On a very hot summer day...

there is no place better than the pool! Met some friends at the above pool - and it was gorgeous, sunny, and wonderful! DD1 loved the big slides (which you can't see in the picture), and DD2 clung to me like Saran Wrap per her usual.

My only question is: How come I can't get tan this Summer? Really, am usually much more tan by now!

(Picture of H2O'Brien Pool found online. No WAY I would take my camera to a public pool!)

I know, I'm late for....

SMA FRIDAY!


Missed one or two of them, haven't I???


Today I just couldn't decide - should I go ahead with SMA Friday, or write a post about what a weird week it's been.? A week that not one, or two, but THREE entertainment icons have passed away.


Tuesday it was Ed McMahon. Some may not think of Ed McMahon as an icon - but I do. He and Johnny Carson were late night television at it's finest. If you were a child in the 70's, and were staying awake in your bed at night, you knew it was LATE if you heard the TV start playing the theme music to The Tonight Show. There was a coziness in hearing that music, seeing the bluish light flickering under the bedroom door... mom and dad were in bed, and it really was time to go to sleep. Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon were a late night comedy duo more famous than David Letterman and Paul Shaffer, and they created the chemistry all late night talk shows try to emulate. If you are too young to remember Johnny and Ed, perhaps you remember Ed McMahon and the Publishers Clearing House giveaway? Again, iconic stuff. Ed had some financial troubles these past few years, and I wished for him to find peace. After a career of that length he deserved some peace. I truly hope God provides that for him now. Blessings to his wife and family, a loss like that will be earth shattering for them.


Thursday morning we lost Farrah Fawcett. Charlie's prettiest angel, the angel with the coolest car... the angel that every boy and teenager I knew had a poster of on their wall. She took a mediocre swimsuit and made it in to the sexiest thing most men had ever seen - she was gorgeous. She was 29 years old when that picture was taken - think about that. That poster came out in 1976. She was 29 years old. All the "it" girls now are under 21... tells you where we are as a society, yes? At the age of 29 she was the sexiest thing boys and men had ever seen - that would probably never happen now. No actress starts her career at almost 30 years old. If you haven't made it by then these days you don't have a chance. That poster made her an icon a full year before Charlie's Angels brought her in to our homes every week as Jill Munroe. Her personal life was all over the map of happy and troubled. I saddens me that her last couple of years were physically and mentally so painful for her. No one should have to struggle with all of that chaos and sickness. I sincerely hope she will rest in the peace, and that her son will find a peace of his own making in her honor.


Then, more unexpectedly than the others, we heard that Michael Jackson had passed away on Thursday afternoon. Hearing that Michael Jackson had died was, to our generation, probably much like hearing that Elvis had died to the generation before us. Michael Jackson was the music of my late high school and early college years. "Thriller" was one of the most amazing albums ever made - and the boy was GIFTED in the music video department. MTV was just hitting it's stride, and Michael Jackson had found his place in the world. All was right with the music universe. The follow up album, "Bad", was also good - although I don't think it was possible to top "Thriller". Everyone who was of a certain age in the early and mid 80's knew that one guy who always wore a red and black jacket and one glove - convinced he WAS Michael. He could dance like Michael, do his hair like Michael, tweak his voice like Michael... you remember him? He was at all the talent shows! Michael was, is, and always will be one of the greatest musical icons that has ever lived. Before he was the freak show he became in the late 90's, he was the personification of "it". He changed the world. I send him my heartfelt "thanks" for the music that accompanies so many of the fun memories from a wonderful time in my life. May God bless him and keep him, heal his pain and confusion, and send comfort to those who were caused pain by the craziness and strangeness that was Michael Jackson's life. I hope their pain is gone now.


But, in keeping with tradition... this IS SMA Friday... here's a little Hugh to lift your spirits. A kinder, gentler Hugh. (Did you even think that was possible?)

Enjoy!

My own Little Edie

OK, DD2 was marching around the house like this, and I had to grab a photo.

The similarities to Little Edie are astounding:

1) you can tell from the background that we are also living in absolute squalor.

2) the costume of the day DOES, indeed, include a swimsuit underneath that lovely pink cover up.

3) she was speaking in an accent I could hardly understand.

I just hope her hair doesn't fall out now.

(For those of you who think I'm ranting and don't understand what I'm talking about, please rent "Grey Gardens" on DVD soon!)

She AGREED with me?

Background: A few years ago our daughters started sharing a room. One of the bedrooms upstairs has two closets, is plenty big enough for two twin beds, and a charming window seat that my father-in-law built. They liked sharing a room (we moved them in together when DD2 got to move to a "big girl bed")... and that left another bedroom - the former nursery - to function as a play room.

Which worked pretty well.
Until about 6 months ago.

It seems that sometime after the first of the year, the girls discovered talking and playing in their beds instead of going to sleep. We would seriously catch them with flashlights and dollhouses in bed with them. And the giggling was not quiet. This just wouldn't do, because two tired girls are two cranky girls. And two frustrated parents are not fun.

We decided that they lost the privilege of sharing a room. An idea that does not thrill me entirely - as now there will be a lot of homeless toys and fighting over where to keep certain "collections" that are so much easier kept together. (Littlest Pets, Polly's, etc.) However, there is good news.

I asked DD1 (who is moving to the smaller, "new" room - because she gets to redecorate and loves the idea) what colors she thought she'd like for the new room.
DD1: "Green."
Me: "No, the word was COLORS, which is PLURAL. Your entire room cannot be green."
DD1: "Green and whatever goes with green?"
(She may have inherited a bit of sarcasm from her mother.)

I decided that I'd look at quilts and comforters online - see if there was anything I liked that she might also like. I discovered that there is a world of ugly bedding out there. But, I did find one that I really, really liked. One that would make it very easy to coordinate the rest of the room around it - as it contained so many colors and patterns. A quilt that is not one bit "little girl", and not stuffy and "grown up" either. A quilt that I can imagine won't need to be replaced because she grows out of it and needs something less babyish. But, since I thought it was perfect I did not expect that she would agree. When it comes to clothes, she hates most everything I think would look good on her. In fact no matter what it is, usually if I like it? She hates it. Happily, though, I am here to report that the very first quilt that I showed her - the only one I really liked - was accepted exuberantly. She loves it, and as soon as it arrives we will go get that green border color matched (which is also the quilt border and backing), remove the Pooh wallpaper border from the walls, and start moving all that elfa shelving around to accommodate two "new" rooms.

Wish us luck!

Happens every time!

Had this happened just over a week ago, she'd have gotten her name on the "tooth chart" in kindergarten. I, however, didn't notice until last Thursday that her big tooth had already come in behind her baby tooth... so she didn't end up getting her not-so-wiggly baby tooth pulled out until today. Poor DD2! (If you look closely you can see it back there. How I missed that I'll never know.)




They actually took the loose baby tooth, and the one next to it - as her permanent teeth are very large. It is easily double the size of the baby tooth. Both my husband and the dentist wanted to take all 4 of the bottom baby teeth out today. My reaction? "She's got a DANCE RECITAL on Saturday WHERE SHE'LL BE SMILING ON STAGE! Hell. No." Because I? Am all about excellent parenting, and excellent childhood pictures.

Kindergarten Graduation

Do you ever watch the show "Clean House"? (I think it's on the Style channel.) I was watching the other night, and this woman started crying when she sold a cabinet that her mom (who has since passed away) had given her. Niecy Nash (the host) asked, "Are you sad because it's something she gave you?" and the woman shook her head. "No. It's just that I miss her so much."

Before I lost my mom, I would have thought what Niecy was thinking... that it was the THING that mattered. However, that wasn't it at all - that cabinet was just the subtle reminder. It's the fact that she isn't here anymore, the "it's just that I miss her so much", that makes your heart ache.

DD2 finished up Kindergarten this week. The the ceremony was cute, the kids were excited... and I cried. Not just because my baby is growing up (although I am a sap about stuff like that) but because, as they did when DD1 finished Kindergarten, Mom would have attended with Dad (who happened to be in Alaska, so he was also unable to attend). She would have enjoyed sharing in the milestone.

"It's just that I miss her so much."

I know my name is Dorothy...

... but I've no wish to visit OZ via tornado! Martha, of the Chang Gang infamy, posted about our funnel cloud / tornado that hit on Sunday. Here are two additional pictures sent to Husband from a friend that lives out by Southlands - where the tornado touched down and caused it's damage.

We Parkviewians missed being fodder for the debris cloud of this tornado by about a mile on Sunday afternoon as it flew from Quincy Reservoir towards our favorite shopping mall. It's a good thing people we know took pictures, as the DD's and I were huddled in our basement waiting for the "all clear!"

Thank God cable and internet weren't knocked out on this side of the neighborhood!

SMA Friday

...and I swear I wasn't even looking for anything like this when I googled more "images" of Hugh Jackman. This is, allegedly, the 12 room West Village Triplex home of Hugh and family. (Only one photo here, if you'd like to see more photos of this amazing house that takes up floors 8-10 of a building in NY, CLICK HERE)

It's sort of weird what shows up on the internet, isn't it?

Wordless Wednesday

Ahhhh, lovely June weather...

Anybody wanna join me at the pool this afternoon in this lovely rainstorm? No sunscreen needed! Heck, no TOWELS needed!

On second thought, anyone up for a nap?

What are they thinking?

So, I'm helping out in kindergarten last Thursday, and I'm working on Antonyms with the kids. (That's Opposite words for those of you too far out of elementary school - which is the only place you will ever hear about them.)

A little boy turns to me and asks, "Have you mated?"

My jaw hit the floor.

Me: "I'm sorry, have I what?"

him: "You know, MATED?" (This time louder - because I'm obviously deaf.)

Me: "Ummmm, I heard what you said... but I'm still not understanding what you are asking me. What does that word mean?"

him: (shrugs his shoulders)

Little girl next to him: "You know, do you have a HUSBAND?" (delivered in a tone that infers I'm somewhat of an idiot.)

Me: (mortified) "Oh. Yes. Yes, I do. I have, indeed, mated."




(OK, admit it - you went there in your head too!)