Way to go, ALLISON!!!

I am just taking this moment to cyber shout from this bloggy mountaintop how incredibly proud I am of one of my very bestest friends, Allison. Today she finished her very first 10k and I am just so damn proud of her. I am proud that she said she was going to do it, I am proud that she stuck to it, and I am proud that she rocked the hell out of that goal!!

WAY TO GO, BABY GIRL!!! WAY - TO - GO ! ! ! ! ! !

My 500th post

I have spilled my guts 500 times here.



I have shared (probably way too much some times) my thoughts, dreams, frustrations, funny stories, struggles, and random thoughts 500 times in the past 4 years, 4 months & 27 days.
I have written about my father's death, having a baby, weight issues, motherhood, family, friendship, moving, politics, memories, going in and out of deep dark caves of downer-hood (more than once) and re-emerging on the other side.



I know I have said this more than once - because I do tend to repeat myself - but this is probably the most therapeutic accomplishment I have ever had. I cannot say that I have ever kept up with something, a hobby or activity, as long as I have been attached to this blog. This is my "quilting", this is my "scrap booking", this is my "fantasy baseball", this is my "Beenie Baby Collection". I love it. I just love it. I find myself coming across moments in my life when the very first thing I do is think - oh this is soooo going on the blog. My husband will often smirk and wise crack - "I am gonna see this on your blog aren't I?" after something has literally brought us laughing to tears.



And I am so thankful it is here. I have gone back in my archives, looking for a date or something, and I will find myself caught up reading events that happened and I am laughing & crying all over again. And this stuff is only 4 years old.. I CANNOT IMAGINE how precious these memories will be 10, 20, 30 years from now. These stories and entries spark more memories and emotions than even still photos could.

So thank you to all of you who have come by here to read and comment ( or not comment you cheeky monkey lurkers - and you know who you are) and just support this blah blah blahging journey.

Happy 500th post to ME!!!

Life is short... but wide....

Yesterday I had an incredibly long wait in a doctor's office (story for another post). During this incredibly long wait I read pretty much every magazine in the office - From Obama's bailout plan in Time to "who wore it better" in US, from the greatest things to do with kids for free in the Kid's directory to sex tips from Redbook. It got to a point (3 hours later) were I was reading words to read words and pass the time. It was during this meditative spelling bee that I came across this article - "You know you are an adult when..." and one of the captions was:

You know you are an adult when you realize that life is short but wide.

This phrase created an instant calming panoramic image in my brain. I pictured a mountain in front of me and then I saw this 180 degree view surrounding it. It clicked. It made so much sense to me. The mountain seems so close, too close, but when you stop and look around, there is no need to run right up to the mountain and plant the flag at the top. There are so many things to the left and the right of it. I am not saying we need to get distracted from our goals or wander off the path, what I am saying is that there is soooo much more to the picture than just the mountain. There are so many elements within the journey to celebrate, no need to get tunnel vision. There are so many different views, different paths, different choices.

Oh I am so not giving this "aha" moment justice here in words, and maybe that is important too.... maybe it is just as important for it to settle in my bones just because - no explanation needed.

Blogging for Lent

I am not much of a Catholic. I am probably better described as pseudo Catholic, fallen Catholic, or Catholic-lite. There are so many reasons why I choose to stay just outside the threshold of the church, but I appreciate so much of what it gave me growing up.

One of the things that I came to find comfort in was the ritual and habitual comfort that Catholic church and Mass brought. Lent was a big thing for me. Lent was very dramatic, very deep. Lent represented a period of reflection and challenge. You were challenged to sacrifice and think of others for the greater good. When you do this, you can't help but to focus on changing for the better. If you gave up sweets, it was a sacrifice, that in the long was a healthier choice for you. If you decided to volunteer or give your time to something, again, a sacrifice that leads to an inner satisfaction of helping others.

So here we are at another 40 days of reflection for me. I like to take these challenges because it forces me out of my comfort zone. It forces me to get up off my rump in the deep dark cave and realize that perhaps it was me who wandered in this cave and sat down in the first place - no one put me here. I choose to do it here because I hope, in some small way, being honest with myself helps others to realize that we all have the same uglies lurking in our mind and when we get it out and talk about it, it turns out - they ain't that bad after all....

So .... I begin another long stretch of blogging people... I hope to come here at least once a day for forty days. I can't promise they will all be jewels. I cannot promise they will all be reflective, but I can promise they will all be 100% me.

Rebecca needs....

Okay, so I (almost) never do these and I certainly don't tag people, but this one sounded fun and then the results... well.... hit closer to the cosmic place I call "home" than I expected. Here is the rule - you type your name + "needs" into a google search and put the top 10 results:



1. Rebecca needs enlightenment
2. Rebecca needs a prayer
3. Rebecca needs a family
4. Rebecca needs to take her contacts out
5. Rebecca needs to find out
6. Rebecca needs to stop
7. Rebecca needs you now more than ever
8. Rebecca needs a picture
9. Rebecca needs teacher of the year
10. Rebecca needs to get to the top

I tag you all - apparently the Universe speaks through google now so I send you to the fountain of knowledge in that pretty white box at the top of your screen.

He GOT it!!

He got it! Let the angels sing - He got it!! My sweet, adorable, unassuming husband got it!! As I mentioned last week - today is the 10th anniversary of our first date and I have all kinds of plans - plans that have since even grown thanks to my sister offering to watch the kids all weekend and a friend offering to watch Woody tonight so we can spend the night away from the house - just grand plans.

I have told him all along - I don't expect anything from him except to humor me....

Well... guess what....

THIS arrived at my office this morning:



Oh I wubba love you, my sweet New York hunk of Brooklyn love!!

So here is the story - I am sure I have told it a thousand times, so here is 1000 + 1 !!

I moved to New York and was waiting tables in Times Square at the Olive Garden - yes THAT Olive Garden. I had been to 2 psychics - one in Houston and one in NY, both who had said "the one" was coming - but honestly - I just didn't remember this part until much later. The very first time I saw him - he was opening the door for me to enter the restaurant on New Year's Eve - 1998-1999. It had been a struggle to get there because well - it is Time's Square in NYC, hello?!?! He said - "I was told (by the manager) to let this pretty lady in!" Since I was there all gussied up to party, not to work, I wasn't sure if I should stay and flirt with him or thank my manager - but anyhoo - that was the only brief interaction I had with him.

Fast forward one month - I am working the lunch shift, looking like I had barely fell out of bed and onto the subway, when I notice him walking in the restaurant to do business. I holler at the hostess and gesture towards him, like, hubba wubba, who is that?!?! She walks over and says -
You have seen him before.
Uhm, no, no I haven't.
Becky - he is in here every Monday on business with the manager!
Whatever - cutie patootie (6'2-6'3 in a uniform - grrrrr)

I move on with my day. About a 1/2 hour later I am putting in an order at a kiosk and the hostess sing-song says - "Oh Becky - I have someone I would like you to meet!" I grab the kiosk with both hands and in an instant go from I am going to kill her to I have exactly 2 seconds to turn around and flash the most charming smile I own! We small talk for awhile and then I chicken shit bolt away under the guise of needing to get back to work!
Two days later he came back on a day that he normally does not come by and, unfortunately for him, a day I was not working. The day after that, another hostess says he came by the day before looking for me. I completely disregard it and say she must be mistaken, he must have been looking for someone else. Shortly after this conversation, guess who is at the front wanting to know if I am there yet? I am pretty sure I wanted to pass out. I surely know I wanted to bolt out a back door in fear and anxiety and excitement, but instead I got my crap together - found my charming smile again went to small talk with him before the lunch rush. Well, I got flustered, couldn't find my flirting groove and bolted shortly after some back and forth banter. "I gotta get back to work!" By the grace of the good Lord above - my best friend, Allison, was working the same shift with me. When she found out through the grapevine what was going on, she came to investigate and found him without me talking to him. She high tails it to the break area and (real pissed off) addresses me in the most motherly of motherly ways -
WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?! Do you like him?
Yes
Then what the hell is your problem?
I don't know - I don't DO THAT very well -
Oh , you drive me crazy - you really like him?
Yes?
Good - because I gave him your number and he is going to be calling you tonight at 7 and you better damn well pick up that phone - do you hear me?!?!

He called - and we talked and we talked and we talked. We made plans to go out on February 13, 1999. He picked me up after my lunch shift at the "OG" and we had did a walking tour of the city that ended with dinner and drinks in Brooklyn about 8 hours later.

10 years - 2 kids, a suburban 2 story house and a dog later - we are still trucking a long.

100th Day of School

Today is Max's 100th day of school. His class had all sorts of fun things planned for the event. One project he had to complete at home.



He had to collect 100 "things"... beans, macaroni, buttons, etc... 100 things to go into this baggy for the teddy bear to hold. We decided it would be fun to have 100 pennies.

So - I grab daddy's change jar and we start sorting the change. At first he wanted to use the pretty silver nickels, but mommy quickly squashed that dream,so back to the pennies we went.

Now - I am not gonna label son with any socially taboo syndrome, but I will say that my son could be called O.bservant C.reative and D.ramatic. I really just laughed off his cute little Max-isms until this little project we accomplished together. As we worked - no - as HE worked on this project - I sat at the kitchen table wide eyed and in fear of my parenting career, because he is gonna pass me up waaaayyyy sooner than I am ready to release the "I know more than you" title.

So here we go - we need to count out 100 pennies. Simple, right? Easy, right? Just count 1-100, right?



Now here is where you go wrong immediately.

First - we must find the shiny ones - only the shiny ones will do.



If you are dirty or broken in any way - sucks to be you buddy, because you do not get to be a part of this extra special project.



Now - we have our pile of shiny pennies - just count to 100 right?

Hold your horses! First you have to line up, 10 pennies in a line 1-2-3-4-5-5-7-8-9-10.



Then you have to count the line of 10 pennies JUST to make sure 1-2-3-4-5-5-7-8-9-10.


"Hey mommy, this one has Abraham Lincoln on it, wait - they ALL have Abraham Lincoln on it...cool!"


Now you have to stack the 10 pennies up - all with Abraham Lincoln facing up.



On to the next line - 11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20.

We continue this ritual over and over again until we have successfully counted 100 pennies 10 at a time, not missing a beat. We now have 10 lovely stacks of 10 shiny pennies (all Abraham Lincoln face up) each.

Time to put it in the bag, right? HOLD YOUR HORSES!!! You are moving too FAST!!

First we count by ten to make sure we have them all from RIGHT to LEFT because that was the order we stacked them in - 10-20-30-40-50-60-70-80-90-100.

NOW we put them in the bag - just throw them in, right?!?! WRONG!!! Now we must take them, each stack at a time, and place them in the bag - only this time, we will put them in the bag from LEFT to RIGHT. Now remember - each stack has their designated label already - so - 100-90-80-70-60-50-40-30-20-10-0.



AND TADA!! Project complete! And mommy shakes her head in amazement that it is possible for someone to be more detail oriented that her.

Woodrow

You remember Woody, right?


Sweet adorable little Woody?



He was just so sweet and snuggly and adorable and little...




And I was warned in the beginning that having a puppy was like having a baby through toddler-hood only is fast forward.




So I probably shouldn't have been surprised when he doubled his size in a month according to the vet.

But really?!?!

The Friday Rant

Dear customer service phone rep,
When I call you to make reservations and I give you all the information you need in the first sentence of our greeting, do not completely ignore the words coming out of my mouth and ask stupid questions - listen. And if by chance you did not hear, understand, or receive all the information, ask, "I'm sorry - you wanted (what) for (when) (where)?
Thank you,
frustrated traveler


Dear Octo-mom - or old lady in the shoe,
Shut up - go away. Don't justify, don't tell me your side of the story. Go away! Seek loving caring homes for your 14 children and check yourself into the psych ward that apparently made $165,000 worth of worker's comp payments for you. You know - the worker's comp case where you allegedly had to stay on bed rest because of your injury - the one that made pregnancy and motherhood so painful that you lay in bed in pain - and then went again for another round of IVF within 3 months for child # 2 - because you wanted to be a mom so much - a mom laying in bed collecting worker's comp. Don't you DARE tell me in your I'm such a wonderful mother interview how what you provide for your 14 children is your presence - "something that MOST parents don't do" - Because WE provide not only our presence, but money to clothe, feed, house, and medically care for our children - all while paying for taxes that will cover YOUR multi-million dollar unemployed single motherhood living with parents hospital bill.
Best Regards,
a loving mother of the amount of children I can afford to support and care for without relying on complete strangers

Dear self,
Please don't believe the fancy writing on the medicine bottle - when it says it works with your natural system or non-stimulating - in pretty italicized writing on the front, but no mention in the actual instructions on the back - they are probably lying and will cause you to spend the next morning running to the bathroom every 10 minutes.
Love you,
self


Dear husband,
In one week we will celebrate the 10 year anniversary of our first date. As someone who did not have a lot of first dates - I find it pretty incredible that I get to celebrate the 10th anniversary of one. I have butterflies in my stomach with anticipation of our plans for next Friday night. I know it is not that big of a deal to you, which is why I have planned it, but it is a very big deal for me. I do not ask for grand gestures, I ask that you play along. Otherwise - I will just get pissed off and we all know how very unpleasant it is to be around me when I am pissed off.
I wubba love you,
wife

Dear Universe,
I am trying to breathe. I am trying to step back and count to ten. I am trying to change my mind and realize that people are not idiots, just blind to my incredible smartness - okay - just joking - they are idiots - okay - no - maybe lovely people with idiot tendencies -
I am trying to evolve - rise above - all that crap - thank you for your patience.
With hope,
me