Ramblings...

So we were actually home in Maine for about 10 days in August. So good to see the family and several friends...eat some lobster rolls, smell the ocean air. I miss it so much...hard to believe that I spent the first 18 yrs of my life waiting to get outta there--so much to do and see beyond my slightly sheltered and very WASP-y world.

Managed to take Munchkin by train into Beantown w/Grandma to visit a special group of friends and their kids. We hung out, saw the "Make Way for Ducklings" ducks, rode the swan boats...had a great time. I have such fond memories of Boston--both from trips there as a child and also from college days and beyond. Heck, that's where BikeBoy and I met and it will always be special.

On the way back to the plane (in Newark!) we hung out in NYC for a few hrs. Showed Munchkin our old 'hood (she couldn't have cared less). She did yell out, "This is AWESOME!" as BikeBoy sped down 5th Ave with the rest of the traffic, trying to avoid street closures before the Dominican Republic's parade. We had a slice at Ray's and walked along Bleecker (almost ducked in for a John's pizza, too, I might add!) and had an ice cream. Played at the two playgrounds in Washington Square Park. Although we lived there (nearly 20 yrs ago now...17, I guess) I cannot imagine raising a child there. Not that I wouldn't want to...I think I would, I just have a difficult time picturing it. I watched moms pushing strollers ($1000 strollers, BTW) along the narrow, crappy sidewalks of the Village, trying to maneuver into tight doorways and up the stairs to brownstones. I can't even imagine trying to take the subway somewhere...and how competetive preschools are (and how expensive). It seems so much easier to do all this from the 'burbs.

But then I took Munchkin to a kids' improv theatre in a funky neighborhood in "the city" here today and it was so fun. We walked around a bit waiting for the show to start...so many restaurants and independent coffee shops. Munchkin kept running ahead of me on the sidewalk. I asked her, "Do you like it here in the city or out where we live better?" She said, "Where we live...no...BOTH!"

When I read MetroDad's posts about life in the city w/the Peanut I think it just sounds fun...different than our lives but fun. And having grown up in the 'burbs myself I know how much trouble youths can get into there...how can it be any worse in the city? At least you wouldn't worry about your child driving while under the influence--we wouldn't even have a car. So many cultural events all within walking distance--museums, galleries, opera, symphony, ballet, theatre, rock concerts, ethnic restaurants--heck, entire ethnic neighborhoods, etc. It is a magnificent feast for the senses! And the diversity within the city always makes me smile. No diversity where I grew up and not a lot of it where we live now either. As the parent of a TRA I am so much more aware than ever before.

I guess I'm just a tad bit jealous of those who make the choice to rear their kids in the city. I often wish we could.

Look, Mama! I fed the butterflies!...

...is something you don't want to hear from your 4 yr old. I was washing the dishes and looked over and Munchkin had dropped a chunk of watermelon in the butterfly net-house and a butterfly was lying partially UNDER the melon chunk! It was desperately twitching, trying to free itself. I had to unzip the top of the house and reach in with a pair of tongs (god-forbid that my hand actually touched a butterfly--eeeeek!) and lifted the melon off the butterfly--rescuing it! It kind of limped around for a minute or two, it's wings stuck together with melon juice but then it flapped a couple of times and was okay. Phew. A tragic ending prevented! :)

Mammogram time...

Yesterday was time to get my "girls" checked out. The hospital that I have this done at has a really new, high-falutin' mammography machine so there are long waits to even get an appointment. Once there you have to wait to check-in, then wait in another area for someone to bring you back to the changing rooms to put on a cape, then once you're caped up like WonderWoman there is a third area to wait in.

Well, yesterday the first waiting area had no magazines. None. Not one. There were three of us sitting there--one younger gal was reading a book. The other (a middle-aged gal, like me) says, "Geez, I can't believe there's nothing to read. I was counting on that. I would've brought something had I known there'd be nothing at all." I then thought about what I did before I left the house...I thought about bringing a book with me but the only one handy was one on menopause which I had just borrowed from the library. So, I said, "I was gonna bring a book but the only one I had was on menopause and I thought better of it." The other middle-aged gal say, "You shoulda brought it...could've read it out loud to us...maybe we could all learn something!" :)

A few new posts...

I have been terribly negligent...poor lonely blog. I only know of one dear friend who actually admits to reading this thing anyway so I have cut/pasted a few posts from a board where I'm a bit more active posting. Just a few things.

Oh, yeah...totally unrelated thought here...why is it that there are some things a kid says that are just so darned cute that we can't correct the pronunciation? Like Munchkin say's "hyneena" for hyena. I love it and I will try my darndest to work hyneena into any conversation with her just to hear it. :) A few others from the past: "kicken" (chicken), "doonin" (doing). I'll add more if I think of 'em.

Uh-oh...

Munchkin was up on the balcony peeking out between the rails and I asked her what she was doing...she said, "Thinking about Kindergarten and jail." WTF? I guess the rails seemed like bars on a cell? But WTF? BikeBoy says, "That's my girl! I always thought school was like prison."

First trip to the circus...

We took Munchkin to the circus last night (no bashing please...I feel guilty supporting the circus when I do not think it's the best place for the animals to be...). I just really loved the circus when I was a kid and wanted Munchkin to experience it at least once so we went.

She was in awe for the first 30 minutes. When the acrobats were doing some of their performance (swinging through the air and catching each other, etc.) Munchkin leaned over to me and says, "I wanna see YOU do that, Mama!" We didn't see much of the rest of the show--she wanted to walk around the souvenier booths and picked out a small stuffed white tiger ($15! Yikes!) then after intermission we went back and saw about 30 more minutes of the show and left after the poodles performed.

It was kinda fun...and sad for the animals...think we'll be doing Cirque du Soleil from here on out. By the way, I once got a form letter from C du S when they were recruiting PTs! Can you imagine if I had taken them up on that and called my mom to tell her I had joined the circus!

A menopausal rant...

I am in the throes of some perimenopausal or menopausal crap. I have been having hotflashes several times a day/night for a couple of weeks. It sucks. I have to wear a tank top and a sweater and be ready to rip the freakin' sweater off at any given moment while my whole upper body drips in sweat. I want to shave my head (I have very thick hair and my head just gets extremely sweaty). I want to go to work naked.

Tonight at the dinner table a hotflash came on. I had been doing laundry so all I had on was a bra and my lightweight robe. I took the robe off the top half of me and just sat there in my bra at the table! (Munchkin had already excused herself so it was just BikeBoy and me!) Then I thought, here I am, about to turn 46...that's 64 backwards...so I started bawling and asked BikeBoy if he'll still love me when I'm 46 (thinking of the Beattles tune re: 64)! Then I, for the first time, really thought that the chances are pretty good that my wonderful life is most likely more than half over now. THEN I started ranting that if it isn't bad enough that I went through 32 years of periods for abso-fcking-lutely no reason that I now have to have the world's suckiest version of menopause. It's like a slap in the face. And, let me tell you how pleasant it is to have a hotflash when I'm in these tiny treatment rooms with a client. Thankfully, because of my middle-of-the-day working hours, most of my clients are either elderly women or SAHMs so I can tell them what's happening (if they aren't already noticing!). PTs get to know their clients well--kinda like hairstylists do--so it's not unusual to chat about personal stuff...thank goodness.

So, tomorrow my goal is to find and buy as many soy products as I can. Soy milk, soy beans, soy nuts, Luna bars...whatever. If you have any recommendations on how to ease these damned hotflashes please share because I'm about to lose my effing mind.

The cat in the toilet story (finally)...

About an hour before Munchkin had to head out to piano lessons I started getting ready. So...we went upstairs and I set her up in front of the tv/PBS while I started getting ready to take a shower. I leave the master bath door open in case she needs me I can hear her or she can just come in.

So...I'm in there, (warning, major TMI alert but it is necessary to the story!!)...going to the bathroom (#2). Codythecat is in there, too. Well, I stand up to flush and the damned cat jumps onto the toilet seat before I can flush and shut the cover and he slips and FALLS INTO THE FREAKIN' TOILET.

Remember, I just went #2. Out splashes all kinds of dirty water all over me, all over the bathroom rug, all over BikeBoy's towel on the rack. And, of course it's all over the effing cat...who now is terrified and climbs quickly out of the toilet and runs out of the room, dragging his effing wet tail behind him.

I scream, "F***ing CAT!" (which, of course, Munchkin repeats, melodically) and give chase (well, after stripping off my now drenched in toilet water--and I don't mean the fancy name for perfume--pajamas). He runs downstairs and around and around the butcher block in the kitchen. He was like a greased pig. I finally catch him and take him upstairs where I shove him into the shower stall...trying to wedge my arm in the sliding door just enough to turn on the water and manipulate the water in his direction. He is wailing. I'm soaking him as best I can. He finally manages to sneak out, once again drenching everything in his path (but at least it's clean water this time). Munchkin is laughing hysterically. I am not. I give chase once again with a dry towel to try to dry off Codythecat. Then I got into the shower and realized how funny the whole thing really was and I broke into hysterical laughter.