  And it's usually something trashy.  Still, in Jim's good nature, he hasn't deleted one of my inappropriate comments, yet.  I think he "gets" me.  Or, most likely, pities me.  But as a needy blogger, or "blogger in general" I'll take whatever I can get!

So on this Fourth of July, I thought I would try to get as deep as I possibly can, without a few glasses of wine in me, and share with you Nature's Fireworks.  Because if you look closely enough, you can see them exploding silently before your eyes.  And the best part, these natural fireworks aren't derived from a long military history.

"And the rocket's red glare..."

"The bombs bursting in air"

See, it's easy to imagine, ain't!

Then, while I was photographing the plant above, I looked to my side and saw this busy bee.  Not you, Suz!

She was busy working away collecting pollen.  I know, I called her a "she" cuz I believe that soldier worker bees should be allowed to be female!  See, I'm all about women's rights and crap like that!

And then I looked beyond and saw this guy.

And he was like "I'm gonna suck up all the pollen so no one else can have it"

Then Ms. Bee comes over

"Hi, I'm Bee"!

"Oh no she just did not!  Shawty's trippin"!

"Yo, what the hell, Bitch!  You best be steppin' off my crib"!

"Yeah, that's right"!

"I ain't playin' mofo"!

FYI, this is a inner-city Butterfly that flew into our garden.

"Later yo, I'm outta here"!

And so am I!

Happy Fourth of July to all my American Brothers and Sisters.  And to all my Canadian Friends, Happy Jim Day!

Okay then, I'll be very disappointed if you don't go to Jim's Blog now and wish him a Happy Birthday.  Seriously, I want all 356 Followers to get over there right now!  For real, GO!

Your Friend, m.

America Rules!

Why do I even try?

All my children

We finally bought a house big enough where the kids could have their own spaces and, besides the twins, their own rooms.  So where do they end up?  On the single mattress of Johnny's bunk-bed.

So again, I ask, why do I even try?

Your Friend, m.

p.s.  how's that for a short post!