Voyages in Parenthood

I'm not on vacation (have to work!) but have sorta taken a vacation from blogging. Too darn tired! Christmas wore us out and now we prep for the big party tomorrow night. Will blog over the weekend...hopefully with video from Christmas morning! Happy New Year!

I'm sure my mother will agree, I'm probably the worst 'kid' when it comes to Christmas. I can't stand the waiting. It's different now, I'm all about the kid! And the husband. I'm excited I get presents too, but not like I was before I had a husband and kid. I get excited about buying their gifts and whether or not they are going to like it on Christmas. And right about now, I'M JUST READY FOR IT TO BE CHRISTMAS NOW!!!!! (Even though my husband already knows what one of his gifts is...I will not be letting Leda know what Daddy's gift is next year..."Hey Daddy, there's no (insert word of thing that is ACTUALLY IN THE BOX) in that present. Nope, not in that box there for you!" Thanks kid!) We are doing Christmas at home again this year. We'll head on over to Rachel's for dinner tomorrow night and we'll have Granddad and Fay over for dinner on Christmas day. Last year we tried Beef Wellington for Christmas dinner and I am so...

Well, this was a busy weekend. I get to relax (sorta) and it's late on a Sunday evening...not much relaxing going on here! We made cookies, decorated cookies, made more cookies, finished our shopping, wrapped the last of the gifts, cleaned house, decorated cookies, decorated the tree...had Granddad and Fay over for dinner and decorated cookies! Whewww! Lots of decorating going on! Oh, and we wished Aunt Aimee a very Happy Birthday! (well, at least Mama and Daddy did...Leda wasn't in the talking mood!) But we are now done. We can relax and enjoy the last three days before Christmas! Well, except for the planning and shopping for our Christmas dinner! ;-) Some scenes from our busy weekend before Christmas.... (clockwise from top: Snickerdoodles, Split Seconds (with added sprinkles per Leda), Gingerbread Men, and Chocolate Chip Cookies (with DARK chocolate chips! Yummmm!) New Penguin Ornament New Wine Glass Ornament Leda's 2008 Ornament Other New Penguin ornament! Not a very g...

Since I completely stopped doing the Friday Random 10, you get 20 this week...Also, not so random because I picked some of my favorite Christmas songs. And no Christmas Song list would be complete without Christmas Wrapping by the Waitresses or any Christmas song by BRRRRRUUUUUUCCCCCEEEEE! I do believe that Leda and I will be listening to this playlist tomorrow while we make Christmas Cookies! We are going to experiment and make Gingerbread cookies tomorrow! Yummmmm! Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town , Bruce Springsteen Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You , Billy Squier I Believe In Father Christmas , Emerson, Lake & Palmer The Little Drummer Boy , Harry Connick, Jr. Christmas Wrapping , Waitresses It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas , Harry Connick, Jr. Feliz Navidad , José Feliciano Rock & Roll Christmas , George Thorogood & The Destroyers Father Christmas , The Kinks Santa Claus And His Old Lady , Cheech & Chong Merry Christmas Baby , Bruce Springste...

Visiting Santa this year was a challenge! Last year, the kid went right up to Santa, climbed right on up on his lap and had a conversation with him while the adults (including her mother and father) stood around looking absolutely amazed that the child was not frightened of the man as every other child her age was! This year, after a false start (we attempted to visit on Monday night but the line was incredibly long and the kid hadn't had a nap all day!), we headed off for the mall again last night and after a quick dinner, got ourselves into line and only had to wait for about a half hour. Santa was on break but we only had to wait 15 minutes for him to return (apparently he was feeding the reindeer!) This may have been the start of the problem...Santa walked in and walked down the line of parents and children and said hello and shook hands with all the kids as he made his way to his seat. Leda grabbed her visual aid (a picture of the ONE toy she was going to ask Santa to bring he...

I think these are pretty self-explanatory... Leda Sings Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer Leda Sings Jingle Bells

I have a feeling this month's posts will not stray far from the Christmas Theme! Sorry! Just a few thoughts about Christmas...or the month of December.... 1. How come you can always find tape any other month of the year, but come December, when you REALLY need it, it is either completely gone, hidden, lost, etc? I always have to buy more! And then, somewhere around June, I will find a HUGE stash of tape, that I will put in a place that I THINK I will remember come time to wrap Christmas presents...you think I know where that place is??? NO!!! Unless it's Target where I will be headed tonight! 2. On the other hand, I have more wrapping paper than I know what to do with. I will not need to purchase wrapping paper at Target! Well, except for the roll that will be used to wrap Santa's presents to Leda because Santa can't POSSIBLY have the same wrapping paper as me! He doesn't shop at the same Target! 3. Each year gets harder and harder...the first couple of years of Led...

The ability to, come December, attempt to purchase EVERY SINGLE THING the child puts on her Christmas list. I've already purchased way too much from Daddy and Mommy and I haven't even attempted to figure out what she is going to ask Santa for! Since Brock is off to a automobile thingy show for the rest of the week, I was with the kid all day today. And since I was so fortunate to schedule a dr. appt on the same day he leaves, and it's not a day when she is at day care, I need to take her along with me! Lovely! (Just a note about my child - she is absolutely the most perfect child! She was the BEST kid today...she really helped me out. I am sure this means that by Friday, I will be wishing I had kept my mouth shut about how good she was today!) Anyway, she announces to the nurse at the drs office that Santa is going to bring her a Prince for her Cinderella, a horse and carriage for her Cinderella and lots of dresses for her. Well, this is news to me! And, the kid isn't t...

I know, I know, I've been very neglectful of my blog the past week....but after a full month of posting, it's hard not to take a week off! ;-) Besides, there's been plenty to do around here. Christmas is coming fast so we are in the midst of getting ready...finishing up the shopping, wrapping presents, getting ready to ship them off to various family members all over the country! Then there's the Christmas cards to prepare and send and the New Year's Eve invites to make and send out! Oh my, and the parties! We attended Miss Paige's 5th birthday party this past weekend (FIVE!!! How the heck did she get to be five already! And does that mean my baby is actually going to be FOUR in a few months?? My goodness!) This coming weekend is my company party in Atlantic City and Brock is off for Orlando for the four days preceding! Leda will spend the weekend with her girlfriends doing things 4 and 5 year old girls do when their parents are away (well, only Leda's paren...

For some reason, this past weekend, I really didn't feel much like blogging. Not much like elaborating upon what we did each day. I felt like relaxing and enjoying what we were doing (or not doing) and not worrying about blogging it. We had a great time. We really enjoyed ourselves this weekend. It was kinda nice to see lots of snow (probably six inches) and keep ourselves warm inside with family. It was nice to enjoy Grandpa and Nana Pam and Great-Nana Rose and Aunt Stacy and Uncle Todd and Uncle Dan and Aunt Maggie. Leda had a great time playing and showing off for the adults. She was the center of the universe this weekend and she pretty much knew it! She enjoyed it to the hilt. She dressed up in her Tinkerbell and Snow White outfits and pranced around on Thanksgiving. She had books for Grandpa to read to her. She played with all her toys. We had a great Thanksgiving dinner. Nana Pam made an awesome turkey and my pies didn't turn out too darn bad...Thanks to Mom for the grea...

Somewhere around 2am this morning I awoke with a start...totally forgot to blog on Saturday! oops! We were just having way too much fun with Uncle Dan and Aunt Maggie and Grandpa and Nana! Just didn't have the time to think about blogging! And tonight, I'm tired and achy...hoping I'm not coming down with something else...I haven't quite gotten over whatever is causing the cough! But we are home and safe and hopefully going to be warm soon...Brock is starting a fire. And we'll hit the sheets early tonight and hopefully start December on a positive note...hopefully the sun will shine tomorrow?? Oh well, I blogged 29 out of 30 days. Most were boring, but I made the effort! Too bad I totally blew it! ;-)

Don't know if it's just having a Friday off from work or all the Turkey from yesterday, but I've been tired all day! I guess it's a good thing we didn't do much today! We played around the house, read, went shopping at Silas's and napped. Then Aunt Maggie and Uncle Dan came and Leda is in all her glory showing off for all the new relatives! Maybe more to report tomorrow. Maybe we will actually go out and play in the snow tomorrow!

Today was a full day. A day full of baking (pies), making thanksgiving dinner, spending time with family, playing in the snow and TURKEY! A successful day all around. My pies came out pretty good...Apple was a hit (thanks Mom!) and we'll save the pumpkin for tomorrow night. Leda's been having a ball playing with her toys, dressing up for the adults and just plain being cute! We'll see what the rest of the weekend brings. Uncle Dan and Aunt Maggie are here tomorrow afternoon. I think we may have to try and build a snowman tomorrow! There's plenty of snow here! ;-) Happy Thanksgiving!

Off to Grandpa's house...heading north into the wilderness. Packing the kid, the dog, the various other necessities into the car and off we go. Tomorrow there will be pies to make, Turkey to eat, and at least one if not two playings of Alice's Restaurant! It's a Thanksgiving Tradition around these here parts. I'm gonna take it with us to NY. Gotta love iTunes! Lite post today, since we are gonna spend the next 5 or so hours on the road. But I'll be posting tomorrow! And the next day. And so on and so forth! Internet gods willing!

This weekend we are heading off to Grandpa's house (Brock's parents) for Thanksgiving. Brock's brother Daniel and his wife Maggie will be in town from the west and we wanted to spend a few days with them while they are on the "right" coast! And I don't mean that politically! The last time we had seen Aunt Maggie is a year and a half ago when she and Uncle Dan got married. That was the week I came down with pneumonia. I started coughing on Saturday and it has gradually gotten worse and it's the same type of cough I had that week! Oh Joy! I said to Brock this morning that I didn't want Maggie thinking that every time we see her I get sick! ;-) So I am coughing my way through the days (and nights, oh even more joy!) and hoping that this thing will go away. And I am planning to make two pies on Thursday morning! Nothing like a little extra pressure piled on! Leda and I are going to watch Snoopy tonight! Leda has been bugging me for a few weeks now that she...

This morning came too soon. Leda had no nap yesterday so she just collapsed at bedtime last night. So tired was she that she didn't use the potty before bed. So tired were we that we didn't notice! 3AM...Leda calls out. Brock goes in to check on her and her bed is wet. Both of us are wishing we had remembered to have her go potty before bed! Instead of changing the sheets (we DID remove the wet ones) we had her get into bed with us. I think the 10 minutes or less that it would have taken to change the bed would have been worth the hour or so of sleep I lost due to little kicking feet and a dog who had to sleep on top of me as well! So, this morning came a little too soon! Leda came into my office before she left for daycare and gave me cuddles. She asks: Leda: "What day is today, Mama?" Mommy: "Monday." Leda: "Oh. I don't like Monday's." Mommy: (a little laugh!) "Me neither honey. Why don't you like Mondays?" Leda: "I don...

Well, I thought about it, I really did. I was going to come up with an amazing post tonight, but alas, I decided to clean out our storage closet instead. Now, I'm just sore and tired. Almost happy that my storage closet will store more stuff now that we cleaned it up a bit and got rid of stuff that we didn't need anymore. We've still got a bit to do, but I might actually end up with an office that doesn't have piles of stuff in it. Because I will be able to put the stuff away. I'm also a bit stressed...I've decided I really need to start doing something with the stuff I have kept over the years and loath to get rid of. Like Christmas, Birthday, etc. cards that I have kept since, well, for like ever! I just don't know what to do with it. I have some ideas, so I guess I'll have to see what I can end up doing with it....maybe my office won't be so clean after all! And, I'm depressed. My Eagles Suck. Not much more to say about that. So, I'm savin...

I am. I am so far ahead of the game, I'm practically planning for Christmas 2009. Well, okay, I'm not that good! But I went shopping today for Christmas Cards and I think I have half of Leda's stocking purchased! And then some! I'm so proud of myself. And I didn't forget the Christmas Cards. In fact, I've already purchased a certain person's birthday cards (and she should remember this for when she gets the cards the first week of January (two weeks AFTER said birthday) because I purchased them A MONTH A HEAD OF TIME and will forget where I put them. Seriously!) Oh, and yes, I shopped at Target! Well, and A.C. Moore. I promised Leda some crafts that she and I would do this weekend. Mostly it's me doing the crafts, because there is glue involved. But she helped. And we planted a spruce tree and some alyssum flowers ("carpet of snow") - we planted the seeds in small little pots and we'll watch them grow over the next couple of weeks. And if t...

Okay, so it is ONE of my favorite scenes in The Sound of Music ...Off to find the song on iTunes... Geez, YouTube has got everything!

It's SNOWING! I'm torn between pure joy and absolute fear....pure joy that it's SNOWING and absolute fear that this winter is gonna SUCK! Oh well! Music's good this morning... You Don't Love Me , Matthew Sweet You Make Loving Fun , Fleetwood Mac Sweet Savannah , Shooter Jennings Back Door Man , The Doors Bringing Out The Elvis , Faith Hill Short Skirt/Long Jacket , Cake White, Discussion , Live Private Eyes , Hall & Oates Bobby Jean , Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band A Trick Of The Tail , Genesis

Tonight I decided to leave Jillian in her box and I did Pilates instead. Reason, because I had a busy day at work, so busy in fact, that I barely drank enough water and I didn't eat lunch. I know, really bad habits if I am going to try and lose some weight, but by the time I had a few minutes to eat, it was 3:30 in the afternoon and I couldn't justify having lunch then. I had misplaced my favorite Pilates DVD (we own a small house...every DVD we own is accounted for EXCEPT for the one that I want to watch at the moment!) and I was really bummed about it. The instructor is Ana Caban who I really liked...she made it fun...mostly by how she explained the exercises. I've only just recently discovered the joys of On Demand. Actually, we've know about them for some time, we've used it to keep Leda happy when she wanted Little Bear and he just wasn't on any channel. But I hadn't really ventured further than Kids. I discovered how easy it was to order movies in May....

Todd finally came through. Apparently he was studying too hard or going to class or something of that sort and was too busy to give me any ideas for posts until the past Sunday. And, I wasn't paying attention until today! And I like the ideas. I've been thinking about several and there's a few posts here over the next couple of days. There are some I will skip, but not because they aren't thought provoking. Like, how can I realistically tell you what our family can do to reduce it's carbon footprint when I live in an idealistic world? ;-) I also won't be writing a post about how I would design Obama's cabinet because, well, I'm not President and I really wouldn't be good at it (now, get Brock to start a blog and ask HIM to design the cabinet...he's the political junkie in this family!) Besides, I'd be picking Hugh Jackman for Press Secretary and George Clooney for Chief of Staff, just so I could look at them on a daily basis! Speaking of Hugh...

Okay, that was horrible . I'm sure that Jillian wouldn't suggest doing this right before dinner, but hey, I just can't do mornings. And, I am pretty sure that doing this first thing in the morning would kill me. Because I am pretty sure I came about 2 seconds away from death about 5 minutes into the 20 minute workout. But I stuck with it. Even with Leda saying, "Hey, I can do that. Look Mommy, look at me, I can do that," all while Jillian is kicking my ass butt! Oh, and not only did Leda want me to see what she could do (which was about three moves WHILE she sat on the couch and drank her milk) she drank all my water, too! Nice kid! I had read where people mentioned that this workout was pretty darn hard, so hard in fact that it caused some to want to vomit during or after. I thought, it can't be that hard. Oh, but it is! I did want to vomit afterwards. I didn't so I am hoping that is a good sign. (Not exactly sure when not vomiting when wanting to became...

Seriously. Can't think of anything to write. All interesting thoughts are avoiding my brain apparently. For like the entire month. (Yeah, I'm sure there are some of you thinking that they've been avoiding my brain for a lot longer than that!) There is just nothing that is interesting me these days. Nothing. Nada. Zip. It's quite sad. At least, there's nothing interesting that I haven't already written about. Like the past. There's lots of that going on! But I've written enough of that. I'm not giving up though. This might be a post about nothing, but at least it's a post! I mean, come on, Seinfeld was on for nine seasons of nothing. I can at least make it another 13 days. Hopefully they won't be 13 days of nothing. At least, for those of you who still come here, I hope for your case, it's not 13 days of nothing. So, how about a cute picture? Yesterday the Durhams joined us for dinner and football/NASCAR. Leda and Paige 'read' a bo...

Okay, here you go. Cyndy's Christmas List. And no, nothing from Brock yet. So don't ask! I've already asked him. A billion times. Hopefully soon. First, Leda's List didn't mention that Tinkerbell the Movie and Cinderella and Ariel Barbies are already something that Santa has already has on his list of things to deliver, so refrain! ;-) I don't think I put them on her lists, but just in case, already done! So, my list. And yes, it will probably be TOTALLY unsexy again this year. But it's what I want! First and foremost....my Amazon wishlist . I want everything on this list!!! ;-) It is in order of items added to my list, but everything on this list is still something I want! It has been cleaned up recently. donna karan cashmere mist perfume donna karan cashmere silk cologne kitchen compost keeper, stainless steel would be nice. Something like this Buddha statue Candles, candle holders, nice smells A NFL Championship. In the next five years would be nice. Micr...

I realized this morning that I am just too old to stay out until 2am! But it was lots of fun! I got together with an old friend last night and we sat around and talked all night. By the time we thought about looking at the clock, it was REALLY late! By the time I got home, it was after 2! It was fun, but morning time comes early around here due to some evil spawn of my loins! ;-) So today, after we did a little cleaning, was a lazy day. A little napping, a little football, and some friends for dinner. A perfect Sunday afternoon. Go Eagles!

A few days ago, we decided today would be a good day for Leda's first trip to a real movie theater! It is supposed to be rainy and yucky (although really warm) so, perfect, right? So about ten minutes before we leave to go grab some lunch and the movie - the sun is out. Oh well, anyway, headed off for a nice little lunch/late breakfast and then headed off to the movie theater to catch Madagascar 2 . Leda was very excited. We got there and headed first for the restrooms to make sure that the two large lemonades she had for lunch didn't interrupt the movie and then we headed over to the popcorn lady and got us some popcorn. With butter! I have to say, movie theater popcorn is not what it used to be. The butter just doesn't match what butter used to be in the movie theater. It's a shame, really. Anyway, off to the movie theater to catch us some seats...Actually Leda and Brock headed off to the theater while I was in line getting the popcorn, so they scored some good seats....

Have you seen this video yet...Seriously, click there and go see this video...it's of a little kid at the Phillies Parade a few weeks back. You know the one...the WORLD CHAMPIONS OF BASEBALL parade? Yeah, that one! Anyway, it's all over the news up here...This kids mom took him down to the parade and as they were waiting for the parade to get started, she started taking this video of him on Broad Street. And she asks him "how big?" and he raises his hands up high. And every time he does, the people on the other side of the street, also waiting for the parade, raise their hands up and cheer. And the kid's like, dude, what the heck is up with all those people over there? It's like dripping with cute! Be careful, could cause cavities, it's so sweet! I dare you not to feel all warm and fuzzy inside! Go on, dare ya!

Thank the Gods it is Friday! I'm probably not sleeping late tomorrow morning (we'll see!) because I'm going to get motivated and get my butt up early and start the 30 Day Shred ! Ha! As I said, we'll see! Here's what I'm listening to... I Wanna Be Adored , The Stone Roses Room At The Top , Adam Ant Gimme Me Some Lovin' , The Spencer Davis Group Rehab , Amy Winehouse Rock Rock (Til You Drop) , Def Leppard Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through , Meat Loaf Not Even The Trees , Hootie & The Blowfish The Interlocutor , Squirrel Nut Zippers Before He Cheats , Carrie Underwood Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee , Indigo Girls

Tonight at dinner, we saw a report about some investigative work that is being done about how (or who, or from where) Kennedy (JFK) was assassinated. The report indicated that through some testing, the investigators have determined that the damage done to Kennedy was most likely created by a shot from the 6th floor of the Book Depository. (I can't find a link to the report...it was on the NBC Nightly News.) It was an interesting story and Brock and I were having a discussion about it and I used the name Lee Harvey Oswald by just saying "Oswald". And as we were talking about it, Leda says, "Mommy, why are you talking about the Blue Guy?" And Brock and I said, "What? What Blue Guy?" And then it hit me. Leda heard me say "Oswald" and immediately thought I was talking about this guy . Oswald to Leda is a big blue octopus who hangs out with a wiener dog named "Weenie." Wait until Arlen Specter and the conspiracy theorists get wind of th...

I got to go shopping by myself tonight. I therefore plugged the earphones in to the iPod and rocked my way around KMart! Hope the guys watching the security cameras had a blast, I did. While I was rockin' it out, and on the way home, and while wrapping my niece's birthday present, I had various random thoughts. Some struck me as funny. Some not so much. But hey, I needed a post, so this is what ya get! ___________________________________________ I'm probably too old to dig Nickelback . But I do! More importantly, I'm pretty sure that when my husband reads this, he's going to think, "What the heck is a Nickelback." Anyway, I do. Dig them. And I dig my old man, too! (love ya honey!) ____________________________________________ I think the fact I use the word "dig" to describe how much I really like something PROVES I am too old to dig Nickelback! Oh well! ___________________________________________ You can inherit genes that make your hair the colo...

Our child has become awfully bossy these days. Or rather, she takes us to task for doing things that we probably, at some point or two, have told her not to do. This makes life interesting. I've been told during a major sporting event that I should be quiet when people are trying to sleep. She's right, I do need to resist my natural urge to yell and scream during a major sporting event that a Philadelphia team is playing in, especially when said game is taking place after 8PM (the kid's bed time). Just not sure if I want my three-year-old child reminding me! Brock and I were talking in the kitchen while he was making dinner just a few days ago and Leda comes out of her room and tells us, "shhhhh, my baby is sleeping" and stomps back into her bedroom. Brock and I had a little giggle about that. I was on the phone with my sister last night, in the living room while Brock was watching TV and the kid was playing with her baby doll. At one point, the kid comes up to m...

I need help. I'm totally drawing blanks on what to write, so unless you want a whole month of lame posts, give me some ideas!! One or two or three ideas would be good! My brain is a bit fried this week, having had to take a test for certification for work that took a week and was just horrible! So coming up with something to write about with any hope of entertaining the HORDES of people who flock to my blog has suffered due to having to use all brain cells on work. And those 10 brain cells are very, very tired people, so give em a hand and give me a topic or two! In the meantime, I guess I could always spend the rest of the month complaining about my Eagles and Andy Reid's UNBELIEVABLY stupid challenge and play on 4 and 1...Yeah, I know, I'm not the coach, I probably couldn't have done much better...blah, blah, blah. The run on 4 and 1 was STUPID and I challenge anyone to tell me I'm wrong. Even Tiki Barber said it was a bad call...and I HATE when I have to agree wi...

Wow! Did we have fun last night. Even feeling like crap didn't dampen the mood too much! Leda was so excited to have 'visitors' last night that when Caitlyn and Paige (tag-team babysitting!) arrived, Leda completely forgot Brock and I were still in the house...I swear she would have practically pushed us out the door if she could have! What a change from the last time...and all times prior to that. Usually there is lots of crying and screaming, "I want to go with you!" as we are walking out the door! My, how times have changed! So we headed off to our night out, but not before we realized, about a mile from the house (thank goodness!) that we forgot the concert tickets! So a quick back to the house and then we were on our way. First, dinner at Plush, which was as good as it ever is. Was nice and relaxing, well, except for the first couple of minutes, which were the last couple of seconds of the Penn State game, in which they lost. That was a bummer. Other than tha...

Make that a week...it's been overcast and sometimes raining just about all week around here. I think the sun peaked out for about an hour or two yesterday. That's been it. So we didn't get a whole lot done today. Besides the fact I have a cold that has been slowly moving into my head, darn it! We did head off to Ikea and bought some bookcases...one for our bedroom and one for Leda's. Leda's got a ton of books that need a place to live and since we moved her clothes into a smaller dresser...well, one that doesn't take up so much wall space, we have some more room to use! Brock and I are off to see Arlo Guthrie tonight. So I am looking very forward to having a good dinner. Hoping that the cold and the headache will try and hold off until after Arlo plays. Don't expect Alice's Restaurant tonight...but expect lots of good music!

Because we have a kid who is now old enough to ask for everything under the sun and knows exactly (EXACTLY) what a toy catalog is, Leda and I sat down this evening and went over what she wanted for Christmas. So, here's Leda's Christmas List (or what we have edited to be Leda's Christmas list because, you know, she wants everything!) Don't get your hopes up...this does not mean that you will soon get a Cyndy and/or Brock Christmas list...gotta keep you waiting a little bit! Leda's Amazon Wish List Leda's etoys.com Wish List Leda's Toys to Grow On Wish List There are a few things on these lists I'd like to point out... 1. Books. She loves books. Books are always a good thing! 2. Train set...Ask her why she needs a train set and she will respond, "because I don't have one." Same goes for the pirate ship. Although, I have to say, she does like to play with train sets (and pirate ships.) 3. Horses...she is all about horses these days. Must run ...

Today my shuffle is gettin' the Led out...Already about 20 songs past my top 10 and have heard at least 4 Led Zepplin songs...right now, rockin' out to a little Black Dog ! Celebration Day , Led Zeppelin Six Months In A Leaky Boat , Split Enz Rocket , Def Leppard From the Beginning , Emerson, Lake & Palmer Do You Want To Dance? , Bette Midler Oye Mamacita , Los Lonely Boys Angel From Montgomery , The Angels Everyday America , Sugarland Blue Angel , Squirrel Nut Zippers Another Rainy Night (Without You) , Queensrÿche It's the end of the week. I'm fighting a cold and looking forward to an evening with Arlo Guthrie tomorrow night (plus dinner at our favorite before-concert-at-the-Keswick restaurant, Plush.) Have a great weekend!

Tonight we are off to grab some sushi and go have some dinner with a friend with a 4-week old baby. We can't wait to meet her! And I'm really looking forward to the sushi! So much for best laid plans...I had planned to get some sleep last night, but turns out, due to a sore throat, I spent most of the night coughing myself awake! So not happy with my body! It is not cooperating. Hopefully after some good sushi, baby cuddling time, visit with a good friend and maybe a glass of wine, I can come home, catch CSI and Life on Mars and head off to dreamland without interuption! That would be nice. Then, I might be able to come up with a truly inspiring post! Instead of this rambling mess!

The past two weeks have seen me up past my bed time too many times! Phillies and Presidency have me low on sleep! Turns out, the Eagles will probably have me up late on Sunday for the Sunday Night game. Geez! Will I ever sleep again? Yes, I stayed up late last night. Watched until the bitter end (12:45am, when I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer). I watched history....no, I participated in history last night. And, putting aside who won and who lost, I am so proud of this country. You came out and voted! Highest percentage of eligible voters to vote since 1908! That right there is amazing! Because, if we are going to be a democracy, you gotta vote...you gotta make your voice heard. And I'm totally impressed with the college-age voting block! In our area, they more than doubled their turn out! That is awesome! I've found myself emotional throughout today, especially when I think of Martin Luther King Jr. and his words and his works and how far this country has come since ...

Tonight's gonna go on forever! We've all voted, it's now a waiting game. And listening to the spin! Oh boy, can't wait! Leda went with me to the polling place, as she has for every vote since she was born. She ate pretzels and 'stole' popcorn from the snack for workers table and was happy to see her Daddy who has been working the poll all day. They've had long lines all day. Luckily we only had to wait for 10 minutes. So we voted. Now we wait to see who wins.

Well, here we are, the day before the election! A very important election and historic either way. Living in a 'swing' state, the phone has been ringing off the hook this past 48 hours! I guess, since both Brock and I have volunteered for one of the campaigns, we aren't getting as many as others! I know some people have had twice as many calls and visits as us! Being that this election season has been the LONGEST of all time (like, hasn't this been going on for.EVER), I'm so looking forward to the day when not one news station or news program will discuss politics. At least not election politics! It's been a long hard road. Leda's been aware that something is happening. She knows the candidates names and knows the one we are supporting. We've even been good about not portraying the other side as bad or wrong, just that this is an election and that both sides are good, we just like one candidate more than the other. That it is okay to disagree, it doesn...

What a beautiful weekend we had this weekend. Yesterday was a work around the house day. With some resting in between! Brock cleaned up a lot of leaves around the house and saved some to pull into a pile for Leda to play in...since she's old enough to want to try and I told him it would be okay if he made sure there were no sticks! So Leda got to jump around in the leaves yesterday! Last night we rented movies and had tacos for dinner before we sat down to movie night. We rented Madagascar for Leda. We figured that would be a good movie for all of us and since I am thinking that her first movie theater movie might be Madagascar 2 , it was a good pick. We got The Happening and Charlie Wilson's War for the adults! Madagascar was HYSTERICAL! Totally recommend this movie to adults as well as kids. We all enjoyed the movie, but I think Leda and I laughed the loudest at Brock who got absolutely hysterical in some parts! After Leda went to bed Brock and I watched The Happening , which...

This years Halloween was my favorite! As I alluded to yesterday, Leda had decided in the morning that she did not want to be the Little Mermaid, she wanted to be Cinderella. And she was quite insistent that she had a Cinderella costume, it was in her closet. Well, there was no Cinderella costume, but there was lots of crying so I told the child to go off to daycare for their Halloween party with her Little Mermaid costume and Mommy would figure out something for Trick-or-Treating. That seemed to be a good deal for Leda, so the crying stopped and off to daycare she went. I figured I had to go to Kmart to see if they had a Cinderella costume left. I had called my boss (and friend, who so happens to be the house we go to for Trick-or-Treating, and the Halloween Party this year!) and he said, come on over, we've got a bunch of princess dresses, no Cinderella, but lots of other princesses. So, I ran over there, got a bunch of dresses and headed off to the grocery store to buy our contri...

It's Halloween. Leda has decided she doesn't want to be the Little Mermaid, she wants to be Cinderella. We don't have a Cinderella costume. Even though for the past 12 hours or so, she has insisted that she bought one and it's in her closet. Oh yes, tonight is gonna be a barrel full of monkeys! Can you say trip to KMart? Does that win me Mother of the Year or Sucker of the Year? Can't decide which one! Oh well, at least the music is pretty darn good this morning: Indian Summer Sky , U2 I'm A Boy , The Who Adia , Sarah McLachlan American Woman , The Guess Who Sweet Girl , Fleetwood Mac Medley: Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In , The 5th Dimension Great Heart , Johnny Clegg & Savuka Running From An Angel , Hootie & The Blowfish Favorite Year , Dixie Chicks Hooked On a Feeling , B.J. Thomas

And FINALLY....Philly has a sports Championship! WOOOO HOOOO! Fireworks all over the area...it sounds like 4th of July here! Parade on Friday...won't be going, but might be watching! ;-) Awesome! And the kid, she slept right through it! Well...after she fell asleep in the 7th inning! And there are people dancin' in the streets in Philly. It's awesome.

Phillies score in the bottom of the 6th (geez, it's like the game JUST started!) and of course, I cheer. Loudly. There was clapping. And WooHooing It was kinda loud. My bad. A few minutes later, child's bedroom door opens and I ask her what she thinks she is doing (as she is supposed to be sleeping) and she announces she needs to use the potty. As she goes into the bathroom, she stops and looks me in the eye and says... "When someone is trying to sleep, you are supposed to be quiet." To which I agree with her and appologize for being too loud and tell her I will do better. I think I was just told off by a three year old. This is the reason I hate evening games, by the way. I have to remember to be quiet. It's in the family genes to be loud. Geez!

Like that is news to anyone who knows me! Really, I am. I am going to attempt to do another NaBloPoMo for this November. That means, a post a day for 30 days. No cheating! That means a significant post (no one liners!) I did it last year , hopefully I can do it again! I'll probably need some topics. So, HELP ME already! One thing I will be posting about is the 30 Day Shred . Brock promised he will do it with me. We'll see how far we both get. I love Jillian Michaels...I have watched the Biggest Loser thinking, if she was my trainer, I'd get my butt back in shape in no time. Because, well, she scares me! Apparently this DVD work out kicks you-know-what. It should arrive in the mail on Saturday! So I'll probably be dragging my butt out of bed early on Monday morning to start my 30 days! So November is gonna be an interesting month. Hopefully I can keep up on both adventures! Stay tuned!

I just watched It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown with Leda for the first time ever. Her first time ever...god only knows how many times I have seen it. However, it would be the first time in a LONG time for me! Anyway, I got to thinking about how similar Philadelphia sports is to Charlie Brown. I mean, what is up with Charlie Brown? He's a good guy. He's even a good sport. He is willing to trust Lucy when she tells him, even signs an affidavit, that she will NOT pull the football out from under him when EVERY.SINGLE.TIME she does pull the football out and Charlie ends up flat on his back again. It's like that with our sports here in this town...every time we think we might actually...well, you know...obtain the unobtainable (I am so not going to jinx our chances by mention the big event that a certain ball team in this city was participating in last night)....the proverbial football is pulled out from underneath of us. Usually this is done by our own team, but this t...

Watch this...I haven't even started the post and I am already going to go on a tangent (hey, it's what I'm known for)... I wanted to use the word "reminiscing" for this post because, well, that's what this post is about! But I needed to look it up to make sure I was spelling it correctly. And that just got me going on a whole other tangent (see – I told you I was known for going on tangents!)...because what should pop up in the Google results...like #2 in the Google results (really, you go try it !) is the video of the song "Reminiscing" by the Little River Band . Well, I just HAD to click the link and oh.my.god I was thrown back 30 years in like 2.5 beats of the music! So now, my iTunes account is $4.95 lighter and I'm rocking out to the Little River Band! Why, you ask, would the song "Reminiscing" cost $4.95? Well, I would answer, because I got reacquainted with "The Lonesome Loser" and "Lady". Oh and do you remem...

One of my high school friends posted an old class picture from (gulp!) 1980 or 1981 (when the heck was I in 7th grade??) on Facebook (what an evil, evil invention, Facebook, that is, not pictures) (well, maybe pictures too!) and I got to searching for old pictures. Haven't a clue where most of them are as I was never really good about putting them in places I could get to them easily, like, say in an album that sits on a shelf? Nope, I used to store them in shoe boxes. Yep, if I ever want to remember what fashionable shoe I was wearing during Jr. High or High School, I just have to find my old pictures! (For that matter, every corsage I had from major dances in highschool are also stuffed into shoe boxes, stored in my hope chest...Do you know how hard it is for me to throw out a shoe box? Oh, therapy is usually involved!) And as I get older, I tend to forget where I put things. Especially now that I have lots of nooks and cranny's of the house to hide things! Well, it turns out...

Good one today! For You , Bruce Springsteen Lorenzo , Phil Collins Only Human (From the Casa Nova Sessions) , Jason Mraz Stompin' At The Savoy , Harry Connick, Jr. Reason To Believe , Bruce Springsteen I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch) , The Four Tops Radio , Smash Mouth Rock And Roll, Hoochie Koo , Rick Derringer Sara , Fleetwood Mac Kiss From A Rose , Seal

Can.Not.Wait... Season 5 of Top Chef starts November 12th. Now you know where I will be every Wed night at 10PM. This time around, they are in NYC! Awesome! Can.Not.Wait!

Apparently, I'm not the only one around here who isn't getting enough sleep! I was sitting at my desk yesterday when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I looked out the window and I saw this squirrel stretching out on this branch. I wasn't quite sure what he was doing. I thought he was stretching to reach something, when all of a sudden, he went slack, closed his eyes and seemingly fell asleep. For about three or four minutes before he sat up again, scratched a few times and bounded down the tree and off toward the creek. It was so darn cute, I had to take a picture. Apparently 3-4 minutes is all a little squirrel needs. Me, I could use a whole darn afternoon! A closer look...

We had a really busy weekend! On Saturday, we finished cleaning the house and headed on out to meet the Durhams and Karen and Sydney for a trip to Linvilla for a hayride and maybe a pumpkin or two! The day was beautiful, albeit a little chilly! So we dressed accordingly. We got to Linvilla and headed first for the lunch lines...luckily this year, we got there a little earlier than last and it didn't take too long to get some lunch. A good thing when you have 3 hungry pre-schoolers. So we had a little lunch and headed over for a hayride. It was a nice little hayride though the woods and through the orchards. We saw pears and peaches (well, peach trees!) and pumpkin patches and squash and tomatoes and peppers and of course, apple trees (and TONS of apples!). The girls enjoyed the hayride, even sitting at the front, right behind the tractor where the dust flew up in our faces! Oh joy! After the hayride, we headed over to the playground and the girls ran around and tried every piece of...

After this, I'm going 70s - a little Simon & Garfunkel, Mott the Hoople...I might even have to download a little Bowie...I'm feeling like some Glam Rock today! (okay, so S&G don't fit that bill, but whatever!) I Can't Stand It , The Velvet Underground Drive In Drive Out , Dave Matthews Band Sweet Jane , Mott The Hopple Minimum Wage , They Might Be Giants Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) , US 3 Featuring Rahsaan & Gerard Presencer Highway In The Wind , Arlo Guthrie My Sweet Girl , John Hiatt The Devil Went Down To Gerorgia , The Charlie Daniels Band Good Times Bad Times , Led Zeppelin Deadbeat Club , The B-52's Wonder what got me in the Glam Rock mood? Watched Life on Mars again last night...loving that show! Favorite line from last night..."If ignorance was a drug, you'd be high all the time." Love it!

It's bedtime at the Yates household and it's Daddy's turn to read books. And all I hear is Leda screaming the names of body parts at the top of her lungs. Ah, I think to myself, I know exactly which book Brock is reading... Ain't Gonna Paint No More ! Ain't Gonna Paint No More is our favorite book. Leda got it for her birthday. She loves it. We love reading it. It's a very cute and fun book! It's got a rhythmic chant to it, and I think it might end up being the first book reads on her own! And it's so exciting to hear her scream with glee the body part that is mentioned at the end of each phrase! Oh, and the giggling! For example... "So I take some red and I paint my...(and on the next page is the body part, but Leda yells it out before we turn the page) HEAD!" (giggle!!) Seriously, try not to laugh out loud when you read this book with Leda! Just one of those things I look forward to once or twice a week when the book gets put into rotation!

Tonight, while Leda takes a bath and I clean the rest of the bathroom (multi-tasking!): Leda: Why do we have belly buttons? Me: Because that's where you were attached to Mommy when you lived in my belly. Leda: That was when I was really, really little and couldn't talk. Me: That's right. And then you were born. That's why your birthday is so special. Leda: And then I had a birthday party! A BIG birthday party! Me: That's right! Leda: Then I got bigger. That was the basic gist of the conversation. It was probably one of the cutest conversations I've had with her lately! Thank god she didn't ask how she got into Mommy's belly in the first place. SO not ready for that conversation!

We spent the past weekend at the seashore. It was a beautiful weekend! We totally lucked out. The weekend had been planned for a couple of months now, we offered to close up the beach house for the Durhams way back in July. We just hadn't picked the weekend until the beginning of September. You never know what you are gonna get! Well, we got shorts weather. Shorts and sweatshirts that could be removed when the sun got you all warmed up. The mornings and evenings were cool but the days were just plain nice! We headed down right after work on Friday night and stopped for dinner on the way. We got to the shore house around 9 pm and hung out for awhile, aired out the place and got Leda into bed by 10 or 11! Figured we'd all sleep in on Saturday! Me, sleep in at the beach? Yeah, not often heard of, but I was tired so I was looking forward to sleeping until 8, MAYBE even 9 am. Apparently, the kid, she takes after me...up at 6:30 AM down at the beach! We spent a leisurely morning, got...