Unraveling

The plan, as usual, was for a great long weekend at the beach, leaving as early as possible today. enjoying Saturday and Sunday and then waiting as long a possible on Monday to come home. In my little world, that is pretty much an ideal weekend.

Oh, how quickly things can unravel. First, the weather didn't cooperate. Today, tomorrow and Sunday, all projected to have high temperatures somewhere in the high 50's, and plenty of rain. Not exactly beach weather...and not the kind of weather that makes me want to lug two toddlers all the way to the house to sit inside for.

Then, work decided to throw cold water on my already dieing fire...I have to go to New York for a couple days next week, which means leaving either Monday night or super-early Tuesday morning. Neither of those lends itself to stretching out the last day of the long weekend (which, also, is the only one that may have some actual sunshine.)

And then Munchkin decided that she was bagging the weekend because of the weather, too. She has a couple of parties to go to (obviously:-)) that she was going to skip, but doesn't want to if the weather sucks. The net result is the very sad decision to scrap the beach trip this weekend.

There is good news in this...first, I will probably get a new car tomorrow:-). And second, there are lots of beach weekends ahead! But still, I love Memorial Day, and I am very, very angry at this Nature bitch for ruining it!!!

Odds and Ends

Some thoughts before I do any work this week...

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What's with the massive volume of spam comments lately that are not getting caught by Blogger's spam filters? I feel like I get 3-4 a day, and I know I have seen a bunch of other people note the same thing.

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Is there any child-entertainment invention better than the bouncy house? Not only does it entertain and thoroughly exhaust, but it provides two days worth of good behavior just by invoking the slight chance that it can be cancelled. We went to two separate bouncy-house birthday parties this weekend, which is basically toddler heaven. Also, sort of Daddy heaven, too:-)

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I didn't win the lottery. So, that was kind of a bummer.

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Munchkin has three exams today and tomorrow and then she is...wait for it...done with school. Her graduation is a week from Thursday. I don't even want to guess how much crying I am going to do between now and then, but it's going to be a lot.

Also, since she is the likely valedictorian (bragging), she is speaking, as well. Which she is super nervous about, and which I find adorable because she basically never gets nervous about anything. She is adamant that she wants no help at all, but she has designated Papa Bear as the one person who gets to hear it first and provide feedback...the rest of us have to wait until show time:-)

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Strongly considering going to France with her again this summer, maybe with one of the girls. I hadn't really thought much about it, but Belle Vierge wrote a little love letter to Paris last week that sort of planted the idea in my head. So, we'll see...I am not sure that I am serious about this.

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In other sister news, Tinkerbelle is coming out for TWO WEEKS this summer:-). She is totally a petulant teenager, and I am sure I will want to strangle her at some point...but it will be awesome. Frankly, I think she is kind of a handful these days, and her Mom is hoping that some time away from home will help her a bit. I still don't see her nearly as much as I'd like, but she still listens to me (a little) so maybe I can contribute to making her less of a teenager.

More likely, Munchkin will handle it...she definitely listens to her!

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In the middle of last week, I was given an unusual work task...to go to a conference for a day, and try to find someone to hire at one of our portfolio companies. This is the sort of thing I am good at...getting the attendee list, doing some stalking ahead of time to pick out a handful of people, then finding them and conducting an on-the-spot interview that they don't know is an interview. Net result, four prospects...not a bad haul. Lunch, however, was mediocre:-)

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House hunting? Ugh. Never mind. Unless you have a whole bunch of money I can borrow. And by "borrow", I mean "have".

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Long weekend? Don't mind if I do... Headed to the beach to kick off the summer season, and very much looking forward to it. Anyone who has been around here for any length of time knows my affection for "The Beach House". And as much of a pain as it can be to lug the kids all the way down there, I still look forward to spending my weekends there all summer!

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Finally, officially retiring my car and getting a new one. I've had it for nearly 9 years now, and it's time to upgrade. As little as I drive, I will miss her:-). It's the only car I have ever owned, and we have been through a lot together!!!

Not sure on what to get next...taking suggestions:-)

A very NyQuil week...

Being sick is the worst, and I've had a doozy of a cold this week. Actually, that's only partially true...having sick kids is the worst, and being sick with sick kids is really THE WORST.

LK came down with a cold on Saturday, and in the way that toddlers often do, she wanted to be held a lot. Which meant that she spent a lot of time coughing on me:-). She had a little fever, and a runny nose and a cough...and she had trouble sleeping and wanted to sleep in the bed with me. On Sunday afternoon, I could tell that I was coming down with something...and under the theory of "I am already infected", I slept in the bed with her again on Sunday and Monday nights.

By Tuesday, she was all better, but I was a mess. On Wednesday, I felt a little better, but also had sort of a NyQuil daze going on, and a wicked sinus congestion headache. I came back to work yesterday but didn't get a whole lot done all day. I feel better today, but I am still a little bit out of it and very congested.

In the category of TMI: the volume of mucus, phlegm and snot that has come out of my head this morning is truly staggering. I suppose that is a good sign, but it's been pretty horrible.

Hopefully I can get a good night's sleep and be back to myself tomorrow. Not a terribly busy weekend on tap, so I should be able to get some rest. Maybe that's what I will ask for for Mother's Day!

I did take the girls to the doctor this morning for their (belated) three-year appointment. They are both exactly 39 inches tall, which is quite tall for their age (clearly not a trait they get from their mother). Skinny little LK weighs 33.7 pounds, and MA is my chunky monkey, she weighs 37.7. But they are in great health, and were very good little girls at the doctor.

Not a whole lot else going on. Munchkin has ONE WEEK of school left and then some exams. If my unofficial count is correct, she has been invited to 487 proms, 298 of which she is attending (I am kidding, it only seems like that many) and many of which involved a couple of days away afterwards. So, she is going to be an awfully busy butterfly for the next month or so.

That is not going to stop me from throwing her the biggest graduation party that has ever been thrown in the history of graduation parties. There will be a tent. There will be BBQ. And there will be lots and lots of people. Like, everyone she has ever met, maybe:-).

As for my "state department clearance" joke from a couple of weeks ago...all clear. The party will be at Big Sis' house, with the tent out in front of the house.  Setting up a tent like that, along with having the BBQ pit wheeled in, requires a permit. And since Big Sis' neighbor happens to be our new Secretary of State, the Police Department had to check in with the State Department to ensure that there was no compelling reason why we couldn't have the party before the issued the permit.

So yes, technically, it required State Department approval. I'm not messing around... (incidentally, he is more than welcome to come:-) I'll make sure he gets an invite!)

Anyway, it's gonna be a bender in every sense of the word! And she deserves it!

Who do I want to be?

Oh, well Hi there, blog. It's been a while, no?

It has been a busy couple of weeks, and I haven't had anything that was dying to get out of my head and onto (virtual) paper, which means I haven't been here in a while. This could be why I am getting so many emails and comments from people offering to provide content for me;-)

So, let's see...where were we?

We have been doing a little bit of house hunting, but not making much progress at all. If you need any reason why, you can take a quick look at this brand new listing that is kind of indicative of what we would be looking for: a good-sized (but quite vertical) four-bedroom townhouse.  It has, obviously, one pretty obvious flaw. Or, 2.4 million of them, I suppose. I'm also pretty sure that it does not have any parking, either...

And yes, I am fully aware that this is an entirely self-imposed problem...we could buy ourselves a giant, lovely home in any one of a number of lovely suburbs. Suburbs that have some of the country's best public schools and rank as some of the most desirable places in the country for families. But you know what? I don't want to!!! (This could be where my daughters learned to have tantrums:-))

The Boy's friends (who seems to be drawn back to his hometown...which is one of those very lovely suburbs) and some of my friends all seem to be giving us the hard sell on the 'burbs. On lovely places like Belmont and Wellesley and Needham. And on slightly less 'burby-feeling places like Newton or Brookline. Or even more 'burby ones like Concord and Weston and Lexington and Andover. All of which make me want to gag just a little bit.

[That's not totally true...I could live in at least a small part of Brookline. Long-time readers may remember that my original plan when Munchkin was coming here was to move to Brookline because of it's close proximity to the city but excellent public schools. It also happens to be Smoking Hot Roommate's hometown. I will grant that anyone who lives in Coolidge Corner or inbound can still reasonably claim to live "in the city". But that's it.]

I am not sure that my disinterest in living outside of the city makes a lot of sense. It certainly doesn't make any sense to most parents of small children;-). I get a lot of really strange look from friends with little kids, or parents of the girls' friends. The most common question is usually something along the lines of  "But don't you want a house?" And no, I don't want a house, and it's not just because I can't stand the idea of doing yard work (although that is a big part of it!).

Most people will tell you that they wants some privacy and some space and the quiet that comes from having a buffer between you and your neighbors. But that's not who I am...I like being surrounded by people and noise and commotion. I like having people above and below me, or next to me. I like having people walk by our front door at all hours or the day. I'm a city kid, and I always have been and I always will be. I like the noise and commotion. The smells of restaurants (yea, I know, there are other smells, too). I hate...HATE...having to drive places.

Maybe I should say that again. I DESPISE having to get in the car for anything other than a long trip. I abhor it. Loathe it. Despise it. I wish I had a bigger vocabulary to get this point across;-)


The second question is always "But what about school?" and that one is a lot more reasonable. School is a problem, and living here almost certainly means private school. There are some good elementary schools, and some charter schools as well, but Boston has an absolutely absurd method of allocating seats in its schools (it's a long story....there were riots) that makes it an almost unworkable solution in many cases. Most reasonable best-case would be private school through sixth grade and then hope they can get into Boston Latin School. Or shell out the much larger dollars for private high school. Or, finally make the dreaded move to the 'burbs:-)

But we're willing to live with that. I'm not sure that The Boy is as adamantly opposed to leaving the city as I am, but he isn't in any kind of hurry, either. And he has a little more complete experience to speak from than I do...

Am I irrational? Of course I am...there are towns that would cost less to live in, and be quieter and safer and more kid-friendly, and where the girls would go to the same excellent schools with the same group of kids from ages 5-18. And they would play soccer and little league with those same kids. But I also feel like they'd be missing out on a lot. There is a lot to be said for raising your kids in a sheltered place with a lot of people just like them.

But, there is also a lot to be said for raising hip city kids, too.  Kids who may go to school in a bubble, but learn to make friends and build relationships with people from all kinds of places literal and figurative. Kids who simply can't ignore the world around them with all of its wonders and, yes, all of its tragedy.

Which usually leads to a thought that I keep to myself. "Don't you worry about raising your kids in a city environment?"

You know, as if I haven't done this before:-)