The Kidlet...Breakfast to Berklee

I remember the exact 30 second moment I first fell in love with him.  We had never met, and I was nervous.


He was wittle, climbing carefully down the long hill of beige carpeted steps of his Daddy's front hall to meet me at the door.  


"Hi," I said, "you must be Seth." 


"Yup," he said, eyeing the McBadforYou bag of bribery  healthy breakfast in my hand. 


"I brought you orange juice, too," I said, taking in the big brown eyes, the freckle on his cheek and the (unfortunate) bowl haircut.

"OK." he said, as he turned to climb up the stairs again, then hoisted his bottom up into a dining room chair and looked expectantly up at me for his breakfast.  My bag of lovelies and I were now an accepted part of his Saturday morning, as normal as Jimmy Neutron and the smell of his Daddy's coffee.


That quiet, sensitive boy has become a six-foot young man, walking gently through all the nonsense the world has already chosen to show him, and finding his way toward a future of his own making.


Seth got mail today.  Berklee, his musical Hogwarts, has awarded him a scholarship toward the summer guitar session he is attending next month.  His very first scholarship, based completely on his musical submissions. 

HWK and I tell him constantly what a great guitarist he is.  His friends, too.  But this is Berklee.  The real deal.  And I really did try not to cry, watching his face as he realized what he was reading.  What he had done.  He was being accepted.  Accepted by Berklee, welcomed in. 


Just like me and my bag of breakfast.




Before I leave you with a taste of his brilliance, I have to ask:


How is it possible to love so completely, so fiercely?


Here he is:

A year equals....

It's been foreva, I know....


Kidlet now towers over us.  Is turning 16.  Likes girls.  And guitars.  And sleeping.  All very normal, I know.  But he looks like this now:

And girls have noticed this change.  It gives me heart palpitations.  Is it wrong to wish he still looked like this??

Well, in the spirit of him looking (and me feeling) older...


You know how women always seem to go blonder?  Well, not me.....being blonde naturally, it seemed appropriate to go more toward my Scots blood....

Just don't tell my Mom....no matter how old I get, I'll always be HER Kidlet....hmmm...maybe she has some ideas on how to slow the Kidlet's headlong dash toward adulthood!

The Season of Letting Go

It's been a bit...sorry about that.  I've been trying to be a big girl, and learning to let go.  Let go of The Teenager, who is growing so fast and, between Honors classes and friends and Facebook and Track and Guitar and and and....well, I am only really guaranteed to see him when I pick him up from Track practice on Saturday at noon. Other than that, he's but a blur....


...unless he's unconcious....

I know it's good for him to be out and about, creating his own separate and happy life.  It's good.  It's normal.  It's healthy.  It's to be expected.   Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!

(I need a moment.....)

*sob*

*hiccup*

OK...I'm back.  So along with that little heartbreak, we've been working diligently with a local cat rescue (catsforadoption.org) to capture, spay/neuter, and find homes for our kitty cat colony members.  Our community doesn't allow us to feed outside kitties anymore (strictly enforced as of today, May 1), so we've been desperate to catch them and find them homes before the mean community manager fines us.

Along the way, since it's kitten season, we lost a few to illness and fights...very sad...but we got 14 off the streets...and that's pretty good.  Tonight we captured the very last little girl, Marilyn:

  So happy for them -- but a lil sad to think their little furry faces won't be there when I come home from work each night.

Oh, and I'm working - did I mention?  Yay for great new insurance and added cash-ola.  Boo to not so much time with HWK and The Teenager!

Anywho...cannot be a fair-weather blogger.  I'll be better.  Especially since my nest of human and furry babies is fast empty-ing.....waaaaah!  Seriously, the nest is beginning to feel empty...and we've already threatened death and dismemberment if The Teenager has children before 30 (well, HWK says he can date when he's 35...I'm a bit more lenient).  I know...not realistic...just let us be in our little bubble of denial just a bit longer....

Perhaps I'll re-do the aforementioned nest...drag out the sewing machine and make curtains...finally paint the livingroom...trim the rosebushes...

Hmmm...or I could just watch a movie on HWK's new toy: 60 inch HD/3D TV...he's been kicking butt at work, so it's his pre-football self-present.  It makes our old one look like a midget.  I do have to admit (although I've already expressed my horror at the sheer size of it), it is awesome for movies!!  That reminds me -- as soon as football starts, I'll have to remember to dust and water HWK.

...but for right now I'm going to go hug The Teenager...and make him promise to text me at least once a day....waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!

It's late, and I've lost my mind...

I added a gadget to this here bloggy -- a fish tank.  I now share a blog with cyber fish.

And here's the sad path my mind went down:

Wait...I have to feed them??  (Click on their tank)

What if everyone feeds them?  What if they get to be obese, and have fish Diabetes and gill breathing problems?


What if no one feed them?  What if they die of cyber starvation while I'm at work?  Should I feed them on a schedule??  Do fish need burping?


And what's in this food?  Is it high protein?  Are there cyber pesticides?  What if they have an allergy?!?!?!?


What if they have babies?  I don't have a lot room for additional tanks here, so no fishy hanky-panky!



...and this is why I should be in bed, asleep!

Feed my fish, willya?


:) Nighty-night. 

Holy Hotness Understatement, Wiki-folks!

OK, so we all know I'm happily married.  But.

It wasn't my fault.  I just want to make sure you understand that.  I was forced to watch the movie "The Big Lebowski" with HWK and The Teenager.  I sighed.  I rolled my eyes.

 Then it happened.  I heard, then I saw...*him*:


"Samuel Pack "Sam" Elliott (born August 9, 1944) is an American actor. In films, he is often characterized by his rangy physique, thick horseshoe mustache and deep, resonant speaking voice."


The above is from Wikipedia.  Holy hotness understatement there, Wiki-folks!!




Ah, but what follows...what follows is my present to you:

And the voice.  The lovely, lovely gravelly voice:

Happily-married-happily-married-happily-married....

I love you, HWK!!  Rawr!!!

It's been an interesting coupla weeks...

I've been settling in at the new POE (place of employment), and traveled a bit for business.  Had a close relative take on a pick-up truck in a crosswalk (ske's OK, but the truck won).  Washer broke down (in the middle of a load, naturally).  And Sammy, one of my feral kitty boys, is preggers...Sammy will henceforth be known as "Sami".

By last week, I was ready for:

Then my flying monkeys Unionized.

So, I had to:

RELEASE THE KRAKEN!!!

Life has calmed...I didn't have to kill anyone...and I'm currently snacking on homemade banana bread.  Ahhhhhhh, everything is better with banana bread!

Anyway, sorry I was missing for a bit...give me a little bit more time...my nerves are still:

Anyone got any duct tape?!?!?!?!?

Snow Day :)

There's freezing rain coming down, encasing our cars in a layer of ice and stopping trains from running to and fro.  Sooooo....it's a snow day!  HWK and I are off from work, and The Teenager's school is closed (for the second day)!!

The crock pot is full of:

YAY!! PULLED PORK

And later, if The Teenager awakens before nightfall, we're gonna snuggle up under a big ole pile of afgans, pop us some of this:

and have us a 

I hope that, wherever you may be, the weather is being more cooperative.  If not, I hope you spend a lovely day with family and friends!!

Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm off to make me some hot chocolate and chillax!!

Stop growing up!!!!

This used to be The Teenager:

This is The Teenager now:

We keep telling him he has to continue to get good grades, because we don't want him living in our basement, eating poptarts and playing video games, when he's 40.  Please don't tell him, but HWK and I secretly wouldn't mind.

This summer he turns 15.  Girls.  Guitars.  Girls.  Learner's Permit.  Girls.

Someone find me a therapist!  =O

It's true....no coffee=homicidal tendencies

Off to Work (or...Why am I on this Train when it's still Dark outside?!?)

First off, I love my new job.  People are great, work is interesting but not headache-inducing, and overall it's been a very positive experience so far.  There is only one real drawback - the commute.  I want to preface this by saying that I have commuted before, and actually prefer sitting on my butt on a train while someone else worries about driving!

That said, come join me on a mock-up of my morning...oh, wait...for those of you that may not know me, let me make one thing abundantly clear:  I am NOT a morning person.  I prefer my day to start after 9.  Or at least after the sun comes up:

First, my alarm shrills at 5:17AM.  Yes, :17.  I'm just like that, OK??  The view so far:

After a shower and blow-drying my hair (!!), I make sure HWK is awake, since he was crazy nice enough to offer to drive me to the train.  He drops me off here:

And, for the record, it's still dark.  I had to find this picture on the 'Net, because I see this station in the morning and in the evening - both times in the dark!!

I take the *gasp* 6:29 AM Express Train to the Secaucus Junction Station:

Again, a stock photo - no light yet!!

It's grayly dawn-like over Manhattan, which I can see in the distance (or could if my eyes were open) when we arrive here, at Secaucus Junction, at about 7:06ish:

I go upstairs, where there is a neon sculpture of cattails that actually makes me smile every day, since my Grampy Orrin loved cattails, and they remind me of him each morning:

I take a second train from here to Newark Penn Station (I've discovered the hard way that there at least 3 Penn Stations -- NJ, NY and PA):

At about 7:18, my day starts to improve.  First of all, there's a lovely walkway between Penn Station and my building.  It's heated, clean and glass walled, so there are cool views on both sides:

The second, and most important reason my day begins to improve:  I'm mere minutes away from an endless supply of coffee.  Freshly brewed.  By the cup.  *big sigh of wonder and relief*

The building where I work is kinda cool, I think: 

There are two more things that make me perk up when I get to work: 

My friend Rocky, who (whom?) I love, because really, how can you be grumpy when he's looking at you in that sock monkey "cheerful/creepy/I-may-need-medication" kinda way??  He keeps me from taking myself (or anyone else for that matter) too seriously!

The other reason I perk up is that I have big, huge windows that face Manhattan.  And we're really high up, so I can see fer-ever!!

It's hard to be too cranky when I'm having hot, fresh coffee with Rocky, watching Manhattan come awake in the distance.

The ride home is longer, with no an express available, so that adds about 40 minutes to my commute.  :(  All in all, though, the trains are clean, heated, and everyone else (at least in the morning) is as zombie-ized as I am.  

More importantly, since I took a later train to work last Wednesday, I got an opportunity to see all the cute little towns the train stops in throughout Northern New Jersey.  I am excited for it to warm up, because I think it will be fun to go exploring all their little shops and such, and since I have a commuter pass, I can hop on and off at will.

Anyway, that's my commute, folks -- reading lots of library books and working off snacks by climbing lots and lots of stairs in train stations!  I hope the journey to begin your day ends as pleasantly as mine does.  And if it doesn't, I highly recommend a sock monkey!!

Boo on Winter

I miss summer.

There, I said it.  I try to be the kind of person who enjoys each changing season, but come the end of January, I'm ready for some sun.  HWK said yesterday that Spring would be here soon.  This did not improve my mood, since Spring=MUD.

The Teenager asked Santa specifically for just a little snow, just for Christmas, then for it to be summer again.  A completely reasonable request.  No dice.  And the weatherman says the biggest storm yet is coming in two days.  The Teenager already has to miss 2 vacation days to make up for snow days, so he is not pleased....Dear Santa, The Teenager is starting to question your existence...just sayin'!

I think this is what he is wishing for:

Not this: 

The Kidlet is the same, the glasses are the same...the grey mood of doom is not.

So I beg of you...

Come back, Summer....we miss you!!!!

Portillo's!!!

Our friend Michelle, who visited this past summer:

...sent us an awesome present today:

Yup, that's right...a Portillo's care package.  Portillo's roast beef is LEGENDARY in Chicago, and is the place HWK and The Teenager moan about missing on a very regular basis.  There was roast beef, and yummy rolls, and gravy, and peppers, and gardinia, and, and.....oh, it was lovely....and all packed in dry ice!!  We even got a Portillo's cook's hat, which HWK modeled while pretending he was a woeful dishwasher at the real Portillo's:

Even The Teenager, who all but runs from my camera now, was proud to model the Portillo's hat:

It was like Christmas all over again when The Teenager started unpacking: 

Michelle is very, very popular in our house right now.  Gotta go...nom nom nom!

Happy New Year's Eve!!

Once upon a time, HWK had a lumberjack hat.  Then he had a child.  Now he has a child who has a lumberjack hat.  This may be my all time favorite picture of The Teenager, taken about an hour ago, on his way to a friend's New Year's Eve party:

 HWK & I are holding down our couch, me in my flannel jammies, naturally!  We've got a George Clooney movie coming up at 10:30, and Toffee the Evil Kitty is sprawled out, snuffling in her sleep.  It's a brilliant start to the New Year, I think!

Here's hoping your New Year is filled with love, light and laughter!!

Business Flannel: My New Cause

I'm retiring to a life of leisure (trading in my Mom jeans and Farmville for dress pants and interoffice memos) on Monday.  I say retiring, cause Mommy work is hard!!  Just helping The Teenager translate teenage-girl-speak has been a challenge!!  And while I'm sad to not have as much time with HWK and The Teenager, I am excited to spend more time with adults and less time with Toffee the Evil Kitty.  I'm hoping absence will make her heart...well...I'm really just hoping she'll glare at me less.  I think I've been cramping her (napping) style!


The real tragedy of this change comes from having to spend way less time in my flannel jammies.  The best part of winter is wearing flannel jammies and poofy hand-knit by Mommy sox!!  As a nod to adulthood, I do wear thermal shirts (color-coordinated, natch), instead of head to toe character flannels, just so you know.  I think the thermal shirts add a touch of class!  ~*~

So this week, while buying new sneaks for The Teenager's ever-expanding feet, I scored marked down, now on clearance (and I had a coupon!!) jammies at JCPirates.  I'm telling you, JCP is my shopping mecca!!  I got me some fine, fine jammies. The Teenager, who has learned that it's not even worth it to remind me I'm an adult, held his tongue through multi-stripes, aqua with snowflakes and sheepies with scarves, aqua with black, hot pink and white stars, and even all thermal oatmeal with white and black sheep (red scarves, of course).  Add these to my red with rubber duckies, red Mickey Mouse (which are older than the-friend-that-got-them-for-me's 3 kids), and assorted other lovelies, and you have a jammie collection from Heaven!


The one pair that The Teenager balked at?  The lavender with sock monkeys on sleds!  They even had cute little matching scarves, hats and mitties!  He put his foot down, told me they were "weird" (*gasp*), and told me to "put 'em back".  Wow. 


It wasn't until I got The-Teenager-approved jammies home that I realized how much less time I will have to revel in their soft, warm comfiness!!


It made me sad.



                                          :(         :'(         :(         :'(    




Anywho, I told you all that (sorry) to tell you about this:  my status on Face(comic)book is:


Melissa thinks flannel jammies are perfect for all occasions. Perhaps if world leaders met in flannel jammies, we'd all live in a better world!    *extra points for sheep, sock monkeys and teddy bears*


And I really think I'm on to something here.  Yeah, yeah I know that everyone in the business world is all "but it's business casssssssuuuuaaaaalllll".  And just what the heck is that, really??  'Cause believe me, I've seen some very liberal interpretations of that phrase, my friends. 


But, sadly, I've never even heard of "business flannel".  And why?  Whhhyyyy?!?!?!?  (Insert pic of Nancy Kerrigan)        *extra points if you got that reference*


Business Flannel is an idea whose time has come.  Warm, soft, eco-friendly.  Easy to coordinate.  Does NOT go with heels!!  AND often comes with an elastic waist!  I mean, come on!  


I'm going to work up a business plan for Business Flannel as soon as I get back from my orientation.  Which is Down South.  I get a hotel room all to meself.  No Kitty.  No laundry.  No dishes. 


But I'm taking my flannel jammies!  

The Queen and Her Boy

The Teenager and Toffee the Evil Kitty spent some time lounging on the couch today.  Now, I ask you: Does anyone doubt who is Queen of our Household?!?!?

Oh, how difficult her life is....

Love, 

   

      The Help