More Memorial Day...

This is the one more thing I wanted to show you from our town's Memorial Day Parade. 

The Son's reaction was very funny, I thought he would like the dog but he was "freaked out" by it as he said and we got some interesting expressions from him. I really think he just didn't like the bulldog. He said he was "ugly". I explained that that is part of a bulldog's charm but he didn't agree. Personally I think they're pretty cute, albeit not the smartest breed of dog. 

Just so you're all clear, the dog is wearing a Marine's uniform. Is that disrespectful? I heard the man who owned the dog say that he personally was NOT a Marine but that the bulldog is the Marine's mascot. Still, I wonder, is it disrespectful? I really don't know much about the military but it seemed a little odd in my opinion. Any thoughts? It WAS pretty cute and created a big stir but I just don't know...

Sometimes I just crack myself up!

I worked yesterday at the Y, it was fun, I'm still in training for this swim teacher gig but I'm enjoying it a lot...once I get myself there and get settled. 

It was a mad dash yesterday morning trying to get The Son ready and to the Kids' Corner and me into the pool by 9AM. Anyone who knows me will tell you I am not known for my punctuality, my witty personality and dazzling smile yes, but my punctuality no. This can be a challenge when I have an actual job that requires me to be punctual. 

So anyway, I did manage to get us there in time, by the skin of our teeth. The Son wasn't very well behaved in Kids' Corner. Anyone who knows him will tell you he's not known for his ability to share well. His witty personality and dazzling smile yes, but sharing skills, no. Evidently he had a couple time outs, and was told that I would be very angry and not let him watch "Sprout" and he eventually shaped up. He ended up having a good day in preschool which I was pleased with so that I didn't have to actually enforce the threat about no "Sprout". Phew...

So, as I was finished and getting changed into my work out clothes, I realized I had FIVE pairs of shoes with me, yes, I said FIVE! I just thought it was hilarious and couldn't stop laughing at myself. I probably looked like some crazy lunatic lady in the locker room. So here's what I had:

1. Sneakers - these I HAD to have. 

2. Rubber/plastic flip-flops. Not at all comfortable but just for the shower. 

3. Regular "cuter/comfortabler" flip-flops that I didn't realize were already IN my gym bag. 

4. An older pair of Birkenstocks to replace the "missing" flip-flops I thought weren't IN my gym bag. 

5. The sandals I wanted to put on after work and my work out. These I also HAD to have in there. 

So I guess it turns out that had I not had those extra Birkenstocks, I still would have had four pairs of shoes and thought that was normal. The fact that I also had three towels, work out clothes, a bathing suit and regular clothes not to mention The Son's back pack with a change of clothes for him, just in case probably helps explain why it's difficult for me to be punctual. 

I guess I should work on that.

(Meanwhile, it's nice that I can continue to laugh at myself.)

Memorial Day Parade

I finally have a few minutes to post some pictures from our town's Memorial Day Parade. It was a very short parade but turned out to be a lot of fun. It was a first "small town parade" for both me and The Son. I'm sure we'll go to many more in the future though 

Here's a couple shots of the main parade route:

The Son and The Husband, lined up and ready for the action. Yes, that is a "Shark" book that we have with us. The Son is currently obsessed, actually has been for a while, with sharks. It kept him entertained while we waited so no complaints from me! 

Me and The Son, I know this isn't the greatest shot of The Son but I actually like the way I look for a change and you always see cute pictures of him, also you can kind of see my patriotic bow in my hair, for those of you who remember my post about hair bows being "too young" for me. 

The parade finally started! Here's some guy named Gary who was home from the war. He started things off.  I don't know him but it's nice to know he's home safely. 

The Marching Band from our local high school. They were pretty good. My favorite part for sure! I would have enjoyed more bands but alas, this was the one and only. 

The Son eagerly awaits more action...

This was the one and only "float" in the parade, it was for the Lions Club and the  dogs on it were seeing eye/helper dogs. It was pretty cute, The Husband told me this wasn't a float but I think the sparkly blue fringe around the flat bed of the truck turns it into an official float, so there. 

Then the fire trucks started. This was pretty cool but I don't understand why our town's trucks are yellow? The Son was a little disappointed because red is his favorite color and he doesn't like anyone to forget that! ha! 

A neighboring town's truck, get a load of the detail on the decoration...what did I tell you? 

There were a lot more "classic cars" to come after the fire engines but I won't bore you with those. The Husband and The Son enjoyed them and they were kind of cool but not exactly the most interesting thing to look at pictures of, at least in my opinion. Here's The Son wondering why it's all over already. 

After the parade, we walked up to the Veteran's Memorial in town, they had a little ceremony, the band played again and they shot off some guns...good times...good times...

Thanks for looking at our Memorial Day Shots! 

I have a couple more things to post from the day but I have to get ready for work and as you can see from my now corrected time label, it's almost 8:15! The Son is still sleeping and I still have to get my swimsuit on and my work out clothes/regular clothes packed up for the Y after work. Have a great day everyone! 

Yes I know...

that my blog was set at Pacific Time and not Eastern Time but it never bothered me and I never knew how to fix it. 

Evidently, it bothers one of my friends so she sent me an e-mail about it. (Hi Kirra!) It is now fixed so that it won't annoy anyone else. 

I hope she's happy. 

A fun Momma/Son day!

I am working this morning for a couple of hours. Who knew that two hours in a pool could  be so tiring!? Well it IS! I think I'll get used to it though. It is kind of fun. 

The Son and I are going to Longwood Gardens today. He's really been missing the Museums and activities that we used to do when we were City folks! I have been too so we're trying this out today. It's going to be really gorgeous weather in this part of PA! I'll also have lots of good photo opportunities too I'm sure. I'll let you know how it all turns out! 

A quick morning post...

I am working this morning from 9 to 11, still training actually since I have only gone in one day. It should be fun. I like it that "getting ready for work" involves putting my hair in a ponytail and washing my face. No make-up takes come getting used to since I will admit I'm vain but it's just silly to put it on when I'm going to be in a pool for two hours! The Son has school at noon and I will work out when he's there, it's going to be a busy day! 

I'll leave you with a couple cute pictures of The Son and The Niece from this weekend. Who knew blowing bubbles could be so much fun? These two could be an ad for Gymboree, don't ya think? 

Yard Work = Hard Work!

Yesterday was a busy day. The Family started out going to a local parade whose "theme" was...get this, "Patriotic Hometown Parade". Ok, that's not a theme, that's just what it was! How can a Memorial Day parade in a small town BE anything but a patriotic hometown parade...whatever, it was cute and I have pictures...lots of pictures of Monday's parade AND Saturday's parade. Saturday's parade lasted all of 17 minutes and that's being generous! I'll post some of those first. 

So after yesterday's Patriotic Hometown Parade, we went to the hardware store and bought lots of stuff to plant grass and lots of flowers to pretty up the front of the house. I made a new wreath, planted tons of impatiens, begonias, dianthus, geraniums, lantana, petunias, etc., etc., etc. and worked for hours. The Husband put together his seed spreader thingy and seeded and watered the yard hoping to grow a nice lush lawn this summer. He's got a lot of work ahead of him. When discussing the yard and lawn with him, he loves to say, "I used to be a groundskeeper for a monastery you know?" "I know that Honey but you're a dean of a university now, not a groundskeeper." is always my reply but I know he can grow it if he has a chance to work on it now and again. 

The Son seized the opportunity to play in the sprinkler. This involved me helping him get his swim suit on, putting on the swim shirt, finding and putting on the water shoes. It was evening so he didn't need sunscreen. He then played in the sprinkler for all of three and a half minutes before deciding that the water was too cold. You know we already told him that before he got all wet, right? Oh well, at least he had three and a half minutes of a rousing good time! ha! He ended up going inside to dry off and The Husband and I ended up polishing off a bottle of Chardonnay on the front step while we admired our work. 

The house is looking prettier than ever, I'm really pleased with it and I'll post pictures of my new plantings in a few days when they really start looking good. I also got lots of loads of laundry washed and dried. Today I'm supposed to be putting them away and organizing The Son's spring/summer clothing. It's 4:34 already and they only thing I've organized is my e-mail in box...that counts for something though doesn't it? 

Ok, I'm off to fold and put away...

Shroomin' in PA!

I know you are all anxiously awaiting this post regarding Pennsylvania's top agricultural crop! As I'm sure you've already figured out from the picture above...it's mushrooms! Yay and Hooray for mushrooms!  Aren't they pretty? I especially love the little white guys on the left. The majority of mushrooms are grown in the part of PA in which we live. Kennett Square, PA is the "mushroom capital of the world". I don't live in that town but we do live near it. The thing I've recently learned about mushrooms is that when they're growing, they can be very stinky. The Son says they smell like "dog toots" but honestly, I don't think they smell all that bad most of the time, just very "organic" and I kind of like it. Call me crazy, but I do. 

I've also learned to actually like mushrooms! I never, ever thought I would but I've been trying different things with mushrooms in them and those little fungi are darn good! We recently discovered (courtesy of my friend Lynn) a restaurant called the Half Moon Saloon in Kennett Square. (Are you proud of me? I finally figured out how to make a link in my blog! Yes!) The Half Moon serves this dish called "Exotic Mushrooms". It's a mix of mushrooms with some kind of beefy flavored broth with walnuts and dried cranberries served over gorgonzola toast. Oh. My. Gosh. It is one of the yummiest things I've eaten in a long time. I've ordered it every time I've gone to the Half Moon and I'm sure I will continue to do so. I also just tried their mushroom risotto and that was quite good as well. 

This weekend, The husband (a real fun-guy) tried to duplicate the "Exotic Mushrooms". He did a pretty good job too even considering that he forgot the walnuts and cranberries. I was impressed and I'm a picky eater, well maybe not picky but particular for sure. He said he would continue to experiment until we get it right. "We" meaning him cooking, me tasting. I think we need to invest in some truffle oil to really get it right, maybe that will be a good Father's Day gift for me, I mean him. 

So before you go thinking you don't like mushrooms, give them another try and support the economy of Southern Chester County Pennsylvania, you might be glad you did. 

Memorial Day Weekend

We just got finished eating breakfast on our deck at our new patio set. The Husband forgot to buy an umbrella though so guess what he'll be doing in an hour or so? It's sunny out there, I think summer will be coming before we know it. We need that umbrella. Incidentally, how do you use a table cloth on a table with an umbrella in the center of it? I asked The Husband and he simply said, you don't. Ha! You know this crafty Momma will be finding a way to cut an unobtrusive hole into the table cloth I bought just for Memorial Day! It's a lovely, slightly tacky, red white and blue patriotic number I found at the grocery store. Great for Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. For $3.99 I couldn't go wrong! I'll show you pictures soon. 

We are having my dad, sister, niece, and BIL over this afternoon/evening for a cook out. It will be nice to see everyone. I know The Son has been missing The Niece a lot. She's adorable and we love her but she does have a tendency to take on the role of  "Drama Queen" (she's 2) so my Sister and I are hoping she doesn't do that today. She's a little afraid of my dogs, because you know, they are oh so ferocious at a whopping 26 pounds combined! Wait until she sees how big the new pup is going to get...poor girl. Eventually, she'll out grow it I'm sure. One of these days, she might actually like us! 

So it should be a busy fun, uneventful day for us here. We're happy to have The Husband/Daddy with us ALL day as well as tomorrow. He works a lot so it's often just me and The Son. 

I have a couple posts planned out for the next few days, one of our town's Memorial Day parade yesterday, it was small I tell you, S-M-A-L-L, small but it was fun and I took a bunch of cute pictures.  We might hit another parade tomorrow that's supposed to be a bit larger so I'll have to post that too. Also, I have a post planned to honor this area of the state's largest agricultural crop. I wonder if you can guess what it is? 

You could lick 'em now!

My toilets that is...I cleaned them thoroughly even though I saw nothing that could be called a "ringus" No four-year-old is going to tell this Momma that the toilet isn't clean! Ha! I didn't need a "Sonic Scrubber" either. My scrubbing bubbles tool with flushable cleaner thingies worked just fine. So there. 

Housekeeping 101 with The Son

Son: Hey Momma, my toilet needs cleaning. It has a "ringus of scum". 

Me: A what? 

Son: You know, a ringus of scum. You can have that in the bathtub too but the Sonic Scrubber can get rid of it quickly and easily. 

Me: Ok, thanks for telling me that, I'll keep it in mind. 

There are so many things wrong with this conversation: 

1- Could it be that my child just MIGHT watch a little bit too much Sprout since he is now quoting the commercials to me? 

2- Why is my child telling me to clean stuff that in all honesty isn't really that dirty. I am very good at keeping the toilets more or less clean. The house may be a little cluttered but the toilets are clean. (Not clean enough to lick for those of you who watched Oprah yesterday...gross!) 

3- What the hell is a ringus? 

It's coming along...

I try to do a little decorating project every day or two and I think I am almost finished with my front hallway. It took me a while because I didn't have a table the right size. I had a cute table from the City House that I refinished and I really like the way it looks BUT, it was WAY too small. I'm used to a small house and sometimes this big one throws me for a loop when decorating. The Husband and I looked and looked and looked for a nice simple table that wouldn't cost too much but we couldn't find anything. I finally realized that I had a "dressing table" in the City House that had no place in this house, I changed the knobs from white porcelain with pink rosebuds to a silvery/nickel kind of thing and voila' it looks great and is just the right size. I'd like to add a few things perhaps to make it a little "warmer" but I'm still working on that. 

Here's how it looks:

All of the things on the wall (except the "C")  are mirrors that I've been collecting for just this purpose. I'd like to get a few more smaller ones perhaps to make it even more "collage-ish". The "C" (our last initial, not just my first initial...I'm not THAT vain ;) ) is papier mache and I painted it brown and blue I really like the way it came out. 

Here's one of the new knobs, I tried to take a picture of the old one, you know I did, but it wouldn't photograph well. Trust me though, it was outdated and not that cute. These are much better for what I need. 

So all in all, I'm pretty pleased with it but I think it could use a bit more "tweaking" to get it just right, If anyone out there has any suggestions on what I could add, feel free to suggest away! Thanks! 

I got presents!

I forgot to tell you all this, on Monday, I got presents from two different people! I felt so special! The first one was something that you may think is a little odd but is actually something I've been wanting for a long time. It's an old-fashioned iron! I am repainting a shelving unit/hutch thing for my laundry room and I thought one of these old iron, irons would look really cute on it when it's finished. I hate wrinkled stuff so I do a lot of ironing. I even iron sheets because I like them to look nice and crisp. Can you imagine having to iron things with this doohickey...and we complain about ironing being a chore today! 

While on the elliptical machine the other day, I happened to mention that I always wanted one of these to a friend from the Y, one of the other moms from a child in The Son's class and when she came back to pick up her son from school that day, she had it for me all wrapped up cute and everything. I didn't have my camera with me that day or you know I'd have a picture of that too! So, if you're reading this at all...thanks Michele, it was so kind of you to think of me, and soon  this iron will have a featured place as a decoration in my laundry room! 

The next gift was an orchid from my sweet Husband. He bought me one a couple months ago when we moved in, it's purple and is in our bedroom. It's been surprisingly easy to take care of and these suckers hold their blooms for a LONG time.  So he saw this one at Costco of all places the other day and thought I would like it. Of course, I do...I put it in our living room for now. Our living room needs more decoration but we haven't quite figured out what to do in there yet. This is a small, but nice start. We still need lamps and all kinds of other stuff but that will come in time. 

Here's a close-up of the flower part and the pot which is also cool. I told The Husband, if we have trouble keeping this one alive, at least the pot is attractive and can be used for something else! HA! 

In the pool tomorrow!

Everything is FINALLY figured out with all my paperwork. The Y has been convinced that I'm not an illegal alien. I am starting my training in the pool tomorrow at 9 AM.  That's early for me, I'm usually up but not ready to go anywhere or do anything. When am I going to check my e-mail, blogs and message boards? Maybe I should have thought this job thing through a little more seriously. It's kind of cool that I don't have to worry about hair and make-up though, that will be a first as far as jobs go for me. 

The Husband will bring The Son to the Y Kids' Corner tomorrow when he leaves for work and I'll bring him home with me when I am finished at 11. On Friday though, I have to be in at 9 and The Son is going to have to come with me to go to Kids' Corner. I will also have to have lunch packed for the two of us, his school stuff, and my work out clothes as well as my regular clothes. It sounds like I should pack a suitcase, huh? 

I don't make a whole lot of money an hour BUT I do get free child care so if I factor the cost of that in, it's not so bad. Also, I found out today that I will get an extra $55 a month toward our family Y membership AND 25% off on camp programs for The Son. That will definitely add up and be a nice little bonus. I hope I like it. I have a friend who just started too and she says it's kind of difficult to be in the water for three hours at a time but she seems to be enjoying it. I'll let you know how it goes. 

Hi YA!

A couple of weeks ago, The Son told me that he wanted to start Karate. I think he saw Caillou's friend Clementine going to karate or something like that. In The Son's opinion, if it's on Caillou, it's cool. I know, I know, so NOT a cool show but I told you before...he's OBSESSED with being a "Sproutlet". 

Anyway, it just so happens that my friend and personal trainer at the Y is really into karate herself. I talked to her about it and ended up taking The Son to the karate place (gym?) where she goes. Well, my first surprise was that karate is expensive! Really expensive. Overall, I was pretty happy with it though and after checking out one other karate gym in the area, that we didn't like as much, we decided to enroll. 

The Son goes twice a week for about a half an hour at a time. All the "Little Dragons" in his group are between the ages of 4 and 6 and they are so stinking cute! There are six different times during the week that he can attend so that makes it really flexible and I love that. 

The Son is a very bright boy, he can read a lot (for a four-year-old at least) knows the 50 states and has known his numbers since he was 16 months old. BUT, he has never been a kid who's especially coordinated, he walked really late, he still has trouble pedaling his bike, he falls down a lot. I don't know where he gets that because I have always been grace personified! NOT! ha ha ha ha! His "writing skills", if you can even call them "skills", are horrible! So, needless to say, he's not very good at karate...yet. He's cute though, he tries really hard and he's happy as heck when he's wearing that uniform and taking the class, so I guess that's all that really matters. I'm posting some pictures below. Don't be too scared now of his ferocious karate chops, stretches and kicks! 

Now most of the time during the class, I'm watching The Son but to the other Ladies out there, you'll notice that the karate teacher, isn't exactly too difficult to watch during the class either...that was certainly a plus when signing up. wink. wink. 

And they called it puppy love...

So The Family has reached a big decision...we're getting a puppy! A German Shorthaired Pointer to be exact. The Husband grew up with GSPs and they are lovely dogs. I've always wanted a bigger dog. Technically, they are classified as "medium" but I'm sorry, a dog that can reach 75 pounds, IMO is BIG! 

Those of you who read this blog on a regular basis know that our beloved Miniature Pinscher, Iago was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. We have no way of treating him or knowing how long he has left with us. DaVinci, our Italian Greyhound loves him so much and we're hoping that introducing a puppy into The Family now, will make any  transitions easier for everyone. It's not going to be easy losing another loved one, but we want to try to make it as easy as possible. 

On Saturday, we drove three hours to The Pocono Mountains to visit with a home breeder who raises GSPs. Her operation was wonderful, she had four litters of pups and all the Mommies were there as well as one of the Daddies. All the dogs were beautiful! The place was clean and you could tell that she really loved her dogs as pets, not just a commodity. In light of recent Oprah Show episodes this was very important to us. We looked into adopting an older GSP but if they're not trained properly from the very beginning, they can be wild and we didn't want to inherit other peoples "issues". For us, this is a good choice. I have a few pictures to post below. 

The pups that we're holding may not be the pup that we bring home, we will go back on June 8th to pick from the six remaining male pups on that day. We're not worried though, every dog we met was sweet, mild mannered, and healthy so we should have a nice bunch to choose from. 

One more thing I have to tell you, The Son, being the crazy BOY that he is, said the funniest thing to me. He said, "Momma, you know how you can tell that they're puppies? Because they don't have big penises like Iago and Vinnie!" WHAT? I swear I don't know where this kid gets his ideas! ha ha! 

Anyway, Here's the pictures: 

Amelia Island, FL - Part IV, The End!

I could probably do 25 more entries with the amount of pictures I took on this trip but let's just make this the last one so I can get on with posting things from my daily life, you're probably all sick of Amelia Island by now! Thanks for stopping by and thanks to those of you who left such nice comments. 

This was a local "hippie" bar and hang out, I don't know what it was called but we thought it looked cool. The Son loved the VW bus because as I'm sure many of you already figured out, it reminded him of  "Filmore" from "Cars". It was pretty neat! 

Having dinner at a place the concierge DID recommend, not nearly as good as the other place but I will admit that we're picky, coming from Our City that has LOTS of excellent places to eat. This place would have been considered OK in our neck of the woods but was evidently very popular in Fernandina Beach. 

The Son found some koi. Those of you who know me well know how much I just LOVE fish so this was really fun for me too! LMAO...ok, ok, I HATE fish, some might say I have a "fish phobia" (ichthyophobia would be the technical name for it) Knowing how much The Son loves fish though helps me get through moments like this though. Poor kid will NEVER have fish as pets though, that's going a bit too far! 

BLECH! 

Commenting change

I changed the comment settings for my blog. Now anyone can comment even those without a blogger account... I expect the comments to be overwhelming now. Get busy. 

Amelia Island, FL - Part III - On the town!

Each night we took a trip into the town of Fernandina Beach. The Island is small, only 13 miles long so it didnt' take us long to get used to the area and explore a lot of it. Pirates are a big thing on The Island, here we are after a Ritz Carlton rum punch pirate toast. The Pirate family heads out to dinner. No, we didn't keep the hats on for the rest of the evening, just in case you were wondering.  ARRRRGH! 

Here we are at dinner on one of the first nights we went out. We went to a cute little place called "Cafe Karibo" it was really good despite our concierge's non-recommendation. I had read great things about it 

on-line, (You know CCMomma does her vacation research) so we tried it anyway. It was very casual, we ate outside at a patio table and  our waitress Stephanie was fantastic! We found out later that it was actually her first night. She was clearly an  experienced server because I never would have known unless another server casually mentioned it. The Son was pleased with the cats drinking out of the fountain, and the ants on the sidewalk. The Husband and I were pleased that he had something to keep him busy and well behaved. We never even had to bust out the Thomas Trains we brought along for any dining emergencies. A good experience for sure! 

These fountains were everywhere on The Island. The Son loves to throw coins into any kind of fountain so he was in his glory. (I seriously need to carry around a roll of pennies with me to keep this kid happy!) 

This was a beautiful old house on The Island, I didn't write down the name of it thinking I could later "google" it and find out what it was but alas, that hasn't worked for me today. I think it was something like Leicester House but I can't be positive. It wasn't as old as City House but it was built in the 1800s. It's a private residence that didn't offer tours, we tried to be respectful considering we know what it's like to live in a private residence where there's LOTS of tourists. 

Stay tuned for what I think will be the final installment of "The CityFamilyCountryFamily travels to Amelia Island, Florida"