Summer Recap -- July

July started out with a bang. We celebrated the 4th by also celebrating Brian's graduation and Audrey's b-day. It was a rainy day, but the weather cleared for the party (a cookout) and fireworks. It was a nice day with family and friends! It will be the last year that we were able to sit on our front porch and watch all the lemmings try to drive home in dead-stop traffic.
After that, it was time for my NYC trip. I did this trip last year and had a blast with my girls, so we decided to do it again. I got to see 6 plays: Wicked, Jersey Boys, West Side Story, Shrek, Billy Elliot, & Lion King. I truly enjoyed JB and WSS. Shrek was plain fun w/ great effects & costumes, but it wasn't anything special. Wicked was good, but I think it was better last year. Billy Elliot was amazing, although it had a very slow start. Lion King was just plain tired and lacked anything beyond with opening wow with with animal costumes. The weather was beyond amaing with nary a drop of rain and sunny skies in the upper 70's.
The ladies I was with decided not to be tourists. We did the subway the whole time and were all over the city. We traveled all the way up to the Upper West Side (near St John the Divine) and Harlem (for the city's best red velvet cupcake). We found Serendipity which elluded us last year and we indulged in their famous frozen hot chocolat. We biked through Central Park and went to the Top of the Rock. We also went down to Wall Street (I bought something at Tiffany's) & Chinatown. We did the purse buying craziness by travelling into an office building, up an elevator, down a hall, in a storeroom, and inside a secret room behind a hidden door. We were laughing the whole way, feeling like we were part of some clandenstine and dangerous activity. I wasn't going to buy a purse, but after risking my life there was no way I was going to walk

out of that without one. It was hot, in more ways than one. :-) Then we headed over to Little Italy for lunch at an amazing little restruant Il Cortino. They used to shoot scenes from The Sopranos (I never watched, so I was clueless). We had the best food and downed a bottle of Pinot Grigio. We also got acquainted w/ Tiffany's cousin and bought a bunch of fakes. We wanted more, so on the last day, we got up early and made our way down to LI to get more. There were no stores open at that early of a time, so we got some Italian pastries and coffee. After we killed some time and a few shops opened. We bought a little more and then headed back for lunch at our favorite Chelsea Grille. We also got our Stella's at Broome St. tavern before we headed to Washington Square Park. It was a wonderful trip. Full of fun and silliness. We laughed our way through the trip and had a great time.
After we got back from NYC, Brian was in full on NCLEX study mode although he didn't get his date to test (known as ATT) until a week or two later. We also worked on the house more and go serious about looking for a house. Actually, we decided to halt the looking b/c the house we wanted was out of our range, so we were just gonna stay here another year. That was until a friend from school clued me into a house that was going on the market near her. So, we were the first to see it and b/c the price was incredible, we put in an offer that day. Thus, we will own two homes (for a short time I hope). We put our house on the market 2.5 weeks ago and have had a lot of activity but no offers. I hope we get one soon because I really don't want to have to carry 2 house payments for long. I also need to buy a car.
Not much else happened this month. It was a whirlwind with house buying/selling preparation.
July quickly folded into August, but that is another post.

Summer Recap -- June

June was a good month. Audrey finished up kindergarten with a bang and Nathan completed his tenure at LT BAll (5th grade). Brian finished up school and graduated, and we went on a trip with Brian's parents down to Old Man's Cave area in southeastern Ohio. Brian wanted to take Nathan backpacking with his dad, but Nathan wasn't trail hardened yet, and Brian's dad wasn't sure he was physically up to anything too demanding. They settled on the Hocking County area, and I must admit that it was really nice down there. Of course, there was no cell phone service, but the view and nature was enouch to make it all better.

The rain was a bit of a bummer and sleeping in a tent really sucked, but the trip was a nice start to the summer. Nathan, Brian, and Bill went on a good 5+mile hike through some amazing areas (Ash Rock, Cedar Falls, Old Man's Cave). Nathan really like hiking and got into it in the end. He also started his first fire with only one match. I think he really liked camping.

Audrey enjoyed her first camping trip (grandpa don took nathan last year). She enjoyed playing with all the little girls camped near us. She will never be at a loss for friends. She is a like my sister who always made friends with people wherever we camped. She got swim twice, and the two of us went on a rather disappointing hike. We thought we were going to see Rose Lake, but apparantly you can't see Rose Lake from the trail we were on. We finally gave up and headed back.

June also saw the end of Brian's schooling. He found out he got a job at the OR at MVH. At first we thought he didn't get it b/c his website status changed to "declined". We sat there a little sad (I think Brian was a lot more bummed than me). About 2 minutes later the phone rang and something in the back of my head was telling me that it was MVH offering him something else. Sure enough it was MVH, but they offered him the intern position in the OR. He got just what he wanted through some divine intervention. It doesn't feel real, but he will start on Monday and start beinging in the $$$$.

June also brought a lot around the house work as we set off to comeplete all the little tasks we had neglected since school started. Here is the list of stuff we accomplished in June:

painted bathroom

painted upstairs hallway

painted outside window trim

There was still a ton of fun to come in July and August!!!!

Selling a house is an intense experience

Well, the house is on the market and has been for about 15 days. In that space of time, we have scheduled 13 showings (or viewings as my vocabulary challenged mother says) and declined one. I have sold one other house in my lifetime and I don't remember it being this "intense". We have had a lot of traffic, but on top of that, we've had some crazy experiences.
The first was a night that the kids had soccer. Brian comes home with a pizza in hand and says, "there is a woman on the phone and a gaggle of people outside looking at the house." I reply that we'll probably get a call for a showing, and before I know it the phone rings and the agent on the other end says, "if you look out your window, you will see the agent and people who would like to see your house right now." We were not in a position to show at that moment, plus we had a dinner to eat and kids to get to soccer. I was able to get them to hold off on the showing by an hour, but it was really difficult.
Then today we had a showing scheduled from 2:15-3:15. We had the house cleaned and ready to go, but we still had the cats to gather and kids to collect (they were playing at friends' houses). We always leave the house about 15-20 minutes early, so we thought we were in good shape when at 1:27 someone starts to come in my house. I go to the door and sure enough it was a realtor. I introduced myself and she was little flustered as she said "oh, we're a little early." A litter early is right. Geesh. I told her we coudn't get out at the moment, but we'd be out w/in 10 minutes. She said they would just come by closer to the scheduled time. We left early, and came home and there was NO evidence that anyone had been in the house to view it. That is really frustrating. Brian says there is no way he will accept a showing from her ever again.
I know it is a "buyer's market" but COME ON. There has to be some respect to the life the homeowner leads. I can't wait until we move out and are in our new place and don't have to uproot ourselves for some showing.
I know it is the game we have to play, so I am trying to grin and bear it, but it is unbearable at times. I hope we get a contract soon, but I know it took our first house over a month before we had a contract. We've only been at this 2 weeks and 2 days. At this point the old cliche patience is a virtue holds true.

Recycle: Freecycle!!! One man's junk is another's treasure!

About a year ago, I came across a new concept in recycling: Freecycle. Freecycle it a movement that encourages people to give the stuff they would toss to people who want to take it off their hands. There is no exchange of money and most of them time you don't even meet the people taking your stuff. It is done through a listserv at yahoo groups, and the most annoying thing is all of the emails. But the delete key takes care of that. Mostly, I have been a "giver", but recently I was in need of a cat carrier. I posted a "Wanted" post, and low and behold someone in the neighboring city. All it cost me was the gas for the trip. It couldn't have been more perfect. If you want more info visit the Freecycle site.
It amazes me what people will take and use. While I could give my stuff away at Goodwill (and I still do at times), I like to offer to Freecycle so I can hopefully reep the benefits if/when I need something. I am sure that there are some people who take it and sell it somewhere, but as long as someone takes it off my hands what they do with it is their business. What warms my heart the most is that people will take a lot of stuff that may have made its way to a landfill. Now it will continue to be used and have a life well after us.
You should try it!

More Video

Road Trip: INDY and INDIGO GIRLS

So last Friday (April 24th), I took a road trip sans husband and children. I bolted with some friends to Indianapolis for the Indigo Girls Concert. We left town right after work, headed down I-70 and made it to the city in 1 1/2 hours with NO rush hour traffic. We got off on Michigan Ave which took us RIGHT to the Murat Theater where the concert was. We parked in the Murat's lot and went to imbibe in beer and food at The Rathskeller where I had the most AMAZING rueben and Warsteiner Isenbeck (From Germany's premiere brewery, a dark beer with a light character and a smooth, crisp finish.). It was a little slice of heaven I tell you! The only low light of the meal was a phone call from my mother who proceeded to tell me that she and the kids were locked out of the house and they all had to pee (they finally went to a neighbors) & my aunt had unexpectedly passed away (but that is for another blog). The girls and I then went shopping in this cute little street right by.

We headed over to the venue, which was beautiful. We were in the Egyptian Room, a smaller and more intimate SRO venue. It was lovey decorated in heiroglypics and mummy caskets and large, looming pillars. The opening act was OK, but she had NO stage presence and she had a hard time singing and playing at the same time. I always enjoying hearing opening bands b/c I get to learn about new musicians and get on the cutting edge. But I was not impressed..in fact can't even remember her name (jennifer mcconner, mcconnell). I think she has talent, but she'll be an opener for a long time to come.

The Indigo Girls proved to be worth the $30. They were amazing. It was just them and Julie Wolf on keyboard/electro drums/acordian. It was really wonderful. The crowd was chill and totally into every song. There were tons of sing alongs and when "Shame on You" came on the crowd WENT WILD. I even left loving a song I have always not enoyed ("Chickenman"). I realized that Emily Saliers can rock a guitar and Amy Ray has gotten a lot better at songwriting over the years. I can't say there was a favorite song, as every single song was lovely and sounded as good or better than the albums.

After it was all done, we piled back in the car and headed back to DAY. I landed with my head on the pillow about 2:30. It was an amazing night that I need to have lots more of!

The Curse of the Mommy

Let me preface this this saying: I love my kids and I love being a mom. But in our house there is something I have dubbed the "curse of the mommy". Brian was the stay at home dad for the last 10 years. After Nathan was born early, I had the insurance and he was just getting out of grad school. It was just logical that he be the primary caregiver. Because of that, each of our children had a pretty serious "daddy attachment". When they would get hurt, they would go to dad first and me if he wasn't there. It was a bit of a blow to the ego at first, but I got used to it and carved out my mommy niche in different ways.
So, the curse of the mommy is this: Even though 90% of the time they are hurt or want love they go to Brian, it seems whenever they are sick or have a bad dream in the middle of the night, they come to me. Now the way our room is set up, it is much harder and longer to get to my side of the bed, so it is obvious it isn't a path of least resistance kind of decision. I think it is also a mommy curse that we have radar hearing. As soon as one of them is wining, crying, or moaning our mommy-radar wakes us up. There are times that I will be up 3-4 times a night and when I get up in the morning Brian never was even aware there was a issue.
Most mommy time I love, but I have to admit, I don't think I was made for the middle of night care. The nice thing is that with the youngest at 5, I do see those years coming to an end. But that means other things I love will be gone too. *sniff* *sniff*

Who are the people in your neighborhood? In your neighborhood...

Remember that Sesame Street song? Last night at dinner Miss Audrey asked what a neighborhood was. We tried to explain that it is a group of houses that are on the same street/area. We told her where our neighborhood was, where g-ma and g-pa M's neighborhood was, and where g-ma and g-pa W's neighborhood was. Just to trick her, I asked her who do we know who DOESN'T live in a neighborhood (I was thinking Adam and Karen who live in the country). She thinks about it for a minute, looks up to the sky, and says, "God. He lives above us." We just about lost it in O'Charley's. After composing ourselves, we asked her if there is anyone on Earth she could think of that doesn't live near other houses. She got it right, "cause Karen and Adam live by no one."
I am just glad she is asking questions like "what is a neighborhood"? I have also noticed her using much larger vocabulary and sentence construction (can we get some refreshments? or my mom's viscous!). We're still trying to decide if we repeat kindgergarten, but I am not stressing about it.

Stove 2.0

So I got my new stove today. It came and as soon as the delivery men left, I started cooking. The good news was I noticed a slight dent on the back corner and got $150 MORE off. So a $1500 stove ended up costing me about $1000 after all my discounts and rebates!!
It is a Kenmore Elite, double oven with turbo boil and 5 burners. I really liked it cooking on it. I made sweet and sour chicken and rice and then muffins in the upper oven. It will take some getting used to all the cool functions.

Juice Box

So nice weather brings out the kids. The neighborhood becomes abuzz with bike riders, skateboarders, and walkers. Since we're so close to the park, pool, and levy we get a lot of kids up and down our road. The other day, the kids were all outside and some older kids (7th or 8th grade punks) were biking and skating down the road. They see the Nathan and his 2 next door buddies and they menacingly scream...DOUCHE BAGS.
Well, Audrey...who isn't afraid of anything...pipes right up and screams: "You're the JUICE BOX!!"
Needless to say, everyone was rolling on the floor laughing.

Addiction and Freak TV

Lately I have become found myself drawn to the VH-1 reality show Sober House and/or Celebrity Rehad. I find addiction fascinating, and something about washed up celebrities willing to air struggles on TV for a quick buck piqued my interest. I think it will be interesting to see if there is any success in this show like The Biggest Loser, or will it become a mockery like The Bachelor? I find myself rooting for these "characters" and scared when they fall off the wagon. I actually cared if Seth "Shift" Binzer was going to be found by his friends when he went on an acid-herion-ectasy-valium binge. I like Mary Cary, hard core porn star with the heart of balerina wanting desparately to be loved but only surrounding herself with people who see her has a piece of a**. I want Steven Adler to get it right. I find myself hoping Nikki McKibben will come to grips with her mother's addiction and use her music for cartharsis. I'm so glad Andy Dick finally seems serious about sobriety.
I think I really like this show because I have watched, first hand, addiction destroy a family. I watched as someone drank their way to the end of a bottle night after night looking for peace, but never realizing the peace was within them. Addiction is terrible, but was is most intriguing is the co-dependency. Most addicts can't be addicts without the people around them making it easy for them to stay addicts (whether it is through purchasing it for the addict, making excuses, providing the monetary means, or belittling the addict so they never feel good about themselves). Part of me sees addiction as a ravaging disease, but it is a disease of choices.
Wrapping my mind around addiction and understanding it the tough part. In the midst of physical addition I understand not being able to break the cyle, but once the physiological aspect is broken I don't understand why addicts don't fight like hell to stay sober.
On a light note...
Also, has anyone else noticed that TLC (The Learning Channel) has really become a televised freak show? It isn't just the subject matter, but it is the titles too: "The Two Ton Teen" or "Tree Man". There was a time in our country when people who were different or disabled could make a living by being exploited by the freak show. They would have to leave their home and family to make a living. Today, these modern "freaks" don't even have to leave the comfort of their home. The cameras come to them. So if it isn't a family with 8 or 17 kids or a man with tree-like limbs, it will be a the world's smallest people or a two ton family. I wonder what is says about us as a culture if we are still willing exploit these people to satiate our curiosity? Have we really evolved into a more accepting culture or can we just hide it behind closed doors now?

A Plague Upon Both Your Houses...ok, well just mine...

My sister started a blog (stieneckerfamily.blogspot.com) about their journey with adoption and their family. Well it inspired me to restart the one I made this summer. I don't even know if anyone will read it, but as a teacher of writing, I should write. Writing is like a muscle--if you don't exercise it, it becomes weak. So I am going to try to write and update as often as I can.
As far as the plague goes...it has hit the Mahaney house. Nathan started last Wednesday and is still hacking something awful. Audrey woke up Saturday with it, and she can't seem to shake it; however, he symptoms are running nose and extreme fatigue. Brian then woke up with it on Sunday and he still had an intermittent fever last night and said his tonsils were the size of golfballs (please God, if you're listening, don't let it be strep?? pretty please). Strep is my nemisis. It likes me..I hate it. I can catch it someone with it looks at me. However, throughout all of this, I have remained healthy. I think the whole incubation period is nature's way of making sure this is always someone to take care of the sick ones. I am eating lots of oranges and liberally applying hand sanitizer.
That's just the way life is right now.