Archive for April, 2009
Summer Teaser
Posted by: | CommentsWell, it was a fantastic weekend for weather here in Pittsburgh! It started on Friday, and it looks like it’s going to last through today. The kids really enjoyed it. But here’s how it went down:
Friday after school, Becca started. “Can you put up the pool?!?!” (I’ve promised that we’ll put up the easy-set pool that has been sitting in the garage for two years this summer). I told her that I can’t put that pool up until their birthdays (end of May).
Then she wanted a smaller pool. Well, it was 4:00 on a Friday. I wasn’t ready to tackle any kind of pool. So we compromised on the sprinkler. They were happy. Saturday, I caved. I put up one of those hard shell plastic pools for them. We later found that there must be a hole in it. But they had a great afternoon, bouncing between my yard and my friend’s yard. Carefree, almost summer.
Sunday we had a couple of events to head to. There was a christening for our friend’s twins down the street, then a communion party for other neighbors at our restaurant. We headed down to the christening. Now, our friends there put in an in ground pool last year. They got it late in the summer, and the kids were in it once. I didn’t think that the pool would be open yet for the season. But we got there, and the pool was open. (On a side note, I’m totally jealous of their pool and the set up. It looks like something out of a magazine. They should rent it out for parties.) So, I ran back to the house, got their suits, and they swam for a couple of hours.
Hello…it’s April in Pittsburgh.
It was a great time, and the first time that, as a parent, I didn’t have to get in the pool. They were fine just swimming on their own. Nice.
The communion party was held on Downey’s House’s deck. Because it’s not normally this warm in APRIL, we had to sort of scramble to get the deck semi-ready. The chairs still don’t match. We don’t have any coolers out there yet. We need to do some landscaping. But it went well, all things considered.
So, it looks like our little visit to summer ends tomorrow. Which is OK with me. But I’m glad that summer IS right around the corner!
But if you talk to me in August, I might have something to complain about 
Coming Out of Hiding
Posted by: | CommentsWell, my entire life was consumed.
Consumed by, of all things, eight wonderful novels. As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been reading the Sookie Stackhouse Novels
I have to say, I am totally in awe of people who can write stories like this. The author, Charlaine Harris, has other books, too. And I’m sure I will eventually get around to reading them. I can’t imagine being able to sit down and weave the stores, characters, settings, and everything else. And this woman is either an extremely talented, creative and dedicated writer OR she’s something supernatural. I am amazed at how she has explored the supernatural, and made up the rules as she went along. Kudos to her!!!
If you don’t know, I’m not really casual about anything. When I start reading something and enjoy it, I jump right in, both feet first. I was walking to the bus stop while reading. I stayed up until 2:00 am many nights so I could finish the book I was on. When something gets my brain going, it takes me over. Needless to say, other areas of my life have suffered. The house is a mess, the kids are ready to kill each other, and I haven’t blogged (sorry) or tended to any of my other online ventures. As I finished book number eight last night, I had a whole mix of emotions. I was sad I was finished reading about Sookie. I was amazed that I got through these eight books while still feeding, clothing and tending to the kids and the restaurant. I was glad that I was going to go back to ‘normal’ life. Then it happened.
I went to the Charlaine Harris’ website. Yeah, there’s another one coming out next month. I pre-ordered Dead and Gone
Oh well. The kids know how to get cereal for themselves.
If you remember, the whole reason I started reading this series was that it’s the inspiration for True Blood on HBO. I really enjoyed the first season of the series, and from what I understand, the second season is supposed to start this June. However, the series and the books are completely different. Well, not completely. Many of the characters are the same. But things happen differently. I’m not going to give out any spoilers here, but let’s just say I’m curious about what direction Alan Ball is going for the second season. I’ll probably enjoy the series. I may quite possibly enjoy it even more, because I’ll be so into the differences.
Anyway, for now, it’s back to my little spot here in Collier Township, PA and out of Bon Temps, Louisiana. And I’ll write more.
Promise.
My plan is to go on over to my friend Barb’s site, Barb’s Bookshelf, and post something on the forums over there. Many of the members there use CafePress, Zazzle,, and other POD’s (that’s Print-On-Demand for those who don’t know). They’re uber awesome, and make up a large portion of who I like to call my ‘online friends.’
And they’re frickin’ funny!
OK, I’m gonna catch up on some of that housework. The girls are at the neighbor’s house, running through a sprinkler. Yup, it’s April and it’s 86 degrees right now. But I’m not complaining.
Have a gerat weekend!
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First Taste of Business
Posted by: | CommentsWell, it was a fantastically beautiful day yesterday in Pittsburgh. Dare I say, the weather was perfect. I was in a pretty good mood, I didn’t have to make my normal Saturday run to the restaurant, and the house was pretty clean. So, I finally gave in to the request that Chloe has been making since January.
The Lemonade Stand.
Chloe has been asking me at least once a week since JANUARY if she could have a lemonade stand outside. When I explained that people don’t really want to buy lemonade when it is snowing outside, she offered up the idea of a hot chocolate stand. Well, although that would have worked a bit better, I held her off. There was a weekly lemonade stand inside my kitchen. She would get her small folding chair, and set up the cups and kool-aid on one of the stools for our island. She had three very regular customers…me, Tony and Becca.
They had some very grand hopes for the outside lemonade stand. As I cleaned up, I had them draw some pictures for the lemonade stand. We ran a couple of errands, and then came home to make the lemonade (instant, of course!). The plan was to set up their ‘Cafe’ tent:
We figured that we would cover up ‘Espresso’ with ‘Lemonade.’ Easy enough. I head out to the driveway and start setting up the cafe. The frame went up just fine. After a couple of tries (and Becca holding down part of the tent), I got the cover on. Then, it was just like one huge box kite. Since I didn’t necessarily want the children flying through the sky through our plan, I nixed the cafe. After taking it down and putting it away, we set up our small plastic table and chairs from Ikea. That worked just fine. They had the ice, the lemonade and the cups. They even put out their gumball machine. Price? Two coins. Yeah, any coins. Although Becca is now realizing that different coins are worth different amounts, Chloe hasn’t quite reached that level. So, I asked Becca to just ‘go with it.’ She also thought that she was going to make $1,000.
They sat there for about five minutes with me being the only customer. I told them that nobody knew they were there…they needed to let everybody know that they were having a lemonade stand. They did great! First, Becca walked down to the stop sign (just past our neighbor’s house) and stood on the corner holding up a sign that said ‘Lemonade’ and had our address on it. Then, she used her loud mouth skills. Every car, every person that she saw definitely knew about the lemonade stand.
They got some customers, and then Chloe headed out for her turn at the marketing. It was very cute. The whole ordeal only lasted about an hour and a half, but they had fun. And they realized that just because you open shop, that doesn’t mean you will have a ton of business. I told them what I do for the restaurant, and part of it is making sure people know what’s going on, and where we are. Now, they sort of get it.
As a side note, I just started book 7 of 8 from the Sookie Stackhouse novels. I’m loving this series more and more! It is cutting into my snooze time a little, but it’s worth it! I’ll report on the entire series as soon as I’m done
Attitude Changes Everything
Posted by: | CommentsSorry I haven’t posted in a few days. I went through a little bit of re-discovery. Tuesday I was happy to get back to normal, but the next day I did absolutely NOTHING. (Although I managed to beat my high score on Scramble over at facebook.) I had a big ol’ case of the ‘blahs.’ There was no particular reason I had these feelings. There’s the possibility that it was the crappy Pittsburgh weather. But I woke up on Thursday morning, and my attitude changed.
The sun was shining, and I had a new peace. As I was drinking a cup of coffee that morning in my kid-less house (they were at school), my brain started thinking what my life would be like if I had all the money I ever needed. I imagined my bank account just overflowing with cash. You want to know what I figured out? My life really wouldn’t be much different.
Sure, I would buy more stuff, and possibly go more places. But my daily life would be pretty much the same. I would still be getting up in the morning. I would still be getting the kids to school. There would still be toys to clean up, laundry to do, birthday gifts to buy and dinner to make. I would still live in this house, drive my car and drink the same coffee. Yes, if I had a crapload of cash, we may not own the restaurant anymore, but I’m not so sure about that. I mean, it’s like our child right now. Most likely, I would still have that hour or so in the morning to catch up on restaurant work. Yeah, I could hire somebody to do the grunt work. So I might get a couple more hours to myself each day. But what would I do with that time? I’m sure for a month or so, I would just enjoy the fact that I HAD some time. But I would start some project and get involved in something.
And I’d be back to the same place.
So, I’ve reached another plateau of happiness. Acceptance is good. I’m really not a worrier. So, if we’re low on cash one month, I actually handle it pretty well.
That’s not to say that I wouldn’t take some cash if it came along.
Mama doesn’t NEED a new pair of shoes, but I sure wouldn’t mind a few. And hardwood floors. Ooooh, and a maid to do the scrubbing. (Yeah, I don’t scrub all that much. So again, money wouldn’t really change my life, but it might make my house more clean!). I think my kids have felt this new calmness. They’ve been great the past couple of days. We’ve had fun, and we haven’t really done anything special.
Yup, it’s all about the attitude
Ahhhh….Back To My Controlled Craziness
Posted by: | CommentsI feel like this is my first day back to my so-called normal life. It feels good. We got through spring break. The Easter Bunny came. The taxes are done (and getting mailed today). Today is a day of sweeping, mopping and catching up on laundry.
I don’t know why the holiday threw me for such a loop. We had three solid days of coloring Easter eggs. The weather wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t nice enough for the kids to play outside all day, either. Everything just took a little bit longer with two kids around. Becca headed back to school today (with tears, of course).
I did federal, state and local tax returns for three different people. This is the first year I dealt with TONS of business write offs, K-1’s and what not. Because of that, I had a couple extra glasses of wine at Easter dinner. I felt it a little the next day.
So, here I am, back to normal. Back to homework tonight. Getting Downey’s House ready for summer and (hopefully) the surge in business with the deck getting ready to open. Quite honestly, I don’t really have a topic for today’s post. Just wanted to share the fact that I’m feeling pretty peaceful. Even though my normal life consists of running around, I’ve gotten used to a certain level of craziness. Which makes me think…
What will I do when the kids have flown the nest? Yes, my house will be a little more clean. I’ll enjoy a little more reading. But I already have the feeling that I’ll be a little bored.
Well, and much more rested.
So, for the next few days (or weeks…or until a child pushes me over the edge) I’m going to enjoy the hell out of them. I enjoy their ages. I enjoy their humor. And then there’s the cuddles and the kisses.
Yup…peaceful.
