Sunday, January 31, 2010

Mommy and Claire Day

On Wednesday, Claire suggested that we have a Mommy and Claire day on Saturday. This is what she said,

"We could go out to eat lunch and share a desert, and go to the store to pick out Valentine's Day cards for my class."

Seriously, how could anyone say no to that? So we headed out Saturday and the first stop was a surprise for her. I took her to get her nails painted and have little gems glued on to them. You should have seen her cute little face. She was beaming. She picked out purple nail polish (of course) and little diamond like stones. They turned out very nice and she loves them.

She then picked Perkins as the choice of restaurant, but we skipped the desert as we were both stuffed. We then headed out to Target and got her cards and went to the car wash, and then met up with Dion and Nadia at the movies where he dropped Nadia off with us and the three of us saw Tooth Fairy together. It was a perfect day. One that I have stored away in my memory to pull out when Claire is 35 years old and to relish in.

I tell you, life is good.

Until today when she ran a low fever and we had to cancel plans with our friends. Claire and I were in our room watching a movie and Dion sent a text telling me what Nadia had asked,

"Does Claire feel like beautiful hot or like warm hot?"

Oh. My. Gosh. What's not to love about Nadia?

Ace

When I was in college I took a psychology class. There were only six of us in that class which allowed for some good discussions and field trips. One of the trips we took was to a theater to see the movie Casino. I really didn't know much about the movie, except that it was long. We were supposed to have taken notes in the movie, but I was so enthralled with, well, everything, that I didn't take one single note. Now, if you have not seen this movie, be advised that there are violent scenes and they are disturbing. But oh the music, and the blasts of color, and the fact the the movie is based on a true story. A little fun fact, the main character's nickname played by Robert DiNiro is Ace in the movie. In real life his nickname was Lefty. What's so interesting about Lefty, is that on the outside it looked like he was living the good life. He ran the Stardust (without a gaming licence, which eventually caught up to him), he had a beautiful wife, kids, and all the money a man could want. That's what people saw. On the inside, he had a best friend that was sleeping with his drug addicted wife, he had people (hired by his best friend) waiting to pop him, and all the money in the world wouldn't take away the pain he had. Here's a picture of Left'y car after the explosion that HE WALKED AWAY from. Life in Vegas in that time period was not what it is now.

One of my favorite things about the movie, besides the music, is watching Lefty's fashion change. In one part of the movie he is drinking from a bottle of some kind of antacid, and his suit literally matches the color of the bottle of his medicine. It's one of the clearest memories I have from the first time I saw that movie. He lived on that stuff. I suppose I would too with the life that he had. You watch as he gets older, his glasses get thicker, but it's still Lefty. I can see how so many people were attracted to him, not necessarily in a romantic way, but he just had that "it" factor. Of course, I am swayed by Robert DiNiro. I would so hang out with him. And maybe he could invite Pesci too, but that might be scary.

Dion and I went to Vegas for our honeymoon. It was his parents gift for us. We stayed in a suite at Treasure Island and now, ironically we live in a town that has a casino named Treasure Island. We spent so much time walking around the city and going to shows. We were a mere 23 years old. So young to wander around that crazy town. Of course, back then we didn't feel so young, but now, that seems like little toddlers. I would love to go back there some day, a little older and wiser (ha...wiser) just to walk around with different eyes than the 23 year old I was. And with my camera. Oh to have my camera in Vegas...can you imagine the shots I would be able to take? Be still my beating heart.


Casino still ranks as one of my favorite movies. It is so messed up, but Lefty was a smart man. And powerful. Or was he? I guess there would be different opinions about that. I only wish that I could go to the Stardust where all of this took place. If you like being able to experience a casino vegas style through the Internet, you can. But if you do that, you have to make sure that it is authentic. You will have to use all the good luck superstitions that exist. Let's see, that would include, tapping the monitor of your computer, maybe rubbing your fingers across the screen, but I wouldn't slap you computer like some people slap their machines. I don't want to be responsible for computers breaking.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Homework For You, If You Dare

I put a post up on Facebook asking for help, and I am posting it here for those of you who follow me here.

I have a mission for you. In the past when I have gone to my breast cancer check ups, I have sported a cleaver, yet entertaining shirt for my oncologist. Some examples are:

My oncologist is my homeboy

Lost my boobs, not my sense of humor

No they're not real. The real ones tried to kill me

Nice try cancer, but I'm still here

And I did the priceless campaign with my oncologist as the priceless factor. Now I am on a search for a witty shirt to have made for my 6 month check next month. Tap into your creative juices and tell me your most original, funny, cleaver thoughts to be made into a shirt. I need your help here. Nothing inappropriate though as I have to wear it in public. Let's hear it...give me all you've got!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Invasion of Little Girls

Now, if goes without saying that I truly love my husband. He makes me laugh, he makes me grind my teeth, and he is super duper at making me shake my head. Which was evident this past week when he said,

"Hey, let's have the girls each invite a friend over to spend the night!"

Of course, than one has to wonder about me, since I said, "Yeah, that would be fun!"

For a moment I was taken back to the days of my own sleepovers at friends houses, or when they would sleep over at my house. They were so much fun! We would stay up late and laugh about dumb things, eating junk food all night, relishing in the thought of our faux freedom. We could stay up late. We could watch movies. We could TP the neighbors house. Wait. Never mind. We never ever TP'd the neighbors house. Or the house a few blocks away. Nope. Never.

So yeah, I was in agreement that the girls would have fun, not thinking about when I had sleepovers, I was a wee bit older than the girls are now. That fact seemed to have escaped my mind. But, the invites were out, there was no going back now.

And then we had 2 five year olds and 2 seven year olds jumping around the living room singing along to Alvin and the Chipmunks, and of course the Chipettes. And by jumping around, I mean they have better dance moves than I could ever dream of. I saw hair being twirled around, I saw gyrations, I saw cartwheel attempts, but most of all, I heard singing. And more singing.

There was also watching of The Wizard of Oz with popcorn and juice boxes. We were assured by Nadia that the whole movie was not in black and white, but became more fun when the door of the house was opened in the land of Oz.

There was coloring with markers and crayons, and for some reason the theme of the art work was "The World" which they all drew with lots of concentration.

Then when we tried to get them to all go to bed, it was like playing Whack a Mole. One kid would sit up (they all slept on the pull out couch in the living room), ask for something, we would oblige, they would lay down in time for the next one to pop their head up and ask for something. This went on for about 20 minutes until finally, after 11PM, there was silence from the living room. They all had finally gone to sleep. I proceeded to stay up until after 2:30AM for some reason, and paid the price the next day. Not only did I have to deal with crabby tired children, but they had to deal with a crabby tired mom. It all comes out in the wash.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

It Took a While, But....

If you are interested in seeing some Idol pictures from the concert last summer, go to my flickr page:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22248031@N06/

and you will see some of the better ones. Keep in mind that I used a point and shoot, and dang, some of them turned out really clear! Enjoy!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Kids......Sheesh

As I start this blog entry, the Touch and Brush ad is on TV. The girls are dying to get one. Very odd. Why would a kid want a toothpaste dispenser? Nadia just told me that we need to order it today. Strange. Anyway, there is much excitement in the whole world of McDonald's because they have Alvin and the Chipmunk figures. So one day this week we had to go to the store after school and the girls were very patient, yadda yadda yadda, so I said I would take them to McD's for dinner. Now, at the store, the girls spent some of their own money on a bubble gum machine. In the car, Claire said she wanted to be done with her gum. I told her to wait until we got to McD's and she could throw it away there. We pull up, and get out of the car, and I watch as Nadia spits her gum into the garbage and walks through the first set of doors and waits for Claire and I. Now Claire just goes through the door, no gum spitting. Huh. Interesting. I asked her where her gum was and she tells me that it had accidentally fallen out of her mouth onto the floor of the car. I told her to walk back to the car and get the gum (for the record, we were in the first row and I could see her at all times). She came back and put the gum in the garbage. At this point, I pointed my finger in her little face and said, "And if you think for one minute that I believe that the gum accidentally fell, you have got another thing coming." Tears welled up, and she said that she dropped it on purpose. My response?
"Back to the car. We are going home."

Insert mass crying here. We were In. The. Doorway of McDonald's and mean me made them go home. With no McDonald's. I explained to Claire in between her and Nadia's crying, that I will not have a child that lies to me. And yes, this isn't a big lie, but she has been pulling these little lies for a little while, and it needs to stop before it gets to be big huge lies. I told them they would have to earn back going to McD's, and they did another day. Now, I understand that Nadia didn't do anything wrong, but this was a good lesson for her as well. Don't mess with Mommy.