Scenes from two neighborhoods

Kelly and I have started getting prepared for our upcoming Central American excursions; she to Guatemala, me to Costa Rica.  We shall be doing some strenuous activity in Central America; she tended to orphans and their orphanage, me hiking through the rain forest and dealing with horses, and so we felt the need to start getting our bodies and our minds into shape for these upcoming adventures.  We started on Monday of this past week, and decided to start out by walking.  We started with 20 minutes of a brisk walk and by the end of the week we were up to 30 minutes of brisk walking.  First we walked in my neighborhood and then we walked in Kelly's neighborhood.  I took along my camera to capture....whatever.

Scenes from Cara's neighborhood:

Some birds hanging in the neighbor's front yard

 Everyone needs a marble elephant in the front yard.

 Some of the beautiful foliage of the neighborhood

And plenty of fruit in the road

Scenes from Kelly's Neighborhood:    

                                        

View from a park down the street

 

View of another park across the street

Some of the foliage in the neighborhood

 Vintage car on the road

A starfish far from the beach

Connie Foot Photo #14

Last Wednesday Connie went into the Foot God's office where he applied a dermagraft.  This was something he had wanted to do several months ago, but Medicare does not pay for it.  Doctors must wait until there is a patient in need whose insurance will cover the cost and then they use the left over pieces on medicare patients.  Supposedly.

I accompanied her on that visit, but sat back and allowed the Foot God to perform without photography over his shoulder.  The dermagraft, which we had been told was the foreskin from a penis, is apparently grown in a laboratory and comes frozen. Here is the info from the website:

• Dermagraft is a cryopreserved human fibroblast-derived dermal substitute; it is composed of fibrolblasts, extracellular matrix, and a bioabsorbable scaffold.  Dermagraft is manufactured from human fibroblast cells derived from newborn foreskin tissue. During the manufacturing process, the human fibroblasts are seeded onto a bioabsorbable polyglactin mesh scaffold. The fibroblasts proliferate to fill the interstices of this scaffold and secrete human dermal collagen, matrix proteins, growth factors, and cytokines to create a three-dimensional human dermal substitute containing metabolically active, living cells. Dermagraft does not contain macrophages, lymphocytes, blood vessels, or hair follicles. Dermagraft is supplied frozen in a clear bag containing one piece of approximately 2” x 3” for a single-use application.

It looked like a piece of wet paper to me, much like the apligraf, only it wasn't sewed on to the wound.  The Foot God just placed it in the wound and covered it with bandages to hold it on.  It will either take or it won't.  No one was to touch it or look at it.  If there was any seepage then Connie was to put gauze and wrap over the top of what was already there.  And she was to STAY OFF OF THE FOOT.

She did.  She has learned to hop and to tippy-toe and gets around using her wheelchair.  Yesterday we went back for the weekly peek.

Connie:  "I want to hear that is looking wonderful.  I want to hear, "This foot is looking great.  It looks like you have been staying off of your foot all week.  It is healing nicely and coming along better then we could have ever hoped for."  That is what I want to hear.  Because if I hear something different I might loose it."
Nurse Michele:  "It looks good."
Me:  "It does.  Smaller."
Connie:  "It looks black.  What is that black stuff?"
Nurse Michele: (measuring)  "That's just dead skin.  The depth is really smaller.  Much smaller."

Enter the Foot God.

Foot God:  "Hey"  Bends over and peers at the wound.  "Looks better."
Me:  "She wants you to cheer and give her kudos for staying off her foot all week.  She wants some excitement."
Foot God: (washing his hands) "Way to go."

The Foot God cleaned off some dead skin, stuck a piece of gauze over the wound, took off his gloves and announced we would try the dermagraft again.  He then left and went into the paying  other patient's room to put on the first piece of the dermagraft.   Nurses entered and prepared the area. 

The Foot God entered and kicked me out of his chair.  Nurse Kelly entered with the dermagraft and we all studied it.

I sat down and the Foot God went through the same routine as last week, only this time he did not put as much gauze on the wound as before.  I commented on it.  He ignored me.  Nurse Kelly finished up the wrapping, made our appointment for next week's peek, and off we went....again.

Two grumpy old men and a lady

One of my newest activities now as a SAHM is to join my two retired male neighbors for chats.  My next door neighbor, Chuck, is a retired fire fighter who cooks and cleans while his wife works.  My neighbor directly across from him, Sid, is a retired police officer who recently lost his wife to cancer.  Both men like to sit in the mouth of Chuck's garage, smoke, talk and drink; coffee in the morning, liquor in the evening.  Chuck's side of the garage has folding chairs, a refrigerator, ashtrays, and a garbage can.  His wife parks her car on the other side. 

I usually join the two when I head out to walk the dog or head home from walking the dog.  Sometimes I stand, but recently I've taken to sitting with them and helping to solve the world's problems.  We talk about what is happening in the neighborhood and catch up on who knows what about which neighbor.  We tell stories from our past and discuss current events we read in the newspaper.  Elliot joins us and sits out under the shade of our tree enjoying the cool breezes that come his way.  Sometimes other neighbors out for a walk or other retired firefighters join us. 

Today's conversation ran the gamut from the neighborhood doings to pink chairs.  I then mentioned how interesting it is how conversations drift from one subject to another without meaning to; that one thing leads into another thing and before you know it you have talked about all kinds of crazy things you never meant to discuss.  Both men said this was something that only happened to women, and of course I pointed out to them our following conversation....and then got blamed for the path of it:

I was giving the men an update on my next door neighbor who had recently been released from the hospital.  I told them how he needed his lawn mowed and how my friend Kelly offered to do this for him;  how the neighbor insisted on paying her; and how she finally took his money and explained to him she would use it for her upcoming mission to Guatemala.  Sid wanted to know why she was going to Guatemala, and I explained about Kelly joining a group from her church to help out orphans.

Chuck:  "I knew a guy once who owned a pizza place down on Starkey.  He was very religious.  Had pamphlets on the tables and signs in his window.  He got involved in going on missions to Honduras  and Belize, and he always had buckets out to raise money for his trips and for building homes and churches in these countries.  He would go three or four times a year.  He got really involved in building something in Honduras and he went around hitting up businesses and people for about half a year.  Then one day he took all the donations and cleaned out his business account and took off to Honduras where he married a local women.  Left his wife and kids back here to run the pizza business with an empty account."  He took a drink of his coffee.  "Praise the Lord!"

We laughed, and then just in case they were willing to open their pockets toward Kelly's mission, I told them she didn't have a wife or kids and she didn't own a pizza place either.  Neither one offered up any dough, but Sid seemed interested in what she would be doing once she got to Honduras so I explained as best as I knew telling him I had visited the website.  This led into doing good deeds for others, and then I said I always wondered if there was danger involved would I still help someone out.  I then launched into a local story about a family who had been driving to Tampa several years ago and drove their van off the bridge.  I happened to be coming back from Tampa after dropping off Kelly at the train station and came across the scene after it had happened.  I was on the opposite side of the road and had no idea what had happened until later when I heard it on the news, but at the time I passed by there were helicopters and coast guard boats in the water.

Me:  "And a man teaching his 16 year old daughter how to drive stopped and jumped off the side of the bridge.  The husband and wife and one kid got loose, but the man had to go under and break through a window to get out the other boy.  He saved his life."
Sid:  "How easy is it to break out a window?"
Chuck:  "It isn't really that easy."
Me:  "When I first learned lifeguard training there was a section on how to free yourself from a submerged car.  I thought it was a silly thing to learn at the time being I lived in Indiana, but now I think about it all the time when I drive over the water."
Sid:  "I would just roll down the window."
Chuck:  "Most cars today have power windows."
Me:  "They all have electric windows.  I always think that if I go over the side for some reason should I power down the windows as I'm flying through the air?"
Chuck:  "Yes, and call and cancel your dinner reservations while you're at it, cuz chances are you aren't going to make it there on time."
Me:  "You know you are a real hoot this morning Chuck.  About as funny as that coffee cup.  Where did you get that thing?"
Chuck:  "The fire station."
Sid:  "The station?  It looks like a kid's drawing."
Chuck:  "It is.  The fire contest for schools they have every year."
Me:  "Madison won third place in that one year.  I gave her the idea for the contest, but she drew it."
Silence
Me:  "Aren't you going to ask me what the theme was?"
Sid:  "No."
Me:  "Well, I'm going to tell you.  I had her draw a person pulling a pizza box out of the stove and it is on fire and a person behind says, "I think you are suppose to remove the pizza from the box before you put it in the oven."
Sid:  "It says that right there on the pizza box!"
Me:  "It was for a contest.  I got the idea from a story Tom always tells about the time he did that in college.  He tells that story along with one about heating oil on the stove and it catching on fire."
Sid:  "Why was he heating oil?"
Me:  "I don't know, but the thing caught on fire and they didn't know what to do so Tom picked up the pan and carried it on fire through the apartment and dumped it outside in the snow.  He burned the whole top of the ceiling through the apartment as he walked."
Sid:  "See that wouldn't have happened to me because I'm not as tall as Tom."
Me:  "True."
Sid:  "If I were as tall as Tom I could hang up the shutter that just fell off my house yesterday."
Me:  "Oh, my gosh, are you kidding?  You're shutter fell off?"
Sid:  "Yep.  The piece of wood is still attached to the back of it."
Me:  "Can you put it back on?"
Sid:  "Sure, but that entails getting out the ladder and climbing up and it's too cold today to do that."
Chuck:  "It started getting cold this morning when I was out."
Me:  "Nice weather to sit here.  Won't be long before it will be too hot to do this."
Chuck:  "What did you do with your recliner?"
Me:  "It is still sitting in the garage.  Why?  Do you want it?  I offered it to you before.  Now you want it?"
Chuck:  "Well, we cleaned out the other bedroom this weekend and I was thinking.  I have some speakers and a TV and I was thinking with the recliner I could have a man cave."
Me:  "A man cave with a pink recliner.  I love it!"
Chuck:  "Aw!  I forgot it was pink until you said that.  I can't have a pink chair in the man cave."
Me:  "Why not?  I have two of them.  One for each of you."
Sid:  "But then where would you sit?"
Me:  "I'll just have you come over to my Steelers room when you need me for the conversation."

A dog's life is not what I signed up for

We got this dog.  That I didn't really want.  Because I knew it would fall to me to care for him daily.  I would be the one walking him.  I would be the one feeding him.  I would be the one taking him to potty.  I would be the one picking up the poop.  But Tom got him anyway.  And here he is one year later.  Ingrained in our family.  And I love him.  But seriously?

He is trying my patience.  Especially on raining days.  When he pokes me.  And I take him out in the rain.  And he stands there.  And then he sniffs under a wet plant.  While I get wet.  So I take him back inside.  And he pokes me again.  And again.  And again.  And we go back outside.  This time out back where I can leave him to sniff the yard or the pool.  And he stands at the door and howls.  To be let in.  So I do.  Sigh.

Out of the mouths of my babes

The headline should read:  "Out of the mouth of my Floridian babe"

We live one mile from the beach.  My daughter and her father ride their bikes to the new dog beach right by our house where dogs can frolic in the gulf and run along the sandy bar all under the safety of the new causeway bridge.  This morning when I made Darcy and her friend Savanna get up I told them we had to walk the dog.  Since the rain had stopped and the sun was out Darcy suggested the dog beach.  I have never been there, and craving the sun and beach, I agreed.

It was very nice.  You can park under the bridge so the car was in shade.  There were only four other dog owners there and all of the dogs were super friendly.  Elliot and Magnum, a half rottweiler and half something else 7 month old puppy twice my dog's size, ran and chased a ball (that Magnum soon crushed) and went in and out of the gulf splashing water.  The girls chased the dogs and went in and out of the gulf splashing each other with water.  I stood and chatted with Magnum's owner.

Darcy:  "Mom!  Mom!  Savanna and I have to use the bathroom."
Me:  "Well there are porta-potties right under the bridge over there."
Darcy:  "No, it's okay.  We just went in the lake."
Me:  "The lake?  Seriously?"
Darcy:  "You know what I mean."

Uh huh.  Was this child born in this state? 

Darcy:  "Mom! Mom!  Look at Elliot!"
Me:  "What?"
Darcy:  "He's in the ocean!"
Me:  "The ocean?  Seriously?"
Darcy:  "Well, I'm getting closer aren't I?"

Uh huh.  How much money has been spent on her education?

Spring Break review

We were once talking about going to Colorado on our spring break this year.  Unfortunately when you live in Florida spring break is NOT the time to be flying in or out of the state because everyone else is flying in to Florida in a desperate attempt to leave cold weather behind.  The airlines know this and jack up the prices.  For us to fly to Colorado was going to be over $500 a person, and despite the fact that we began planning this in December, what with the prices and my mother's health it just didn't work out.  Plus, I'm not an avid ski or cold weather fanatic.  I also was holding out hope that my husband would allow our family to go with our school on its annual international trip, and so I admit, I didn't push all that hard to go skiing. (Sorry Boos clan!)

Because of this we were stuck here in Florida with no family coming, and I was determined to make some side trips and hit the beach often to show the girls a good time.  Best laid plans....

Friday - 1/2 day of school so one of the girls' classmates had her birthday party at the beach.  It happened to be Kelly's part of the beach, and so I picked up four girls after school, parked at Kelly's and hit the beach.  I lathered my two girls up with sunscreen and applied it to my upper body.  There were 18 kids there and at one time all 18 of them were playing together in the water on rafts and noodles.  The parents had brought pizza and cake and we ended up there for four hours.  We also ended up with sunburn.  Madison and Darcy's backs and cheeks were burned.  My feet were so burned they swelled up along with my toes.  I also burned my knees and left leg.  We definitely looked like tourists.  We came home miserable and tired.  Darcy's friend Natalie spent the night.  She too was sunburned.  We figured it would all be better in the morning. 

Saturday - It wasn't.  The next day we were even redder.  We had turned on the pool heater the night before and so Darcy and Natalie went swimming, but the sun beating down on them made the sunburn worse and so they only lasted an hour.  Back inside they came to plop on the couch and watch television.  Madison sat reading all day.  I sat with my feet propped up to help with the swelling.  We decided that Sunday would be the day we attempted the beach again because surely our sunburn would be better.

Sunday - It wasn't.  But it didn't matter because the sun had disappeared and it was overcast all day.  Darcy had spent the night at Natalie's house.  She rode bikes to the ice cream shop, had her nails done, and played basketball with her friend's brother.  Madison and Tom went to Tampa.  Kelly and I watched NCAA basketball and ate.  After church the other two girls came back to our house.  Natalie brought her boogie board in hopes of beaching it the next day.  We decided that Monday would be our new start of spring break!

Monday - Yep, the start of our new spring break started with pouring rain.  It rained off and on the entire day.  Madison had a doctor's appointment where she got a shot.  Natalie was tired and we took her home.  The girls and I visited Grandma Connie.  We picked up Madison' buddy Gabby to spend the night.  The girls came home and played Barbies and board games while the rain poured.  I watched television.

Tuesday - We awoke to another overcast day, but the sun was trying to peer out off and on.  Darcy and I headed to her appointment with the Foot God and then we got bagels and coffee.  We all enjoyed breakfast and a walk with the dog before the rain returned.  We spent the day playing more board games.  We went to Target.  We made fried ice cream and sat and talked with Gabby and her mother.  They left at midnight and the two girls and I fell into bed after one.

Wednesday - It was overcast again, but not raining.  We picked up Darcy's friend Savanna and headed up to take Grandma Connie to see the Foot God.  The weather held up for her to sit/crawl her way down the stairs and then again up the stairs on our return.  We did some errands for her, and by the time we left her it was pouring down rain. 

We had an early dinner and then went to see the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie.  By the time we drove home the rain was coming down so hard some streets were flooding.  We played board games until one and went to bed.

Thursday - Still pouring.  The wind was quite fierce.  Phone call #1 - my mother telling me not to come up to her house that night because the weather was going to be bad.  Phone call #2 - Savanna's mother to discuss pick-up arrangements.  Phone call #3 - my husband telling me bad weather was about to pass by me and not to panic that it wouldn't last long.  Phone call #4 - my friend Veronica telling me a tornado was coming through my area.  I turned on the television.  Apparently the tornado had already passed me by while I was talking on the phone and was heading down the road toward where Kelly and my husband work.  Phone text #1 - Kelly telling me she was out of power at work.  Phone text #2 - my husband telling me the sheriff's radio tower was down.  Phone call #5 - my friend Ann calling to see if I was alright since a tornado had come through my area.  Phone text #3 - my friend Krista answering my text to her because I knew she was out camping.  She said she was (*&^% crazy and getting quite wet.  The tornado was heading toward them so they were all inside the rec center.  Phone call #6 - a person looking for swimming lessons.  Hmmm?  The rain make her think of that?  Phone call #7 - my mother checking in with me.  Phone call # 8 - Savanna's mother calling to report on the damage in the area while she and her husband rode around town.  Phone call # 9 - Kelly to say she was being sent home and did I want some food?  Savanna's father appeared to check on us.  Kelly appeared with food.  The three of us watched television on the tornado and weather update.  The three girls were playing board games and watching television.  Phone call #10 - Savanna's mother checking in.  Phone call #11 - school business, but since I was still on the phone with call #10 she left a message.  At least she was busy.  Kelly and Jim left.  Phone text #4 - my friend Cindy asking me a question regarding the school business.  No mention of weather.  Phone text #5 - Kelly telling me no one should be driving in this weather.  Or texting and driving in this weather.  Phone call # 12 - my friend Sharon who was planning on meeting me at Connie's to discuss us not meeting.  Phone call #13 - Susan checking in knowing we had a tornado and because she was bored.  Phone call #14 - my calling Connie to check in again.  Phone call #15 - Savanna's mother checking in to pick up her daughter.  Phone call #16 - a solicitor wanting me to donate money.  Phone call #17 - my husband telling me he was working late on a no power problem. 

Meanwhile from morning through night the rain poured and poured and poured.  If it stopped for two seconds we ran the dog outside to potty.  Then it poured again.  And thundered.  And lightning hit.  And it poured again.  We watched more television and played more board games.  The girls cooked inventions in my kitchen.  Savanna's mother drove over to chat and to drop off more clothes so Savanna could stay overnight again.  We went to bed listening to the rain on our roof.

Friday - I woke up to a ringing phone and SUN!  The sun was shining, shining, shining and a little cold front had come through and the weather was so perfect.  I got the two girls up and insisted we walk the dog.  Darcy suggested the dog beach, and since the word beach was part of that sentence I agreed.  We picked up donuts and hit the dog beach.  Then we returned home and hit the pool.  Madison and Savanna worked on math homework poolside while Darcy cooked pasta for lunch.  Finally a day to remember. 
And then Darcy sat on Natalie's boogie board that she had left here.  It slid out from under Darcy in the pool and smacked Savanna right in her nose.  Blood came pouring out of this little nose.  It took some time, but I got it stopped.  Darcy got her cleaned up.  Her dad came to pick her up. 

I've heard it is suppose to be a beautiful weekend.  We are determined to make it so....

Weekly slide photos

Thought it would be fun to show slides from a trip our family took with our former Pennsylvania neighbors, the Smiths, to the east coast of Florida.  We visited St. Augustine and Daytona, and since I recently visited those places two summers ago and hit many of the same places I thought I would show pics from each visit.  Just for fun.

St. Augustine - Castillo de San Marcos fort - One of my favorite places to visit.  So much history and the tour guides there now their stuff.

St. Augustine 1974 - Rusty, Cara, Kim & Steph

No more climbing for photos by 2008

Outside of the fort in the early 90's - took a trip there with Tom

Outside of the fort in 2008

St. Augustine - Alligator Farm - Such an interesting place to visit.  I can remember being horrified at how many alligators there were in one place when I was a kid.  I was even more amazed at how many there were in one place as an adult.

1974

2008

Marineland, FL - Marineland - Remember going there with the Smiths, but the best memory is going there with Tom.  The place was very rundown then, but you could literally get close enough to the dolphins to touch them.  It was the best trip.  The park closed down and eventually reopened, but as a research facility. 

1974

1974

 Early 90's - the park closed a few years after Tom and I were there

Early 90's - such a great visit

Daytona Beach, FL - As a child I remember that cars could drive on the beaches then.  Apparently now you can only drive on the beach one hour before sunset and one hour after sunrise.  I saw maybe one or two cars drive the beach while I was there in 2008.

In the Atlantic 1974

In the Atlantic 2008 - Russ' grandkids

(The two he missed out on and the two who would definitely be splashing him with water!)

Mexican Night!

Ring, ring.

Me:  "Yes?"
Kelly:  "I was just wondering if you had anything you needed from me this evening.  You know, something you need me to do?"
Me:  "We need your vivacious personality and witty charm."
Kelly:  "Are you with Connie?  Those are awfully big words."
Me:  "We also need your supervisory skills in helping with the cooking of fried ice cream.  You know how I hate fire and hot oil and the possibility of fire.  You are so good at keeping those to a minimum. 
Kelly:  "Fried ice cream?  That isn't exactly something I enjoy, but since you need my help I'll be there in half an hour."

 Madison found the recipe on the Internet.  I purchased the ingredients at the grocery and sat back, far back, from any hot action and enjoyed catching up with an old friend while Madison and Gabby, with Kelly's supervision, made the fried ice cream.

They rolled the vanilla ice cream into balls.  Darcy helped with the crushing of the Frosted Flakes and then she too, so much like her mother, left the room while the cooking happened.  Madison and Gabby added sugar, cinnamon, and honey to the crushed flakes and rolled the ice cream balls in to the mixture.  They then froze the balls for a half an hour.

While the ice cream balls were freezing the two girls had a discussion regarding the type of pan that should be used to cook the oil.  I piped up and offered my two cents which was using my pasta kettle.  The one that is way, way, way deep so that any hot oil that might splatter would have to jump further to reach any hands or fingers.  When Kelly saw this pan she put it back into the cupboard and took out a sauce pan.  She cooked the oil very slowly and tested its heat periodically. 

When Kelly deemed the oil hot enough she put in the first ice cream ball and it sizzled and quickly turned brown.  Out came the ball.  Madison traded places with Kelly and fried up some of the remaining balls.  The fried balls were put on a plate where Gabby used whipped cream, honey, and chocolate syrup to pretty them up.

Delicious!

Connie Foot Photo #13

Three days after the apligraf was sewed on to the foot Connie noticed a lot of drainage.  The home healthcare nurse alerted the Foot God who asked to see her the following Friday.  I was not able to accompany her on the trip and so my knowledge is from Connie's point of view. 

The apligraf had come undone and slid to the side of the wound.and thus was rendered useless.  The Foot God was not happy.  Connie was not happy.  He reiterated that she needed to stay off of the foot even if that meant going into some type of nursing facility.  Connie did some research on this and find a place near her house that would accommodate her and she decided to see how it looked by her next visit in a week.

I visited her yesterday and was there when the home healthcare nurse came to change the wound.  It looked better then I thought it would look.  It seemed smaller, and there is new tissue growth, but at this point perhaps I'm just willing it so. 

Today the Foot God's office called and told Connie that they have found the foreskin that he originally wanted to use, but was unable to locate due to insurance reasons.  He has found it and I will take her in tomorrow to have that surgical procedure.  I'm thinking I shall sit in the waiting room so that the Foot God has room to move and concentrate without me hovering over his shoulder taking pictures.  But I do hate to miss it.....

Billy Joel sings it best....Pressure!

Yahoo briefly had a lead on my homepage that wanted to inform me of the some places kids should see.  I had some trouble with my internet (Bright House, you are killing me!) and by the time the Computer Guru got me up and running the article had poofed.  I googled it and found something from CNN Travel about the 15 places children should see before they turn 15.  I clicked on to it because I was curious and because I'm looking for summer vacation ideas.  I also wondered if I had seen these places.

1. The Grand Canyon - check for me - check for Madison - I went to the Grand Canyon first with my mother and grandparents as witnessed by some slide photos previously posted.  I then went again with my mother and my friend Kim when we took a little trip to visit my Auntie Marilyn who was living in Arizona.  The third time I went to the Grand Canyon I took Tom and Madison.  Tom had never been and so on a visit to Arizona with his Aunt and Uncle we took a side trip to Sedona and the Grand Canyon.  Madison wasn't quite two.  Still counts I guess even though she has no memory.  

2.  The Redwood Forest - check for me - Again another thing I did on that trip out west when I was seven years old.  I really only remember looking at tall trees. 

3.  Monticello - check for me - I don't have photos of this trip because I was young and with our friends the Smiths.  We visited Monticello and watched the crossing of wild horses from Assateague Island to  Chincoteague Island.  I actually remember visiting Thomas Jefferson's house and have a vivid memory of walking up to the house on a pathway.

4.  Freedom Trail - check for me - This was yet another place Kim and I visited on our excursion through the New England countryside.  We had met up with a tour group led by a guy named Al from Boston.  We ended up in a couple of youth hostels with this group, and when Al heard we were going to be through Boston he invited us to stay with him.  He worked in Hingham in the shipyard.  He lived in a dormitory warehouse where he supervised the kids who worked there in the summer.  The kids lived in this dorm then, but since it was October the dorm was empty and so Kim and I stayed a couple nights there.  It was the craziest thing I've ever done and the most fun.  We took the ferry into Boston and walked the Freedom Trail.

5.  Niagara Falls - There is some discrepancy in this one.  I thought I had been here on my way to or from Europe the summer before my 8th grade year.  My mother swears that never happened.  I have a photo of some roaring water that I always thought was the falls, but....guess I will have to put this on my list.

6.  The National Mall - check for me - check for Madison & Darcy - Another stop on my trip with Kim.  We did the city proud.  We rode the trolley and hopped off and on viewing attractions.  It was a great way to get around the city to see everything.  I later went again with Tom when he ran the Marine Corp Marathon.  I seriously have very few memories of touring D.C. then with him, but we went again with Connie and the girls a few years ago.

Trip with Kim in the 1989

Trip with Tom in early 90's

Trip with the girls 2006

7.  Williamsburg - This too is another one that I'm sure I've been to and so I'm checking it for myself.  When I did this I'm not sure, but I remember exploring Jamestown.  Perhaps with Karl Smith?  Hmmm....perhaps I should still go through Williamsburg on my way to the Falls.

8.  Walt Disney World - check, check, and triple check - You live in Florida and can afford it you go to Disney World.  I'm glad to see it made the list because it truly is the most magical place on earth.  Okay, maybe that's stretching it some, but you will definitely forget about your worries when you visit here.






9.Independence Hall - Now there is a slight chance that I have been here, but I'm not going to count this.  I visited Philadelphia years ago while visiting my once Pennsylvanian neighbors the Smiths.  I flew out of Philadelphia on my first solo plane ride and so we stayed there with my friends' grandparents.  We might have done some touring of the city, but I have no memory of any of it save for sitting around the Dilg's house.

10.  Alcatraz Island - Never been and San Francisco is on my lists of places to visit.  I'll just add Alcatraz next to it and make sure my daughters are along for the ride.

11.  Ellis Island - Although I visited New York with Kim on another traveling adventure we did not see Ellis Island.  I was more interested in seeing David Letterman at the time I was there.  My kids have only driven around New York City as we made our way to Washington D.C. so that certainly does not count.

12.  Yellowstone National Park - check for me - On my trip out west.  This is probably the park I remember the most because we had a bear come up to our car window and it was oh, so exciting and yet oh, so scary.







13.  Fenway Park - Never been, and I found this one to be the oddest of all the places listed.  I like baseball, and I understand it is the oldest stadium still around today, but wouldn't the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown be a better place to visit?  And I have visited that and could have checked it off, darn it!

14.  Crater's of the Moon National Monument and Preserve- Huh?  Never heard of it.  It is located in Idaho and known as "the only officially weird park".  Apparently there were volcanic eruptions there some 15,000 years ago and it has a 618 square mile lava field that was once used by astronauts as a training site.  Interesting.  Guess that will have to be a stop on my way to California.

15.  San Diego Zoo - Nope.  Along with San Francisco, San Diego is a place I've never been, but is on my list.  I'm not a big zoo person, but I've heard this is the zoo to tour in the U.S.

Okay, so I've been to eight out of the 15 places (and maybe more depending on who you believe), but I've got a long way to go in making sure my children get to these attractions.  Madison will be 15 in November so it looks like I've got my summer already planned.  You would have thought they would have done a better job of not spreading them all around the map of the U.S., wouldn't you?  I guess I'll have to group them and take the next few vacations to hit the north, south, east, and west attractions.  Anyone want to join me?

Look what I found

Since we chucked the entertainment center I had to find a spot for all of the crap that was inside it, mainly CD's and records.

Darcy:  "What's a record?"

I had just taken them all out of the entertainment center and dumped them on the dining table and dining room chairs.  After a week of looking at the stuff on the dining room table I began looking around my house for a place to put the stuff, albeit temporarily until we replaced the center.  After a week of searching for the replacement I realized that the albums would need a more permanent place because the new entertainment centers are now called consoles and are half the size.

Tom:  "Why are we keeping these albums?"

I live in a small Florida home that was built in the 60's.  People in the 60's obviously did not have much stuff because besides a closet in each bedroom I have exactly three other closets; one by the front door and two in the hallway that are half the size of the one by the front door.  So let's say I have two extra closets.  Seriously, if you really got do to it the only closet that is really a closet is the one in Madison's bedroom.  It is like the closet Rusty and I had as kids, stretches almost the entire length of a wall.  For years her closet housed every piece of junk we owned.  Now it houses all the extra bedspreads, comforters, and quilts along with some junk and boxes of junk.

So I decided that I would put the CD's in the buffet that my mother-in-law gave me that is right by my front door.  It is quite large and I got all of my CD's in there.  It also had my photo albums so I thought I should take the photo albums out and put them into the hall closet and replace them with the record albums.  Easier said then done and it resulted in an emptying of the closet and a lot of other nonsense, but it doing all of this I discovered the following:

This was an album I ordered off the television!  It had all these great hits, but when it arrived I discovered that the songs were sung by other singers and not the original artists.  A  huge wake up for me at my own expense.

I think this must have been one of Rusty's records, and I bet he never played it.  I kept all of his record albums because a lot of them were in my old record case that I had as a kid (bet I could find it in a slide photo) and he didn't want them, and I was feeling nostalgic, what with the sale of my 8200 house.

Who doesn't love Uncle Lumpy?  This will be one of the first albums I play when I get my record player hooked back up in my TV console.

Obviously I had a think for Muskrat Love.  This is the 45.  Remember when those records came in protectors with pictures?  Found quite a few of those.

Who doesn't love George Michael and Billy Joel?  I was a big Billy Joel fan.  Think I have most of his albums and he dominates my Ipod next to Toby Keith.  My favorite George Michael song back in the day was Faith, but that came way later than his stint in Wham!

I ended up getting all of the stuff put away, but now I can't wait to hook up the old recorder player and start listening to some of these oldies!

Darcy:  "What's a recorder player?"
Tom:  "You still have a recorder player?  Does it work?"

What to think, what to think...

While being a stay-at-home-mother is a thankless rewarding job, it is a job that, when the kids are grown and off to school or sleep overs or get-togethers, one is left alone with only the thoughts in one's head.  I spend a lot of time talking aloud or just talking aloud in my head.  Here are just a few things that went through my head yesterday while cleaning:

A man had to have designed the toilet.  He had to have done this because no women would have designed a toilet with curves.  What is the point of all these curves on the underside of the toilet that no one even sees?  Curves that collect dust, dirt and grime that then have to be cleaned...by a women...who has to bend way over to even reach the stupid curves in the first place.  Are all toilets like this?  They probably aren't, but then Tom picked out this toilet and he is a man and he didn't look at these dumb curves and think, "how ridiculous".  Because he doesn't clean them! 

And then why do builders put the curved toilet in a spot right next to the shower so that when someone wants to clean the toilet she can't get her upper body between the tight fit of the toilet and shower to even clean the curvy toilet?  She has to kneel on the tiled floor to even reach the bottom of the toilet.  Because builders are men.  If I were to build a bathroom I wouldn't put the toilet here.  Where would I put the toilet?  Hmmmm...how would I have designed the layout of this bathroom?  Well, I would put the sink under the window.  Why aren't sinks under the window?  Then you would have something to look out at and enjoy.  Why are the showers under the windows?  It makes mold grow around the window and you have to make sure you have windows that are designed for no peeking.  If the sink were under the window who cares if the glass was see through?  Of course, you couldn't have a mirror, but you could put the mirror on another wall.  Okay, okay, maybe this design is the best for this particular bathroom, but know what?  I wouldn't have put the stupid bathroom here in the first place!  Yeah!  Yeah, I would have designed the entire house better so that the toilet was in a better spot.

I got this type of vacuum cleaner so that I could save money on bags.  I thought dumping out the canister would be quick and easy, but I didn't realize how filthy it would be.  Every time I want to vacuum this canister is full, and I don't know this, and I vacuum anyway, and it is a crappy job.  And then I discover it is because the canister is full of dirt and grime.  So I go to remove it and the dirt and grime falls out of the top on to the semi-cleaned floor that I just vacuumed.  And my hands are black.  And now I see that the bottom of the canister, which my husband pointed out to me catches dirt and grime, is full too.  Now I'll have to clean it too.  Oh, and look what is in here.  The filter.  And it is filthy.  Now it is all wet from cleaning it so I can't put it back together and finish vacuuming.  The vacuums with the bags are looking better to me. See what happens when I get cocky?  Who in the world designed these things?  I bet it was a man!

I don't know why I can't just stay in one room and finish cleaning it.  I'm cleaning my dining room table, but that led to me opening up the hall closet, which then led to me cleaning out the hall closet without finishing the dining table.  And at one point I wandered into my bedroom closet and what do you know?  I started cleaning it too.  Why is that?  My house looks worse then it did before I started cleaning.  I made a list.  Why didn't I just stick with that list and follow it?  It doesn't say clean out closet.  Well, it sort of does.  I mean I kind of knew that I would have to get some things down to make room for some of the stuff on the dining table.  But the bedroom closet wasn't on the list.  But it does look good.  And I got rid of a bunch of clothes I won't ever wear again.  And it freed up space so that I could go shopping.