« October 2007 | Main | December 2007 »
A fresh night of sleep--a little bit of perspective. Oh, and remembering the very coveted book I picked up yesterday!
Those of you who read my complaint yesterday, don't worry I've flattened the person who wrote that post with this dear desirable book.
| |
|
I didn't get much of anything I wanted to get done this weekend...which is totally unlike me. I didn't catch up on the laundry--I still have 2 pesky loads that seem to keep reappearing. I didn't once get the house completely caught up top to bottom--the few times I got close another room mysteriously developed into shambles. I didn't trim away the dead foilage out of my front garden though I did give a zinnia stem a halfhearted yank. I didn't replace the burned out lightbulb in Tristyn's light or the 3rd floor shower. I didn't clean out my car and most annoying of all I did NOT dust the fan above my bed that I've been noticing every night when I get into bed that desperately needs to be cleaned. (I don't understand why none of the other fans in the house including the one on the other side of the bedroom doesn't need to be dusted. I dusted them all a month ago and only ONE needs it now. Weird.)
However, the kids and I took Riley to the vet's on Friday and then met Rick and his mum for dinner. On Saturday, Rick, Maia and I raked leaves. I baked some brownies and a loaf of bread. My treadmill and I spent some quality time each day. Today, Maia and I did some shopping.
It was nice spending some girl time together. It's been awhile since we've had a nice chunk of time to do so and it was probably the most enjoyable part of my weekend. The only fly in my ointment was this: One of the things we got while shopping today was a dressy red wool coat for Maia to wear to school. She wanted to wear it right away and she put it on before we went to the grocery store. At the grocery store, Maia wanted to play in the Eagle's Nest (kids' free supervised play area) and i signed her in while she hung up her coat on a peg. She was very careful to make sure it was hanging just so and I was too. Anyways, to get to the point--when I came back for her some time later, her coat was on the floor covered in dirt and dust. Her brand new coat! All the other coats that had been hanging up were gone but one (which was on the end opposite where hers had been hanging) which leads me to believe that her coat was knocked off while others were getting their coats.
It's one thing to knock something over by accident but why wouldn't one pick it up? As I brushed off her coat I couldn't help but think of how when I was at a store earlier and nearly stepped on a hat that had been on the floor that I picked it up. Or how Maia noticed a shirt had slipped off a hanger and she picked it up, put it back on the hanger and placed the hanger back on the rack. Why couldn't the person who knocked Maia's coat (likely accidentally) picked it back up? Or the parent of the person who did?
The sheer lack of consideration really upset me. It's pitiful that I'm still thinking about it or that I've devoted about half of this entry to the matter but I just can't help it.
Sometimes people can really suck. =(
| |
|
I enjoyed this story immensely. The author should be nominated for the Newbery Medal. Wait! Okay...I've got a handle on my motherly pride.
For your reading pleasure, Tristyn's 2007 Thanksgiving book:
I'm not sure the significance of the dot counting but I counted them when I read it to Tristyn and Maia at story time.
Chapter 1 is my favorite.
Though Chapter 2 was definitely a bit of a 'surprise ending!'
p.s. Part of the fun is trying to figure out his writing..but I'll help out with one of the big words--it's 'holigramic' and I don't think I know how to spell it any better than Tristyn!
| |
|
I don't often feature just Tristyn in pictures....
...Here's one of him from when he was four years old. We were living at a house we rented a few towns over from the one we currently live in now. It's very strange to look at pictures of him from a few years ago compared to now. Appearance-wise there isn't much different except he's taller and has lost some of that baby softness. But ability-wise it's night and day difference! Right now we are enjoying our weekly trip to Crazy Mocha in Bloomfield while Maia is at dance class and he's completely occupied with doing the things he brought to entertain him. I only needed to prompt him a little bit to do his homework and it's coming along between bouts of daydreaming and talking to me. Never would have I thought I could sit in a coffee shop with my 8 year old for nearly two hours with both of us content. It's nice. =)
Little Mac takes half decent photos I think despite dim lighting.
Edited to add:
Tristyn: I really hate homework.
M: I know you do.
Tristyn: This sucks.
M: (stifles giggle at his language even though I know it's not the nicest way to talk)
Tristyn: If I become President I'm taking away homework!
Do you think he can think up a winning presidential slogan?
| |
|
I thought Tristyn was going to have a meltdown yesterday when it was time to wake up and get ready for school. I won't go into details but let's just say it wasn't pleasant and it was full of frustration, crying and bitter words.
The reason? The boy was exhausted. He always is when he comes back home and then on top of it he has a hard time shutting off his mind and actually laying there long enough to fall asleep. I made a mental note to remember to have him go to bed a little earlier that night to try to catch up. But--I would keep him away from any and all clocks so he wouldn't know he was going to bed early.
Tristyn came home from school with shadows under his eyes. For awhile he was distracted by friends over to play but then soon after they left and we had dinner he returned to meltdown mode. Everything was upsetting him. Especially the fact that Maia bought a book at the school book fair with the money I gave her that Tristyn had also wanted. I pointed out to Tristyn that this was actually a good thing because he wouldn't be getting enough money to get ALL the books he wanted and now he could get the other three and read the one Maia got. It would be almost like he had gotten to get all of them. He kept insisting he was going to buy the same book and would count his change to bring to school to make up the difference in the amount of money he was getting from me and the amount he needed. The logic I presented him did NOT sink in. Over and over and over I explained how it actually worked out for him and he just yelled and cried at Maia. In a flair of annoyance (I'm working on the patience thing) I told him he was going to bed early and to go take a shower.
Some time later, Tristyn came downstairs to the second floor freshly scrubbed and wrapped up in his bathrobe. He said:
T--Am I in trouble?
M--For what?
T--For what I did.
M--(seeing that he was quite upset and asking very gently) What did you do?
T---I didn't want to go to bed early and I locked my door so I couldn't get in and go to bed early.
!!!!
It took every ounce of me to hurry him downstairs so he wouldn't hear me laugh out loud. Don't worry, he didn't get in trouble and later we had a nice talk about the day and ways to try to improve some of the things we have difficulties with.
Eddie is home safe and sound. Nineteen days later and weighing considerably less but he's home. I am very thankful for the kind family who found him and called me. Rick is going to order flowers and have them sent to their house to the grandmother because she is the one Eddie went up to and she brought him inside.
The missionaries from down the street came down to talk last night too. They were here about an hour and a half and we had a good talk. I sent them home with dessert of course! Some cake and some butter cookies I had just made that afternoon were packed up and sent home with them.
Guess I'll be baking again today. =D
| |
|
What's a person to do when out of bread for school lunches and doesn't want to go out in the dark, cold rainy night to fetch some?
Attempt to make White Bread!!! And succeed!!!!
Well, wheat would have been better as that's what I usually buy, but starting simply is the key.
Freshly baked white bread meets Mr. Peanut Butter and Ms. Jelly.
Result: PBJ totally knocks the socks off his lesser cousin StoreBought Bread PBJ
| |
|
Sunday brunch was at JP's cafe on the Southside. I had never been there before but Rick had dined there a few times when meeting his friend, Ken, who lives on the Southside. It was good, typical diner food. I did get an askance look from the waittress when I wanted ONLY jam for my bagel and asked for 2 scrambled egg whites. But, despite my 'odd' request JP's came through and I enjoyed it.
If you look closely at the picture, to the left and in the background a little bit is where all the new development of the Southside has gone in the last few years. Meaning this is where you find you shops and restaurants like Joseph Beth Booksellers and the Cheesecake Factory. They did a very good job putting all the new things in, including some new housing and it's very nice. But the best part of Southside is about from where JP's starts and all the way down to Station Square. The new development did not hurt or hinder the 'real' Southside in the least. It's as vibrant and colorful as ever and chock full of funky shops, restaurants of all kinds, bars galore and the widest assortment of people you can find anywhere in Pittsburgh.
Rick, Wayne and I left JP's without much lingering because a Steeler Game was starting at 1:10. We got there with just over an hour to spare and everyone knows that is actually NOT enough time before a game. You need at least 2 hours to stand around outside getting cold before the kickoff. Notice the heavy sarcasm? It's not a nice way to speak (or write) but I get cold so easily and I hate being half-frozen before the game even starts. It's hard to enjoy oneself when the last 2 hours and the next foreseeable 3 hours has been devoted to shivering.
Here's what I was wearing to keep warm in addition to unmentionables: tight running pants with jeans over them, 2 pairs of socks, shoes, tank top, long sleeve t, big huge hoody type sweatshirt taken from Rick's closet and my SKI JACKET. I brough a large faux fur blanket to keep warm and a pair of mittens. Between all of that and Rick's liberal dosing with hot chocolate I actually kept warm--even when it began to rain!
Our team played the Cleveland Browns (Cleveland Sucks!) and we won! Not by much, but we still won! Fans in Pittsburgh are CRAZY about the Steelers. This picture does the level of craziness NO JUSTICE. The entire city's mood depends on the outcome of a game during football season. I hesitate to share some of the 'crazy' (horrid) things fans have done when we've lost. It's not something to be proud of.
We came back to a parking ticket. One hundred dollars. None of us saw the sign (and I'm not making that up!) becasue it was too far ahead to read it plus behind a row of medium sized trees on a tree lined sidewalk.
We had dinner at home.
| |
|
I think I have a hard time switching gears and sleeping in. I was up at 7:15 am this morning despite going to bed sometime after 2. No matter, I can think of tons and tons of things to do that are much more fun and satisfying than boring old sleep.
Rick and I got started on our day fairly early. We loaded up Riley and Bob and drove to Construction Junction in Point Breeze. Construction Junction is this big old warehouse that is filled up with salvaged materials from various building projects across the city. You can find everything from furniture, tiles, doors, cabinetry, cornice pieces and lots more. This time we followed the cutesy signs pointing to a back room. Here's what was there:
Handmade Arcade is a 2 day craft fair that features nothing but handmade things. I was impressed at the amount of vendors.
I couldn't help but wish there were a few less customers though. It was really hard to get a good thorough look at everyone's things. I got many glimpses of things that I'm pretty sure I would like but never to really look, if you know what I mean.
The Strip District was our next stop. Once again, more for looking rather than buying. The strip is this long street full of a wide variety of shops and street vendors (lots of times with imported items), fresh meats, produce, cheese, etc.
We had lunch at Enrico Biscotti Company. This was the highlight of my day--not because the food was exceptionally good (well it was good but not the reason for it being the highlight). The cafe is open for lunch from 11-3 only and we got there at about 1:30ish. The menu changes everyday and we were handed sheets of paper with the day's offerings on them once we were seated.
There were only four 'entrees' for the day one of which was lasagna. The couple seated across the way from us came in a few minutes after us. The man ordered pasta e fagioli and the woman asked for lasagna. The owner said 'I'm sorry we are out of lasagna' and she requested something else. A few moments later, he goes around the partition (that you can see in the picture) to put the order in and another waiter comes by and asks for their order. The man says he's having pasta e fagioli and the woman requests lasagna. The owner overhears this and shouts across the room:
"I told ya' we are out!'
Hahahaha... I know it's mean of me to find this hilarious but I couldn't help it. The poor lasagna craving woman reminded me so much of a child who asks first one parent and then the other when the first gives an unsatisfactory answer.
The rest of the day was filled with some mundane errands, relaxing at home, dinner at panera and an hour wandering around Barnes & Noble. We are staying in tonight to watch a movie on Pay-per-View. =)
| |
|
Whew! What a day! (Friday) It was completely full up with things to do. Tristyn and Maia came into work but only for about 40 minutes until the 'sitter' picked them up. Rick was holed up on his office working hard on getting a lot of stuff organized and a lot of stuff done and I well, I was sorta busy. Hahaha. Seriously, now that I've been there a couple weeks I've been getting more and more things to do. Still--I don't have that harried look some of the people in the office have, but I don't think I will because I think having small children who both have tempers (like mine=( )that are quick to flare up (and fade away) makes everything else I do considerably calmer. A fax won't send? Five claims to put into the system. Phone ringing every 30 seconds? Not even a blip compared to 'Mummy! He/She is on my cushion and touching me!' or my favorite 'Mummy! He's in the bathroom and won't get out and I have to go now!!! Now!!!----Maia, go upstairs to the other one-----I can't! It's too far away!!!! GET OUT TRISTYN!!' This one amuses me so much because she will run from the second floor to the first floor to tell me Tristyn is taking too long in the bathroom and then run back up to the second floor to continue yelling at him to get out. Meanwhile, if she had just initially ran from the 2nd floor to the 3rd floor the first time she could have been done. That fight/argument occurs at LEAST once a day.
Anyways. At lunchtime, Rick and I drove down the Southside to swap out our cars (his for mine)at Brunner's Garage and get some lunch. We went to my absolute favorite pizza place. They serve New York Style Pizza.
Until just recently they were called Pizza Vesuvius but they have a sign proclaiming that they are now going to call themselves Pizza Sola. I think they should have stuck with the original name, not because I actually called it 'Pizza Vesuvius' (We tend to just refer to it as getting Pizza because when down the Southside there is not a moment's consideration EVER given to any other shop. If we are describing it to someone we might say Pizza on 15th) but because years and years ago it was the location of Vesuvius Bakery. They even have a framed picture on the wall of the old bakery.
I ran down the block and got coffee for us while Rick went and got my car. It had new wiper blades!! Don't worry, that's not the sole reason it was at the shop. It was getting an oil change and basically a winter check up to make sure it didn't need new brakes/tires/etc before it starts to snow. I was just really excited about new wiper blades being put on because I was really getting tired of peering out through the one patch of no streaks.
Back at work it was more of the same stuff. It sort of dragged by v-----e-----r----y slowly. For the first time in quite awhile I had the 'It's Friday and I want to get out of here' feeling. We went home and I jumped on the treadmill before getting ready to go out. Adam and Cathy were coming down at 7 to go out with us. Originally we had planned to go to Legume in Regent Square but the menu of the day just was not sounding appealing to Rick and I. A & C were nice and obliging about going somewhere else to eat. We went to Sushi Two in Shadyside. The website is the location for the one in the Southside but it's basically all the same. I'm not a Sushi fan but I had Drunken Noodles with Chicken which was very good. Rick had some Chicken Cheese Roll thing that had crab meat rolled up in it. Cathy had some sushi looking thing as well but I think it was more of vegetarian sushi? I don't know...I was too busy trying to make my hand use the chopsticks to convey the food to my mouth without looking too horrible doing it. (I've never tried to eat an entire meal with chopsticks before but I did last night!) Adam had the 'coolest' looking dinner of us all.
His was actually much better looking than this. I got this picture from the website. It was a giant royal boat filled with different types of sushi. He didn't get to take the boat home though. =(
It was very nice to be able to have dinner all together. We haven't ever been able to do that before without kids surrounding us. It was a nice change to actually be able to have conversation. Definitely something we'll be wanting to do again!
We moved on to the Zlounge for White Chocolate Martinis which anyone who knows me knows this is my favorite drink. It truly is like a dessert--it's that good. I think even Cathy will agree with me on this now that's she's had one two.
It was nearly impossible to capture a picture of the martini in the lighting at the Zlounge but I tried to. The glass is drizzled with white and regular chocolate syrup before the drink is poured into it. It's worth every extra minute of your time to wait for Ova Shofa, the city's best bartender two years running according to two different sources, to make it. Every. Single. Minute. Rick and I, on a crowded Saturday night, once waited nearly 30 minutes for him to make it! Worth it. Afterwards, the four of us all went dancing at a club in Station Square. Lots and lots of dancing. Lots and lots of fun.
=D The entire evening was lots of fun and I hope we get to do it (or some variation) again sometime sooner rather than later.
| |
|
