Happy New Year's

I got up super early this morning and went out to breakfast with Smoking Hot Roommate. The Boy is sleeping soundly...I wore him out good!!! (Ella...21, highlighted by seven yesterday...a full day with some snow and no real responsibilities is usually going to be a pretty active one for me...today, recovery...lol)

Breakfast was really nice...I realized that we haven't really had much "alone" time of late. We both have super hectic schedules and even though I see her all the time, it is usually not that relaxed and we are not that isolated. This reminded me a lot of times in college when we would spend time just doing nothing.

That is what I miss most about college, the complete lack of accountability. There was just so much free time, and I don't feel like anyone appreciates it nearly as much as they should. I think it is because you feel busy, but then when you get out of school, you realize what "busy" really means and it gives you a new perspective (ok, I am probably a bad example of this). College seems like a long time ago...

Anyway, this is now my New Year's Resolution...to slow down and relax more. And to have more "dates" with Smoking Hot Roommate, who remains my most very favorite person in the world (at least my favorite person who can't order off the kids menu!!!). Her birthday is coming up, and I have to get a tribute for her ready, too!!!

Well, that will be my last post of 2006, my first year as a blogger (ok, my first two and a half months as a blogger). Best wishes for everyone, have a great New Year's Ever, and let's all root for Ally to finally make out with Ozzy:-P

It's Snowing

Snowing out...really the first snow we have gotten all year. Which led to the following exchange with Munchkin...

Me: Hey kiddo, you are missing the first snow of the year.
Munchkin: Yeah, well, it is like 80 degrees here. I will be ok.

So that put me into my place, I guess...lol. Smoking Hot Roommate and I are kind of doing some decorating. She just bought some new furniture (we had some empty rooms...) and we are figuring out where stuff should go. Later, we are gonna go and liberate some stuff from Pottery Barn and the like...

OK, when I say we are "decorating", what I really mean is that we are changing our minds about stuff and The Boy and The Adorable Dork are moving heavy things:-D Somehow, I imagine he will turn this into an excuse to demand backrubs later on.

Boston note...I love Abe and Louie's...if there is a better restaurant in the city, I don't know about it. Totally top-notch, completely unpretentious...just a brilliant place.

Anyway...any interesting New Year's plans? We (me, The Boy, Big Sis, the Brain Surgeon, SHR, Adorable Dork, Papa Bear and his lady friend who I haven't named yet...) are going to a party at a hotel downtown. I believe it is a Cancer Society benefit, but I could be wrong about that. The boys all get to wear tuxedos, which I just think makes any guy hot.

Which reminds me that I completely kissed Big Sis last New Years Eve. The Brain Surgeon was out of town, so she was stag that night. Midnight came and I had had just enough drinks to decide that it was a good idea to plant one on her...she is a very good kisser;-) Who knows, it could well be a tradition...we'll see.

Anywho...that is about all I have today. Interesting feedback on the money discussion, I may get back to it next week if the mood strikes. So, if I don't check in tomorrow, Happy New Year, everyone! Hope it is a good one for everyone!

More on Money and Stuff

Hmm…since we got so much reaction to the money discussion, I am going to continue it. Before I do that, though…the O count is at 11, because you asked;-) My stomach muscles hurt…hee hee.

And Munchkin is in Tortolla. Lucky little bitch…lol. They slept on the boat Tuesday and Wednesday, but in a hotel last night (and I think tonight). She is having a blast, which is not terribly surprising…she tends to have fun wherever she goes. And no seasickness, either, which is obviously good!

OK, back to money, and to some of the comments that were left. First, allbilly said “I find people with money love to talk about it and those without loathe talking about it.” I only really think this is partially true. I think people without money spend an inordinate amount of time talking about how little of it they have. I feel like it was sort of an 18 year running conversation around my house growing up. And I realize that I am making some really, really broad generalizations, but I am allowed to…it is my blog:-P

And there are clearly some wealthy people who love to highlight exactly how much money they have. But I would also say that I have observed a lot of wealthy people that are extremely uncomfortable with the subject because it can generate resentment and unfair expectations of generosity. I will spare you the stories because I think this is already going to be a long post, but maybe more on it later if I decide to.

Then I would like to get to something that Bob said “Save and invest as much of your money as possible now and you will be able to do what ever you want later in life. I started investing in my 401k when I was 19 and I really have quite a pile now (for a poor kid who ate free gub'ment lunches in JR High school).” First, he is dead on with the saving part.

But, his second point, that he started saving when he was 19. There is a huge gap in financial literacy, and I feel like it hits harder as you move down the economic scale. Who taught Bob to start funding his 401K when he was 19? Whoever it was, he should bake them some cookies because it is a life lesson that will serve him tremendously. It is likely to be more important than anything he learned in school…

We hear often about the importance of having Math and Science education, as well as the importance of well-rounded kids with art, music, sports and theater opportunities. All of which is very valid…but why has no one ever brought up the importance of basic financial education? By the time someone finishes high school in America, they should have had basic teachings in budgeting, saving, borrowing and investing.

They should know how to budget money to allow for some savings (even if it is $10 a week). They should know how credit works, how to build your credit profile so that you are in a position to buy a home when the time is right. They should know what they are in for when they buy a house and borrow a huge sum to do it. They should know the difference between a savings account, a CD, a bond, a stock and a mutual fund. They should know what each can and should be used for.

And especially girls!!! I don't think boys get much of an education in this stuff, but I do feel like they are more likely to have it brought to their attention than girls are.

I don’t feel like this are overly-complicated lessons, but I think it would erase an enormous amount of trouble as people get older. It will also begin to erase the social divide…I think that part of the reason that the poorest people in America remain poor is that noone has ever informed them that there are vehicles available to them to change that.

The Baby Boomer generation is getting close to retiring, and while they have an enormous amount of wealth, there are HUGE numbers of them with basically no savings. Many of those with no savings made plenty of money during their adult life, but spent every single nickel of it. Which means more support from those of us who will be working during their retirement years. Why did they buy so many BMW’s and so few mutual funds? (That was witty!!!) Could it be that while they were dropping acid and having sit-ins in 1968 they missed the lesson where someone tells you that you might need some money when you retire?

Anyway, I am rambling again, but it is a big topic that is worth a lot of ink. It also probably comes off as a little bit preachy of me (the 24 year-old lecturing on saving and investing…) But I don’t care:-P It’s my blog and I will preach if I want to!

Money and stuff

First things first…for Ella W, the number is now 8…it was a VERY good night.

I feel really important today. The executive committee called me from their meeting yesterday where they were figuring out bonuses. They were trying to get a finger on what the people in the firm were “expecting” and felt like I would have a good idea of it. Which I do…everyone tells me everything for some reason.

So I was sort of let in on the basic numbers (which I think also bodes well for me…I doubt they would let me listen in on the discussion of what the range would be if I was going to be at the bottom of the range.) It was very good news…I would say that most people figure that the payouts will be in the neighborhood of 20% of their base salary. The bosses seemed to settle on a range of anywhere from about 15%-30%. Two people are getting a huge number based on a specific thing they did, but I am not one of them:-P

Anyway, with this forthcoming windfall, along with my raise from last month, I am feeling kind of flush these days. Needless to say, this is not really a feeling I have ever had before in my life…Lol. It also gets me to some questions…

First of all, there can be absolutely no doubt that I live very much under the goodwill of Smoking Hot Roommate and Papa Bear. I pay SHR rent, but it is way, way, way less than would be considered a “market” based rent. Ballpark, I think a fair rent for me and Munchkin would probably be in the order of $5,000 a month….yes, you read that right. It is a really nice place… I pay her a very, very small portion of that.

And that doesn’t even get to tuition that they pay for Munchkin, which is another massive sum every year. Or the free use of the beach house (I know I keep promising…someday I will tell you about it in detail). Anyway, you get the picture, they give me a lot…

All of which makes me feel a little guilty when I get raises or bonuses. I feel like I should pay them back for the stuff they have given me. But, that almost implies that I ever could pay them back, which I doubt I ever could in real dollars. Nor would they let me…I usually have to yell at SHR to cash my rent checks, and if I try to give Papa Bear any money, he won’t take it.

So, most likely I will offer and he will refuse and tell me that he would rather I saved it. Which I can do…I have a financial advisor (again, someone who deals with some of their money and works with me almost solely as a favor to Papa Bear). My advisor is also really, really cute…hee hee…but that is a whole other story. I will also offer to pay SHR more rent, and could use all of your help in convincing her to take it:-P

I also kind of like saving money…I got really excited because I got my 401k statement a while back and there was like $20,000 in it. I think I am typically a little less excited about impulse purchases than most girls are; not that I don’t like useless and hyper-wasteful handbags, just maybe less than average. But I really like the idea of saving and building wealth for the future. Obviously I would like to buy a house someday, and maybe I will need to help Munchkin through college…I just don’t know.

I am kind of rambling, I guess. I also wonder why people are so hesitant to talk about money…it is like the ultimate taboo subject… I guess that is a longer subject for another day.

It is 85 degrees where Munchkin is...

Really busy today, so not much time, but I like to check in here...gives me a nice break:-) I thoroughly enjoyed having The Boy sleep over last night. Beyond the sex, it is nice to wake up next to him. I am not really a cuddler, and I like to have my space when I sleep, but waking up next to someone special is a nice feeling...it is a good way to start the day.

Sort of a funny story...related to my referring to Smoking Hot Roommate and her family as "The Rock's", being short for Rockerfeller (or, as I learned...Rockefeller...no "r" in the middle). As I mentioned, they come from a family not nearly as famous or quite as rich, but otherwise pretty similar. Well, I found out that a member of her actual famliy actually lost a really important election once to Nelson Rockefeller....I never knew that. Anyway, that's not that great a story...lol.

I guess that is all I have for you...not a real exciting day. The executive committee (Papa Bear, Boss Foxy and two other partners) are meeting today to figure out bonuses, so I imagine that word will start to leak out right after the meeting. We don't get them until next month, but the amounts will get out. Cross your fingers for me:-)

Who has more cookies?

How was everyone’s Christmas? Mine was super-excellent-awesome…look, a new word! I feel like I put on about 30 pounds from eating so much, but there is no real crime in that, I suppose. Between Big Sis’ birthday, and then Christmas Eve with The Boy’s family and Christmas Day with the adopted family, I ate a whole lot of everything.

I am particularly a big fan of the little peanut butter cookies with a Hershey’s Kiss in the middle. Mmmm…me likey!!!

Munchkin is now gone on vacation…raise your hand if you are jealous (one hand up, but I have to put it back down to type again). The family she is going with came to pick her up bright and early this morning, and her plane is currently en-route to Miami. Then on to sailing around the Caribbean for a while. Not bad…

That also means that I get some solid non-parental alone time with The Boy, as well as the chance to hopefully catch up with some friends I don’t see that often. I will spare you the running “orgasm count”, but I can assure you that it will be substantial…hee hee. I would like to say that I will get some rest and relaxation, but I know myself better than that, and finally given the chance to respond to all of the “Hey, we are meeting here for a drink” invitations in the affirmative, I will likely run myself a little bit ragged. Whatever, you only live once!

Was Santa good to everyone? He was very good to me, even without counting the super-cute new little sister. I got a really, really gorgeous bracelet from Papa Bear from Mrs. Rock’s stash. He gave Munchkin some earrings, too…but I didn’t let her take them with her sailing…lol. That was sort of the most exciting of the stuff that I got, the rest was mostly clothes and the like. All of it was much appreciated:-)

Munchkin totally cleaned up. Beyond the earrings she got just about everything you can imagine a little girl would want (save for a pony) courtesy of her two pretend older sisters. If she is not the best dressed 11 year-old in school, then I don’t know who is. When she first moved here, I was a little hesitant about letting Smoking Hot Roommate and Big Sis be too generous to her, just because I was worried about her adjusting and all of that. But, as long as she does well in school (all A’s again, thank you very much!!!) and stays the little angel she is, then she can have whatever they wanna give her.

Anyway, back to work…I can’t put this off forever. I hope everyone else’s Christmas was as much fun as mine!

Tinkerbelle

Happy Christmas Eve everyone, I doubt many people will read today, so I guess this is a Tuesday morning present for everyone. So…welcome back to work, I guess;-)

First, Big Sis’ birthday party was an absolute blast! I told Munchkin that if she took a nap in the afternoon, she could stay for the whole party, no matter how late it ran (or at least until they kicked her out:-)) Being the good little trooper, she followed orders, and put herself down for a couple of hours in the afternoon. So she got to sit and hold court all night, drinking fancy drinks out of martini glasses (cranberry juice and 7up makes her feel Oh So Special;-)…and it is much more grown-up than a Shirley Temple…lol.) At one point the bar manager raised some objection to her still being there, but Papa Bear gently told him that there was no need for him to be concerned;-)

I have named my new little sister: in accordance with her love of fairies and princesses and all things fantasical (that’s not a word, I know), I am going to call her Tinkerbelle. She is little and cute and it seems like an appropriate name.

I had a really nice visit with Tinkerbelle and her Mom, who I like a lot. They came to get me at the airport, and then we went out for breakfast and hung out at their house for a little bit. I gave her the necklace I bought her, which she put on immediately, and I don’t think will take off for a very long time. She gave me a card that she made all on her own that is super cute and that I will put away in a safe place.

Her Mom also showed me a thing she did at school this week…they were asked to write a couple of sentences about what they were asking for this Christmas (yeah, you can’t do that in Massachusetts…lol) and she wrote that she didn’t want anything for Christmas because she already got a big sister and that was the best present ever. That made me cry:-)

We also had a great visit with the rest of the family. I think it was a little bit overwhelming at first for ‘Belle (hey look, I just changed her name!!! Do we like Belle or Tinkerbelle better?). But she settled in pretty quickly. And as expected, the whole family was really warm and inviting for both Tinkerbelle and her Mom. We talked a bit about them all on the way back to the airport and she seemed really genuinely touched by the reception.

And she hasn’t even seen the half of it…lol. She will now be invited to not only every family gathering, but my Aunts will start inviting her to their regular dinner/drinks/bowling/shopping outings…lol. When they like someone, they are VERY outgoing about it!!!

So, I am not really sure where it goes from here…it is still kinda weird. And obviously I am not gonna make it back there every weekend to see her. I think I would like to see her as much as I can, talk to her as much as I can and see where it goes. It is sort of hard to get to know someone from this far away, but I would really like to, she would really like to, and I think her Mom is pretty excited by the idea of allowing her to be closer to her whole family.

The whole family (and again, this is all of my father’s family, who I have only known for about two years) is making a trip to Boston to visit me and take a little vacation next spring or summer. Few of them have ever been to Boston, and only my two cousins have ever been out to visit me here. Tinkerbelle and her Mom are now invited on that trip, and hopefully they can make it. Originally everyone was going to come for a couple of days in May, but now Papa Bear has suggested that they all come for a week right after school gets out and spend most of the time at the beach house (someday I have to tell you about “The Beach House”…)

I think that is a better idea, but we’ll see how everyone’s schedule works out. Anyway, that’s my brief recap of my trip, and I wish everyone a very, very, very Merry Christmas!!!

And...

I totally forgot...Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays to all!

Birthday Wishes

I found a really cute present for the still unnamed little one: it is two necklaces that have a little silver charm that has two parts that fit together to form a heart. I can keep one and she can keep one…I think she will like that. It’s sort of neat, too…you can’t tell that it is half of a heart on its own (it is sort of a contemporary art thing, I guess…hard to describe).

Anyway, since I won’t be around tomorrow, I would like to take today to wish a very special 30th birthday to Big Sis. Tomorrow is the big day, and while I will get home in time for the celebration, I want to give her a special blog-tribute:-)

Big Sis is really a remarkable woman…she is smarter than anyone I have ever met (except maybe her younger sister;-)), she’s gorgeous, kind, generous thoughtful and I aspire to be as much like her as I can. Maybe except for all the swearing;-)

I have heard people refer to her as “scary” or “intimidating”, but really I think that is a function of being as smart as she is and as confident. She certainly does nothing to dispel people’s impression of her if she finds it to her advantage, but underneath the hard exterior is a tremendously thoughtful and compassionate woman.

Someday I will work for her…it is no secret around here that she will join the firm soon and that she is the heir-apparent to the corner office. Normally that might cause some resentment, or some cries of nepotism, but she is so clearly cut out for the job that those exist only as small whimpers. Beyond being a great person, she is a unique talent unquestionably up to the task of succeeding her father.

Beyond all of that, she is simply a great friend and a dynamite big sister (almost;-)). She takes care of me, she gives me all kinds of advice, she takes Munchkin all kinds of places, and just basically serves as a great role model and fantastic friend. [Totally random fact: she dated a member of Coldplay for a long time when she was living in England, and one of the band members told Smoking Hot Roommate that the song “Green Eyes” is at least partially about her…not sure if that is true, but it makes for a good story!!!]

Big Sis is getting married next summer, to a phenomenal guy who treats her great, challenges her and makes her an ever better person than she already is. Both she and her younger sister are admittedly “difficult” to date…they both have very large personalities, and that can be hard to handle. She has found, however, the perfect partner who can shine on his own next to her without either of them obscuring the other. It took a brain surgeon, but she finally found a worthy companion.

So, to my very own adopted Big Sister, I say Happy Birthday. The Happiest Birthday you can imagine, for even that can’t match the happiness that you have brought me. Many many more…and I hope to share them all with you!

In search of a name

I see my loyal blog-buddies got a chance to read about my super-special Christmas present:-) The more I think about it, the more I think that it is just really, really neat. I think I am a pretty good big sister, and now I get to do it even more (although maybe not quite as involved as with the other one;-))

There is some important business to take care of, though…I need a cute nickname for her!!! I have some ideas, but I wanna see if anyone else has any, too. She could be Little Sis. That might get confusing since Big Sis is not actually a real sister, and this one is. I do like that it would identify her from Munchkin, since Munchkin is kind of half sister-half daughter. Or Goldilocks, since she has blond hair (but so do I, and Munchkin, and Smoking hot Roommate and Big Sis…lol). Or Long Lost Little Sister (LLLS).

I talked to the As Yet Unnamed Little Girl’s mother last night to firm up travel plans, and she tells me that the little one is absolutely bonkers, off-the-wall excited. I also think that the mother is pretty excited by this, too. There is clearly some apprehension, but she knew my father’s sister a little bit back in the day, so she has some reference when I tell her that they are great people. And knowing that my father won’t be around at all is probably a pretty significant help, as well.

So I think that she is pretty open to meeting them all and involving them all, in some way, in the little one’s life. It is pretty hard not to love my father’s family, they are just the sweetest, nicest people around. I can’t imagine that she will have a whole lot of reservations about them after she meets them. But you never know, I guess…

Anyway, I am concerned about the weather…I know there is this huge storm crossing the country and I hope it doesn’t hinder my travel. I have kind of a tight schedule and can’t afford a lot of delay time…it would make one little girl awfully sad!

The Big News

(Warning: This is really long, so make sure you have some time to read it. And please leave me comments...I wanna know what you think of this!!!)

Alright, I am now emotionally prepared to tell you the big thing…it is, as you will see, some pretty big news, and it has taken me some time to get my head around it. I also had to have a series of discussions with my family (my father’s family, the ones I really like) about how to "deal" with it. That’s not a good word, but it is all I have, so I will give it quotation fingers and move on.

The news is that I have one more Christmas present to buy, and it is a very special one. And... it is for someone that I didn’t know about until just last week: my other little sister. Yup, turns out that my father has another daughter that he finally brought himself to tell me about. Here is how it all came about…

Last Saturday I went with my Aunt (my father’s youngest sister) to see him in prison. Based on what he had told me on the phone a couple of weeks ago, I had reason to believe that this was the last time I would see him alive. He is extremely ill (he is frail and thin and looks old and terrible) and really seems to have given up the fight to live.

We had kind of a nice visit, I guess…as nice as that sort of thing can be. I brought him a picture of me and Munchkin, which he has been asking for but I never wanted to give to him. We probably hung out for 45 minutes or so and then it was time to leave. He asked my Aunt if she would step out so that he could talk to me alone for a minute.

Now that I think about it, this should have been a poignant, dramatic moment…dying imprisoned man and his last moments with his daughter, both knowing that he would be dead within months, providing him with his last chance for penance for a life gone terribly wrong. But no, none of that…that would require me, I dunno, liking him.

Anyway, he had some stuff to say and I listened. Finally, he said he had one last thing to say, and I could tell he was struggling to say it even now. "About seven or eight years ago, I was involved with a woman for most of a year. I got locked up and never saw her again, but a friend saw her right after that and she was pregnant. I thought you would want to know…her name is XX and last I knew she lived in YY". Yeah, this is the kind of person we are dealing with…he thought he might have another child and avoided that one, too. At least when I was born he could claim he was young and stupid, but he was in his 30’s by then.

So…that was something to digest. I didn’t tell my Aunt right away because I didn’t really know what to say, and had some work to do (he didn’t know if it was true, let alone whether it was his child, and wasn’t sure where she lived.) When I got back to the BFF's apartment (I stayed with them) I broke out the phone book and started dialing. There were a handful of people who had the right name, or initial and last name, and I called them all. No one was home…lol, but I left messages. Not an easy message to leave "Hi, this is kind of random, but I was hoping to talk to you. My name is Accidentally Me, and my father is XX. If you are the woman by this name that he was involved with, I hope that you would call me because I would like to talk to you."

Well, maybe an hour later, I got a phone call back from an understandably concerned woman. She said that she was indeed the woman, but she didn’t really want to talk to me if there was any chance that it would cause him to come out of the woodwork. I assured her that there was no chance of that, and that my real concern was that he thought she might have a child.

Finally she confirmed that she does in fact have a seven-year old daughter by my father. Needless to say, that is kind of big news… I told her that I was only in town until the next day and I would love to come over and meet them, but she was kind of hesitant and told me that she would have to call me back.

I still didn’t tell anyone in my father’s family, just because I didn’t really know how to or what to say. But that is what BFF(b) and I were up until five in the morning talking about…this raises a lot of questions. How do I get to know her? What kind of relationship can I have with her? What if her mother doesn’t want me around her at all? All kinds of things come up.

Anyway, my phone rang at about 8:30 on Sunday morning. "Sorry to call so early, but I know you are leaving today. Last night I sat the little one down and told her about you and I have never seen her so excited. She really wants to meet you so I was hoping that you could come over today if you have a chance." Which was excellent news…so I hopped in the car, drove to their house, and that is when I finally met my other little sister:-D

Cute as a button!!! She looks a lot like me and she was SOOO excited to find out that she had a big sister. And I had a great conversation with her mother, too. They live in a really cute little house in a nice neighborhood, her family is nearby (she made her brother come over when I was there because she was scared:-)) and she is basically a nice person and apparently a good mother. No idea how she got hooked up with my father…we didn’t really talk much about him.

That was actually a relief, I was sort of fearing that her mother might be a cracked-out junkie living in a hideous project somewhere…I feel like I have managed to do ok with one little girl, two is not something that seemed feasible…lol. But she seems to be in a great spot and I was really happy to see that. We visited for a couple of hours, and then I had to leave because I needed to meet my mother’s family for brunch.

Anywho…One of my Aunts (father’s side…sorry this gets confusing, I jump between families a lot) took us to the airport Sunday, and I told her all about this then to let her tell the rest of the family. Well, they are all mega-excited and can’t wait to meet the little nugget. I am assuming that they will be as warm and inviting to her as they were to me a couple of years ago…but her mother is a little concerned about overwhelming her, which I totally understand.

So...this is why I am going back to Chicago this week. I am taking a 6:30 flight, meeting my new little sister and her mother and taking them both to a Christmas party with our father's family so that they can all meet each other:-)

How is that for a surprise Christmas gift?

Shopping update

Yeah!!! I went over 1,000 visitors yesterday, that makes me feel cool!!! I have to tell you, I get really excited to come in every morning and publish the comments people left. I love comments, they make me feel special:-)

Quick rundown on presents, since I have pretty much finished my shopping. I got The Boy a box of cigars, because that is what he really wanted…lol. I also got him some little things like gloves and a scarf and some stuff like that. But he really wanted the cigars because they are hard to get and…um…I "know a guy"… And they were really expensive, too…man, I didn’t know cigars could cost that much.

Both Big Sis and Smoking Hot Roommate read this, so I am not saying what I got them:-P Nanny Nanny Boo Boo!!! I got Munchkin some clothes and books and some other random stuff: SHR and BS went way overboard for her, so she will find a lot of stuff on Christmas morning waiting for her.

I got The Boy’s parents tickets to the Symphony, which I think they will like. Or maybe they will think it was boring, who knows…lol. I bought his sister and her wife matching pajamas…how cute is that? Hee hee.

I found a super-old picture of me and the two BFFs in some of my Mom’s old stuff last weekend, and am having that blown up for them. It is really cute, we are all missing teeth:-) SHR and I are sending gift certificates to some really ritzy spa to The Body and The Mouth, which they will enjoy thoroughly.

As for the big news that I am still avoiding, I already wrote a lot of the post (which is actually really therapeutic) but I am going to hold off on posting it until tomorrow. I promise I will do it then, though.

But…I am going to Chicago again for the day on Saturday. I will let your imaginations run wild with that…anyone want to take a guess?

Airports

I hear horror stories all the time about traveling with kids…they get bratty, there is too much stuff to carry, they don’t behave. So I almost feel guilty in this, but I love traveling with Munchkin. And by that, I don’t mean taking vacations and seeing places with her…I mean the physical act of passing through airports and cabs and the like. She gets so excited because it is kind of an adventure for her and that is infectious.

By the time we got to the terminal last Friday, we had almost two hours before the flight took off, so we sat in a restaurant and ate nachos and giggled a lot. That’s a prime people-watching spot…in an airplane terminal on a busy Friday. And when you aren’t rushing to get anywhere, it is kind of a fun place to hang out. Plus, she just meets people where she goes. Sure enough, we struck up a couple of different conversations with random people who sat near us (she has no problem telling a complete stranger "Your shirt is really pretty," or "You look like my friend’s mother," lol.)

Anyway, I know that sounds stupid, no one likes airports, but I do think traveling with her is a lot of fun.

I have discovered one thing about having a kid with you…you HAVE to check bags. If I travel on my own, I would just as soon stuff everything into the biggest carry-on they will allow me, but that just doesn’t work when you are already dragging a kid around. Sure, waiting for a bag on the other end is a pain, but it is well worth the trouble of not having to pull it through the airport, get it through security (along with the kiddo) and everything else. We packed in one bag, put our coats in the bag when we got to the airport and then had just backpacks with books, magazines and a sweatshirt each. It relieves an enormous amount of the hassle (as long as they don’t lose your bag!).

So that is my travel advice;-)

Company Christmas party tonight, which I am looking forward to. Munchkin is going, too…special invitation from the big boss;-) She gets to sit at the head of the table next to Papa Bear, which makes her feel super important and awfully cool. I have been out of the office for so much recently that I feel like I haven’t seen some of the people I work with in forever. And I definitely haven’t seen their wives/girlfriends/husbands, etc, most of whom I genuinely like.

Anyway, that is all I have for you today. If you think that I am avoiding the subject I alluded to yesterday, well…you’re right. I am. At least for another day.

Back home

I feel like I have two worlds. World #1 is nicely aligned, works smoothly and is generally enjoyable. It includes a good job, good friends, comfortable living, great boyfriend and basically a pretty nice day to day life. World #2 involves a constantly stressful, poisonous, evil bunch of people that I am stuck with because I am related to them. Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with these people, and why can’t they be anything other than hideous people?

That’s kind of unfair, most of them are pretty nice and I like seeing them a lot. And I really got blindsided this weekend with something that is gonna take me a while to think through, and I am keeping that to myself for now. I guess other than that it was actually a pretty good weekend. I just wish it wasn’t always so involved.

The good part is that I saw my father’s family for dinner on Friday when we got there and that was really nice. They are super, super people. I also had a pretty nice visit on Saturday with Munchkin’s family (which basically means that I didn’t have to see the Aunt that sued me…other than that I sort of like them all, to a point).

Munchkin and her brother had a date Saturday night, and I took her brother’s girlfriend out with both BFF’s. That was really fun, too…I don’t think his girlfriend gets out a lot. Not that he keeps her locked up or anything (he doesn’t go out much either) but I just think she is really shy and kind of timid and would just rather stay in or do something quiet with him. She really only has one close friend nearby, and that girl has two little kids, so I don’t think they do a lot of club hopping. So it was nice to get her out and have her let her hair down a bit.

I ended up staying up with BFF(boy) until about 5am, so I am really, really tired. It was useful, though, he helps me talk through things like no one else can. I did see some of my Mother’s family Sunday, but none of the ones that really suck. And Munchkin didn’t ask where they were, which was kind of a relief. She probably has a sense of it, she is really perceptive.

And I solved the problem from Friday. Munchkin is going to go to Chicago for a week in August to stay with her brother, and then they are all going to come back here and stay at the beach for a week after that. So she gets to see him, I don’t have to worry overly about what will go on when I am not around, she gets to show him her summer haunt, and they get a free vacation out of it. I say everyone wins…

Anyway, that’s all for now, I have a lot more to talk about but now isn’t the time. Ciao.

Checking in before flight time

So the massage was fucking brilliant, and lunch was really interesting, too…Boss Foxy had some interesting stuff for me that I can’t repeat (makes me feel so important!!! I have secrets that the Securities and Exchange Commission would put me in jail for revealing!!!) And the meeting with the girls at school was wonderful, too…Boss Foxy was brilliant and charming and inspiring and patient and all the things that make her such a good role model.

Then I went and found Munchkin at about 1:30 and told her that we could leave now if she wanted… “I think I should go to play practice first?” In other words…hold your horses, sister, I have shit to take care of…lol. They are doing a school play and she wants to go to her rehearsal. So I am sitting in the teachers’ lounge firing off some emails and checking in here.

Interesting comments on letting her go out and visit with her brother next summer. There is one other thing I should mention, which is that he called me and asked, which is kind of important. Why? Well, if he waited until we were out there and asked us in person, then I would have been kind of backed into a corner. Munchkin definitely would want to go, and it would force me into the awkward position of maybe saying “no”. The fact that he asked me outside of her earshot is actually very considerate of her, and implies that he knows the difficulties that I would face doing it the other way. Maybe kind of a minor thing, but it saves some aggravation.

And to clarify, I am not at all worried about her being homesick…she is quite the little taveleler. She got a little homesick towards the end of the month in Europe, but not much, and I have no worries about her sailing trip coming up. Dimples touched on the thing that puts me on edge. If you have followed the whole story, there was a slight disagreement over where Munchkin would live after my mother died.

I am not really worried about her brother, I feel like is intentions are completely on the up-and-up: he loves his sister, she totally adores him, and he just wants to make sure that he is as much a part of her life as he can be. The rest of the family, however, I don’t trust nearly as much, and I am hesitant to leave them access to her for an extended period of unsupervised time. Maybe I am being paranoid, I don’t know…but I feel like a couple of them have given me plenty of reason to distrust them (oh, this is not the family that stole her money from her, that was our mother’s…lovely relations, huh?).

Anyway, I think I have a plan, and hopefully he likes the idea, too. I will let you know how it turns out when I get back. Between that, seeing as many people as I can, and a trip to prison, it is gonna be a pretty busy weekend…see you Monday.

Revisiting Girl Power!!!

True to form...I start to talk about getting laid, and everyone shuts up;-) Except for Dimples, thanks Chica!!! Anyway, kind of a special "nighttime" post here. Usually I post in the morning, but I am feeling bloggy and I don’t know that I will get the chance in the morning, so I will do it now.

If you haven’t yet, go back and read my favorite post ever (check the links on the right). Tomorrow (Friday) I am actually taking Boss Foxy to school to meet with the girls I mentioned there. OK, we are leaving the office at 11:00, going to get massages before lunch and then going to school, but who is counting. I have something of an unhealthy addiction to getting massages. Anyone willing to help me out with that?

Lol…I just had this conversation:

Munchkin: Whatchya doing?
Me: I am writing my blog.
Munchkin: You have a blog?
Me: Yes.
Munchkin: Do you talk about me?
Me: Yeah, all the time.
Munchkin: Can I read it?
Me: Um…no.
Munchkin: Meanie [pouting]

She is unbelievably cute when she pouts. I think it drives her crazy that she tries to pout and all it does is make me smile at her. She is just way too cute for her own good.

I am also taking her out of school a little early because we have a 5:00 flight to Chicago. Her brother invited her to come out and stay with him for at least a couple of weeks next summer, which I have to think about on the plane ride and talk to him about when we get there…and I have to think about what I will tell her if she asks why we aren’t going to see some of our Mother’s family.

Any reason I shouldn’t let her go? I think I should, so long as the schedule works…she has Big Sis’ wedding she needs to be here for (cutest bridesmaid ever!!!) but other than that, I think she will be free. It will also save me from having to find something for her to do for a while, which is a HUGE pain in the ass.
Anyway, I may check in tomorrow, but I can’t promise;-)

Another Party

Hope everyone enjoyed meeting Smoking Hot Roommate yesterday, she’s a peach:-D Now I have to see if I can get Big Sis to chime in once in a while…and to make sure that the language is appropriate for large audiences…lol. She tends to swear a little bit now and again.

The Boy’s company Christmas party was last night and it was a blast. First, we were half an hour late because the pre-party sex took entirely too long. To be more accurate, the second time took too long…but that is just a detail. So I was probably glowing when we got there, and in an awfully good mood.

I know a bunch of people that he works with, so I didn’t have any problem feeling comfortable even though this was really my first company function. I was hanging out with a guy and girl that are friends of his and a random older guy came over and introduced himself. “Hi, I am So and So, and I have been told that you are absolutely the one person I need to make sure I meet tonight.” Pretty good way to get my attention;-)

So we got to chatting…he was a really nice guy who knew about my sister and had all kinds of questions, and also knew Papa Bear and had some work-related questions. It is not really that large a company, so it isn’t really that odd that someone would know things about the other people that work there. It is a really strong culture and they are all pretty tight.

Anyway, we probably shot the shit for like half an hour (The Boy joined us at one point…he didn’t totally throw me under the bus…and this guy’s wife did too.) Then I asked The Boy “He’s awfully friendly, who is he?”

“Um…he is the CEO, and that is more than anyone has seen him say to a person as long as I have been here.” Apparently he likes me, and he doesn’t like anyone else…I guess I really am pretty charming…lol. The rest of the party was really fun. He works with really neat people and I got my dance on real good. I love dancing, by the way…I could go dancing every day and night if someone asked me to.

I also got my hump on again after the party, but I think I pulled a muscle…lol. This would not be my first sex injury, or even, like, my fourth. It is kind of hard to explain how it happened (just remember that I am very small and I am also pretty flexible) but I seem to have an injury to my lower back, right over near my left side. I’ll be honest, a pulled muscle is a pretty small price to pay for three orgasms in a night. I will gladly make that trade.

Guest Spot

Ok, I post this because I promised that I would...but it is a little sappy for my taste. I think Smoking Hot Roommate might have been drinking while she wrote this. Anyway, she really is a sweetheart and I owe her just about everything I have. Since I love her so much, I will let her ramble on like a blithering fool... Enjoy!

Good morning everyone, I would like to introduce myself as the oft-mentioned Smoking Hot Roommate. I am somewhat ashamed of my name, as I believe that our divine author has somewhat overstated my hotness. I shall not complain, though, as I somewhat like being called Smoking Hot:-)

I started to write a huge essay about how great Accidentally Me is, but I realized that it would be about fifty pages long if I really wrote what I wanted to. I decided that a better idea would be to make it into a list:

1) She’s hot. Piercing eyes, cute scar on her upper lip, incredibly sexy body. She says she’s cute, but she’s lying, she is really hot.

2) When she is talking to you, there is no one else in the world. This is, IMHO, her greatest single quality and the one that most draws people to her. She is a mesmerizing personality that attracts everyone in a room towards her.

3) Men swoon over her. I will leave the messy details of this for her to tell you. If she doesn’t, I will. She has been proposed to four times, just think about that.

4) My father has a crush on her. Big Sis and I are in agreement on this, and even Papa Bear’s lady friend acknowledges it. It is completely innocent, but she is his favorite child. He denies the crush, but does acknowledge that she is his hero, and that she reminds him somewhat of my Mother.

5) She is much smarter than she gives herself credit for. Her first business, finance or accounting class was not until she was a Junior in college, yet she is able to function at the absolute pinnacle of the finance world in a ruthlessly difficult environment.

6) It is simply impossible to talk about AM and not mention Munchkin, both because it says so much about her and because you have to know her with Munchkin to really appreciate her. She didn’t take Munchkin in because she thought she should, or felt like it was in her best interest. She did it because she wanted to, because she wanted to be around her all the time, and she wanted to be the parental influence in her life, and she wanted to give her all of the love and attention that she didn’t get when she was growing up. I will certainly get scolded for being an amateur psychiatrist for that, but it is true.

This brings us to Munchkin who is, quite simply, the coolest little kid on the face of the earth. The single most traumatic event in my life was the death of my mother when I was about her age. Even then, I was left with a fantastic father and an older sister who doted on me and did a lot of Mom things for me. I simply can not imagine losing both parents by age 10 and still maintaining any sort of a positive outlook on life.

Certainly, AM should get a lot of the credit for that, but it’s hard to over-estimate just how special a little kid she really is. I have lived with her for nearly 18 months now and have never once felt like she was even the smallest imposition. Nor have I ever seen her talk back at all to AM, or to me for that matter.

I hope this is brief enough, it is challenging to try and sum her up in a short format like this. I’ve read everything she has written here (I never knew she was such a good writer!) and I can assure that there is a lot more where that came from. She is every bit the hero she seems, and a lot more. Hopefully she will get around to the whole picture over time.

And if she doesn’t, I will!!!

Love ya, Cutie;-)

-SHR

More Parties

Smoking Hot Roommate is still promising her guest-post for today, so I will post it when she sends it to me (and when I make sure she doesn’t say anything too bad;-))

Judging from yesterday’s comments, it seems like the “Christmas Tree in Jewish Household” thing might be a little bit limited, but not totally isolated. Interesting to hear the perspective…

I went to a company Christmas party last night as someone’s +1. Funny story on this one…this goes back to last summer during one weekend that we were at the beach house (you like how I just toss that in like it is mine? I am such a weasel…lol). Papa Bear had a friend down for some golf and fishing for the weekend, and we were all hanging out on the beach.

I got to talking to his friend, who told me that one of the other partners in his law firm had a son that he wanted to set me up with. Kind or random, but whatever…he seemed like a good guy, and I am pretty adventurous, so I told him to give the guy my number.

I got a call when we got home Sunday night… The guy is actually gay, but apparently his father’s friend didn’t know. (This should be a sitcom plot). Anyway, because we knew we would both be quizzed on it later, we figured we oughta get together for a drink just so we could say we did it.

I will give Papa Bear’s friend credit, though; he was right about us getting along. Outside of the whole “him-not-liking-girls” thing, it probably would have been a promising first date. I did see Papa Bear’s friend again, and didn’t even have to lie… “We did go out and had a really good time, but there was just no immediate attraction.”

So he is sort of a friend of mine now, and a couple of times I have gone with him as a date to things that he doesn’t really want to bring his boyfriend to. And last night was his office Christmas party, where he is not “out”.

I don’t blame him for feeling like there are times he wants to keep his sexuality a secret, but I do think it is sad that he feels like he should. It’s the 21st century (and a blue state, too!) and I feel like we should get past that already. Clearly, I am not the only person to have ever said this, so I don’t really want to get totally on a soapbox.

Obviously, the vast majority of people probably don’t care one way or the other who he dates, but there are definitely some people who would feel like it was an issue, and I can see why someone would be sensitive about broadcasting it. But it is still sad.

Anyway, I had a really good time, and I think he did, too…and he had me home before bedtime:-)

Christmas and Such

Smoking Hot Roommate has delayed, at least until tomorrow, her guest posting. Ally did succeed in getting her to comment, though, so we are on the right track.

Work is super busy, so I don’t really have a lot to comment on today, but I do like to write everyday, so I figured I would check in anyway. And one "small world" story.

After I got home last night I had a couple of hours worth of work to do, so when SHR asked me if I wanted to go with her and some people to watch the football game and eat chicken wings, I said "Sure". I figured it would be good to get out and focus on something other than spreadsheets.

[Note: I am at the point where I feel ok leaving Munchkin by herself for a little bit…especially if we are really close by.]

The Bears were playing, which is good because it is the only team I can even pretend to care about. There were some really loud and excited Bears fans, so I figured I would go and see if any of them had Chicago roots. Turns out that they all did, and one of them knows BFF(boy) because he worked at a place where BFFb was a summer intern three years ago.

That is kind of the whole story, which I guess is not terribly exciting…lol. But I thought it was pretty funny.

One other thing, I was eating breakfast this morning in someone else’s office and chatting with a lawyer and a banker that we are working with. The subject of the "War on Christmas" came up. Both of them are Jewish, and both didn’t understand the drama over Christmas symbolism. They both had Christmas trees in their houses growing up, and were under the impression that a lot of Jews do that to get into the mood of the season.

I thought that was interesting…can we get confirmation of that from anyone else? I never really knew any Jewish people until I moved to Boston, and am kind of fascinated by American Jewish culture (like the parts about how virtually all American Jews live in either Los Angeles, Florida or the Northeast Corridor. Or how, for the Boston folks, the old-money Newton Jews look down dramatically on the new-money Sharon Jews…is this true, too?)

Anyway, I am kind of rambling now, but sometimes I get…um…rambly…

Monday stuff

It is freakishly warm around here for this time of year…50’s yesterday and today. Last Friday was really cold, but other than that, it has been a super mild winter so far. Fine by me…

Special treat sometime this week, Smoking Hot Roommate has requested that she be allowed to write a guest blog entry. She is kinda mad at me for calling her an “heiress” last week, so I might be in for some trouble…lol. Anyway, probably tomorrow or Wednesday, depending on when she gets around to it. She is just like me, only taller, better looking, smarter and richer…other than that, we might as well be clones;-)

Saturday night was pretty uneventful, but fun. Knowing the people hosting, I was a little concerned that they would go WAAY over the top (think ice sculptures and chocolate fountains) but they didn’t. Just a really nice dinner with good people and good conversation. This is really the first time I have brought The Boy around the school parents, and they were definitely checking him out to see if they approve. Which is cute; they are all kinda protective of me:-) They seemed to like him… (note: no privacy glass in the car…booo!!!)

He was helping his father string Christmas lights on Sunday, though, which means I didn’t get my Sunday afternoon sex marathon…phooey! I did get a little Christmas shopping done, though, although not as much as I should have. I went to the book store and ended up spending like four hours there. I can do that sometimes, just sort of get lost wandering around…they shouldn’t put comfy chairs and a Starbucks in there; it encourages me to stay forever.

I also got hit on a lot. Like three guys and a girl all randomly started talking to me with the distinct air of trying to pick me up. When did the book store become a singles joint? Better than bars, I guess, but I don’t want to feel like I have to get dressed up to go to Barnes and Noble. Still, it was kind of flattering…always is…hee hee.

Kind of a busy week ahead, and I have to bail early on Friday to go to Chicago for the weekend. Munchkin and I made candy last night to pack up and bring to them, so that will cover the gift-giving problem (Semi-Homemade on the cooking channel :-D). At some point this week I have to figure out how to answer the inevitable “How come we aren’t seeing so-and-so?” I really don’t feel like having the “Because they stole $20,000 from you” conversation just yet. I’ll figure something out…

Not much to say today...

I had a super productive morning, so I am feeling pretty good about myself. That is a little surprising because I was up kinda late and a bit tipsy last night.

We had a bit of an impromptu party last night. Neither Smoking Hot Roommate nor I felt like going out, even though we were supposed to meet some people for drinks. So we invited them over instead. Then decided to just get a bunch of pizza and invite over the other people we were gonna meet later.

That worked out well, because it meant I didn’t really have to keep an eye on Munchkin like I do if we are out somewhere. She never goes far away, but it is still always a little different to have her around. At home, though, obviously I don’t have to watch her like that, which makes for a more relaxing night, and one without a curfew;-)

Yeah, I know… “Stop bringing the fifth-grader to bars”…blah blah blah.

Anyway, she is hilarious…she sat in a chair in the living room and totally held court all night. I might have had just a little too much to drink…hee hee, but whatever; I am entitled once in a while.

I do have to admit to a bit of an overly mushy conversation with the boy late-night (like 2 or 3 in the morning). Totally unfair, though…we were along with the Christmas tree, it was post-foot rub, pre-sex and I had been drinking…I can not be held accountable for my words during a situation like that. And no, I will not tell you what I said…:-P

Anyway, I have to run…gotta get my hair cut. Ciao!

It's a pahty!

It is Holiday Party season…and somehow I feel like I get more of it than most people (that may not really be true, it just seems that way.)

Tomorrow is an interesting one…dinner with school parents. This is not really a holiday party, per se, since this goes on about once a month. As part of the very tight-knit social network around the school, the parents have a formal dinner party about once a month at someone’s house.

To be really honest, it can sometimes be a little bit pretentious. There is definitely a part of the ritual that exists for people to show off their houses (which are…ahem…worth showing off…) I also really feel like there are times that people go totally overboard with the catering and such. Last summer someone had a six piece band playing during cocktails.

It’s usually fun anyway; I like getting dressed up and acting like an adult. And as I have mentioned before, everyone has been super great to me from Day 1, and never makes me feel at all like they are talking down to me or being patronizing. I am more than 10 years younger than everyone else, and I have always felt like they genuinely just like having me around…’cuz I’m fun:-D

Anyway, tomorrow night there is one in Belmont, right around the corner from the Governor’s house (we easily have the hottest governor in America…I will miss him…lol). The Boy is being a good trooper and coming with me, even though I am sure there are probably things he would rather do. Or maybe not, I look pretty cute in a black dress, and he probably knows that I will put out, too:-P [Note: we’re taking a car there and if there is privacy glass, I totally plan on fucking him in the back seat of the car…such a slut;-)]

Back to the point of my story…next month, the super sexy hostess of this dinner is going to be…drumroll, please…you got it; yours truly. I am kind of nervous, to be honest. I have never done something like this and I feel like it is kind of an involved process. There will probably be 30-40 people, at least, and I feel like there are a lot of social customs that I will fuck up.

Since we moved into the new condo, though, I feel like we have enough room and a neat enough place where it might be fun. So I offered to do it and everyone excitedly agreed…at least they seemed excited…lol. I am sure I will talk about this more as the day approaches, but for now, I am just going to take a lot of notes tomorrow night…

(Not) Giving Blood

You have to weigh 110 pounds to give blood in Massachusetts. Is this the same everywhere? I have to admit, a small part of me feels let down that I can't pitch in to improve communal health...but there is a much larger, more embrassing part that is relieved. I hate needles and I hate blood.

For the record, I was willing to donate, but I am not terribly upset that they won't let me. Sometimes being a dwarf isn't so bad;-)

Christmas shopping

Totally an accident that yesterday's post about sex was post #69 of this blog...I swear it was not on purpose. Good to know that I don't gross any of you out, though...that makes me feel a little better.

Random story…three years ago, a magazine wanted to do a profile of Smoking Hot Roommate and Big Sis as part of their “Most eligible singles in Boston” story. And why not? They are both mega-hot, incredibly smart and qualify by most standards as “heiresses”. As part of this, they spent a day with a photographer to take pictures for the story.

Well, they both nixed the idea at the last minute…it went against their general tendency to try and avoid publicity as much as possible. The pictures, however, were gorgeous…and various prints of them are hanging in various places [Papa Bear has a four-foot tall nude photograph of his two daughters hanging on the wall in his study…lol. That sounds much worse than it actually is…you can’t see anything you shouldn’t due to some careful positioning and a well-placed sheet. Also, the picture is beyond stunning…it looks like Scarlett Johansen and Charlize Theron were just lounging around relaxing one day…]

Anyway, as a Christmas present last year, Smoking Hot Roommate got the same photographer to take an afternoon’s worth of pictures of me and Munchkin. Honestly, it was one of the most fun things I have ever done…we got our hair done in the morning and then I felt like a model all day…it was a blast. (Yes, I did get up the nerve for some semi-nudes, too…more on that some other day. Actually, probably not…that is kind of the whole story…lol).

One big advantage of that is that it gave me Christmas presents for a whole bunch of people. All Papa Bear wanted for Christmas was a big picture of his “other” daughters (one of which is now hanging on his office wall next to a non-naked picture of his real kids…lol). It also worked really well for all of the Chicago family, of which there are a LOT.

So why am I telling this story now? Well, it occurs to me that I could use a universal gift this year, because I have no fucking idea what to get anyone for Christmas. Like, none at all. Which is going to make for a pretty hectic weekend of me trying to shop. I will take any and all suggestions…and consider this a request for them. Here’s my list.

Munchkin – I am actually ok on this. I don’t have to get her a ton because a) she doesn’t want much, and b) her pretend older sisters will spoil her rotten. She’s not hard to shop for, though…I can find stuff for her.

The Boy – I got nothing…and he is not real good about making Christmas lists. His sister promised that she would take care of me, though, so I think I can count on her to get this done for me.

Smoking Hot Roommate – I think I will be ok on this too. I can always get her some clothes, which I know I can pick out for her. When you look like her, everything fits well, and everything looks great. Yeah, I hate her, too…lol. Sort of the same goes for Big Sis…I can probably find her clothes somewhere. Brainwave!!! I can but them both super slutty lingerie, which takes care of getting gifts for their attached boys as well. I’m so smart!!!

Papa Bear – I have no idea, and this will require some creativity. What do you get a guy who already has a Bentley? Lol…I think I summed up my problem pretty succinctly there…

The Boy’s parents – Shouldn’t be too hard, but I have to get them something, even if it is small. I also have to get his sister something, but she is just like me, so that shouldn’t be hard.

Cousins, Aunts, Uncles, etc. – Not speaking to a lot of them has really cut down on the need for gifts…lol. I think I am actually going to skip the gifts for most of them. There are a LOT of them and it is just not practical. We are going out there next weekend to see all of them, and I think that will have to be gift enough.

Munchkin’s Brother – She wants to get him something special, I’m sure, so we have to do that. I will leave that up to her, though…she will think of something.

BFFb and BFFg – The only two people I have already shopped for!

I also have to get Boss Foxy something…and I am sure I am forgetting someone.

Boy, I really need to get on this, don’t I? Anyone have ideas?

Hmm...

I wrote a whole post out last night, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to post it, so I saved it and figured I would get back to it this morning. Well, I apparently fucked something up, because it is lost…gone forever into blogger oblivion. Which is too bad…it was wicked good…hee hee.

For the record, the third Christmas tree is Big Sis’s. We helped her decorate it on Sunday…I know you were all dying to know.

I have noticed an interesting phenomenon…whenever I write about sex, people get all clammed up and don’t leave any comments. Are we all too shy out there in blogger land? I usually get a handful of comments on other stuff, but every time I get a little bit NC-17, I might be lucky to get one.

What’s up with that? The problem is that I really like to talk about sex. I like doing it, and I like talking about it. That doesn’t mean that it is something I want to make the focus of this blog (I don’t get to do it nearly enough to make it the only storyline…) but it is definitely something that is going to come up. And when it does, I want it to generate conversation. If I say I did something that got me off really fast…or often…then I want people to be able to jump in and say “Oh my god…have you tried X? Or…maybe you should try Y, too!” Feel free to email me if you don’t want to leave a comment (email address is on my profile), I usually write back right away…or leave comments anonymously.

Anyway, if it really does make people uncomfortable, I will dial it down a bit. I know there are some people who read this regularly (10-15 of you so far) and that means surprisingly a lot to me. Probably more than is cool to admit:-P I truly get excited when I get comments from people…yes, I am a dork. And I like that the readers are spread all over the country and have some dramatically different backgrounds than me.

The point is that I don’t want to turn people off if they don’t want to read about my sex life. Anyway, just let me know if it really bothers y’all (shout out to my Southern readers!!!) or if you still wanna hear it. I can oblige pretty easily.

Coming close to dying

Last week I mentioned Munchkin’s bad dream about me dying, so I think I should fill you in on the other half of that. She has this nightmare occasionally and it stems from me very nearly dying last winter.

I am going to back up a bit…I have mentioned already that I am really tiny. Little itty bitty everything. Yes, I wish I had boobs sometimes, but not enough to actually pay for them;-) And I wish more adult clothing fit me, too, but I get by… The good news is that I can look mega-sexy all summer wearing tank tops with no bra (little tip, girls…tape your nipples so they don’t poke;-))

Anyway, my weight is normally about 95 pounds, and has been since I was about a sophomore in high school. I feel like I eat pretty well, but I just never gain any weight. So, I went to the doctor for a checkup last winter and tipped the scale at 89 pounds. Not good.

Which kind of make sense…it was a very stressful summer and fall and I hadn’t really been eating well. I knew I felt thin, but not that bad…anyway, that was a wakeup call and I made a more concerted effort to eat more and more often. Hold that thought, I will get back to it…

In mid January, I was kind of randomly moving some boxes around and I cut my hand. Not badly, but I had maybe and inch long cut that bled for like and hour before it closed up. Maybe two days later, I started to feel kind of sick…I thought maybe I was getting a cold. Nothing too bad, though. Then, on a Friday morning I woke up feeling like absolute garbage. So I took Munchkin to school and came home to shower and see if I felt any better.

Then I realized that my eyes wouldn’t really focus and things didn’t look right. I took my temperature and it was like 104 or something, so I figured maybe I should not go to work. Then I fell over walking the sofa and thought maybe I oughta call an ambulance (Smoking Hot Roommate was in the Bahamas, so I was all on my own.)

After that, things are kind of blank…luckily I unlocked the front door, because I think I had passed out before the paramedics got there. Also luckily, the old lady next door was home at the time…otherwise I don’t know how word would have gotten to school. It is also a pretty good thing that I had listed Papa Bear as someone who could pick Munchkin up at school like a week before then (you have to be on a list to take a child home, good policy I guess.)

Turns out that I got an infection in my hand from the cut, and it had spread throughout my body. They got me all loaded up with antibiotics pretty quickly, but I was unconscious for most of two days, and was in the hospital for almost a week. Needless to say, I am pretty darn lucky that Papa Bear was around to stay with Munchkin (Big Sis was with SHR in the Bahamas).

I don’t know how close I really came to dying, but the doctor claimed that it was kind of scary for a bit. And obviously Munchkin was pretty effected by the whole thing…she had already lost a Mom and Dad, so I think this was a pretty scary thought. The other pressing concern was that my weight had suddenly gone from "too low" to "dangerously too low". In fact, the last two days in the hospital had nothing to do with the infection and everything to do with the doctor not letting me leave because my weight dropped to 83 pounds at its lowest. He made me stay in on a bunch of IV’s for a couple days, but even with that I was like 87 or 88 when I left.

Smoking Hot Roommate says that she saw me take my shirt off and almost threw up because my back was so bony. And I have seen a picture of it from shortly after then, and it was pretty gross. The good news was that I was immediately put on the most fun diet you can have…what do you do when you need fat, calories, protein and calcium? Why…you eat ice cream, of course…and that is not something I need to be told twice!!!

I am between 95 and 100 now, which is still maybe too small, but it is healthy enough. My doctor told me that she thinks 100 is a good number, so I try and shoot for that. I wish it would make my boobs bigger:-P

Anyway, that was kind of scary, and caused me to do a lot of re-evaluating…like I needed to have a will drawn up, and have my life insurance adjusted. I think the right thing would be for Munchkin to live with her brother, although I would really love it if they decided to move out here to keep her here. Not really the most pleasant thing to think about, but it sort of has to be done… Mostly, I am just going to try and not die.

The second tree

Back to my story…I promise it gets better than it has been…lol. I went to bed before hearing from The Boy Saturday night and I was not real happy about it. I kind of figured that we would have to have an awfully uncomfortable “talk” the next day, which made me feel kind of sick to my stomach.

I got a text message from him at about 3:30, though… “Love you. Miss you. Don’t want to fight. I am sorry for being ass. Breakfast tomorrow?” That made me feel a whole lot better…I am not really in the mood to go through a breakup this month… Of course, I also knew that he was probably kinda drunk, so I figured I would make him work for it and texted him back to meet me at 8:00. Yeah, mean of me, I know, but that’s what he gets:-P

Anyway, we did have kind of a “talk” but it was all good. His sister actually called me at about quarter of 8:00 to tell me that he had called her the night before and was all crazy because he thought he had fucked up. Which is also kind of cute…and let me in on what I was gonna hear at breakfast.

Anyway, we had a lengthy discussion, only a little bit of which I want to get into here. I guess the nutshell is that I am a pain in the ass to date (my words, not his) but he is ok with that. I think I have to say at this point, as I have before, that he is abundantly patient and understanding. He’s hot, he’s got a great job and very few of his friends need to clear time on their babysitting schedules to hang out....meaning that he could probably have less aggravation in his life with someone else.

One of his very best friends just got engaged last week…to a girl that he started dating at almost the same time that we first began dating (about a year and a half ago.) To be honest, I think he is probably a little jealous of the simplicity. They met, they became infatuated, dated a lot, took some vacations together, moved in together in September and now are getting married. Then they can work on having kids shortly after that. Nice and easy, just like they draw it up in the books.

But I am not quite that simple…I come with some baggage. Really cute and fun baggage, but baggage nonetheless. If he had shown up for breakfast and said “This just isn’t gonna work. I need someone who can make me more of a priority and is on a timeline I want to be on,” then I would have been really upset, but I would have understood.

The good news is that he didn’t say that, or even anything close. I think he just had a brief crisis when he thought about the fact that a “timeline” for us won’t lead to marriage for probably three years, minimum (ok…I can’t even believe I just wrote that, it gives me hives…) I don’t know when I would think about having kids… maybe never.

Anyway, I felt like a huge weight had been lifted after that. I definitely wanted to…um…
“seal the deal”, so to speak…but he was clearly exhausted, so I figured I would give him a couple hours to rest. And shower…lol.

I went back over to his place during the football games later to help him decorate his Christmas tree and have a whole bunch of sweaty sex. I don’t know if I would say it was make-up sex, since we weren’t really fighting. Mostly I just hadn’t been laid in almost a week and had some serious fucking to get out of my system. And so did he, which led to a pretty good afternoon…actually a playful kind of fun sex afternoon that involved some whipped-cream-enhanced oral sex.

I don’t really think I would normally qualify as “kinky” per se, but I do like to have fun. And I was certainly not in the mood to object to some relationship-repairing fun sex. So if he wants to spend an hour giving me oral sex with whipped cream, well who am I to object?

Blog help...

Does anyone know how I can get back to putting Italics and Bold in my posts? The toolbar is gone, and shortcut keys don't work...I just want the toolbar back.

Anyone?

The first tree

Seems like I only got halfway done last night, so I should finish my story. Actually, I am not going to finish it now, but I will get through some more and then finish it later one, hopefully.

When I left you, I was kind bummed because The Boy was pissed at me for not being around enough, and he was kind of being bitchy about it.

Anyway, Saturday morning was Christmas tree time. Me, Munchkin and Smoking Hot Roommate (no boys allowed!) drove to a farm near where SHR grew up to buy a tree and some other stuff. Yes, there is a working farm in the city of Boston (or maybe it is in Brookline, not sure…either way, it is definitely inside Route 128…how is that for slinging the local lingo?)

We actually brought another girl with us, too…we will call her Daisy and she is the cutest little golden blond you have ever seen, from the tip of her nose, right down to her 20 toes. And her tail. Hee hee…Papa Bear’s dog, but we borrowed her because dogs like farms.

We got a beauty of a tree and then brought it back home, at which point we realized that the “No boys allowed” policy left us without anyone to carry the stupid thing into the building for us. Never fear, chicks rule, so we lugged it in ourselves…and then cleaned up the trillion pine needles that we lost on the way. Oops!

We had the tree up and decorated by about 2:00, and it’s a peach! Now I just need to get some presents to put underneath it…more on that some other time.

Earlier, I had gotten a call from another school mom…every year she and three other women take their daughters for an afternoon of lunch, shopping and other associated girlie stuff right before Christmas and they wanted us to come. So we met them after lunch. In the meantime, I called The Boy to tell him where I was going and because I hadn’t talked to him and still felt kind of shitty about the way things were left on Friday.

He didn’t answer, which probably means he didn’t want to talk to me, so I just left him a message saying I hope he had a good time and I hate feeling like he is mad at me and hopefully we could get a chance on Sunday to talk because I just don’t like feeling like that.

Shopping was actually kind of fun. Five little girls in one group leads to a lot of screeching and giggling, but it was still pretty cute. Then we had dinner and went to see Happy Feet, which is really cute.

I have to say, my little twerp of a sister is really a tough kid…she is completely fearless. She knows her way around the city so well, and is completely at ease going anywhere or doing anything. I feel like most kids are kind of intimidated by busy places…heck, sometimes I feel like it is intimidating…but she is just completely unfazed by the whole thing. She told me “I can just take the T to Copley and meet them if you don’t want to go…” And she totally could. Not that I would let her, but I think it is amazing that she is comfortable enough to do that. Hmm…this could turn out to be a problem later on in life, but for now I am proud of her. I feel like if she got lost somewhere and didn’t know where she was, she would probably just hail a cab to take her home.

Note to self…remind her not to take any cabs on her own…

Anyway, I got off track a bit, and I have to get back to work, so I will wrap up here and finish later on. We got home at about 10:00, and still no word from The Boy, which had me really, really bummed out. I made Munchkin sleep with me again:-( She is good like that.

Three Christmas Trees

Kind of an interesting weekend and I feel pretty good about it. I am still not totally over the $250K parking space from last week, but I imagine that will always kind of baffle me. I guess the answer is that housing can only cost as much as it does if someone is willing to pay it, so there must be people who can afford it.

On Friday, I had dinner with The Boy, his sister, Smoking Hot Roommate and both of their attachments. The Boy was being really kind of weird, and I could tell he was still not real happy with me. I got a chance to talk to his sister a bit alone and she kind of sensed it, too. They have that twin psycho-connection thing, so she always knows what he is thinking, sometimes before he does.

So there was some weirdness, and when we went back to his place alone it was still kind of awkward. Plus I was exhausted, and he is a little sick of me being tired all the time, so he was in kind of a pissy mood. We didn’t really have a fight, but we didn’t talk a lot on the way home, plus he announced that he was going out with “the guys” on Saturday night. Which doesn’t really bother me, it was just that the way he said it was almost like he was trying to do it to make me upset. I guess it worked, because I was kind of bummed over the whole thing. I may have cried a little bit…

I have a funny story, though. Papa Bear and Munchkin had some quality time Friday night…they had a dinner date. So they went to a random restaurant for dinner, and she apparently knew just about everyone in the place. Their server was one of her teachers from last year (I guess this is part of my answer from Friday, people have two jobs.) Then two of the older kids from school were out on a date and were like two tables over, and then her baseball coach was there with his wife as well. Quite the social butterfly. Then after dinner they were about to go home and she announced “I’m having fun, let’s get a drink somewhere!”

That’s right, she is 11. The good news is that a “drink” to her still means a Shirley Temple or some kind of juice. The bad news is that she is possibly become an alcoholic who just hasn’t discovered alcohol yet…I will have to keep an eye on this. Upshot: if you were in a swanky steak house on Berkeley St and saw a good looking guy with what appeared to be his Granddaughter sitting at the bar, well, you have officially met Muchkin…

Anyway, she is 11 going on 26, and I will write more about that, as well as more about The Boy, tomorrow. For now, me sleepy…

What a quarter million dollars buys...

This is ridiculous. Someone paid $250,000 for a parking space in the Back Bay. Look…Mapquest shows you where!!! The other good part about this map is that I live somewhere on the page, but I won’t say where…hee hee.

I am certainly not the only person to ever bring this up, but that kind of money can buy you a pretty spectacular spot to live in most of the country. Heck, I grew up in the third biggest city in the county and a quarter of a million bucks buys a LOT. Same goes for my other place of residence…the Phoenix area. 250 large goes a long way out there, too.

But not here. It buys you a small parcel of bricks on which you can leave your car without getting towed or ticketed. I am not really sure why I bring this up, it is certainly not news to anyone.

Anyway, my point is that Real Estate costs gross amounts of money around here. The 250 grand for a parking space is not really representative, but don’t let that fool you…housing is expensive. I think the going rate around here for a condo is probably about $1,000 per square foot (so a 1,000 square foot apartment costs more than a million dollars.) That probably wouldn’t include parking, which we just learned is an entirely separate and expensive proposition.

Granted, this is pretty much the most expensive part of the city (as far as I know), and there are other parts that are less obscene. But it still probably costs $500 a square foot to find any place worth living…I am sort of guessing at that (anyone else in Boston, feel free to chime in).

And it doesn’t really get a whole lot better…all of the surrounding towns that would qualify as “nice” places are ridiculously expensive, too. Someone mentioned to me that Dedham is a town that is a little cheaper than some other towns in the area. The average single family property value in Dedham is $361,422. And that is the assessed value…the market value is probably $440K. And that counts as affordable around here.

Ok, I will confess. I was feeling kind of flush after my promotion and raise, and I thought “Gee, I wonder if I could buy a house somewhere.” Not that I don’t appreciate the enormous generosity of Smoking Hot Roommate, but, you know, I am kind of independent and stuff. Anyway, that idea got nixed pretty quickly.

But my question is, how do people do it? I probably make more money than a lot of single moms and dads...and that doesn’t even count the handouts from SHR, Big Sis and Papa Bear. So, how does a mother of two who makes $50,000 a year live around here? Surely there have to be some, right? Did she spend $250,000 or $300,000 on a little house far out from the city? Or does she spend $1,500 a month in rent somewhere?

The raw economics of it are horrifying. If you make $4,000 a month and immediately lose $1,500 of that to pay taxes, health insurance and the like, then you are left with $2,500 to raise a family with. Now, immediately throw out half of that for rent, or more for a mortgage and what are you left with? $1,000 a month to pay for food, clothes and entertainment for three people, plus a car, car insurance and everything else that goes into living?

I just don’t get it. How do people do it?

Back:-)

Thanks everyone for the well-wishes...it really does help. Sorry to not post yesterday, I was out of the office and then didn’t feel up to it when I got home. I have another post for later in the day about the price of housing, but it’s not quite done yet.

Yesterday was kind of fun, actually. My visit to the happy doctor went pretty well on Wednesday night…it feels good to unload a bunch of stuff at once. Still, I was a bit bummed and stressed yesterday and I still think The Boy is irritated with me even though he says otherwise. I guess I will work on that this weekend.

I got to the office and the boss I have been working for said “You’ve been working too hard, I think you need a mental health day. Boss Foxy is speaking at a conference in town, why don’t you go with her and hang out for the day.” I work with really smart people who can read people really well.

It was just what I needed…I met a ton of people, heard some interesting stuff and got to watch Boss Foxy work her magic all day long. It is amazing how important networking is, and how much technique there can be in it. I have to work on remembering people’s names when I hear them…

So that ran most of the day, and then I snuck out to go and see Munchkin’s first basketball game of the season. That was kind of funny…11 year old girls don’t really play great basketball…I think the score was 10-6…

After that, Smoking Hot Roommate came over to meet us for chicken fingers and French fries. Life’s little pleasures…

And I made Munchkin sleep with me last night…I just wanted to have her around. Because I am a baby sometimes:-)