Res Ipsa Loquitur and all that jazz!

Matty's First Communion

2008-05-11T09:08:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, we celebrated Matty's first communion at St. Christopher's RC Church in Baldwin. Although it was pouring the night before, the sun came out for us. While I wasn't thrilled with the way the Religious Education department handled certain aspects of the program (didn't allow the kids to walk up the aisle, communal banner instead of individual ones or pictures in church), it was still a beautiful ceremony and Matty was so handsome and grown in his first suit.

After Church, we went to the Milleridge Inn to celebrate with the family. This was the place my family always celebrated major occasions including my first Communion. Not only are they pros at handling events like this, they have the Village with old fashioned candy & toy shops, a bakery & jam shop and various other little places to investigate. The kids had a blast and Ryan swears to me that he is the one who discovered the Village.

Today, Matty goes to Church again, dressed in his communion suit, to celebrate with the rest of the St. Christopher's community. Next week we have the May Crowning and he gets to wear it again which is nice.

Spring Break Part A: Easter

2008-03-22T19:03:00.009-04:00

So this year, my kids have to spring breaks: Easter in March and Passover in April. Makes for a very strange Spring. They started their vacation on Wednesday and they are off through the Monday after Easter. I guess Danny decided he needed an Easter break also so he took vacation Thursday through Monday. The boys spent the first two days with Emily making cookies, having lunch at McDonald's and playing in the play area, playing video games, reading books and just plain having fun. I took off from work on Friday and we all went to the Bronx zoo. It was a tad chilly, especially when the wind kicked up, but otherwise a nice sunny day. Before we went to the zoo, we checked out the zoo's website and saw that a baby monkey was born the end of January. Of course, the zoo's Easter events were taking place over the weekend when we weren't going to be there.

The first place we visited was the birds, mainly because it was indoors (and warm!). It's not exactly easy to find all those little birds amongst the tree limbs and leaves in each exhibit. It's kind of like playing I Spy, which happens to be one of Ryan's favorite games. Next, we decided to explore the tiger exhibit. It was a nice big tiger planted right in front of the glass. The kids were laughing because it had its butt up against the glass. The exhibit was geared towards tiger conservation. One of the signs indicated that there are only 5000 tigers left in the wild - which really gives you a moment's pause. That is not alot of tigers and it also indicated that there were some countries that the people were so poor they sold tiger parts for salt. Can you imagine?

We decided to stop for a lunch break and grabbed a couple of pretzels. After munching on them, we went to the reptile house. This place was steamy - apparently the snakes, lizards and turtles like it hot. In addition, the zoo staff had not yet been on poop patrol because the snake exhibits were chock full of snake shit. What goes in must come out! Ryan is infatuated with snakes so this was one of his favorite exhibits. After this, we went to the mouse House. As we open the doors we were overwhelmed with such a stench. I couldn't put my finger on it but I knew that I recognize that smell. It wasn't until some lady said "skunk" then I realized that the stink was exactly that. And there it was, white in front of us, a big fat white and black smelly skunk. I was almost crawling up the walls at the site of all the rodents scurrying about. We escaped fairly quickly and the kids decided they wanted to take a ride on the bug carousel. We got such a nice picture of the boys on the carousel with Danny standing between them. The zoo got smart and hired photographers to take pictures and then sell the photographs. we actually ended up with three very nice photos as Ryan figured out how to look at the camera and smile. Here are the pics:

Of course we needed some souvenirs so we stopped at the gift shop and Ryan acquired another snake and Matty got an adorable tiger (of course there were more items but I am trying to keep this brief). On the way out we visited the monkey House. It always amazes me how much these little monkeys look like little people because of their human expressions. It is somewhat disconcerting at times. We looked for the Titi monkey family and luckily found them. Surprisingly, the suit did not advertise that there was a new baby.

On the way home we also stopped at Arthur Avenue but boy was it jammed! We should've figured that on Good Friday it was going to be packed. While we were unable to get into our favorite stores, we were at least fortunate enough to pick up some cannolis and Easter pie. We had a little traffic on the way home but all in all it was a very fun day.

Our Lost Winter Recess

2008-02-24T13:15:00.008-05:00

So my boys did not have a winter break. Or at least, not the way it was intended to be - with fun, playdates etc. Nope - we got the virus - not exactly the flu but close enough. Ryan brought it home from school (some other little kindergardener who refuses to cover his or her mouth when they cough or dripping with snot) and started getting sick last Saturday night. Matty came down with it on Tuesday and it nailed me on Thursday. And I had the flu shot!!! I went to the doctor to try to head it off and he prescribed a steroid - I don't know if it helped much or just got me through Friday in one piece. Today is the first day since Thursday that I feel better - weak, but better. The boys took it hard as well - 103 degree fevers and being too weak and tired to do anything but lay on the couch. Here is a picture of Matty somewhat on the mend:

So we tried to do some fun things - even though the boys were stuck inside. We made shrinky dinks. These things are alot of fun and I had shrinky dink inkjet paper to work with too. So I printed out some animals and we made pushpins out of them. The boys drew on some of the shrinky dink paper and made their own designs. We also introduced a new trick that I found online - adding clear embossing powder after the shrinky dinks bake and then bake another 4 minutes. It adds another nice, clear, shiny layer. Here is a picture of our creations:

Friday we had a snow day. I got the boys outside for a little bit to shovel and play. They were stir crazy at this point and I needed to dig my truck out. I actually had a closing to go to (even though I was infected with the creeping crud). Of course, I couldn't resist making some snowballs. Lucky for the boys, my aim stinks - I am lucky I can hit the side of a wall. On the other hand, Ryan has fantastic aim! Here is a nice snowy picture of our backyard:

Today we are just chilling out - I am recovering, Matty is enjoying his 12 hour marathon of Pokemon Diamond & Pearl on Cartoon Network and Ryan is trying to entice Danny to play Scooby Doo with him on XBox360. We are also making a nice slow cooker pork roast with green apples and onions (smells yummy!). I might make some pokemon shrinky dinks for Matty if I can muster up the energy and some of those peanutbutter fudge cookies (just cause they are so awesome!).

Everyday Digital Scrapbooking: How to Create a Simple Gift that is Sure to Impress: Digital Tutorial

2008-02-18T20:14:00.000-05:00

Everyday Digital Scrapbooking: How to Create a Simple Gift that is Sure to Impress: Digital Tutorial

Scrapbook calling cards are such a cool gift to make! They are a definite necessity in this day and age and can be tailored to the recipient's personality. How many times has someone asked you for your contact info - cell number, email address etc and you had to scribble it on the back of some miscellaneous piece of scrap paper floating around in the recesses of your bag? Makes a great gift for kids to give their friends - can become a trading card for kids too! The possibilities are endless!

Busiest Week in February

2008-02-17T18:13:00.021-05:00

I can't say I am unhappy that this week is over and I can breathe a sigh of relief. This was definitely a hectic week on all fronts. It started with Matty's birthday on Tuesday, February 12th. I still can't quite believe he is 8 - where does the time go??? I feel like it was just yesterday that he was wandering off to the dining room, a/k/a Matty's toilet, to do his "business" where he would promptly inform us that he was "making brown". Now he reads like a pro, flies through TIVO rewinding live TV & recording shows already in progress (Pokemon is the big favorite) etc (oh and he hits the bathroom instead of the dining room lol). He is very happy to be an even number this year - feels like it is far superior to being an odd number (which Danny, Ryan and I happen to be this year).

Ok, so back to the hectic week. Matty wanted Sandra Lee's peanut butter chocolate cookies for his school birthday party. Ok, not a big deal - her recipes are fairly easy and delicious - got that. Picked up the frosting and peanut butter (already had the sugar cookie dough as we stock up on that). First wrench in the monkey works - Monday afternoon one of my real estate brokers brings a client for a land trust and gives me an hour's notice. Now normally, notice isn't a big deal for a contract signing. It is a big deal for a land trust contract signing. The trust documents are complex, transfer tax returns have to be drafted and it is all time consuming. Plus, lets add a distrustful client who thinks he is half a lawyer. Makes for a late night. Before I knew it, it was 7:30pm and I was just leaving the office. Of course when I got home, it was not a happy reception and lets just leave it at that. Still had to make cookies though. I didn't finish until after everyone else had gone to bed but they were delicious. Here's a picture of the yummy delights:

Of course Ryan remarked, while eating one, that the frosting looked kinda like poop (I thought the same thing myself when I was squeezing it out of the pastry bag!).

I also made Matty a birthday card cause, well, I didn't know whether or not Danny signed my name to the card he bought lol and I didn't want to take a chance. I finished the whole fiasco and went to bed around 1:30am. Everything did look very nice for Matty when he would wake up in the morning and come downstairs:

Thursday was the next looming event - Valentine's Day. I also have my scrapbook lunch club that day with my little monsters - 15 kids Kindergarten through 2nd grade (including my own two little darlings). I decided to make Valentine's Day Cards with the kids which wasn't too difficult. I also took on making Valentine's Day Bookmarks for the kids in Matty's class (what was I thinking????) I created the bookmarks digitally with several different kinds, added the kids names to each one and then would laminate them and add tassels with beads. Wednesday night, I took my little printed bookmarks and we went into the basement. I grabbed my trust Xyron machine and looked for my laminate cartridge. Hmmm, found one that was practically empty and the only replacements were two laminate with magnet cartridges. It wasn't a good time to realize that the boys' nasty habit of laminating every piece of paper they got their hands on used up my 50 foot laminate cartridge. Also figured this all out around 8:45pm and Michaels closes at 9pm. With a sinking feeling, I realized I would have to go to Michaels in the morning, after I dropped the kids off to school. The pressure was on and the stress was mounting. Wrote out Ryan's Valentines and went to bed.

Wednesday was the 100th Day of School and a big deal in the elementary grades. We had done Ryan's 100th day project the week before, but Matty needed 100 of something to bring in. Thank God we had a container of mint hard candies and there was just over a 100 in the container. The 2nd graders did all sorts of math projects involving the number 100 and the Kindergarteners had a party. The boys came home with festive 100th day hats and I couldn't resist taking pictures:

Happy Valentine's Day - my boys gave me a 2nd generation IPOD Nano in pink - it was so adorable! I got them off to school and raced to Michaels for that laminate cartridge. Grabbed it, along with some other assorted items (I cannot go into Michaels and come out with just one thing - physically impossible) and raced back home. I laminated all the bookmarks (like 22 of them), punched holes in the top and proceeded to make the tassels and attach beads. An hour and a half later, I was done. It is now like 11am and lunch club starts at 11:40am. I gathered up my supplies for the cards and packed up my truck. Luckily, my sister-in-law, Donna, volunteered to give me a hand with lunch club that day (which made life a heck of a lot easier) and we made some really nice cards with the kids. Many of them made the cards for their respective teachers which was really nice. Raced home to get changed because I had a closing in the office. (Notice the theme for the day - racing)

When I got to the office (a good 45 minutes late) a dozen breathtaking red roses in a vase was sitting on the coffee table in my office. The closing went smoothly, signed a couple of contracts and was only a little late. We had talked about going out to dinner so when I called Danny and told him I was on my way home, I was totally surprised when he said they were heading out the door. I forgot - Matty's guitar lesson. I drove directly there and met them at the Oceanside music school. Afterwards, we had a romantic (uh not) dinner at Moes. It was very tasty however - they make awesome Mexican food. Ah, but then the kicker of the evening - Matty had to bring the bookmarks back home. Evidently, he started whipping them around and the beaded tassels got hopelessly tangled. I couldn't even speak - all the hours of work, the running to Michaels, for this. I tried to untangle them but it was impossible so I had to cut the tassels off. Matty was devastated - he hadn't meant for this to happen and I couldn't hold it against him. So, I sat down and replaced the beads and tassels. But this time, I made three groupings and tied ribbon around the tassels and another ribbon around the body of the bookmarks. I put them all in a baggie and wrapped the rest of the baggie securely around the bookmarks and secured it with tape. They made it to the kids, safe and sound this time.

I survived the crazy week - Friday was fairly inconsequential except for the evening trip to BJs so we could get Matty a birthday cake for his party the next day at Sportime (nothing like waiting till the last minute). BJs is good like that though - their cakes are simply fantastic - you pick out the one you like and bring it to the bakery lady and she writes your message on the cake in your choice of colored icing. Takes all of 5 minutes - we walked out with a nice whipped cream icing, marbled cake with a chocolate mousse and raspberry filling.

Matty's birthday party on Saturday was absolutely perfect. We had it at Sporttime in Lynbrook. Matty got to pick three sports for the kids to play. He chose floor hockey, kickball, and soccer. He had a good turnout - a total of like 15 kids and they all had a blast. I took some really nice pictures and this great shot of Matty and Ryan:

The miracle is that they are actually both looking at me at the same time. Any parent with kids this age would realize that it practically takes a planetary alignment for something like this to happen.

Neglecting the Blog

2008-02-10T14:50:00.000-05:00

So yes, I have neglected my blog - it isn't as if we are doing nothing these days. I have been very busy with going out and drumming up business with my new niche - land trusts. Most New York attorneys have never even heard of land trusts let alone know how to structure one so it definitely gives me a leg up on the competition. The downside of new clients is the "breaking in" period. We have to get to know them and how they work and vice versa. I am an email/IM/text girl - I like being able to carry on five IM conversations at once, emailing and texting. A phone conversation is a waste of time that often leaves one of the participants unclear later on as to what was said. A written record is always key - no misunderstandings (ok well atleast minimizes it), you can forward parts to staff to delegate work, update multiple parties with status etc. Unfortunately, some people do not subscribe to my theory of communication so my voice mail constantly builds up.

On the family end we have been preoccupied with school (report cards two weeks ago), skiing, First Communion Meetings for Matty, guitar lessons etc. It gets hectic!!! Boys' report cards were good. Matty always does fantastically in his academics and citizenship (for lack of a better term - being respectful, following directions, listening blah blah blah). His teacher, Ms. Cavassa, can't say enough wonderful things about him. Ryan, on the other hand, had a stellar performance academically but somewhat in the toilet on the citizenship front. He isn't so much bad or malicious - he just does what he wants to do. So it was a difficult report card to address. How do you punish a kid who is the top student in his class but reward him when he dropped in being courteous, paying attention etc.? What a quandary. I am afraid that he is bored and that adds to the problem.

We are trying to plan a ski trip for the first week of March. Danny and I would like to take the boys out west to Colorado to get some solid skiing in this winter. Focus has to be on whats to do for kids, flight times etc. If it isn't a kid friendly resort - it isn't for us. So we are leaning towards Snowmass/Aspen. Snowmass recently implemented multimillion dollar renovations including a giant kid's center. Flight isn't too long either and there are lots of family activities. It is so beautiful out there - so wide open and majestic. Absolutely worth pulling the boys out of school for that kind of experience.

Both my boys are digging reading which makes me so happy. I love to read (haven't necessarily done much lately except for work related) and to me, its the key to knowledge. Matty's reading has improved dramatically - although he is reading on "M" level according to school, he reads books above that level with minimal assistance. Ryan sounds out words like a pro - I nearly fell off my chair the first time I heard him do it. He has a sound understanding of his letter sounds that he is definitely ready for phonics. This boy will be reading by the end of Kindergarten! Danny has been wanting to take the boys to the bookstore so we went last night. First, we had dinner at Ayan's Shish-Ka-Bob at the Source Mall. The people there are no friendly and the food is delicious. Imagine our surprise when we looked over at the table adjacent to us and we see Ms. Berson eating dinner with her financee and family! Ms. Berson is Ryan's kindergarten teacher. Everytime she spoke, Ryan's ears perked up and he looked over because he could hear her voice. Once they were finished with dinner, we waved hello and she stopped over to talk to Ryan. It was one of the most enjoyable family dinners we have had in a long time.

We headed over to Borders Bookstore and made a bee line to the kid's section. It is so nice with rugs etc and places to sit and read. Ryan found a couple of books and promptly sat down to read SpongeBob Atlantis Squarepantis and I had to snap a picture of him:Matty is enjoying the Magic Treehouse series. (Hint! Hint! Everyone! Matty's Birthday alert!) It is fiction but based in historical fact. There are something like 38 books in the series plus research books to accompany certain Magic Treehouse books. He also loved the book, "George's Marvelous Medicine", by Roald Dahl, upon which he based his book report project. So I suggested some Magic Treehouse research books as well as some other books by Roald Dahl. I explained if he liked a certain book, then he would probably also enjoy other books by the same author. Danny got some Disney books and we were set.

Bring That Beat Back!

2008-01-19T15:54:00.000-05:00

I have been fascinated with the 2007 remix of 90's and 80's dance/pop tunes ever since the Synergy Christmas Party At Don Juan's (DJ was awesome by the way) and I stumbled upon this fab site, Digital Eargasm. You can download the hottest remixes for free. There are also a number of other great sites: Retro Remixes, The Remix Archive 2.0 to name a few. I was able to get most of the songs that I heard that night. The DJs have been remixing "I Know What Boys Want", "Take On Me", "Too Shy" to name a couple.

My real find today is an obscure dance/funk song from 1983. The name of the group was Girls Cant Help It and the song is Baby Doll. One of the girls I used to hang out with, Evelyn, had this on 12 inch but Evelyn was very proprietary - you could never get a copy of a song from her lol. Not that it was easy to do in those days - needed a record player with a cassette deck that you could record with. Trying to find this song before the days of the Internet was like looking for a needle in a haystack but I found it today!!!! They actually have a video on You Tube and here it is:

Holiday Light Show at the Bronx Zoo

2007-12-23T11:51:00.000-05:00

My Little Man Round 2

2007-12-19T10:05:00.000-05:00

Today is the Meadow School Winter Concert and now both my boys will be performing. Kindergarten through 2nd grade takes place in the afternoon and our whole family will be there.

I love this picture of Ryan that I took this morning. It also brings back such memories - when I was taking this picture the first time with Matty when he was in kindergarten. Time sure does fly!

Girls Night Out & Happy Birthday to Me!

2007-12-08T10:34:00.000-05:00

So the girls had a night out in Huntington to celebrate my birthday. A limo took us to Honu Kitchen for dinner and drinks. What an awesome restaurant! It definitely had a Manhattan feel to it and they served dinner in my favorite style - little plates. Check out their web site and the fantastic menu! Thanks Geri for a fantastic pick!!!!

Some more pix:

Scanlon & Pinto (well actually vice versa!)

Felicia & Geri

Halloween Fun at Dees Nursery

2007-10-14T08:48:00.001-04:00

Danny worked yesterday so the boys and I decided to do some Halloween stuff this weekend. One of our favorite places to visit this time of year is Dees Nursery. Not only do they set up a pumpkin patch, they have very spooky vignettes set up throughout their property, a petting zoo, bouncy house/slide, magicians, face painting etc. So we headed out around 11am so we could get there before it got too crowded.

So dead bodies launched themselves out of coffins, monster dogs came out of their dog houses to bark at us, a gross zombie puked green liquid into a bucket and more. Ryan was terrified at certain points - its very real for him. Matty of course laughed and thought it was great although a couple of times he backed up very fast.

I put together a little slideshow of our visit:

Thoughts of Autumn

2007-09-18T06:46:00.000-04:00

When the weather starts to get cool, like this week, I start thinking about the cool, crispness of Autumn, of apples and pumpkins, of leaves turning all sorts of glorious colors and of Halloween. Today is the first morning that I actually popped the fireplace on and damn it, I am ready to light a pumpkin scented candle! I am also chomping at the bit to go to storage and break out all of our autumn flora and decorations but I will hold out till October 1st for the spooky stuff. All of the summer decor looks so tired and too pastel - its time for the rich burgundies, oranges, golds and greens of fall.

And the autumn food! Time to break out the slow cooker and make gumbos and stews. Oktoberfest is coming and we always join in with goulash and spaetzle (not those cheap thin, little welfare noodles, but the gargantuan ones you push off a tablespoon into the water the way my grandmother made them) and German weiss beer of course! Fresh ham, kase spaetzle, pot roast...the list goes on and on (and my mouth is watering!).

We have a Halloween Scrapbook that chronicles the Halloween celebrations of years past with the boys. I thought I would share the contents so far to get everyone in the mood for one of my favorite Holidays!

First Day of School

2007-09-09T12:53:00.000-04:00

So we have survived the first week of school! Both boys this year are in school full time and it is a big change for us. So strange to come home to an empty house. Emily is now officially a Scanlon & Pinto chick until school ends each day.

Matty is a second grader now and an old hand at the school thing. He was excited to go back and see his friends. A good student, he really enjoys learning and the whole school experience. He even had homework the first day! Ryan started kindergarten and walked in without a problem. The first day is usually easy - the little ones are so excited - its the second day when they fall apart. Through the rest of the week I saw some kids in hysterics and felt so bad for them. Some take longer to adjust then others. On the first day, Ryan held a class survey, he asked his classmates "whoever wants to invite me over for a playdate, just raise your hand" and one kid actually did! Then he comes home and tells us "that girl" said we have gym tomorrow. I could see I needed to teach him his teacher's name at that point!

Picture of First Day of School boys:

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

2007-09-03T19:34:00.000-04:00

There is just something special about a 3 day weekend - its just plain luxurious. Come Sunday, you realize that "Wow! I actually have another day off and it feels like Saturday". Monday kinda stinks though because it is really Sunday. Another bonanza - a short work week. It is really fantastic on many different levels! It was the weekend of pear cider for me though - so totally hooked on it! Goes down smooth and easy - very yummy and buzzy lol:

My kids went up to my in-laws again for more swimming and mowing. We went up Sunday for a Labor Day BBQ. My parents went also which was great. We all hung out, ate junk (love junk - cheese, sopressata, chips and such) and the boys turned into their usual fishy selves and barely left the water. So great to see Ryan swimming and no longer needing his swim vest. The only downer (and only for a little while) was when Matty slipped on the diving board and fell. The surface on the diving board is sandy - rough texture for a better grip but not very kind to skin. He got a nice scrape on his leg and various abrasions on his chest and arms. He cried quietly - you can tell he is at that age he doesn't want to cry in front of anyone cause he is now a little man. We got him back into the water because of course the chlorine is good for wounds. He stayed away from the diving board though.

Here is a picture of Matty diving right in:

and Ryan coming down the slide:

Danny made a great dinner of pesto shrimp, sausage and broccoli over penne, along with fresh tuna from Geri and Ed. I actually challenged my mother to a game of scrabble (one of her favorites - she is a pro) and she beat me. I just do not remember the two letter words anymore so she definitely had me at a disadvantage. My mom and I used to play all the time when I first got married and even when Matty was a baby but of course as life got more hectic and they moved out east, those games became a rarity. My parents left as it was getting dark because they had a long ride home. We stayed over so we could relax and drive home Monday morning.

Monday we left Westchester mid morning and sped on home. The kids headed right for the basement to satisfy their video game fix (Ratatouille and Curious George are the hits of the moment). I passed out on the couch for a nice, quick power nap and Danny followed after me. So I played some games with the kids - Pop Up Pirate and Air Hockey. Once I was rested enough, Matty and I went to Baldwin Harbor Park to rollerblade (Matty rode his bike). It is not often that I get to spend alone time with Matty. He is just maturing way too fast for me! It was a nice, relaxing day for this family - a great way to end the summer.

Here is a fantastic picture of Ryan from Sunday:

Fun Weekend

2007-08-27T08:32:00.001-04:00

So after a busy work week (I barely made it home on time one or two nights - one I came home at 8:30pm), we were going upstate to my in-laws house in Pound Ridge, NY for a barbecue. The Kings were invited - this is the family that they have been friends with for so long they are more like family than friends. The boys were already up there with their cousin, Kailey. My in-laws picked them up on Thursday for the third straight weekend in a row (thank you, by the way. Love my kids but its nice just being adults on occasion!).

Danny and I were also making a trip to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, on our way up, for some Italian goodies. Last weekend Danny worked and his company catered lunch with all sorts of delicacies from this 'Little Italy" in the Bronx. So while Danny and his mom were trying to decide where certain stores were on Friday night, I hopped on the 'net and looked them up. They were all right there - subjects of several blogs dedicated to food. So I made a list and on Saturday morning we plugged the first address into the navigation system (we took my X5 for the drive) and off we went.

This area of the Bronx is right off Fordham Road. We passed Fordham University and made the left onto Arthur Avenue. A couple of blocks in you start to get the flavor of the area and there are several cafes with old men sitting enjoying their cappuccino. We were looking for 187th street and Casa Della Mozzarella, 604 East 187th St, - the famous cheese store. It is such a small, cozy store with delicious aromas throughout. On the Internet, everyone recommended the scamorza, a cousin of mozzarella, so I kept my eye out for this much hyped cheese. Danny ordered fresh mozzarella, sopressata, hot and regular dried sausage, olives stuffed with Gorgonzola and other delicious antipasto. We got the scamorza - the table variety and the gentlemen sliced everything else for us. On the way upstate, Danny and I kept snacking on the scamorza - it was delicious! All I needed was a nice glass of pino grigio and I would have been complete. Next on our list was Addeos Bakery, 2372 Hughes Avenue, where we picked up heavily seeded semolina bread and nice warm prosciutto bread. Last but not least, we stopped at Egidio's Pastry Shop, 622 East 187th St, for their famous pignoli cookies, cannoli and tri-color dot cookies.

We got to my in-laws a little after noon and decided to have an Italian feast for lunch. Everyone tried the scormoza and loved it - especially Ryan! He couldn't get enough! Matty came in from mowing and was loving it also. We made a lunch of the fresh mozzarella, sopressata and roasted red peppers on the semolina bread. It was heavenly! After lunch, we headed up to the pool to beat the heat and humidity. Soon enough, the Kings started showing up - Aunt Diane and Uncle Jack being the first with Nikole and David. Chris and Lizz showed up next and the fun started. Chris and David were busy playing in the pool with Matty and Ryan. Boys will be boys! The men got their exercise throwing the boys around in the pool. Danny jumped in and we made the decision it was time for Ryan to shed the floating suit and swim. He was like a little fish! He isn't a strong swimmer yet but he knows what to do and it was great. Not that I didn't have my heart in my throat and kept my eye on him at all times! Uncle Jack got into the fun and they named the game "Midget Tossing" - throwing Ryan in the air in the pool. Ryan, of course, could not get enough!

Donna came up with Nicky who was so excited to see everyone. It is amazing to see him walking around - so not used to that yet. Its a tough age though - once they are that mobile until they are about three because you have to be so on top of them. Danny took Nicky in the pool and he was splashing and thoroughly enjoying himself. After everyone was totally waterlogged, dinner was made and everyone headed down to the house. At this point, the air became still and heavy with the humidity. It was difficult to breathe it was so heavy. Danny jumped back in the pool to cool off with the boys. David soon followed and they again started tossing the boys in the pool. At this point, I became lazy and we decided to just stay over. Around 8pm, the Kings left and we chilled out and watched TV. When it was time for bed, we were all exhausted and no one fought it. Everyone had a great time and sleep was the best thing!

Fun in the Land of Chocolate

2007-08-02T21:32:00.000-04:00

So I am blogging from the Great State of Pennsylvania (a nod to "Dumb & Dumber" to those of you who subscribe to stupid movies like I do). We are ensconced in the Hershey Hotel overlooking Hershey Park. Danny remarked how much this hotel reminds him of the Shining - big old, historic hotel (glad it isn't late Fall lol). It is truly beautiful and we got the Reeses Suite - a sumptuous suite with a wet bar, nice down pillows and comforters. It truly is an incredible hotel and very high brow. You can't have dinner in the main dining room unless the men in the party are wearing dinner jackets. So tonite we actually went to Bob Evans for dinner - lots of food for a little bit of money. Not that I am cheap - any of you who know me can attest to that. But I have a problem paying $8 for a small bowl of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and my kids barely eating.

They are barely eating cause they are too busy eating chocolate. How could you blame them? This is Chocolate Town, with Hershey Kisses as lights on the lampposts and the aroma of chocolate wafting over the town. We actually bought a 5lb bar of Hershey's chocolate. Poor Ryan's arms were buckling holding it up for a picture. I look at it and all I can think is I need a big jar of peanut butter and a knife. No dipping it straight in as it is way too big. They even gave the boys Hershey Chocolate Bars when we checked in and we get Hershey Kisses on our bed when it is turned down for the evening. We also bought a hershey computer mouse, hershey kisses magnets, hershey glasses - you name it, we bought it!

I had been here before when I was a little girl with my parents. I didn't remember much other than the Kisses lamplights and the smell of chocolate. Matty & Ryan were debating the whole way down to Hershey as to how they managed to get the chocolate smell into the air (while watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory of course). The consensus was that they must have vats of chocolate with pipes and they mist the smell into the air.

The park has been expanded greatly since I was here last and now includes a water park. We have been having a blast - the water park is fantastic with a whole waterworks section for the kids to explore, slide and play; a cool water slide than ends in a giant funnel etc. Danny & Matty actually went on the water slide that ended in the funnel - the Whirlwind. Matty screamed the whole way down - there was a sizable drop into the funnel and they weren't expecting it. There are 6 big roller coasters here, arcades for the kids to play for prizes and lots of kiddie rides too. The kiddie rides have been a big hit with the boys - little mini swings, a mini pirate ship and even a mini log flume called "Tiny Timbers" (that Danny still managed to get soaked on). The food has been diverse and fantastic. We had Mexican yesterday and perogies today.

The arcade games have been fun and productive. We will be coming home with an assortment of stuffed animals including a giant Scooby Doo that Matty won for Ryan in a ring toss game. Danny was very proud of himself for being the Whack a Mole Champion. The boys also sampled the cotton candy - a pink, sticky confection that tastes great but is murder to get off the hands.

We also visited Chocolate World - the factory tour and explanation of how Hershey makes its chocolate and the history of the factory. When I went years ago, the tour was actually at the factory. Now, they have a wonderful, new exhibit hall and a ride through the process with cows singing about their important contribution to the chocolate - milk. Ryan loved the singing cows so much we had to ride it again. Of course it opens into a great, big store filled with goodies. After we bought out the store, we enjoyed a Frozen Cocoa with whipped cream and two cookies - a giant kissable cookie and a shortbread sandwich cookie with fudge in the middle. It was heavenly!

Tomorrow, Danny is venturing out with the boys alone to the park and I am visiting the Chocolate Spa for the Chocolate Escape Package. This consists of a Whipped Cocoa Bath, followed by a Chocolate Bean Polish, then lunch and the finale is the hour long Cocoa Massage. I will be in chocolate ecstasy tomorrow while the boys brave the heat. You can also be sure that I am definitely going to be bringing some spa goodies home with me!

Here are some pictures -

Block Party on Pearsall Place

2007-07-29T13:35:00.000-04:00

So yesterday we went to Deana's block party and had a fantastic time. Danny & I remember from our respective childhoods about having block parties and the different attractions that would be there from the whip to swings and pirate ships. Unfortunately, our current block is fairly dull and there has been no block parties here.

Deana reminded me about the party while I was getting my hair done and I remembered what a good time Ryan and I had last year at the block party. We had gone with Donna, Kailey and Nicky that year in September. That time, they had pony rides, a bouncy house and a magician. I told Danny and the kids about it and the planned itinerary (including a fear factor contest involving eating bugs) and we were good to go (well sort of - hard not to get lazy on a hot humid summer day). We roused ourselves around 3pm and headed over to Merrick.

As soon as we got there, we saw the giant water slide being set up. While we waited for that, the boys found a slip 'n slide already in action and a pool full of "snow" to slide into. Danny and I spied a table in a bit of shade and snagged it. Deana came over with chips, cashews and pretzel chips and we dug in of course (after I went and got Danny a beer). Once the water slide was ready I grabbed the boys and got them on line. Deana came over with all sorts of penny candy (you know, the kind you ate when we were kids) and it was fun to pick through and reminisce. They had wax lips, candy cigarettes, little Styrofoam flying saucers filled with candy, chunky bars, Oh Henrys, Pixie Sticks and other assorted old fashioned goodies. The boys had to try the wax lips and of course the candy cigarettes. The best was that Matty smoked them like a girl. I was giggling as I took his picture and Danny finally explained to him the correct way for a guy to hold a cigarette. NOT THAT MY KIDS WILL EVER SMOKE BECAUSE I WOULD CHOKE THEM.

There was a bouncy house set up and Ryan spent a good amount of his time playing in there. Matty kept going on the water slide - he was so wet his eyelashes were sticking together. Ryan shied away from the water slide because he banged his head. Unfortunately the pool at the bottom was not sufficiently filled so he smacked the back of his head on concrete. Thank God he has a hard head and got away with a bump. They put all sorts of delicious sandwiches and hot food out for everyone and a pizza for the kids. We filled out plates and dug into garlic knots, penne pasta, sausage and peppers etc.

After everyone ate, Deana busted out the silly string. The kids had a blast shooting everyone and each other with it. What a mess it makes!!! I do not envy whoever would have to clean up after the onslaught.

It was a fun filled afternoon and we left close to 7pm - it was a great way to spend a day and create a nice summer memory for the kids! Here are some great pictures of our day:

Guitar Hero II Rocks Our House!

2007-07-22T21:20:00.000-04:00

So we hit Toys R Us on Saturday for a little free for all. Actually, the main reason we went was so that Matty could buy yet another bubble lawn mower. He has had several and worn them all out. Nevermind that the bubble lawn mower is for toddlers, Matty had to own one again so he paid for it out of his own money.

You can never go to a toy store and walk out with one item. Impossible. I challenge anyone with a child under 10 to try and come out with one toy and the hair still on their head. So we got the mower, a design/build sprinkler toy, an I SPY puzzle (if you guys know our family you know exactly who that was for), backpacks and lunch boxes (which did not coordinate for some reason) for both boys, a water back pack for Matty's water gun ( so he never runs out of ammo - poor Ryan!), and Ratatouille for XBOX 360. I wandered into the electronic gaming section after walking through the boys toys section (my eyes glaze over there after a while) and came upon the Guitar Hero display. Lo and behold, they had Guitar Hero II for XBOX 360. So I bought it - I was definitely ready to rock. A product of the 80s hairband and metal era, I had played guitar (nice Ibanez Roadstar) and so did Danny (Marshall half stack, BC Rich Warlock and other guitars still in my basement).

We waited for the kids to go to bed and then we busted the guitar controller out of the box and set out to play. Of course it isn't easy but practice makes perfect. So far we have unlocked Motley Crue's Shout at the Devil (we went to the Dr. Feelgood concert at the Nassau Coliseum) and have been making money. Matty gave it a try this morning and is progressing nicely. Here is a video of him practicing Surrender:

A guitar god in the making - wearing his wife beater and cars sleep shorts lol!

Bumper Bowling

2007-07-19T10:08:00.001-04:00

So yesterday being a crappy, rainy day and half the people in the NY Metro area not going to work, why should I buck the system??? So I took the day off and went bowling with the kids. We tried to go to our usual bowling alley in Baldwin but alas, an orthodox Jewish boys camp took over the place and not a single lane was available for this gentile family.

So we decided to try the Garden City Bowl on Stewart Avenue. We looked it up in my X5's navigation, called them to confirm they had open lanes and off we went. What a beautiful alley! Clean, spacious, balls color coded by weight - it was a bowler's dream. The boys grabbed their puke colored 6 lbs and we marched to our alley for a serious game of bowling. I am a one game girl - meaning that the first game I truly kick ass and then its all downhill from there. I bowled a 196. That's right folks - you read it right 196!!!! Then the next game a 116 - oh well.

Matty did great - bowled a couple of strikes and spares too. He switched to an 8lb ball and did much better - needed the extra weight to knock the pins down. Ryan wasn't that into it this time but I did manage to get his special method of bowling on video - take a gander at this video - it is truly priceless!:

Where or where has my Underdog Gone???

2007-07-13T21:56:00.000-04:00

That's the funny thing about me - you won't hear from me in a while then all of sudden I will post three times in one day LOL! Maybe its a Friday the 13th type of thing. Or maybe its that female mind with random thoughts coming in and out like lightning (I think its the female thing - we have that "stream of consciousness" thought pattern going on). It is definitely my biggest problem in the sleep department. Once I wake up in the middle of the night and the mind starts going, I am in trouble.

So first things first, who's coming with me to see Underdog when it comes out in the movies next month? C'mon, you know you want to!!! Underdog was my hands down favorite cartoon when I was a little girl. I used to get up at 6am to watch Underdog defeat Simon Bar Sinister and save Polly Purebread. You have to remember the theme song (or at least part of it - Danny actually knew the whole chorus) :

When criminals in this world appear,

And break the laws that they should fear,

And frighten all who see or hear,

The cry goes up both far and near for

Underdog! Underdog! Underdog! Underdog!

Speed of lighting! Roar of Thunder!

Fighting all who rob and plunder!

Underdog! Underdog! Underdog!

Apparently this fellow liked the theme song so much he decided to videotape himself singing it accompanied by the ukulele and kazoo:

So on the Friday the 13th front, would you all be surprised that both my closings adjourned? I ended up cancelling on Geri (sorry babe - thought I was in for it today) for no reason. I did get alot of work done in the office considering I really wasn't in much the last two days and I discovered online that there is a scrapbooking store in Nassau County - hooray!!!! Scrapaholics is in West Hempstead - I decided, since my closings weren't happening, to hop over and check it out. Plugged the address in my navigator (love having that built in) and headed over to this 3000 square foot scrapper's paradise. I dropped some change in there - its impossible not to leave with all sorts of goodies and headed home. I was able to surprise Ryan with some three dimensional Jack Skellington & Nightmare Before Christmas stickers cause he is a Nightmare Before Christmas junkie.

Lastly, I downloaded pictures off of Matty's camera and my digital elph. I love downloading the images off of the kid's camera because I never know what I am going to get and it truly is an adventure. I am going to end this post with this picture of Ryan. It is definitely a Res Ipsa Loquitor shot - the thing certainly speaks for itself!

Friday the 13th - LOOK OUT!!!!

2007-07-13T08:13:00.000-04:00

I am not particularly superstitious but the combination of Friday the 13th sure makes me alert. I get a daily horoscope from Astrology.com and a Daily Forecast. Today's Daily Forecast starts off like this: "Strange forces are on the prowl as a powerful New Moon in the sign of Cancer approaches exactitude." Great - I like to avoid the "strange forces" - they tend to create waves for me that I don't like. What I do like is that Mercury is no longer in retrograde lol. So today I am going to workout with Geri at 10:00am cause I miss my girlfriend who has been MIA on the party front lately and then I have a 1pm closing in the office with Felicia. Now the 13th kicks in because I know they are trying to put on a 4pm closing with this lying piece of shit mortgage broker and I know its going to be a disaster. Lets add the fact that Danny doesn't get home until somewhere between 5:30pm and 6pm to the mix and it gets really hairy. Cause I can definitely predict it is going to be a late and draining day for me. Let's hope I am wrong.

So I have been busy making rain for the firm thanks to my friend Ed Ainbinder, Regional Vice President for ResMae. So I am more networking these days then practicing law but (thanks again Geri!). Ed has been instrumental in introducing me to a bunch of mortgage brokers and his other account execs (who are introducing me to more mortgage brokers). I have met some fantastic people and starting to develop wonderful relationships. What I love about this business is the bizarre factor of the people we work with - it really runs the gamut to normal everyday people to the oddballs. The oddballs definitely make it fun and that's ok. Thank God for my staff (and they know it) for without them I couldn't be out there beating the bushes for new business during these dark times for the real estate industry. We are looking forward to Casino Night next Thursday, hosted by RELS title - going to be lots of fun and we get to schmooze with old and new friends.

So I have also, oddly enough, been able to spend some more time with the kids. I have to share this picture of Matty I took the other morning. He has been working his way through Sandra Lee's Cool Kids Cookbook. On the morning I took this picture he made her Waffle Wheels for Breakfast (two waffles with peanut butter and bananas between them - can't be a bad thing). Since then he has made Oreo Cheesecake, Breakfast Fruit Parfait and Orange Fizzy Drinks (all with some help of course LOL!).

You can tell from the look on Ryan's face that the Waffle Wheels were, indeed heavenly!

Nicky's Wedding

2007-07-13T07:25:00.000-04:00

I created this slideshow of a wedding we recently attended at the Manhattan Loft in NYC. It was hosted by the King family - little Nicky got married! My in-laws, Donna & Bobby were there with us and we had a great time. So nice to go to a fabulous party as a guest - being a host can be the pits! LOL!

2007-07-10T08:45:00.001-04:00

Another hot day on board for us on Long Island. Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the Oakwood Beach Club - it was perfect! Matty & Ryan had a blast swimming in the pool with Emily. Matty and Tommy had a cannonball contest. Emily had her first brown bonnet ice cream - it is an extraordinary sensory experience. Donna, Kailey & Nicholas joined us - so nice to a have a little group! Nicky loved the pool and Kailey enjoyed going in the big pool too with Ryan and Emily. Kailey also played with the boys on the pirate ship. By the time we got home, the boys were laying on the couch, exhausted. Thank God for central air!!! We waited for Danny to get home and hear how his first day at Skanska was. He got home about 6:15pm and we had Mexican for dinner - nice and easy.

So Danny came home with all sorts of Skanska branded material - a briefcase, hat, mug, bottle opener, toothbrush, pen etc. He also brought home a giant binder chock full of information on their policies, benefits, retirement plans etc. It is somewhat overwhelming - we aren't used to the corporateness of it all. Should have seen it coming when he actually got a formal offer letter - who does that???? Everything looks fantastic and I am looking forward to dropping our health insurance coverage - Skanska's is so much better - includes dental and vision.

Over the weekend, Danny & I went to the skate shop near Cedar Creek Park and picked up new rollerblades for Matty & I. Big difference from the old skates - no more hard plastic boot. Also, the wheels are much larger and the wheel base is longer. I took a picture of them - mine are the real girly ones lol.

I broke mine in at Cedar Creek - Danny went running while I bladed on the path that runs down alongside the Wantagh Parkway to the beach. I did 3 miles and was sweating like a farm animal. Afterwards we went home (showered of course) and I met Donna for a manicure/pedicure at Angel Tips. It was a nice way to share in her birthday (Happy Birthday Donna!!!!). Went home, laid around and then Danny & I went to Grand Luxe Cafe for dinner (gotta dig those make ahead desserts!) and did a little shopping at Roosevelt Field Mall.

I also signed up for another class at Big Picture Scrapbooking - Life's Little Essentials. So I have been busy documenting all of my daily routines, the things I eat, drink, drive etc. The ladies in this class are going to think I am a drunk lol. See the picture below of the things I drink. Two bottles of wine (note they are open and half full - no cork - just the wine vacuum thing-a-ma-gig) out of the refrigerator are part of the vignette.

It is fun though, and nice to provide an ordinary snapshot in time - I will post more when the album starts to come together.

2007-07-06T07:50:00.000-04:00

So the 4th of July this year fell on a Wednesday which stunk. The best days are Tuesday or Thursday because everyone tends to take the extra day, i.e. Monday or Friday depending on where the holiday falls. But this year, the 4th fell smack in the middle screwing everything up. I was happy we were able to close the office early on Tuesday at 2pm - at least it made up a little for the holiday's bad location on the weekly calendar. The other offending issue was the lousy weather. I don't remember the 4th being so miserable as it was this year. At least the rain held off till the evening, but it was cool and overcast - not pool, barbeque or fireworks weather thats for sure! Not that we had fireworks either. Danny didn't pick any up this year for fear of our new police-calling neighbor (we think its the idiot with the Christmas Eve Karaoke Party that we called the cops on because we couldn't take listening to him belt out, at the top of his drunk lungs with a microphone, "Sweet Caroline" at 3am).

We did get to Cedar Creek Park in Wantagh in the morning though. I had promised Matty that I would teach him how to rollerblade and Cedar Creek has an outdoor roller rink. So we headed out with all our gear (I am a pad wearing blader - no reason to end up with an unsightly skinned knee or worse, a broken wrist, all in the name of fun). The rink was basically empty except for a girl cruising around - turned out she was an instructor and worked at Hot Skates. She did give Matty a few pointers which was very kind. So he got all padded up and slipped the skates on and we hit the rink. In no time, he was striking out on his own like a pro. Now, we have to get him a decent pair of skates - the cheaper the skate, the crappier the wheel and the more work you have to do to get a decent stride. The next victim will have to be Ryan but he isn't ready yet, LOL!

Summer Kickoff

2007-06-03T09:49:00.000-04:00

Its been a while since I blogged - been hectic lately! It seems that the time between our trip to Disney and now has been a blur! Well I think part of the problem is that summer has shown up early this year. It was the first Memorial Day in years that it was so warm. I remember it being in the 60s the last couple of years.

We kicked off our planting Memorial Day Weekend with a trip to Dee's Nursery. Mr. Dee loves my family - we drop hundreds of dollars in his store but they have such a fantastic selection. We also stopped at Atlantic Nursery too on Monday. Sunday we went to a barbecue at my in-laws. My sister-in-law and family were there too so it was a nice family event. Mainly we had to get Matty's new quad up there and out of our garage. Matty test drove it in the cul de sac next to my house and of course some jerk called the cops.

Matty riding his quad:

So the kids played in the pool (not me - water was way too cold - if it isn't 85 degrees or better I can't do it) and had a blast. Matty was like a fish, as usual and Ryan did great wearing his new floating wet suit. He wore it until he decided he was done and took it off. Later he was hanging out back by the pool while Danny and Matty were swimming. The next thing we knew, he was in the pool without it and doing great. SCARED THE DAYLIGHTS OUT OF ME!!!!!!!!!!! Danny hightailed it over to him to make sure he was safe and to show him where it was safe to stand. I know he will be swimming by the end of this summer - that's for sure. Nicky had a ball floating in his baby float - he loved splashing in the water. Sure beats the stroller! That's the tough part about being a toddler - you have to trap them to keep them safe and all they want to do is play.
Matty got his quad broken in, that's for sure. Ryan rode the junior quad and they were tearing up the riding ring. The best was that Bobby wanted to ride and was bumming rides off Matty. He took Kailey for a ride and Matty too.

Nicky swimming around like a champ:

Thank God it was a short week with a nice big highlight - I got my new truck!!!! I love it but it is complicated. BMW redesigned the X5 for 2007 and teched it all out. I actually didn't sit with my salesman, Chris Michaleas, for the overview. I sat with an actual tech guy because it is that complicated. This is the first car I have had that I actually needed to break open the owner's manual. So I got the X5 4.8l - 8 cylinder. This truck has BALLS!!!!! I also got navigation, I-Dock, and a rear camera that lets me see exactly what is behind me when I back up - very cool. Also, the sunroof is almost the whole roof of the truck - extends over the back seat passengers too.

Today I actually got involved in a game of tag lol. I took the boys to Baldwin Harbor Park to play for a while. While we were there, a little boy came over and was playing in the same play area as my two little monsters were. Matty was whining about going over to the track by the middle school to run (ah no way) and I suggested playing a game of tag. They agreed and asked the little boy, Collin, to play. So they were running all over the playground getting nice and sweaty. It was Collin's first time playing tag so he needed a little instruction as to how the game works. Then, we worked in the finer points like "no tag backs" and "base". Ryan and Collin were always getting tagged so I decided to even it up a little bit. I had Ryan tag me and then I went after Matty. Soon Collin was "it" again and having trouble so his Dad got into the game. Danny showed up and joined right in. Soon we were all thirsty and sweaty and then it was time to go. The boys said goodbye to their new friend and home we went. Its good to play like a kid every once in while - good exercise and the kids really enjoy it.

2007-04-15T16:52:00.000-04:00

Today was the perfect day to not get out of the pyjamas. The only one who managed to get dressed and break ranks was Danny. So he got voted to go to Walbaums during this Nor'Easter - that will teach him! I am lucky I am even conscious considering I waltzed in the door at 4am this morning. Who do I think I am - some twenty something out on the town, boozing it up with the girls? Every once in a while, damn right LOL! But it does me in the next day - even if I don't drink too much (and I didn't last night for reasons I will explain below), I still end up dragging, needing the scrambled eggs and cheese breakfast and my spot on the couch all day. I can't party all night and bounce right back.
It was a hectic week at work - last week for one of my paralegals. She gave us two weeks notice - one week of work and a week of vacation - go figure. Thank God we have a bigger office and more staff so something like this doesn't affect us as badly. I am not unhappy about the situation, I just do not look forward to the replacement search and the learning curve. But we were jumping - a bunch of closings, contracts etc. A meeting with a new mortgage broker, referred to us by Geri's husband, was definitely the highlight. The game plan is to gather more baskets to get our eggs from so that we aren't reliant upon any one client. Definitely have a good feeling about going out after new clients - its Spring - and getting warmer (well hopefully it is - seems more wintry right now) and that is absolutely our best time to wine and dine.
On Saturday, this family ventured out to Roosevelt Field. Not that I am thrilled about shopping with all the boys. I wanted to get a dress for Felicia's birthday night that night and I really didn't have much choice. Of course all the stores I wanted to go to the boys would curl their lips and say "Ewwww girl stuff". That didn't stop me - the first place I went, Forever 21, I hit the jackpot. Bought 5 dresses that I absolutely loved (and had actually tried on). Of course we had to hit the Disney store where we were assaulted by our children to buy them everything, but I balanced it out with a trip to Sephora where the boys stood by a pole looking at me forlornly.
Now all the girls were going out for the birthday shindig and the limo was supposed to pick up Lisa, Geri and myself from my house at 8pm. 8pm - imagine? Dinner at 9:30pm thats crazy talk for this girl. Usually if we go out for dinner its with the early bird folk LOL. So Geri and Lisa got to my house and we got the phone call that the limo company screwed up and had gone directly to Queens, leaving us no choice but to drive in. So I volunteered and became the designated driver (which again, wasn't the most horrible thing because I could have easily spent this day with my head in the toilet) and we drove in. We all got in the limo, I busted out the CDs I burned for the occasion and off we went to NYC. The limo driver called ahead to the restaurant, Havana Alma de Cuba, where Felicia had made arrangements, and signed a contract for dinner, to let them know we might be a little late. The Maitre'D took it upon himself to change our reservations from 9:30 to 10:30pm. We got there at 9:30pm and there was no table for us. Arguing with the guy was futile and after I had to tell him to get his hands out of my face, I really didn't feel like eating there.
So Felicia suggested changing plans and eating dinner at Earth NYC where we had planned to hang out afterwards. So off to Chelsea we went for a very East Asian meal. I enjoyed my dinner, not that I could pronounce it. Drinking mango martinis and then some Pino Grigio, loosened everyone up and the 80s house music sure put everyone in the mood to dance. Once dinner was over, the staff cleared the tables and people began to dance. Out came a belly dancer who balanced a plate on her head, loaded with lit tapers. She also held two lit votive candles in her hands. She undulated up and down stairs and sometimes on one leg. It was pretty cool to watch and admire cause there is no way on God's green earth I could do that. As it got later, we noticed that the clientele was also very East Asian and other miscellaneous folk and that we stuck out like a sore thumb - especially me and Bizerka, the blondes of the group. We finally headed out at 2am (OMG did I say 2am?????) and we got to Felicia's house at 3am. Then I drove back to Long Island, exhausted and through the rain. Dropped off Lisa and Geri and then home to bed.
So I am definitely partied out for now. This is twice in 4 weeks that I went out and didn't get home until the wee hours of the morning. Missing my bedtime is not good for me so I think I will stick to happy hour or so until the next big event.

2007-04-07T09:40:00.000-04:00

So I closed my office for Good Friday and took the day off to spend with the boys. I wasn't too sure about my decision Thursday night when I came home to them in a major time out. I don't know if the vacation time triggered it, but Matty was in a particularly evil frame of mind all week. Between being unable to keep his hands off his brother and his smart mouth remarks, Matty was constantly in trouble. So, it appears that, after being told a half hour earlier to stop fighting, the two boys were rolling around in the basement, with blankets over their head (a big no-no in this house) and they rolled over Ryan's glasses. So we made in only 9 days without incident. The glasses weren't totally broken, but the hinge is definately loose and Danny had to bend them back into place. Not a happy Holy Thursday, I tell you.

So it was me and the boys on Good Friday. I scheduled an 11am contract in my office (I just didn't want to do it on Thursday night) so I had to bring them with me. It was a miracle - they were actually good. We made several stops, starting with Cohen's Fashion Optical to pick up Ryan's good glasses, then my office (where they were pretty good, for them) and shopping. We stopped at Creative Child (one of my favorite places to shop for educational stuff, games etc) to pick Ryan up a new math workbook. He finished the Kindergarten math book and needed the 1st grade book (not bad for a 4 1/2 year old who will be starting Kindergarten in September) and I wanted to pick up some things for Easter. Then we went to Michaels (although they did suffer from a case of the "gimmees" - I didn't get fleeced too bad there) and a quick stop at Bed, Bath & Beyond because I was out of coffee and that constituted an emergency. They were an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10 and I never expect a 10. That would require a total eclipse of the sun or something.

At home, I needed a 30 minute power nap and they let me! That was definately a miracle. I woke up at 4am yesterday and didn't get back to sleep until 6. Of course, this is the day Ryan wakes up at 7:30am. But I got my power nap while the boys played in the basement. Ryan played with his new marble run from Creative Child and Matty drew with our new, 100 market set with indelible ink (yes I am insane). Danny came home after swinging by storage to pick up our easter baskets and some decorations. We definately slacked this year on the easter decorations but now we got some up. Their cousin Kailey came over to play a while and we got to visit with Nicky and Donna. Amazingly I watched Nicky pull himself up to standing. I was fascinated because that is definately the beginning of the end. Once a baby stands, you know they get that evil glint in their eye and they are bent on taking over the world and wreaking havoc.

A nice dinner of baked ravoli, shrimp parm hero and fried calamari, compliments of Ginos and coloring easter eggs rounded out our night. Matty did some more of his sudoku and then it was bed time. A pretty "good" Good Friday - although the boys are definately going to have some basement cleaning to do - what a disaster area!!!!

2007-04-03T21:52:00.000-04:00

So I got my creative juices flowing today and decided to scrap some more of our Disney 2006 vacation (especially since Disney '07 is right around the corner!). Scrapping Disney takes alot of energy because it is such an enormous project. I, of course, took a ton of pictures and they have to be edited etc. Thank God I wrote a synopsis of our vacation on the plane trip home. I am amazed at how much I forgot. Thats why it is so important to keep a journal - you have to write down the little things otherwise they tend to be lost forever.

So while the boys were downstairs trying to beat Scooby Doo on Xbox (well really Danny with Ryan heckling him - poor Danny!), I sat down, set up my little laptop table, hooked up my portable hard drives and went to work. I managed to bang out two pages - a Monsters Inc. page and a Face Painting Page. I used alot of new material I purchased from the Funky Playground and from Gina Miller (my favorite Long Island digiscrap designer).

I especially loved scrapping Monsters Inc. This was Matty's favorite movie when he was 2 1/2 - right around the time Ryan was born. We watched this movie over and over again. I knew this movie by heart and Matty will still request it, on occasion, when we have a "camp out".

The other big highlight of our Disney trip was the Star Wars aspect. This was definately the sleeper hit - Matty got picked twice for the Jedi Training Academy and so forever Star Wars dominated our vacation. He saw the face paining kiosk right after the Training Academy at MGM and we managed to get back there towards the end of the vacation so he could get his face painted like his favorite Sith Lord - Darth Maul. If only he had his Force FX double bladed Darth Maul lightsaber - he would have been complete.

So I didn't quite put a dent in the project, but atleast I made a start!

2007-04-01T17:53:00.001-04:00

Last week in review: HECTIC! Ryan adjusted to his new glasses like a pro! We never expected him to take to it so easily but once the glasses came on, he wanted to wear them all the time. Matty was an exceptional big brother and made a big fuss over Ryan - told him that he looked like Harry Potter LOL. Actually, Matty then wanted his own glasses - go figure! We also got "transition" lenses - so that when Ryan goes outside, they transition to sunglasses and vice versa. For Ryan, it was definitely magic.

Last week of the month is always fairly crazy for Scanlon and Pinto and this one was no different. Of course everyone wanted to close on Thursday so I ended up having two 1pm closings, a 3:30 closing (these were in my office) and a 4:30 closing in Great Neck. It might have gone smoothly had the 1pm clients not waited to show up until after 2. So my closings all ran together - I ended up closing three of them pretty much simultaneously. I got to my 4:30 closing at 6 to have my worst fears realized - my buyer was short because the loan officer did not take into consideration the true nature of the "grant" program he was using. It seemed as though we were going to be able to use the grant money - $7,000 - but it turned out we couldn't - it was just a means to be able to show more of a seller's credit then the normal FHA guidelines would allow. It did have a happy ending - we were able to fund the closing on Friday.

I also had my last lunch club at Meadow School on Wednesday. I really enjoyed this time with the kids and Matty. So we had our last games of "Hot Rock" (or Hot Potato to those of you not in the know) and "Sight Word Bingo". The kids had such a good time with my lunch club they all agreed they would sign up for my lunch club again next year. Really made me feel great - this is how I like being involved in school. Nevermind the PTA with all the cliques, bickering and jockeying for position - I like being involved on the classroom level with the kids. Here is a picture of my lunch club - what a great group of kids!!!

I actually made my 3rd day at the gym this week - Woohoo! The elusive 3rd day was mine on Saturday when I headed to Synergy in the morning. I got to BS with Geri and Stephanie - two trainers and even squeezed my much hated cardio in. Danny and the boys enjoyed "critter day". A family of squirrels took up residence in our shed and ate through the cushions and our deck umbrella. Danny had to relocate three baby squirrels with hopes that the mother would come back for them. Also, some birds decided to build a nest in the soffit at the back of the house. Danny and Matty used the hose to flush them out and he repaired the soffit. Ryan and I took a ride to see if his other pair of glasses were in (they weren't of course - because I didn't call before I went there) but we made a nice pit stop at Dunkin Donuts - giant iced coffee for me (feel the burn of the caffeine baby!) and some munchkins for Ryan. I ended up drawing the short straw and had to take Matty to Mass for Mandatory Church. Danny used the excuse of no clean pants so I took him. Little did I realize that because it was Palm Sunday that not only did we get some palm to take home, they have the extra long Gospel because of the Passion reading. After focusing on some gentleman with long, sparse gray hair and a dark audburn toupee (you would think the guy would realize he wasn't fooling anyone), the Mass went pretty quickly and soon we were on our way. We actually made tentative plans to go to Dave & Busters with Bill, Terri and their son Billy for Monday night. I know the boys will have a blast and I will be able to cream them at Air Hockey.

So we had Emily coming over at 7 to babysit the boys because Danny and I were actually going out. This is a rare event because we are basically lazy - we would rather stay home and hang out with the boys instead of getting dolled up and coming home late. Also, the Wii is very addicting - don't knock Wii Bowling until you have tried it! We were supposed to go see Danny's friend Bill and his band at some bar in Massapequa Park. They are an AC/DC cover band so I busted out my leather MC so I would be sufficiently rocked out (and I was - oh yeah baby!) and we decided we would meet Robby and Lucy for dinner first. After a fantastic Italian dinner and some great wine, Danny crapped out on me. He got comfortable at their house and settled in. After two Coronas and it being 11:30pm (way past our bedtime), basically the only thing to do was to go home. I was miffed - all dressed up in my rocker girl clothes and some uncomfortable red heels (although they looked mighty hot, like most shoes of their ilk, they did hurt) so I let him have it. Men are oblivious for most of their waking lives - he had no idea that I really wanted to go to see the band. It was not that I had a burning need to see an AC/DC cover band, but it was what we had agreed to do and it was something different.

Today we went to Toys R Us (or Mecca to the kids) so we could get Ryan his giant Nerf Sharp Shooter Gun. The boys have behavior charts and if they earn 10 stars with their good behavior, they get a prize. Now, Ryan has been burning for this gun (thanks alot Nickelodeon!) so we agreed that he could have it as his prize. So we went, picked it up (along with the new force action light saber for Matty) and headed out to lunch to our new favorite place, the Grand Luxe Cafe. This place for me is Mecca. A gi-normous menu and excellent food do tend to make me happy. The kids got their tall, fancy drinks with all sort of fruit (so tall they had to stand up to drink them) and we had our lunch. The best part was the dessert. We had to order it when we ordered our entree as it was made to order. It was a Caramel Ice Cream Almond Cookie Sandwich. It came out in a giant bowl with 4 spoons and what a concoction it was. Put it this way, Danny basically has no sweet tooth (it is actually a potato chip tooth) and he dove into this. The cookie was warm and chewy like a brownie. There was ice cream, whip cream swirls of hot fudge and caramel - how could anyone resist? Of course after a meal like that, all we could do is sleep on the couch - well, actually Danny and Ryan. I bummed around and watched Food Network. A nice, lazy Sunday with family - just the way we like it.

2007-03-26T07:32:00.000-04:00

So, it's Monday and I am hoping it is going to be a better week than last week. This week we get Ryan's new glasses to correct the astigmatism we still can't quite believe he has. Talk about coming out of left field - you could have knocked me over with a feather when the opthamalogist told us he would need glasses from the moment he wakes up until he goes to sleep. We never had a clue - no squinting, no sitting close to the TV - nothing. Danny, Matty and I do not need glasses so this is the last thing we expected. Probably one of the hardest things for Danny and I is that we had no frame of reference at all - I was handed a prescription that might as well have been some other language. I had to stop the nurse and tell her that I needed an explanation - what do I do with this thing with all the strange numbers on it! I took Ryan on Friday to pick out frames and suprisingly enough, at 4 1/2 years of age, he had definate opinions on what he liked and what he did not like. So $850.00 later, we ordered two pair which should be ready this Friday.

Danny and I have been researching astigmatism on the internet ever since the opthamologist dropped that bomb on us. Every thing I read makes me very glad we caught it now and the doctor did not diagnose amblyopia which can lead to loss of vision in one eye. He did say that Ryan's eyes are amblyio-genic - meaning that if left uncorrected, he could develop amblyopia which would require patching the good eye in hopes of restoring vision in the "lazy
eye. There is no guarantee that it will work either. The other thing we kept wondering about (and feeling mighty guilty about) was how has Ryan seen the world these past four years. Did he know what we look like? How could we have missed this? Again, thank God for the internet. We actually were able to see an example of astigmatic sight - some things would be blurry at all distances, but not everything. We also were able to research our options - like contacts (Doctor said age 13 but I read enough that said we have a good shot to switching to contacts by age 8) and Lasik surgery no earlier than 15 if Ryan wants it. But, one step at a time - we need to get him used to wearing glasses which, in the beginning, can make him dizzy, disoriented and give him headaches. Changing to perfect vision is exhausting in the beginning.

3/28/07 - Ryan got his glasses and is doing great!

2007-03-05T11:50:00.000-05:00

So I have had a run of crappy luck these last couple of days. Back in the late 90s when we had plenty of time on our hands, Felicia and I would notice that when bad and funky things kept happening, Mercury would be in retrograde. Sure enough, I checked the cosmic calendar and good ole Mercury is in retrograde! So far, I have lost things, Ryan bit through his lip, the mortgage and real estate market is tanking, one of my largest clients has turn tail and run because of bad publicity and I smashed my cell phone in the car door. I think I have had enough.
Other than all this bothersome nonsense, it was a pretty good weekend. We got the rest of the chair rails up in the dining room and living room and painted the top portion "Versatile Gray". It is a beigey gray and looks wonderful! What a pain in the ass to move all the furniture, empty my china cabinet (that was particularly torturous putting all my china and irreplaceable crystal on my dining room table - which becomes an automatic child magnet) take down curtains etc. - but it was definately worth it.
Matty had another bowling birthday party on Sunday so I tagged along with Ryan (cause if I didn't get Ryan out of the house and away from my china I would have strangled him) and got the lane next to the party. Ryan, embarrassingly enough, beat me the first game but then I warmed up and beat the pants off of the little kids.

I also managed to create a scrapbook LO - I scrapbooked my birthday celebration in 2000. Felicia, Donna and my other friends took me out - rented a limo, went to NYC and had dinner at Lucky Changs. This place is run by transvestites and sure made for an interesting dinner. Of course, they made sure I got pulled into the show and Felicia gave the "guy" (I use the term loosely) some extra money to make it special. They made it special alright - I was the SHOW! But everyone knows, I am a good sport and of course I realize I could never top that one so I let that stand as the greatest birthday chop busting ever. I have to scan some more pix to make a page two for this LO!

2007-02-28T18:16:00.000-05:00

Today, it felt like Spring was in the air and boy did that feel good! I am definately one of those people who are affected by the weather. Late winter kills me - all I want to do is hibernate. Today I felt alive and I actually wanted to leave the house LOL. Went to the gym this morning and had a fantastic workout with Jerri. Not only is she a fantastic trainer, she is hilarious! At the end of the session, we always do a pretty intense ab workout on a fitness ball. So while I am bent over this thing, I noticed I had some old man's ass hanging in my face. Of course, as I am going through the repetitions, Jerri is whispering to me how the old man is probably farting and it must smell like cat food (YUCK!!!!). Very motivating, isn't it? I just tried to find a happy place! Today I actually felt like working out and it was good.

I went over to Oceanside to the Sands Mall (fantastic spot - Gap, Victoria's Secret, Express to name a few- and all have terrific stock because this strip mall is a hidden gem). Shopped at Gap and Children's Place for the boys, picked up Flushed Away and Uncle Buck at F.Y.E. and met my sister in law for coffee at Starbucks to talk about our upcoming family vacation at Disney (year 5 for us) among other things. I definately needed Uncle Buck with this family's new infatuation with bowling. I also picked up the new SSX snowboarding game for Wii - SWEET DUDE!!! It was a peaceful afternoon - I didn't have any appointments and it is nice to take a break from the fast pace we had in the office up to the end of the year. The rat race will start up again this Spring as people's thoughts start to turn to house buying - atleast we all hope so!

So I bought out the store over at Gina Miller's shop. Got a nice email from her today thanking me. See courtesy is still alive and kicking - especially in the digiscrapping world. I love her designs - especially these adorable felt circles and felt hearts I picked up, amongst other things. Please visit her shop, you definately won't leave empty handed. I am definately going to scraplift some of her layouts - I have her gallery linked on my blog under Scrapinspiration.

2007-02-26T14:29:00.000-05:00

Wow, I can't believe March 1st is Thursday! February flew by with a little bit of snow but pretty much not worth mentioning. My sons were praying for a snow day today (me too - wanted a long weekend) but for Baldwin schools to close, it has to be some serious snow. So we trudged to school through the slush (again). I have two contract signings today - of course at opposite ends of the day - but altogether not too taxing. Everyone knows I am not a Monday girl and the last thing I need is a complicated day.

We had a blast yesterday bowling with my sister-in-law and family. Matthew, Ryan and Kailey had a great time bowling (they all have their own style too - Matty tries to bowl like an adult, Kailey rolls in from between her legs and Ryan, well, Ryan shot puts it) while Nicholas clapped and cheered them on. The adults had a great time too - although this was the first time in a long time we bowled without bumpers. The kids make great use of the bumpers - they bowl like it is pinball and it works for them like a charm. I am a great first game girl - I bowled over a 150 the first game and then its all downhill from there. Danny got steadily better (must have been the beer!). Ryan's big score was cleaning out the Superball game in the game room. It must have been malfunctioning and it kept spitting out superballs. One of the best things about bowling, is how it tires out the kids. The two of them just lolled on the couch until bedtime - they didn't have the energy to even annoy each other - go figure!

So I made two embellishments in honor of St. Patty's Day. Again, my obsession with felt continues.

You can download the shamrock here and the bracket here. If you like 'em -leave me some love - thanks!

2007-02-25T08:48:00.000-05:00

Saturday was a very special day - I finally got chair rails in my living room and dining room! Yippee!!! I love the look of mouldings - I think they really enhance any space. Danny got out his pneumatic nail gun and bam! it was done in no time. Too bad its so we can get ready to sell the house. We are going to paint the top part a greyish tan which should go nicely with the medium green on the bottom and the burgundy window treatments. Now all we have to do is get rid of the miscellaneous crap that has gathered in those rooms (like the pile of toys (still unopened) from Christmas and Matty's birthday) and we will be set!

The Wii party continues - not only did we bowl but now we have officially tried tennis and baseball. Felicia came over with her niece and the kids played all afternoon. Danny made a fantastic dinner for all of us - Veal Parmigiana and angel hair pasta with homemade garlic bread. The kids watched Night at the Museum and we all hung out watching Food Network. I truly love that channel as everyone well knows. Right now I am hooked on Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee. I went out and bought the whole cookbook series and I have to say, every recipe we have tried so far is awesome! We were going to make her Ceasar Artichoke Dip, but we didn't get around to it last night. It actually would have come in handy as we were definately suffering from NALS (Need A Little Something). I loved those football snack commercials - they really struck a cord - kudos to those ad execs.

So, I haven't made any layouts lately, my inspiration is somewhat at a standstill. I hope I will get a creative moment soon - there is so much to scrap. So I collect the freebies, buy new kits, templates etc. from my favorite sites and wait for it to hit me. I also backed up my scrap materials - that is so important. I almost could faint at the thought of losing my collection. So I burned the zip files to a DVD and I am going to burn a copy to my network drive. I keep my materials on a portable, USB powered external hard drive for convenience. One of my favorite materials these days is felt. I want to add some felt elements to my LOs so I created these Hearts and word art in honor of Valentine's Day.

You can download them here. If you like 'em - please leave some love on my comments. Thanks!

2007-02-24T08:25:00.000-05:00

So I am a digiscrapper - I love the cleanliness and flexibility of it - appeals to my geeky nature LOL! I am fully addicted to Photoshop CS2 - which I think is the best program for digiscrapping. It has a tougher learning curve but it is worth it. If you want to get a good handle on this program from a digiscrapping perspective, head over to Scrapgirls - they have e-courses that make getting a handle on CS2 or Elements or Paintshop Pro a snap! Click on their banner on my blog and it will take you right there!

I am posting a freebie I made for Valentine's Day or any Love oriented layout. I think the best digibuys are the styles, actions, shapes and brushes - I stock up on them whenever possible as they give the most versatility. Next, would be the templates - one of my personal favorites is the Scrapgirls Scrapsimple Templates - they just cannot be beat for versatility!

Enjoy the glitter hearts and please if you download and like them - share the love - thanks!

You can download the freebie here

2007-02-23T07:23:00.000-05:00

So this is my first post on my new blog here on blogger. I had been posting on Yahoo and on MySpace, but I needed something different - more adult - so here I am! Its a quiet moment - kids are still sleeping and I was up at the crack of dawn so nothing exciting has happened in my life...yet.

I think the Catholic Church puts it best when it describes certain times of the year as "Ordinary Time" - thats where we are now - Ordinary Time. Nothing exciting - getting towards the end of Winter but its still miserable out and nothing to make us feel good about it, like Santa or anything like that. Winter is only exciting during the Christmas Season with all the Joy. Lights, Elves and such. Now it just stinks. We really haven't had any snow to speak of either - just a lousy slush/ice storm. Nothing worse than stepping into a giant slush puddle - which I did alot of just trying to get to the sidewalks. Probably the only good part is depicted in the layout below - the kids sledding with Poppy on Sunday. (papers - wintersong from scrapartist; scrapgirls styles: chipboard and grunged metal and J. Burkhart's template)

So far this Winter Recess week has been pretty good with the kids. Matty was excited to be off and spend some time with Emily. They have been having a blast making their own pizza, going to play at McDonalds, having Wii parties every morning and going to Score. Wednesday, I took off and we went bowling - the kids, Emily, Felicia and I met Aimee and her kids and friends at Baldwin Bowl. This is our newly rediscovered winter pasttime - its alot of fun and excercise too (would be better if they didn't sell nachos though LOL). Ryan is the best though - he doesn't bowl - he shotputs it down the alley. It works for him though - uses the bumpers like the ball is a pinball and manages to get strikes and spares! I have to sign Danny & I up for the Oakwood Bowl Fund Raiser at the end of March - unlimited bowling 9 to midnight with food, fun and prizes - oh definately gonna need a babysitter for that one! I need to get Danny a bowling ball - he wants a gold ball with the name "Buck" engraved on it LOL!