Nice calves

Just when you think you can't take another moment of the kids whining, fighting or screaming one of them goes and does something that not only sucks you back in, but truly makes your life seem worthwhile.  They must have some survival thing built into their genetics that goes off just as they are about to be booted out the back door into that icy cold snowbank!  The biggest Wild One handed me this the other day as I was about to walk out the door (physically and mentally).

Worlds Greatest Mother

(followed by MY name!!)

MY MOM

My mom is a tidy desk

She is always organized

My mom is a beach ball

She is fun until she explodes

My mom is a cozy blanket

When she wraps her arms around me

My mom is a joke

She never stops being funny

My mom is a friend

She is always there for me

My mom is a bowl of ice cream

She always makes me feel better

My mom is glue

She keeps our family together

Now if I were the tatooing kind (hee, hee) I might just have this little dittie imprinted on the back of one of my calves.  I always thought I should put that large flat surface to a better use!  Gotta go beat...I mean hug...my kids.

Tribute to Jim

Twenty four years ago I met a "boy" (turns out I actually met him twelve years before that as he and my sister shared a kindergarten teacher...hmmm...that sounds kind of bad).  Anyway, we hit it off right away--one of those "sparks flyin" kinda relationships (and there were many kinds of sparks).  After our first date I remember sitting on the kitchen counter talking with my mom and telling her that I had just met he "man" I was going to marry...siigghhh.  Fast forward to "meeting the father".

A man I called Mister for 8 years, until I finally married his "boy", and after that I only talked to him when he was looking at me. I would sweat profusely when I needed to ask/tell him something for fear I would actually have to call him "Jim".  At some point he started referring to himself as "Dad"--at which point I easily called him Jim.

Jim was nothing but polite and respectful--unless he caught me trying to sneak in or out with The Big Guy--which as a parent I now see that he  used quite a bit of restraint.

I remember the smiles and intelligent conversations whether sitting in his bedroom, standing in the kitchen in his jammies or driving the kids in the tractor.  Jim taught his kids many things including strength, respect, integrity and hard work all with a jocular personality.

I am grateful for the things The Big Guy learned as well as the things I have learned from Jim or through The Big Guy (half of which came from Mrs. Jim, but she deserves her own story).

The funniest thing I ever saw Jim do was play tennis--a racket in one hand, a cigarette in the other!  Another time, The Big Guy and I came walking into the kitchen (who knocks when they go home to visit their parents??)  and there was Jim making a piece of toast...in his underware.  He (and the rest of us) pretended like we didn't know or notice--I wonder if anyone noticed my sweat soaked pits?

Jim's hospitalization has drawn me closer to The Big Guy, his siblings and especially to his mom--I won't forget the last three weeks or the last 24 years in which Jim has welcomed me as part of his family--OK there was that time at the beginning when he didn't like me because I was too short, but we got over that!

CHEERS TO A MAN FULL OF POWER, WISDOM, WIT AND LOVE.

On Monday, as I sat in the hospital holding Jim's hand, he looked over at me and said "I love you, I love you...Good bye."             I love you too Jim...Good bye.

                      James Ayre Abbott      6.11.28--3.24.08

I am one hot mama!

Now I don't usually like to brag, but Saturday morning I was smokin' hot...literally.  We were enjoying a few minutes of peace (yeah right) before our crazy day took off and I thought I would make a yummy breakfast for everyone.  I should have stopped right there.  The Big Guy is the king of scrambled eggs and weekend breakfasts in general (I even got him an espresso maker for his birthday--anything to make it easier for him to bring me a latte in bed), but I thought I'd give him a break.

Did I mention that I was snuggled into the most beautiful and soft chocolate brown robe you have ever seen?  A christmas gift bought at Macy's--they will be hearing from me later in the week...something about a recall??

When I turned the (gas) stove on, I noticed a spark near my left wrist.  I shook my arm straight down and before I could finish the thought "boy that was kinda freaky" I looked down and realized I was covered in flames.  It all happened quite fast and from the look on The Big Guy's face it was worse than I knew.  He grabbed the robe in one hand and pushed me away with the other, throwing the flame ball to the ground.  I never knew he could move that fast--and the jig he did on top of my robe was quite cute--or perhaps I was just enamored with him for saving my life.

I walked away with a scratch across my breast from him grabbing the robe (at least I think that's where it came from!) and a slight shrinkage in the length of my hair.  Evidently the robe was on fire--back and front...which obviously I could not see.  

As I stood trembling and naked in the kitchen, (from laughter and sobs...I wasn't sure if it was funnier or scarier until the shock wore off --definately scarier then, much funnier as I look back) the littlest Wild One comes over and tells me "we should have video taped that and put it on YouTube".  Hmmm lots of love there!

When the middle Wild One came home and heard the story, he asked if I "stopped, dropped and rolled"...hmm...hadn't thought of that (although the big guy said he almost threw me to the floor and rolled on top of me...been there, done that).    So while you cannot call me very bright, you may call me "one hot mama"!

The Princess, the Lawyer and the Rockstar

Have you ever had one of those days (remember you're among friends) when you don't want to be you--you just need a day off...

As I sit here and mediate--OK that really doesn't work for me, but it sounds cool--I figure if I could do today differently I'd wake up a princess (a real one, not the one I have become).  A little breakfast in bed, a long hot bath and someone to dress me and make me up--ya know the hair and make up thing.

Then I'd call "the car" around--driven by Bon Jovi (hey this is my fantasy) to pick me up.  I'd sip my coffee and laugh seductively at BJ's commentary as he drove me through the tree lined streets to my "office".  You see by then I'd be in full lawyer mode.

Not your typical lawyer, all I would do is argue fun cases in court--unless I didn't feel like it and then I'd go shopping or out to lunch.  I figure that with my love of talking, my talent for being right and my assertiveness (aka bitchiness) I'd rock the court (still in fantasy mode)!  A little creative aggression.

Bon Jovi would pick me up again and take me to be transformed.  He'd sneak me in the back door of some quaint auditorium where together we would take the stage and rock the house for hours. (Ok this is getting a little far fetched...perhaps I should add a voice lesson in there somewhere).

Whheewww...what a day!  Revamped, reenergized and ready for a new day...as the old me.

Tasty Tuesday

Yeah, I know, it's not Tuesday.  But what I have to tell you happened on Tuesday and it sure was tasty.  I have decided that everyone deserves a new review now and then, so I'll start with food cuz "gosh darnit I'm good at it".

My fantasy is a little cottage near Lake Harriet--you know walking distance to coffee shops and unique boutiques (and I suppose a quick jog around the lake).  Picture a nice sunny day, snow melting into pools along the sidewalk and a quaint little neighborhood...just off the lake.  I stumbled across a little cafe nestled in an old fire house-station 28.

Cafe Twenty Eight  2724 West 43rd  Street,  Minneapolis

Much of the food is organic and purchased from local vendors.  They also have a beer that is brewed by the owner of the cafe (I will be back soon to try that)!  The food was fabulous--familiar items with savory twists such as a tuna melt with a hint of Latin spices...yuummmm.  We also had a salad with pistachios, pears and gorgonzola and a grilled ementhaller and ham sandwich--on thick homemade bread (mouth watering yet?)

I'm going to rate on a scale of 11 (cuz I can and it's my favorite number)

Food:  10

Atmosphere: 9 (neat nooks and crannies and some hallway seating, but close quarters)

Service: 8 (totally sufficient, but nothing spectacular)

Price:  8 (med high for lunch, but great food and large portions)

Overall:  Go there!!  It is great for a rendezvous with your sweetie, lunch with "the girls" or even a snack with the little ones.  Let me know what you think.

Next week...a new taste in a new neighborhood.  

Blogging for dummies??

I am so overwhelmed at the possibilities of computers--this is amazing.  Really, take a few minutes to think about this.  I am sitting in a mall drinking a tall latte (OK I have a really hard life, but I have to take my computer classes so that I can keep up with all the yipsters--the young hipsters--yep made that one up all by myself!) and sending words, pictures and music across the world--not that there is anyone on the other side of the world that will ever see this, BUT THEY COULD.  Are you still thinking??

Wireless?  Hmmm...all those images I am sending to you...through thin air?  Can you reach out right now and grab some piece of information or bit of picture that doesn't belong to you (better think twice about the pictures you upload--think "Moonfest" or "Wild Ride").  Or how about the web cams?  The Big Guy (and no I don't mean Santa--but that would be cool) and I have conversations with our web cams on even though we are miles apart--instant video and still no wires.  Cannot wrap my mind around this concept (although I sure do enjoy it).

Perhaps we (living things) are the original computers and the mechanical ones are fashioned after us...after all we have been wireless all along and function much like computers.  We all think we are moving forward--what if we are living backwords??  Hmmm...think about that!

OK I am not a philosopher or technogeek.  I am beginning to understand why I was meant to be a mom...you don't have to understand the wireless concept, just the emotional strings!  Maybe I will get out a pad of paper and a pen (yikes) and write a book the old fashioned way.  When I finish, I will deliver a copy to you in person.

Who's laughing now??

Never one to turn down a challenge (I have got to learn to say "no"), I can now say "I know how to snow board"--well kind of.  When I signed up for the family lesson it was all fun and games.  A little flirting, a little laughing--how hard could this really be??

OK the laughing turned out not to be the flirting I thought it was--he was REALLY laughing at the thought of me out there on my butt!  Obviously he had signed up many middle aged women who thought they were too cool and NOT in better shape than they looked.  It is very hard to look cool when you are either on your butt or struggling to get off your butt.  Now I did try the "lay back and look around like I meant to do that" pose, but I'm not sure anyone bought it.

By the end of the day I had it all figured out--a tall, cold vodka in my hand (and pressed up against my aching wrist-medicating myself inside and out) I sat by the window watching in awe as the Wild Ones zig-zagged across the hill as if they had been snowboarding for 4 years instead of 4 hours...and laughing at all the middle aged people landing on their backsides knowing tomorrow would be another advil day.

Atrophy or A Trophy?

I have to give a shout out to Linda Lou aka "Ant Linnie".  You see it was her birthday yesterday and I remembered (A Trophy--yeah me)so I tried to text Brookie for Linda's phone number, but couldn't figure out how to get Brooke's number into the text area of my phone--while I was driving (I usually just reply to her messages and didn't remember her number either...atrophy).  Then later Linda's number popped into my head (A Trophy-a really big one, that is a long distant number I pulled out of my head from childhood).  But then I was picking up the kids from school for an appointment and...forgot to call (atrophy)!  Well she is MUCH older than me so maybe the whole atrophy thing will work for me and she won't remember that I didn't call!!  Happy Birthday Linnie--can't wait to meet for cocktails!!

Another shout out to my friends Nicki, Aaron and Henry. Today would have been their son's 7th birthday--I lived through that on August 19th last year, a day filled with laughter and tears.  I can just picture Oliver hanging with Charlie even though they never met down here--Oliver made new friends where ever he went...always had a smile on his face--kind of reminds me of Charlie's dad.

I have enough problems walking

Who ever thought strapping two pieces of wood to the bottoms of your feet and then getting as far away from the bottom of a big hill was a good idea?  They must have been young!

  

As we drove to the hill I had visions of swishing (in a perfect parallel) down the "mountain", enjoying the scenery and lifting my face to feel the hot sun beating down on me.....screeeech!!  For a minute there I forgot I was a mom!!  

After 7 hours on the slopes watching a 6 year olds head disappear over the ledge of a black diamond ("I'm a black diamond skier right? I have black diamonds on my skis!"  GD he's right--who bought those for him??)and watching the 9 and 10 year old hop on the chair lift as if they were headed off to college--I think I have aged 10 years!!

A couple of minor tumbles for the kids--all in all a pretty good day...until we left.  I forgot to mention the freezing rain.  Die hard Minnesotan's--we skied through the rain and had 1/4" of ice covering our jackets (why don't kids ever get cold?!) Our coats literally cracked when we squirmed and wiggled.  

Tired and happy from a great day of family fun, we stopped for dinner before heading home.  As I attempted to step out of the truck(remember the freezing rain?) my feet never hit the asphalt.  Willi heard the scream, looked over to where I should have been standing and saw only the door wiggling in the wind (I'm sure I heard him say "not again", but he won't admit it).  I landed in a twisted heap half under the car parked next to us.  Let's just say today has been an "Advil day" and had nothing to do with the seven hours on the "mountain".