The Cutest Sleepover of all

The great family visit is underway and seems to be going swimmingly. They all landed (all 21 of them!) on time yesterday morning and got to their hotel in pretty short order. I left here for a bit to meet them, let my cousins in at our place so they could drop off their stuff, and to go to lunch with them. It was actually raining just a tiny bit, which I was bummed about, but was really warm and not bad to walk around in.

We had lunch at a restaurant on the water, and then I pointed them all at Faneuil Hall and told them to entertain themselves all afternoon...lol. Meanwhile, I brought my very special little guest to work so that she could hang out with me! That was really fun...Tinkerbelle got to meet Papa Bear and Boss Foxy and all of my other work friends. The Guy That Hates Me was out of the office, so she missed out on his shining face, but she got to see everything else. She was mesmerized by the 38th floor window...she spent about an hour looking out it! And she was incredibly impressed that the partners have couches and TV's in their offices...that was just the coolest thing ever. But it was the tray of leftover cookies in the conference room from a lunch meeting that actually elicited a desire to work here when she grows up.

After about three hours she had had enough, and it was a good time for me to leave (early). That coincided with Munchkin calling and saying that she was coming home (she had stayed at a friend's the night before and all day). So me and Tinkerbelle walked over to meet her at the train station, and then back home. The family spent the afternoon shopping and looking around and enjoying the city, and were coming back to their hotel (and our apartment) around the same.

I had called around a bit to some little restaurants in the North End to get a reservation and found a super sweet old Italian guy who said "We can seat 35, I will close the whole restaurant for you!" So the whole family, me and Munchkin, The Boy, Smoking Hot Roommate and the Rocket Scientist, Big Sis and the Brain Surgeon, Papa Bear and his Lady Friend, and The Boy's Sister and her wife all met at a really cute little Italian restaurant and had a GREAT meal! (Note, Dearest New Cousin #1 was drinking iced tea all night...if that isn't a sign, I don't know what is...)

On a separate note, the best non-tourist thing you can do if you are in Boston is to wander over into the North End and find a little restaurant that is on one of the little side streets. They are all really small, family run (the owner was the guy that I talked to, and he is also the chef, his wife is the hostess and the wine server, and his kids are waiters and cooks...only the busboy and a cook were not related) and the food is great! Unless you don't like Italian food, in which case don't go.

We made a quick stop at Mike's Pasty, and then everyone was pretty beat so we went back home. I had a really good time, and I hope they did, too! They are gonna do the freedom trail today, and maybe a duck boat tour, which is all fun stuff. Munchkin is hanging out with them today, so she gets to play tour guide a little bit, which she will enjoy. A lot of them have never been to Boston before, so this is all brand new...I kinda wish there was a Red Sox game for them to go to (or, at least to go hang out around Fenway for, since getting 21 tickets would have been an issue) but they are on the road all week:-(

Tinkerbelle stayed over and she did great! It was the first night she ever stayed away from her Mom, save for a couple of days that her Grandmother stayed over and watched her while Mom was away. So this was her first night ever away from home and away from Mom (even though Mom was only a couple blocks away:-)) She slept in Munchkin's room, and they were both so tired that they fell asleep pretty much right away. When I went to bed and checked in on them both snuggled up under the covers, I kinda almost maybe cried a bit...:-)

Anyway, I walked Tinkerbelle and Munchkin and my cousins over to the hotel this morning and dropped them off. I wish I had the day to hang out with them, but I really do have some work to do, and they will get along just fine without me:-) We are gonna try and do chicken fingers tonight...and a couple of my cousins want to go out for a bit, so I may do that, too. Maybe Munchkin can show them her bar hopping skills for a bit...lol...they will be so impressed with my Mothering skills...

Last question...what is with the total lack of comments and emails and IM's recently? Have I become that boring? Do I need to tell you about the time that BFFg and I had to drop some names of gang members to avoid being stabbed in a bar when we were like 16? Because I can do that if need be...

Wham, Bam (Pow! Crash!) Thank you Ma'am

My father's family is on their way, and I have to admit to being really, really excited! They should be landing in just about an hour, and getting to the hotel a bit after that. I left them a little welcome basket at the hotel with some cute stuff in it and a note that tells them to call me when they get there:-) Hopefully I can see them at lunch, and then Tinkerbelle is gonna come to work with me this afternoon. Since I got to go to school with her, it seems only fair that she gets to come to "school" with me:-)

I had kind of an interesting night last night (Munchkin stayed over at a friend's house, so I was off the leash). I met a couple of girlfriends for some drinks...both of whom are really hot, and both of whom were totally on the prowl. One broke up with her boyfriend a couple weeks ago, and one is just kind of boy crazy by nature:-) I haven't really been out boy-hunting in a while, but it is good to know I still have the skills!

No, I don't intend to need them anymore...if everything goes like I think it will, I am officially done picking up boys for good. But that doesn't mean that I can't still meet them for my friends. And that doesn't mean that I can't still enjoy the attention and the ability to torment them a little bit when I am out with my gorgeous friends:-) Actually, I met one guy that I am going to set up with another friend of mine, but that is kinda off topic...

Anyway, things were all kinda dandy...everyone was in a good mood, the weather was gorgeous, we met a bunch of people, yada yada yada. Then, I am not quite sure what happened, but the girl who just broke up with her boyfriend ended up kissing two different guys that were "friends", and the two "friends" decided to settle the debate over who was the better kisser by throwing punches. It was kinda weird...things went from really fun and casual to bloody, broken noses in kind of a hurry.

We figured that was a sign that maybe these new friends were not really the kinds of boys we wanted to hang out with anymore, so we took off. We walked over to another bar to meet some other girls, and I left shortly thereafter -- The Boy had a softball game, and I met him at his place when his game was over. I may like meeting new people, but there is still only one boy that I like showering with:-D Now, in the middle of that shower, the power went out so the lights died. That was actually kinda cool, but it was a harbinger of weirder things to come...

After that, we went over to my place because I had to clean up a bit before everyone came today. We went to bed at probably about 11:00 and were in the middle of having sex again when...CRASH!!!...some guy ran into a parked car on the street below my window. And it was LOUD! I am kind of a sucker for flashing lights and stuff, so I had to run to the window and watch everything unfold...lol. The guy was clearly wasted and got taken away in cuffs. He had a small white pickup truck which was in rough shape, but not quite as rough as the little BMW parked on the street:-)


Anyway, that all died down pretty quick and we...ahem...finished what we were doing and went to sleep. So, guess what happened this morning while we were in the middle of it again? A garbage truck backed into a utility pole, causing a big loud exploding transformer box of some kind. And more fire trucks and police cars!

So, not that I ever really need excuses to get laid, but I kinda wanna see what happens next:-) I feel like a helicopter is gonna crash into the building while I am in the middle of a really good orgasm!!!

Let's Embarrass The Boy's Twin Sister:-)

I didn't really give you a Father's Day recap during yesterday's rundown of the upcoming family visit, but it is part of a story I wanna tell today, so here goes. We left the beach house sort of early and made it back home at about 3:00. The Boy and I were heading out to his parents' house for a little barbecue, and then I was gonna come back to meet up with Papa Bear and family.

Papa Bear, bless his heart, had no interest in going out for dinner. Both of his (actual) daughters figured that he would probably like to have a really nice dinner at a really nice restaurant...but what he really wanted to do was watch golf all afternoon:-) He jumped at the suggestion that everyone come over to our place and we fire up the grill! (Don't tell the fire department...we have a grill on the deck:-))

Anyway, The Boy and I went out to his parents' house. His older brother and sister were both up with their families for the weekend, which ensured that his parents were both on cloud nine. They were a little disappointed that Munchkin was too tired to come (what, I am chopped liver?) but basically glad to have all four of their kids and their four (plus one!) grand kids in the same place.

And now I am going to totally embarrass one of my new readers:-) This is what you get for asking me to read my blog! I actually sat down and talked with The Boy's older sister, which I have never really done before. I have met her a few times, but never really talked at length...and she had quite a story for me!

I brought up how she and his older brother are quite close (they live really close to each other and see each other all the time) and how The Boy and Twin Sister (oh yea...from now on, they are Older Sister and Twin Sister) are super close. And she casually mentioned about how she and Twin Sister had gone a long time without speaking. I don't know what happened...she says "It was silly and it was my fault, I should have been a better sister"...but they went about five years without speaking.

The rest of this story is from Older Sister's perspective, as she told it to me...

When they were younger, they were actually pretty close...culminating in Twin Sister being the Maid of Honor at Older Sister's wedding. But, from the time The Boy and Twin Sister were about 20 until about 25, the two sisters never really spoke. There was a falling out, and the timing of it implies a lot about its content. That's not important. What is important is that Older Sister and her husband spent several years trying to have a baby, and had a terribly time getting pregnant. About four years ago, she had a relatively late miscarriage that devastated her. She became really depressed, lost her job, stopped eating well, and sort of withdrew from her friends.

This was also at a particularly stressful time for her husband, who was losing his father to cancer as all of this was going on. The loss of the baby hit him hard as well, and the emotional strain was wearing on their marriage. Twin Sister heard all of this through their Mother, who was feeling terrible and helpless and was crushed that her offer to come down and stay for a while was rebuffed.

So Twin Sister did what any really great sister might do...she showed up unannounced on her Big Sister's doorstep to take her out for a cup of coffee. She took her out to tell her that she loved her, that she wanted to help her, that she didn't want to fight anymore, and that life was too short to go on being mad and stubborn about stupid things.

And she drove for seven hours by herself in a borrowed car in the middle of the night to do it:-)

She ended up staying for about a week...begging her graduate school professors to make up exams later on. They talked the whole time, caught up on what they had missed and what they hoped would come from the future. They healed wounds...including the ones between each other, and just basically went back to being sisters again.

The two of them are still not terribly close. I don't know how much of it is a result of losing five years with each other, or whether or not there is still some animosity, but they are not as close as a lot of sisters are. They talk occasionally, send pictures and cards and basically stay in touch enough to know what is going on in their lives. It was important to Twin Sister that Older Sister be the Matron of Honor in her wedding last summer, and she got a very early phone call telling her that Twin Sister was expecting. Maybe Motherhood will give them more to talk about... One thing is for sure, Older Sister considers that week that Twin Sister came to visit as one of the seminal moments of her life, and she will always remember the face that showed up on her doorstep when she was at her absolute lowest...

One final note: about a year and a half after this episode, Older Sister and her Husband had their first child, a beautiful, healthy baby girl that they named after her Mother's Dearest Little Sister.

Here comes the family...

The weekend turned out to be really awesome! Saturday was gorgeous...the weathermen had said some rain and clouds and temperatures in the low 60's. That, of course, meant that the day turned out to be 75 and sunny all day. The first thing you learn about living in New England is that the weathermen can't predict what happened yesterday...

I woke up on Saturday morning to go get coffee, and at at 8:30, the radio report said "The morning fog will burn off by early afternoon"...there was literally not a single cloud to be seen anywhere. And, the way the weather patterns work, the place that their beach house is is like the last place to clear every day.

We left kinda early on Sunday because we all had to get back for Father's Day activities. Munchkin wanted to call her brother in the morning, which I guess isn't surprising. And I figured I should call Tinkerbelle...seems like a logical Father's Day thing to do. It is hard to talk to an 8 year old on the phone...lol...but she is super cute:-) My Father's family is coming out to visit this week and staying for about a week and a half, which I am really excited for.

It will be totally hectic, and I am also not going to be totally able to take the whole week off from work...but it should be really fun. My two cousins (skip to #5 in this post) have been out to visit me here, but none of the rest of them have. To be real honest, I am kind of trying to roll the red carpet out for them a little bit. They have all been so warm and inviting to me...and have gone so far out of their way to welcome me to the family that I really want to return all the kindness now that they are coming out to visit me!

I think almost 20 people are coming...although I don't know the exact number. They are arriving on Wednesday morning and staying in Boston for a couple days. My two cousins and their husbands are staying with us, as is Tinkerbelle. The rest of them are staying in hotels nearby and they will be doing tourist stuff during the day on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I will see them at night, and we can hopefully do some fun stuff...I should try and get a reservation at a restaurant in the North End for Wednesday. It is entirely possible that we do chicken finger Thursday with everyone!!!

This will be the first time that Tinkerbelle has ever slept away from her Mom or her Grandmother... I hope she does OK! I won't be surprised if she ends up deciding to sleep at the hotel at least one night, but I hope she stays with me the whole time:-) On Friday Night we are gonna have a party at Big Sis' place for everyone, and for all the people that I want to introduce my littlest Sister to:-) So that should be fun.

Then Saturday morning we are taking off for the beach. I am not entirely sure how it is that we are all going to get there...lol. I need to work on that. They are all going to stay for the whole week, and are headed back the Saturday afterwards. I have to come back home for at least part of the week, but hopefully I can work like a three day week and take Monday and Friday to be down there with them.

Anyway, it will be a hectic time, but should be TONS of fun, I hope. I am really looking forward to showing them all around so that they have something to visualize when I tell them about home:-)

Father's Day

Today is going to be a busy day, so I don't have a ton of time to write, and probably won't be around for any IM buddies looking for me:-) Normally I would just skip posting, but I have one I have been meaning to write on this day for a while now. The subject: kind of a popular one around here...

Sunday, as you should all know, is Father's Day. A wonderful concept of an entire day devoted to making grand gestures of appreciation towards people who often do lots and lots of selfless things and rarely get recognized for it. Growing up, it was always a day that reminded me that I didn't have a father, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the value of the day.

I certainly always wished that I had a father, and I remember having that specific thought on more than one Father's Day. But, truth be told, I didn't really know many kids that did have Father's around, so I guess I never felt like I was missing out on too much. Eventually my Mother got married and I sort of got swept into celebrating Father's Day with him. I never liked him enough to care that it was Father's Day, but he was Munchkin's Father, and that has to count for something:-)

Eventually, as we all know, I met my own Father a couple of times and had at least some kind of "contact" with him, even if it was never anything close to a "relationship". I did, however, make a habit of calling him on Father's Day when I could. Or at least being around to answer the phone in case he called. I don't think I ever once said "Happy Father's Day"...

So, despite never really having a Father to care about on Father's Day, this year is going to be a little bit different for me, and I won't know how I am going to feel until Sunday morning. At least in past years I actually had a person that qualified as my Father, and I guess deep down I could still hope that eventually he would be something of a Father. But now he is dead, and any hopes that I had ever harbored as a child of loving my father died with him. I know that I sort of dismissed all of those hopes years ago...but I guess I would be lying if I said they were ever really gone.

My guess is that I won't really care that much on Sunday. I am sure I will think about him, but I don't know that I will have any real "feelings". I will probably spend a lot more energy making sure that Munchkin isn't too sad over her Father not being around than I will worrying about my own. And, I will get to see The Boy' Father in the afternoon, and then have dinner with Papa Bear and all "his girls" later on. Papa Bear is the only person that I have ever bought a Father's Day card for...which I guess means something (I am gonna get The Boy's Father one this year, too.)

Neither of them may be my Father, but they are both exactly the kind of Dads that we should all be celebrating on Sunday. So they can both get my Happy Father's Day wishes...they deserve them.

I think this may have rambled a bit...but whatever...it's Friday and I wanna get out of here early so I can get to the beach:-)