A few of my favorite things...

No, we didn't go here today-I wish we had. This is one of my favorite pics from Wyoming two summers ago. I think Wyoming is the prettiest state I have ever been to. I would love to live there. I know, the winters are harsh, but I love cold, too! We are going to try to go back next year.

I have two great things to share. First, the Smart Dogs that I posted a picture of Courtney with yesterday-I ate one today, and guess what? Completely delicious. No fat, only 45 calories, 2 carbs and 8 grams of protein.I put it on a whole wheat hot dog bun with a little mustard-heavenly.
The second item-Pearle Vision pre-moistened lens towelette for your glasses. My eye doctor gave them to me at my last visit, and I stuffed them in my purse and forgot all about them. Then I stumbled across them months later, and thought "let me try these"-they cleaned my glasses so well, I am going to go back and buy a box of them. They are individually packaged much like a condom, so they don't take up much room in the purse. Love it.

You may notice I changed the template of the blog and added a "What I am reading" section and a recipe section. I hope someone finds these things interesting. I will try to keep it updated!

Yesterday I went to Best Buy. I was heading to the movie section, because Carli needed to add to her ever-growing mountain of movies, Best Buy is one of Carli's approved "Scooby-Doo stores", which is really any store that might sell a Scooby-Doo DVD. As we walked down the aisle, they had a large TV playing a continuous loop of Michael Jackson's best videos. I stopped and watched for a few minutes and was reminded of how talented this guy was. He was an amazing singer, dancer, and choreographer. But the saddest part, at least to me, is that part of him died a long time ago. For the last 15 years or so he has just been so out of touch with reality that so many people lost interest in him. He was just a weird guy. Now we all know that he had horrible addiction problems and it seems this is the way so many celebrites end up. Alone, paranoid and drug addicted. What a miserable life. I will take my life in Moseley, Virginia anytime!

THE CALVARY HAS ARRIVED!

HOORAY!
The exterminators arrived on Saturday morning-actually, it was just one person, and it was a girl. But she had all the cool exterminator stuff. Ruby thought she was the greatest, though, because she had peanut butter in her bag and Ruby loves peanut butter.
She chuckled at my feeble attempts to spray insulate the mice out, and said I probably trapped them in. She smiled sweetly at our crappy traps that never caught a mouse. Then she pulled out the big guns. She told us to call her on Tuesday with a "head count". Yikes. So this morning, we caught one in the drawer under the oven. We caught a lizard in the garage, which I was not happy about, and made Mark go set him free. Minus a little skin on his belly, he was released. We didn't look in the trap in the crawlspace, and quite frankly, I don't want to. Mark will check it tomorrow.
Other than that, this weekend was quite uneventful. I got cancelled for work on Saturday(love that) and had no plans, so after the exterminator left, I went for a 2 mile run, than we just hung out, did some reading, cleaning and Mark and I went to see "The Hangover". It was funny. Then we went to The Boathouse, a restaurant on the water. We ran into some neighbors that we just recently started to talk with, so we stayed and had a drink with them. It was fun. Courtney and her friend stayed home and babysat for us. This morning I got up early and went for a long, 4 mile run, it was great. Caren and Steve made the Sunday night appearance for dinner (yeah god!). We made pizza's and jalapeno poppers. Not very healthy fare, but tasty nontheless. Not such an exciting weekend, but fun is just around the corner. Next weekend, Brandi and Alex will be here and we are going to mom's for the 4th. That's always a fun party-then in 3 weeks-vacation in St. Kitts! Can't wait!

Monticello, then dinner at the pool!

Hello all,
Blogging is a difficult balance. If I blog everyday, I am afraid people will get bored. Maybe my life is not that interesting, although I think it is. I think I am living the American Dream, but maybe not. So I skipped a day. But, I am going to tell you about yesterday. Yesterday, Courtney and Carli and I visited Monticello. This was a lesson not only in American history, but also in American tolerance. Courtney and I probably have a closer bond than most teenage daughters and mothers, and this is partly because we are raising a child with Down syndrome. Carli is only 2 years younger than Courtney, but Courtney seems light years apart. Courtney is my assistant, really, and is completely in tune with with whatever is going on with Carli. We took the day and went to visit Monticello.
Monticello was the home of Thomas Jefferson. He was the 3rd president of our nation. He was an amazing inventor and built a completely self sufficient farm, where they did not depend on anyone from outside the farm to sustain their lifestyle. The house took 40 years to build,with 33 rooms and four floors. The garden was 1,000 feet long and has over 330 different vegetables!It was all so beautiful-and the girls really enjoyed it , except for-
THE STARING PEOPLE
Now, I am not one to get on my soapbox, especially when when it comes to kids with disabilities, because I don't want be one of those crazy moms-however-let me just mention a few things- if you SMILE and stare, that doesn't make it better. We went to lunch at a cafe' in Monticello, and while I ordered, I sent Courtney to the table with Carli to wait for me. There was a woman next to our table who, I kid you not, turned her chair around to stare at us. Not just while we ate, but the entire time. Now, she smiled, like she thought it was so cute that we had a disabled child at the table- that did not make it any better. It seems like it's always the older generation that is so interested in Carli. Carli was not doing anything out of the ordinary that would make one turn around and stare, but still, she drew stares. It is SO RUDE! Courtney and I both mumble under our breath, these are the same people who, an hour later, stare at us as we try to maneuver the stroller, which is very heavy-it holds up to 130lbs- on to the shuttle bus. They watch, but no one offers to help, they all just watch. I am lucky I have Courtney, who jumps in at every opportunity to help, but so many people don't have that. People are rude, we are pushing the stroller uphill in loose gravel and they refuse to move to the side. It really is something that everyone does not experience. Don't ever tell anyone "You understand"because unless this has happened to you, you don't. You don't know what it is like to have a child that people stare at, that people don't understand.
That is my soapbox for today. Today Courtney watched Carli while I went to the store and then we made a picnic dinner and took it to the pool.Mark showed up at about 4:30 and we swam with the kids and had dinner and some wine, then got Carli in bed. Not too exciting. Courtney is at a friend's watching a movie. Carli is loving Ruby, as she always does, then going to bed. I have to get to bed too, Krista is coming over tomorrow to babysit Carli while we are at work, we only ask Courtney to babysit on Tuesdays. Check out the Monticello pics-they are so cute!

Caren and Steve own the farm.Caren and I researched, studied, ordered, grew things from seed on my dining room table and loved the seedlings all winter long. Now they are in the ground growing and we have a bit of a weed problem. That's okay, we can manage it. Today we took Carli to the farm and dug potatoes, weeded the tomatoes and cut the cucumbers. We pulled onions and watered watermelons, corn and lima beans. It is sweaty, hard work, but we love it. We love growing it, picking it, cooking it. Sometimes things grow and we are like "what is that?" "should I pick it or nurture it?" we have grown some fabulous weeds that we thought were something else. "Is it a weed or purple basil?" We didn't know but I pulled it out anyway, it was too close to the tomato plant we were trying to stake up. I came home with a truckload of cucumbers and potatoes which I will be cooking and sharing tomorrow! Yeah summer harvest!

Father's day!

This weekend I was fortunate enough to have Casey, my oldest at 21, come and stay with her sisters while Mark and I went to Haymarket, Virginia, with our friends Caren and Steve. We were visting our friends Alex and Jodie, who used to live across the street from Mark and I.

The six of us are great friends, the guys golf together, we girls hang out and have a great time. We all love fine wines, great food, fabulous vacations and we are all quite funny! So this weekend we headed north to visit our good friends, and go out to dinner at a restaurant called "Ubanna" in D.C.

We got to their house at about 3pm and Alex greeted us with sangria. Jodie had taken little Allison, who is 5, over to her first sleepover. I really wanted to get a picture of her before she went, but we missed her!

When Jodie got home, we of course set the guys up, (Mark) with snacks and drinks while we got ready to go out. Now, yesterday was Jodie and Alex's 17th anniversary. Caren and I went to put our pretty dresses on, and Jodie put her wedding gown on! She still fit in it, of course, she weighs like 95 pounds, and we all had a good laugh. Caren and I were just wishing we had brought our bridesmaid dresses!

Dinner at Urbanna was lovely, we had some great wine, and the food was really good. D.C. is always so much fun. After dinner, we headed back over to a little pub closer to Jodie and Alex's. We had a drink and caught up. We had to get home at a reasonable hour because the guys had early tee times. When we got back to the house, everyone went to bed except Jodie and I. We stayed up talking until 3am! Jodie and I have a special bond-we have a little in common and a huge amount in common. Does that make sense? We don't agree on everything, and that's okay. Caren is teetering on the edge of having to have gallbladder surgery and went to bed early. Don't worry, Caren, maybe you can get it out this week.

This morning Jodie made a delicious brunch and Caren and I spent the morning playing with Allison, who schooled us on the tooth fairy, her vowels, the candy hiding game, and all the details of her first sleep over. She is so cute-so sweet and innocent, I love that age. She is going to kindergarten this fall and is very excited about it!

When we got home, the girls had all made Mark a card and a big cookie. It was very sweet, and quite tasty,too. Casey did a fabulous job, the girls were happy, the house was clean and everyone had a fun weekend!

We had a great day today. The girls and I went to the Richmond Metro Zoo. We used to go a lot when the girls were little, but had not been in a few years. It has changed so much and is really nice. It is privately owned and used to be more of a petting zoo with a few exotic animals, but they have made a lot of improvements and it was really a lot of fun! We saw lots of cute animals, fed the parakeets, rode the sky ride, and checked out the gift shop before we left. If you live around here and you are reading this, you should go,it's a fun way to spend a summer day. They have a nice picnic area and snack bars scattered throughout the zoo. I think what we like best is that you can still buy the cup of food for the animals at the gate and feed whatever animals you want. There are no "Don't feed the animals" signs anywhere, and the animals love you when you show up with a cup of food. Even the rhinos came running. My only complaint was maybe they have too many monkeys. I don't really need to see every species of monkeys that ever existed. I would like to see the porcupines moved to a better location, I could hardly see them, but I digress.
We finished up the day, Carli and I, with a trip to the pool. Courtney couldn't come, she still has her broken finger in a splint. She went to hang out with friends while Carli and I went to the pool and met up with Colleen, who always makes me laugh, and Ellie, who is always so sweet to Carli. As soon as we got there, Ellie ran over to Carli and said "Hi Carli!" and Carli said "Hi Ellie". So cute. Ellie was having fun with a toy turtle she had found named Tina, who is a boy. Everyone petted Tina before the afternoon was over.
I had Mark pick up tuna today for dinner which I marinated in soy sauce, olive oil, lemon and garlic. Caren and Steve joined us for dinner. It looks like Caren will have to have her gall bladder out soon, but not this weekend. Good thing, because we have big plans for the weekend!!

I have a dirty little secret...

Okay, here it is. I have this problem that we have been battling for months. I haven't really talked about it much because it is repulsive. We have mice. Not just a mouse, like I thought at Christmas time, but several, maybe a lot. I kept seeing the "signs" mice leave, but not a real mouse. We saw one in the family room a few months ago and put out a glue trap and got him. Colleen told me to make sure all the dog food was put in bins. I did that. Then I pulled out the drawer to my oven and all the muffin tin cups were full of dog food. I thought Carli had done it, pretending she was "cooking". Nope, these mice are very crafty and have been stealing Ruby's food from her bowl and hiding it away. We cleaned it all up, took everything out of the oven drawer and this time put green poison cubes under the oven . Guess what I found in my SILVERWARE drawer-poop-green poop.Apparently it is just a tasty snack for them. It just goes right through them. I took everything out of my drawers. We put it all on the dining room table. So yesterday, after finding more poop in the empty drawers, I looked under my kitchen sink. I pulled everything out and looked at where the pipes come in. A mouse could easily fit in those gaps and climb right up under the counter top and into the drawers. I called my friend Caren, she always knows what to do. First, she assessed my mental health. She said "It's okay, everyone gets mice. It doesn't mean your house is dirty". I really do take it personally that I am having this issue, because we are clean people, I swear! Then she told me to go to Lowe's and get spray insulation and spray around the openings under the sink. She said "It's the builder's fault, they should have done that when they built the house." Love Caren. She always knows what to say. I told Carli to get dressed, we went to the store and purchased the spray insulation and more traps. I sprayed the gaps, and put peanut butter on the traps in the drawer. I am using glue traps because the spring traps just don't work, the mice eat the peanut butter off of them and go off on their merry little way, thinking how lucky they are that this homeowner feeds them tasty peanut butter treats. This morning, we got up, looked in the drawer and guess what was in there? An empy drawer with peanut butter somehow licked off the middle of the glue traps. And mouse poop. He is still getting in!
Yes, I have a cat, but she is useless. I have toyed with bringing a barn cat in here for the night but I am afraid of what it will do to the rest of my house. I am going to have to hire professionals, I think. I used to have a snake under my house. Life was good then. I had no mice, just a big, black snake. We didn't acknowledge each other. He ignored me, and I pretended I didn't know he was there. Then one day a well-meaning neighbor saw him and disposed of him. How do I lure another black snake under my house? If anyone has ideas, please, feel free to offer your suggestions.
Check the pictures out. Steve, Caren and Mark and I went out to dinner last night at Maggiano's. It was a lovely evening, we sat outside. We ordered wine and mussels for an appetizer, they were so good! I had lobster ravioli. A nice, relaxing evening out with friends was perfect after a day of mouse hunting.

Carli's favorite snack!

Hello!

I finally got my Flikr account working, I think-I had to call Colleen for technical assistance. I have taken off this week to hang out with the girls, but Courtney, of course, is too busy for Carli and I! She wants to spend time with her friends, and I don't blame her, but it does seem that the older she gets the less I see of her. Casey is coming on Saturday to spend the night with the girls so Mark and I can have a much-needed night out with the grown-ups! We were invited by our very good friends Jodie and Alex to D.C. for dinner at a wine bar called Urbanna. Looks very nice. Our other good friends, Caren and Steve are going, too, so it should be a great time. We are going up on Saturday and coming back Sunday.
I think I may lure Carli out to the mall with promises of ice cream brown, her favorite, and I may look for something new to wear Saturday night. I also promised Mark a fabulous dinner, so I need to start planning that. He grilled a marinated flank steak with a lovely assortment of veggies last night after I went for my run-he is quite handy in the kitchen and never gives me a hard time about getting in my exercise! Love that!
Check out my pics-There are pics of Carli swimming, Courtney going to the eighth grade formal-later I want to put up the 5th grade graduation pics of Carli and some of her and Ruby.

I am back

Okay, I took a long break, but things keep happening, and I keep thinking "I should be posting this!" Carli graduated from 5th grade, Courtney went to eighth grade formal, Ruby is all grown up,
Casey is also all grown up, Brandi's son Alex graduated from Episcopal High School, I still work at Chippenham Hospital, Mark has an office now and doesn't work at home anymore which creates a babysitting issue with Carli, but we are managing it, and so on and so on...