back to reality.

Well I hope everyone had a simply awesome Thanksgiving (if you celebrate) and weekend (if you don’t), or both, or whatever. It was back to reality for me today after an excellent five-day weekend. I had to get the permanent crown put on my tooth that needed a root canal a few weeks ago, so that was a tremendously excellent way to kick off the week, as I’m sure you can imagine. Then work, then dance class, all mixed in with a healthy dose of show-related texts, emails, and phone calls. (Remember that variety show thing I’m co-directing? Yeah, it’s this weekend.)

 

I did some Black Friday shopping at about 6 a.m. at the mall on Friday. It really wasn’t bad, and I saved tons o’ cash. I also only bought myself ONE thing (a sweater from Gap, of course), which I think shows enormous restraint, yes? As long as you go into Black Friday shopping with the right attitude – that you will have to wait in long lines, and you will have to deal with overly zealous Disney employees (oh wait, was that just me? I mean, seriously dude, I don't want to play trivia games at 7 a.m., is all I'm saying) – it can be downright festive. Oh, it’s also important to avoid the places with the highest incidence of insanity/tramplings/death (see: Walmart).

 

Yesterday the whole fam went down to the beach for the annual Christmas card picture-taking. It was So. Effing. Cold. And. Windy. OMG. Poor Jane looks like she’s in physical pain in some of the pictures. She was a trooper though! And the dogs were douchebags, per usual. As it gets closer to the holidays, I’ll post some outtakes.

 

So many of our neighbors are fully decked out for Christmas with tons of lights and lawn decorations. We need to get our shit together at our house (I really do love Christmas lights) but first – I’ve gotta get this show done this weekend. Then it’s officially the holidays.

 

Happy Monday!

thanks.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving (have you heard?), and this holiday is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Christmas has become completely overwhelming, although this year I am actually doing some shopping way ahead of time (shopping in November is WAY ahead of time for me). Thanksgiving is all about watching the parade, hanging with family, eating a bunch of food, and hopefully winning a ton of cash playing LCR (a very stupid and random dice game that I get absolutely insanely into like a crazy person). I look forward to it all.

But I quickly wanted to just say thanks to you who have stuck with reading this silly blog. I have struggled with posting this year - I believe I will rack up the least amount of posts this year than ever before, unless I go hog wild crazy in December - and I can't imagine that it is even remotely entertaining, but still. I thank you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This post is part of the #30DaysofThanks project. Check it out.

could this be more random and boring? no.

Ah, friends. The relaxing weekend I wanted to have didn't transpire as I hoped it would. Which makes me extra extra thankful that after tomorrow, I have five days off. Whoop! I just feel so incredibly shot these days. I have a feeling it has a lot to do with a complete lack of exercise for the past two months. I also think I've been getting up too late. See, now that I work/Jane goes to school in the afternoon, I don't roll out of bed until around 7:15-7:30. It used to be at least an hour earlier. So, yup, I am going to try to work in getting up earlier and getting exercise before Greg goes off to work. Bug me about this, yes?

Per my new rule about blogging re: Jane, I will not go into detail about the parent/teacher conference I had today. But I WILL say that it was good. And, look, I was about to say more, but I won't.

Oh my God, most boring blog post ever. Here, let me entertain you with a pic of me with my homegirls Heather and Shelly, when we were out Saturday night for Heather's 40th. Yeah, yeah, half of you saw this on Facebook already, but it's all I got.

weekend update: 30 Days of Thanks

Friday Friday Friday! Once again, there mere fact that today is FINALLY the last day of this everlasting work/school week is enough to earn the #30DaysofThanks hashtag. And yes, you shouldn’t really hashtag within blog posts but whatever, this is my blog and I make the rules. As my twitter peep @Tartydiva said today, “This has got to be at least the 10th day of the week.” WORD TO THAT.

 

Here’s what up this weekend:
 

Friday: Blessedly nothing. Might go to the mall with Jane tonight (ETA: this happened. Also we ate at Rainforest Cafe. Screaming gorillas is just what I needed tonight. This place is an epic nightmare.). Have a whole bunch of TV shows sitting in my DVR queue. Life is good.
 

Saturday: Going to my favorite new Panera with Jane to meet up with our homegirls Beth and Ava. Mess and chaos and fun will ensue. Saturday night we’ll be going out to dinner to celebrate my best friend’s 40th birthday, because apparently we’re all getting old now. Jane will be home with her sitter, who is a former teacher at her old daycare. What she DOESN’T know is that two of her other former teachers (who are friends with her babysitter, since they all used to work together) are also coming over, because they want to see Jane. Jane is going to Lose. Her. Mind. With. Joy.
 

Sunday: Speaking of peeps from daycare, some of her old pals and their moms will be coming to our house Sunday morning for breakfast treats and good times.
 

 

That’s all that is officially on the docket for this weekend. Next week is super-weird because Jane has three half days in a row (which works out to exactly TWO hours of school a day for her – thank God the after school program is still running), Greg and I have to go to her parent/teacher conference on Monday, I’ll be going to her Thanksgiving party in her classroom on Wednesday, and then it’s THANKSGIVING. WHOOO!

What are you up to this weekend?

 

This post is part of the #30DaysofThanks project. Check it out.
 

 

programming note

I had Jane just over a year after I started this blog (6.5 years ago OMG), and she has been the topic of many, many MANY posts. I always knew a time would come when I wouldn't - shouldn't -  write about her so much. That her privacy would come first, no matter what the entertainment value of the story was. And I think I've hit that point.

There's some stuff going on with school that I'd love to hash out here. But I realize that the things I write about her now could easily be found by some of the people she goes to school with right now, in 10 years, when they are all a bunch of pubescent jerks. And sure, these same people could find the stuff I wrote about her previously, but for some reason kindergarten and age 5 seems like a perfect time to slow down.

It's not that I won't EVER write about the girl, or post pictures (I mean, please. Some things are just impossible to resist sharing), but I need realize that although she doesn't realize it, she has a right to privacy, and to air out her whole life here wouldn't be fair.

What the hell am I going to write about?  Maybe it's time to visit the archives and see what I used to go on and on about. Because if there's one thing I know about myself - I like to go on and on. And on.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

forward: 30 Days of Thanks

What am I thankful for today? I mean, duh. Also, duh.

vote: 30 Days of Thanks

So yesterday I told Jane she didn’t have school today, and she asked why.
 

So I told her it was Election Day, and that we were voting for the President of the United States.
 

“The President of the United States, huh,” she said. “Does this mean you’re going to get all crazy, Mommy?”
 

From the mouths of babes.
 

It’s Election Day in America. I love this day so hard. I’ll be camping out in front of the television tonight, laptop fired up, waiting with a nauseous stomach for the results to come in, hoping and praying this guy wins again.
 

We may not always – or ever – agree on what the outcome should be, but the freedom to vote and speak our minds? I’m thankful for that.

 

 

Jane on Election Day in 2008. I didn't take her this year as I was running off to work right after.
 

 

This post is part of the #30DaysofThanks project. Check it out.

 

 

 

 

busy: 30 Days of Thanks

This is today:

This morning Jane and I went to pick up my ailing computer, did a Target run, worked on an art project and went off to school and work.

We are now headed to her dance class and dinner with our dance buddies.

After I bring her home I will go to my friend Chris' house around 8 so we can do some production work on the show we're doing.

Today I'm grateful for the busy. One of the most important things I've realized about myself is, although I bitch and moan with the best of them, I thrive on being busy.

What are you thankful for today?

This post is part of the #30DaysofThanks project. Check it out.



weekend update/30 Days of Thanks

Yeah, yeah, I know it was only a three-day workweek with the storm and all, but LORD ALMIGHTY I am thankful it’s the weekend! Here’s what’s up:

Friday: Getting my hairs cut tonight. I think, for the first time EVAH, I am going to let my bangs grow out. This will probably make me (more) cranky but hey, you only live once, and I think I’m going to incorporate a new look into my ongoing midlife crisis. Then I’m meeting up with my daycare moms for drinks. Hey,  you don’t want to waste a haircut and blow dry, right?

Saturday: It’s Jane’s turn to get a trim on Saturday morning, and then I think we’re going to the library and then to the AT&T store so I can deal with some &*(!^&*(!^*!*()!*(!)&!^^!^ problems with my wretched mother*()&!()*!)&(*)&^&&*&*^ Blackberry. And that’s all I’ll say about that. Unless I see you in person, in which case, I will talk your ear off about my PHONE PROBLEMS HOLY *(!&*(& I HATE THAT THING.  Saturday night I’m getting together with some theater friends for dinner. We’ve been trying to get together for months and it’s very very much about time we made it happen.

Sunday: Nothing on the docket as of yet, except for someprep work for a show I’m doing.

So, in conclusion, I am SO THANKFUL IT’S FRIDAY. What are you up to this weekend?

 

This post is part of the #30DaysofThanks project. Check it out.



safe and sound: 30 Days of Thanks

I remember this time last year when I decided to start up this 30 Days of Thanks blog/Twitter challenge – it was just before the massive storm we’ve since named Snowtober hit, rendering many of us in CT powerless for a week and buried in snow two months before it is acceptable. In those first few days of the challenge, I thought it would be hard to come up with things that I was thankful for, but actually, it was easier. We had a place to stay at my in-laws’ house. I had an employer that was reasonable about canceling work. Jane went to a daycare that miraculously retained power and remained open, giving her days some level of normalcy. Mostly I was thankful for spotting a Connecticut Light and Power truck in our neighborhood after several days in the dark.

 

And now that the project is starting up again, we are recovering from Hurricane Sandy, another freak, massive storm that has absolutely wrecked our neighbors in southern Connecticut, New York City and New Jersey. We were incredibly lucky this time – although it was the scariest storm I’ve ever experienced in terms of wind and rattling windows and bending trees, we never lost power (I think this has something to do with the fact that we bought an expensive generator and argued all day Sunday while Greg was setting it up. We have a theory that the power will never go out again – and if this is true, it was the best money we ever spent.). We were safe, we were warm, we had running water, lights, and a diet of Halloween candy and the scary-ass news we could watch on TV that day (I clocked in about 15 hours of news on Monday. I think my heart is STILL pounding from the nerves.).

 

My in-laws’ house, which is right on the water, miraculously was not damaged – which is amazing, since so many homes and businesses in their area were flooded out, including a cottage they own right down the street. Our boat is just fine, as Greg moved it from the marina it is docked at during the summer to its winter home. Lucky for that, too, because our summer marina in Old Saybrook took a beating.

 

My friends in New Jersey and New York are safe. Powerless, but safe.

 

It’s easy to say what I’m thankful on this first of 30 Days of Thanks.  Of course I am grateful our STUFF made it through this storm OK, but far more importantly I am so thankful WE did. Me, and my East Coast family and friends. We’re OK. We’re good.

 

What are you thankful for today? If you're tweeting, don't forget to hashtag #30DaysofThanks : )

This post is part of the #30DaysofThanks project. Check it out.