Friday, October 30, 2009

Heading off for a soak in the tub

I thought I would write here before I headed off for a tub. Today was a good day. Ping had a little Halloween party at school. It was quick and really pretty cute. Unfortunately, she was mad about the snack I gave her. She didn't want this snack! So she didn't eat it. She then left the classroom without me and wouldn't walk straight out to the car or let me hold her hand. I was getting really flustered with her. I was also so not pleased with her behavior. We headed to the bank and then home. I got an email from my friend Marjorie telling me that she got her children their flu shots in Tewksbury today. When I called the CVS minute clinics they said they had no flu vaccines in MA. So when she wrote back that she was just at CVS in Tewksbury and that info was wrong, I immediately called again. They confirmed that they had the shot in Maynard and also Westford. So I told Ping to jump in the car and we headed out immediately. Ping has a cold, but I was told as long as there is no fever, she can have the shot. I drove there quickly because they were going to lunch from 1:00-2:00 pm and I wanted to get it done. It was one of those things that make you run against the clock. Sure enough, we were the last ones taken before lunch. Ping did great. She only cried for a minute. I told her to not look at the needle. She said "Why not Mama?" All I could say is that I am 40 and I don't look at it! Lol.

I took Ping to McDonalds since it was across the street and we hadn't eaten. She wanted to play in the play area which made my toes curl. I don't want her playing in a germ infested place. However, I let her for a few. I bought her a little ice cream so I could distract her and then we headed home. Once home, I actually checked my emails and sat down to read and to close my eyes for a few. I ended up sleeping on the chair for a good long time. Much longer than I expected. I just felt groggy. I woke up a million times, but I kept passing back out. Needless to say, when I got up, I had a ton of energy. So I cleaned up the mess that Ping and Bill made. Actually they made quite a few messes. The house is now clean and I am heading off to the tub now.

I hope all is well and have a Happy Halloween!!!!!

Mama Out!!!!!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

I remember one thing!

I know Ping said something last night that was hysterical, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was. However, I can share this story now that I remember it. Ping has brought home Scholastic book catalogs twice now. Each time I have ordered maybe 5 items. Last week, there was a book fair at school. I didn't bother worrying about it because Ping has recently gotten all the books I have ordered for her. So she comes home the other day and says to me in an aggravated tone "Mama, you forgot to give me money for the book fair and so I couldn't buy any books like all the other kids." It broke my heart at first because I hated to think she was the only one that didn't participate. So I told her that it was only because she has gotten so many books lately, that I didn't get involved with the fair.

The next day as I am dropping her off, I apologize to her teacher for putting her in an awkward spot and tell her why I didn't bother getting involved with the book fair. She said she completely understood and told Shayla that I have bought her a ton of books and those are the ones that she is always putting in Shayla's backpack to take home. Talk about feeling like the loser mom.

I also apologized to the organizer on Facebook as she is someone I am friendly with. I included the explanation. Well yesterday I got an email because another person added to the message on that person's Facebook page. It said "Jill, Shayla told me the same thing. You forgot to give her money for the book fair." I had to laugh. It is now getting around town that I am an awful mother. How can I earn the trophy if I don't get my stuff together. I am getting a reputation I guess! Oh my precious Ping!!!!

Mama Out!!!!!

This has been a busy week so far

On Tuesday night after ice skating, Ping and I attended a Tupperware party at my friend Christine's house. We got home and I had to put Ping to bed on my own because Bill was at the Fire Dept. The poor pup didn't fall asleep till 10:30 pm. She is really pretty tired at this point. I actually had her sleep in our bed that night so she would sleep till morning. I thought for sure because she had so much fun playing with the other kids at the party, that she would pass out. Nope!

Yesterday I dropped Ping off at school and headed straight out to do some errands. I had to stop and pick up some stuff at a friend's house. I then went to the bank, Walmart and another friend's house to get something else. I had 10 minutes to empty the truck and to rush off to school to pick up Ping. We came back to the house and while I did a few things, she colored and played with her stickers. She is such a sticker junkie!!!!!

Bill called me on the way home from work to tell me that the Envoy had been hit while he was at work. Someone left a plate number, but no phone number or name. So I have a feeling it was a passerby that left the info and not the person who actually hit the truck. So now we have to deal with that whole mess. Once Bill got home, we headed to Harvard to meet with the lawyer and the bank so that we could sign papers for our refinance. Once done, Ping as usual said she wanted to go to the apple restaurant. She means Applebees. Funny kid! Anyway, we did have dinner, but not there. We tried a new place called Devens Grill. It was great. Ping said the funniest thing at dinner and I have been trying to remember it all night and this morning, but I have had zero luck. She says these zany things all the time. I should carry a small notebook with me so that I can write them down. The minute she said this, I said "I need to put that on the blog!!!!" Bill and I can not for the life of us remember what she said though. So frustrating.

Well I am off to unload the dishwasher and do a few other things. If I remember what the Pingster said, I will write it down and get it on here. In the meantime, if anyone knows how I can get my daughter the flu shot, please let me know. I have called around everywhere.

Mama Out!!!!!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

On of the many clips I took at the show

Crazy Weekend

Friday was a great day because we had nothing planned for the day other than school. I love those days. We did go out to dinner with Meri, Joe, Lucas and Ryan. A Chinese food place that we loved closed over 2 years ago. They have since reopened. They are still good, but we enjoyed the buffet and they did away with that.

Saturday was busy because we had a Halloween party to go to at Audra, Terry, Ava and Elise's house. Ping had a blast. They played pass the pumpkin, they felt yucky but fun things in bags that represented eyeballs and toe nails of monsters, they decorated cupcakes, had pizza and whacked at the pinata. Ping was exhausted when we left there. We headed to a quick errand and then came home to meet Ayi Anita who came for a wonderful visit. She showed me pictures of her recent trip to New Zealand. Beautiful!!!!

On Sunday, Ping had Sunday School in the morning and then in the afternoon, we took her back to church for the Halloween party. She had so much fun. She ate a donut off the string, went through a haunted house, searched for buried treasure, rolled an apple with her little nose and a few other activities. They had a pot luck at 5:00 pm, but we had to come home. The daughter of a friend was coming over at 6:00 pm to babysit Ping. We had a concert in Boston at 8:00 pm, so we left at 6:30 pm after Ping waved her finger at me and said "Mama, you need to leave, you don't want to miss one minute of the music." We barely made it because the toll booth on the Mass Pike was so backed up. Very nerve wracking for me. I had so much fun. I felt like a grown up going out without Ping, but I missed her terribly. We got home at 12:30 am and then I had to drive Beka home, so I was in bed after 2:00 am. Needless to say, I was one tired lady. Poor Beka burned her hand on the tea kettle, so we came home to her running her water under the faucet. I felt awful about that. She had blisters on her hand. So I drove her home with her hand literally out the window. Bill put some burn stuff on it, but it didn't seem to help.

Yesterday, I spoke with Beka's mom and she is doing much better. Thank goodness!!!!! Ping had school and then we came home. We were here for the afternoon until 4:00 pm. I then drove to Woburn to a birthday party that Ping was invited to attend. Friends of ours in Wilmington who have three boys and one little girl from China was celebrating their son Christopher's birthday. I took Ping because I know she loves to bounce and slide on those big air things. Ping then had pizza and cake and we headed home. Got home a little after 8:00 pm. She and her Daddy hung out for 15 minutes and then it was off to bed for the little tired one.

We are on week four of Ping sleeping in her bed. It could be worse, but I have to say that she has yet to break the middle of the night waking. She often comes in and starts talking with us. Sometimes she ends up in our bed and sometimes Bill just goes to her bed with her. So at one point I woke up and they were both next to me. When the alarm went off for Ping at 6:30 am, he was nowhere to be found. Needless to say, I am not sleeping from night till morning and it's killing my energy. We just have to keep working on it I suppose.

Today we have skating in the afternoon and then I have a Tupperware party to go to at 7:00 pm. I am taking Ping as Bill has the Fire Department. It's gone from a busy weekend to a busy week. I am one tired Mama.

Well I best post some photos because I have got to get Ping soon.

Mama Out!!!!!!

Ladybug outfit and rain coat.

Pizza.

Party for two.

Donut eating.

Donut mouth.

Pass the pumpkin.

Twirling.

Listening to Witch Audra's story.

Witch Audra.

Pinata time.

Candy fetching.

Pinning the tail on the donkey.

Miss Ava.

Passing the eyeballs at church.

Rolling the apple.

Eating the apple.

Lining up for the next game.

Sweeping the pumpkin.

Getting some help.

Having fun with friends.

Picking up pieces with a straw.

Searching for buried treasure.

Waiting to go in the haunted house.

Sitting with Emily and Josh.

Us heading to the concert.

Bill, Peter Cetera and me.

Me, David Foster and Bill.

Deborah Cox and an 18 year old new singer. Forgot his name.

Charice from The Phillipines.

Phillip Bailey from Earth, Wind and Fire.

Deborah Cox.

The Canadian Tenors.

Michael Johns.

Peter Cetera.


Rueben Stoddard.

All of the singers.

Sliding fun.

Miss Diana.


Marjorie, Diana and Ping.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Sometimes I wonder if Ping can get any cuter!!!!

This morning as we are getting ready to go to school, I stopped to fix some pictures that I just hung up in the hallway. I just took out some old photos and put in some new ones. Ping says to me "Mama, you can do that at home after you drop me off, let's go now." I had to laugh. She is such a boss!!!!!!!

Some days I wish I had a recorder because I can't remember everything she says and I want to write it down here.

We had a ladybug in the kitchen and Ping says "Mama, that is my favorite bug." She gets a paper towel like her Daddy and tells the ladybug that she needs to get onto the paper towel so that she can release her. So she says "Ladybug, please come here, this towel is very soft and I promise I will not step on you. I want to let you go outside so that you can be with your friends." Ping is such a gentle baby. She is too lovable!!!!!!

She has said a few other things today that have just made me smile. She truly is a gem. I did ask her the other day to stop growing so tall. I told her that I wanted her to stay my little girl forever and she was growing up so fast. She turns to me and says "Okay Mommy, I will grow just one more day and then I will stop." She cracks me up.

Today we are home for the day. We are tired. Bill had an ambulance call at 3:00 am and we all woke up for that. Then Ping wanted a new Pull Up at 6:00 am. We were going to go out tonight, but Bill is on call and he is super tired. So we are in for the night. We have a busy weekend anyway.

Well that is all for now. Talk to you soon dear friends!

Mama Out!!!!!

Heart Attack!

The pink pants she was wearing when she jumped into the leaves!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Paint nightmare

I had an appointment yesterday with a gentleman that specializes in paint problems. About four years ago, we painted the house a very light gray with a purple tinge to it. Someone said it was the color of a purple Necco wafer and it truly is. Well when we had the house painted, it was done with a flat oil paint. Little did we know that oil paint in the future would be a nightmare. Apparently, oil attracts mold. So last year we bought a power washer because the whole house looked horrible from the mold. We didn't get a chance to do the entire house, but we did most of it. It looked good, but only for a short time.

Flash forward to this summer. I hired a professional power washer. Clearly he could do better than us. For $500 he power washed the entire house and said it would look good for at least 3-4 years. Well one month later, the house looked horrendous again. I called the power washing gentleman to ask what he thought the issue was. He said he had no clue. He thought it could be the paint, but he wasn't sure. So I called the place where the paint was bought and they set up an appointment to have a gentleman come out and check out the situation. Yesterday the gentleman came out and took a look and told me that four years ago, we didn't know that oil paint was going to attract mold, especially when you use a flat texture vs a sheen texture. If it had a little gloss in it, we would have been okay. However, we didn't. Basically, we are stuck with the mold issue. So everything I have tried to do has been in vain. Very upsetting. Needless to say, we need to have the house painted with a 100% acrylic paint with some gloss in it in order to solve the issue. The house doesn't need to be painted right now, but I can't stand the mold either. Makes the house look dirty. Talk about being at a cross roads! So that was yesterdays big revelation.

It was gorgeous out yesterday and our neighbor Heidi took Ping for a walk. Ping was tickled pink. Well sort of pink. She had pink pants on, but while walking, she saw a big pile of leaves and decided to jump into them. Needless to say, she arrived home pretty dirty. Since we had nowhere to be for the day, I didn't have her change. Well because she didn't jump up from lunch fast enough, she had a little accident in her underwear. Before I knew it, she was in a different outfit. However, her clothes were fine, so I told her to put her clothes back on and save the outfit she had on for another day. Now for the life of me, I can't remember, but she did something else to herself a few hours later, so she had to change out of those clothes again! So she put on one of her play dresses. Hard to keep up with this tyke.

We had a nice day at home yesterday. Ping colored a good part of the afternoon. I closed my eyes for a few because this nightly waking up of hers is killing me. I also did a lot of paperwork that needed to be done.

Today we are home for the day in the afternoon until I have to bring her to dancing. She loves her dancing class. She loves her skating class as well, but the other day she was so tired that she didn't want to really skate. She passed out on the way there. When I opened the door and woke her, she fell apart. She finally woke up in the last ten minutes of class!!!

Well I am off to get a few things done before I have to pick Ping up at school.

Mama Out!!!!!!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Energy filled days

After I dropped Ping at school, I headed to the post office, the bank, UPS, McDonalds, Target and Home Depot. I was thrilled I got so much done in a short period of time. However, it wasn't without catastrophe! The bank teller hit the side of the car with the window box. Just a little scratch, but still!!! At McDonalds, I got an unsweetened tea as usual. The woman gave it to me and I put it in my cup holder and then I handed her the money. After collecting my change, I took a sip to make sure it was unsweetened. Well it obviously was a very bad cup because the ice tea had poured out of the bottom. The ice tea filled my cup holder to the top and a few other compartments. It also go all over me and two of my seats. What a disaster. I backed up safely and asked for a new ice tea and a boatload of napkins. I had to literally put the napkins in to soak up all of the liquid. Not fun at all. As I was driving home, I realized that I forgot to meet the irrigation guy to blow out the lines at 8:30 am. What a dope I am. Why am I constantly making these dumb mistakes now???? I feel like I have become the biggest air head!!!! I called and apologized and he came out later in the afternoon.

Once Bill got home, I headed out the door for a quick pedicure. My toe has been bugging me and I think I have an infection. I wasn't sure if it's because my nails were looking terrible or something else. I think it happened at the last pedicure to be honest. When I got home, Bill put together her new toy box. It's small, but it holds her stuffed animals and that was what I wanted. We did a few other things around here and put Ping to bed. Around 10:30 pm, I decided to take a dip in the tub. I took my People magazine and a bottle of water, poured in some Epson Salt and sat for an hour. It felt great. I never take a tub in the middle of the week. I barely take one on the weekends.

Unfortunately, Miss Ping started crying around 3:00 am and Bill was downstairs. So I told her to go get her Daddy. So the two came back up, Ping changed her Pull Up and Bill tossed her into our bed. He said it was morning anyway. UGH. Then the tones went off after 6:00 am. That blasted me awake. I feel like I got zero sleep. I am not sure what to do about this crying. I have begged with her to stop. She knows where we are. She has a big light on in the room. I just don't know what to do. It's killing me. It's been three weeks.

I was a little hesitant to spring from my bed today needless to say! After school, I took Ping to have the dentist and now we are home. I am taking her out for skating in a couple of hours. I am thinking that now would be a good time to feed her lunch, so I am off to do that.

Mama Out!!!!!!!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Is it Fall or Winter?

Friday was windy as could be, but it wasn't raining like I thought it was going to. After getting Ping from school, we drove to Burlington to meet with my friend Marjorie and her son Timmy and new daughter Diana. Diana has been home from China since August. She is just beautiful. She is a spit fire and I loved every minute we spent with her. It was so nice to be able to sit and chat with Marjorie and Timmy and Ping really enjoy each others company. Unfortunately, we were at a restaurant, so the kids couldn't run around and play, but it was the only time we had to get together and we didn't have a long window. We are getting together again and we are going to find a place for the kids to play.

The rest of the day was low key. I got a ton of stuff done and then passed out in my chair while I was trying to watch TV.

On Saturday, I woke up to see the sun. The weather was forecasted to be pouring rain! What a welcome surprise. After doing a few things around the house, the three of us piled in the car and headed to Connecticut to visit with friends. I called Anita on the way because I haven't spoken with her in forever as she has been in New Zealand. She had a wonderful time.

We were in Connecticut in no time. We got to our friend's home in 1 and 1/2 hours. We met Mike, Alexis and Stephani when we went on our cruise in June. We had the good fortune of sharing a table. We dined nearly nightly with them and got to know them really well. We were thrilled to find out that they only lived two hours from us! So we have been trying to plan a time when we could get together and this was the day. It's hard because Mike works the weekends and we only have the weekends open usually. Where there is a will, there is a way. Thanks go out to Mike for leaving work early:)

We arrived around four and were instantly greeted by this fabulous family. What a welcome, especially given the cold. We were thrilled because we truly couldn't wait to spend the day with them. Ping was beyond excited because Alexis and Stephani picked up an awesome glow pumpkin necklace, a cool pumpkin drinking cup and some crafts. Ping loves her crafts. She and Alexis jumped right in with those. We were able to chat and enjoy some appetizers. Stephani is more than a cook! She is Martha Stewart on speed! She made these adorable witches hats and crostini breads with goat cheese and fig jelly on top. DELISH! I couldn't have been thrilled with just that. I didn't want to stuff myself though because I had a feeling something special for dinner was going to be served. Sure enough, dinner was grand. What I didn't expect was the scary gummy candy hiding under the napkin. I got a foot. Bill got an eyeball. Ping got a finger. So for dinner, we had squash soup which was to die for, an endive, bleu cheese and walnut salad with the most fabulous dressing, potato croquets with bleu cheese in the middle and filet mignon with a wonderful balsamic sauce over the top. To die for. I haven't had food like that since the ship!!!!! This woman could change her career. In addition to a wonderful dinner, their house is amazingly beautiful. I would kill for their main family room. Tall ceilings, a comfy couch, an ottoman that would fit me and a friend and a great table that they can sit at to do puzzles at. It is backed up to a wonderful window seat. There is beautiful white built in cabinets and a fireplace. It was just big and airy and wonderful to entertain in. The Halloween decorations were adorable and fun. The dining room table was so elegant. If anyone can do Halloween elegantly, it's Stephani. Wait till you see pictures, then you can decide. After dinner we had pumpkin and vanilla ice cream with an apple pie/crisp. Deliciouso!!!!! It was so nice to just sit and chat. I have to laugh because I told Stephani that she is the type that would never make Hamburger Helper. She does, but I am quite sure that she does something to it to make it taste wonderfully. So what do they put in a bag as a surprise for me?????? Hamburger Helper with corn and directions. I got a kick out of that!!!! We had a fabulous time and can't thank them enough for their entertainment. They are truly funny and wonderful people. We are so blessed to have such great friends in our life.

Ping passed out after about 10 minutes on the way home, but the darling woke up when we got in. Naturally, Daddy had to read a book to her!!!!!

This morning, Bill was going to jump out of bed and take Ping to Sunday school. Well he didn't jump out of bed. He took one look at the weather and said "Does she really have to go?" I told him not to worry about it. If I had more time, I would have gotten up myself to bring her. It was a good thing I didn't though becauase someone who did some power washing over the summer called to come by and look at the house. We have been having a problem with mold! Very upsetting to look at the house and see this black stuff on it now. I walked around the house looking with this guy, freezing my tail off. It was cold out there. I got soaked too. Not a biggie. Once he left, I started to clean out the referidgerator and freezer. That took much longer than I expected. I looked at every expiration date and threw away everything that I didn't want to touch anymore. We had doubles of stuff and we don't have the room for that, so I tossed that stuff. We also hung two Origami cranes in Ping's room and a few other things that we got while we were in Vermont. We really got a lot done today. Bill took Ping shopping while I matched up the dreaded receipts to the credit card bill. It was a day of horrible projects, but they are done. YAY!!!!!!

Well I am off to bed so that when the alarm goes off, I don't swear under my breath. Who is kidding who, I still will swear under my breath!!!!!!!

Hope you are well!!!!

Mama Out!!!!!

Ping with her craft project. Puppets made out of bags.

Martha Steward McCreepy style. Just beautiful.

Check out those colors!!!!! Silver and purple were our wedding colors, so maybe I am biased?

Another shot of the table!

Pretty napkin and napkin ring.

Overview shot of the table.

Scary guy in the corner.

The girls having fun.

Lounge lizards. I have such cozy envy!

The wonderful family with their cute grapefruit family member. He has been around past his time. He has dried to a crisp. It's hilarious.

Another shot of them. Unfortunately, we had two cameras going and they were looking at the other. I am probably going to get a picture of them looking, so stay tuned.

Ping cooking. Martha, what did you do to my girl?????

White trash magnet.