Thrown to The Wolves

My husband coaches girl's basketball every year.

In fact, this is the first year that he hasn't coached boy's basketball as well as girl's. His son decided not to play this year so Capt is focusing on his daughter's team. (His son is focusing on skateboarding, mostly skateboarding in our basement, which he has turned into an indoor skateboarding park.)

And because I love teenagers....especially a houseful of teenage girls who scream and laugh at the silliest things, our girl's basketball team had a Pasta Night here last Tuesday night.

It was something that I always wanted to do but couldn't because of me living on Long Island and all. But now that I've relocated 100% and married their dad, my evil plan has come to fruition. [insert evil laugh here]

Evil plan = getting a second chance at being a part of a family with young children.

I loved being a mom to my children and even though my children are adults, I still love having them visit. I love who they have become, but that youthfulness is gone forever. And now I have another chance, even if it is only every other week.

I invited the whole team over.

First we ate meatballs and pasta. Unfortunately the pasta sauce I made....it was not very good... at all. I think that I'm going to stop making homemade sauce even though I specifically took a gourmet cooking class on making tomato sauce. That class is where I learned the first rule in making tomato sauce: a good sauce begins with toasting the garlic.

In my new household a good sauce begins when you open the jar of Ragu Traditional Sauce.

We carefully and calmly decorated team sweatshirts so that I wouldn't freak out about the possible stains I might never get out of my furniture.





Mission accomplished.

We watched a documentary on basketball and learned important game skills like, "draw blood" and "Who are we, dogs or wolves?" and how banging on lockers before games psychs-out the opposing team...you know, good sportsman stuff like that.



There is my new dog Fenway, she is loving all the attention the girls are giving her.

Then we made our own sundaes.

It was a marvelous time.

I just love this.

Fire Drill Day

This morning started off with a bang, or a smoke alarm going off that might as well been a bang.

The good news is that as soon as the alarm went off the younger children woke and filed down the stairs ready for action.

The sad news is that my adult boys, who are sleeping in the living room, right next to the alarm, didn't even flinch. Maybe they are just more used to me and my cooking skillz.

This all happened at 6:00am when I was chopping the apple for the stuffing and forgot about the last four pieces of bread in the toaster oven.

I'm thinking that this may have to become a new family tradition....Fire Drill on Thanksgiving Morning.

I am thankful for so many things that happened this year, mostly for my wonderful husband who for some crazy reason married me and makes me get all tingly in love whenever he walks in the room, for my children who continue to amaze me with their independence and success, for my step-children who keep me feeling young or old depending on the situation, for my father-in-law who is not only my good friend, but a wonderful, loving person.

And for the fact that I'm going to be 50 years old in a few short weeks and I can say that I am truly content and peaceful.

It's going to be a great Thanksgiving over here. I hope you have a great one too.

Fenway

Well, we are back from our mini-vacation.

It was nice, it was fun, but by Thursday, we missed being home. That and our bodies couldn't take all that delicious, fattening food that the restaurants were feeding us. We both gained a few pounds.

It was so lovely and relaxing sitting in the hot tub at the hotel every morning watching the sun rise. What a wonderful way to pray each morning.

We got home just in time to get the children for our week.

The floor guys did a beautiful job, even better than we expected. The saw dust (the only thing I am allergic to) left behind was minimal. I wiped down the walls and molding with a damp cloth and that was it. I honestly expected it to be a lot worse.

So now that all the floors on the first floor are done perfectly we went and did something that is going to mess them up.

We got ourselves a dog.

A big dog.

A boxer who looks just like my granddog, Kage.

Our new dog's name is Fenny, as in Fenway Park. Her previous owners loved the Boston Red Sox.

She is a well-behaved dog, trained as a show dog, is 4 years old and loves to play. We got her from my daughter who knew a couple that could no longer keep her due to obligations caring for a parent with cancer.

Already our hardwood floors are starting to look scratched up.

But our family needed a dog. With the children living with us one week on and one week off, it makes for a lot of emptiness on the off weeks.

Not only that but the things you do as an intact family seldom get done. So having a dog to love, to be a part of this family will, hopefully, give the children more of the privileges of an intact family life.

That and I'll have a dog to take with me on my long walks. And to greet me when I get home.

She doesn't need any training either.

I'll post a picture of her as soon as I can.

Opposites Attract

One thing I've learned from all of this dining out with my husband stuff:

Whenever he tastes something and says, "This is horrible", my interest piques because I know that I'm gonna absolutely love and totally devour whatever it is that he's not liking.

Update on the House Construction

State Farm Insurance, I love you!

Last night my husband and I checked into the Hilton for a five day stay at State Farm's expense.

I posted about the leaky dishwasher incident a few months back.

First there was the 'rip out the kitchen floor stage'.

Then there was the 'breaking the granite counter top' stage, where I had to help pick out matching granite by driving all over this state. If I ever hear 'Uba tuba' again I'm gonna spit. Actually, I don't know how to spit and it's not lady like.

Next there was the putting in the ugly linoleum tile stage that came out looking fine, yet again required me to drive all over Connecticut to pick out. The reason it was ugly was because the tile that got ruined from the leak was a cheap linoleum tile and the restoration company could only restore back to the previous type tile. I picked out a tile that would easily be recognized as the same tile you would see at a school, or grocery store, thinking that we would put a floating bamboo floor on top of it after the work was done. But I'm liking the brightness of the ugly tile and I think it will stay that way for awhile.

Yesterday they came and moved all the furniture on the first floor into the garage. I kinda freaked out a little because, OMG all my stuff is no longer where it belongs and I have a case of THE OCD. Also had to pack enough clothes and toiletries for me, my husband and for the two kids because if the floors aren't dry by Friday, the kids are going to have to be here with us.

Today the contractor is on the 'sanding, staining and polyethaning the floors' stage.

Which requires us to stay at a luxury hotel, all expense paid, except dry cleaning. That's what the hotel manager told me. "We were told by your insurance company that all your expenses are covered, except for dry cleaning". And I didn't know how to respond to that. Am I insulted? No. I'm fine with it actually, I didn't even think of bringing my dry cleaning with me.

Last night we ate at a fancy restaurant and ordered all of our favorite meals. We even shared a piece of carrot cake which was divine.

This morning at 6am we ate a big breakfast together and off to work he went.

I didn't mind eating all these rich, fattening foods because my big plan was to use the gym and the pool every morning to burn the extra calories off.

Except that I forgot my sneakers at home.

And it's too late to go back and get them.

And my feet are so small and arches so high, that it takes forever to find any shoe or sneaker to fit them, so I'm not going to purchase another pair.

So there you have the update and extra info that I'm sure you didn't need.

If you need me, I'll be sitting poolside.

Not really, I just always wanted to say that.

The Best Mom Song Eva

My new BFF Peggy showed me this YouTube Video today. I've played it like 100 times already and I can't stop laughing.

I can't wait to show my children.

Hi everyone.

I know it's been a while since I've been here, but things around these parts have been busy.

Take for instance yesterday.

I had to see an ENT doctor because my poor husband keeps complaining that he can't sleep with all my snoring and breathing stoppage during the night.

I never used to snore or stop breathing, it's a new thing since I've been married.

After doing several tests, one of which was very invasive, the doctor told me what he thinks is the problem:

I'm too stress-free. Too relaxed.

He explained it like this - I used to have a stressful job, used to live in a stressful town and my muscles were tense. Now that I'm married, getting jiggy with it (my words, not his), happy and working in a stress-free environment, the muscles in my neck and throat have relaxed so much that my airway gets constricted at night when I go into a deep sleep.

Imagine that.

So now I have to sleep overnight at a Sleep Clinic and get all sorts of tests, which creeps me the heck out.

I know I'm not going to be able to sleep with all sorts of people watching me and recording my vitals. And I'm going to be all wired up.

Help, I need some stress in my life!!!!

I never thought I would ever say that last sentence.

Ooops

Yesterday my husband stayed home from work and put the dishwasher back in. It's been gone for over three months and I am so happy I could cry.

That and the fact that I won't have to deal with my rubber gloves insulting me anymore.

I was working in the Court yesterday when he stopped by to surprise me. We chatted for a few minutes while I packed up my office.

The whole Town Hall (where the Court is located) has been getting re-carpeted and a new paint job. It is the Court's turn to move everything out and since I'm the only one there I got to pack up.

When Capt was leaving and standing at the door I said, in a rather loud voice, "Hey, come back here and give me some tongue." (which means give me a kiss)

What I didn't realize was that an attorney was entering my office at the same time and overheard me.

I tried not to make a big deal out of it as I explained to the attorney that he was my husband and we are newlyweds, but I got the feeling that he doubted me.

Why You Should Always Check Your Kid's Homework

Mommy works at Home Depot.....she is selling a shovel in the picture!