I Must Have Lived in New England A Little Too Long…

…because I’m having a hard time with the “Lights Alive!” Light Brite displays on people’s houses this holiday season.

I’m all for “decking the halls”, and besides, It’s your electric bill. Me? Not so much.

Hubby and I have signed a pact in blood (It’s in our safe deposit box, I swear!) that we will never, ever, string lights on our house like a movie marquee. Hang lights from the eaves? Not this chica. I will admit that one year I caved and bought a box of those hanging icicle light strings and thought briefly about putting them up when we owned a condo, but thankfully leveler heads prevailed and they remained safely tucked away in a box, to be later returned to Wal-Mart. (The return was successful, thanks for asking. I am the Queen of Return, you know. Family members will vouch.)

Usually, though, it’s a pretty simple display. A nice wreath on the door, a decorated tree in the window*, a few strings of white lights in a tree right outside my big tall window, and those electric candlesticks in the front windows, all on timers that go click when they shut off for the night. That click is very important. Dunno why, it just is.

Sadly, I missed the memo that all my neighbors got saying that the one house with the most lights wins, and if they blink and scroll and you have the blow up Santa and that infernal (but actually really cute) snow globe thingy in the Lowe’s commercial on your lawn; you are fit to be in my ‘hood. Yep, that memo completely missed my house.

I have a wreath on my door. That is as far as I have gotten in my holiday decor.

And I’m surprisingly okay with that for now.

But. These. Lights!!! ARGH!!!

I passed by my son’s room (they currently sleep in M’s room, he has bunk beds, and a small TV with a VCR attached to it. (Let’s just say one bribe on a desperate evening turned into a nightly habit, and just leave it at that, shall we?) There is a decent crack underneath the door that slightly glows when said TV is on, and usually it is dark once the sleep timer has gone off. Tonight, however, this was not the case. So as I bust in, loaded with my can of “what the heck is your light doing on?!?” whoop azz, I quickly realize the lights are not, in fact, on. The boys (thankfully!) didn’t flinch, but a sort of radioactive glow is emanating from the window, whose blinds are shut tight.

It is then I realize that my neighbors have “decked their halls”.

And mine.

Yay.

*For the record, yes we have a tree. We also have a Menorah, and sing songs and light candles for Hanukkah. My boys give for Hanukkah, and receive presents on Christmas. This is what happens when a nice Episcopalian boy marries a nice Jewish girl and they have kids. Since religion didn’t play too much (actually, not at all) into our decision to marry, we decided to go with traditions from each of our childhoods, and sort the rest out later. It works for us, and our kids seem to dig it too.

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Hubby called me all exhausted and culture shocked. Not liking this business trip and what it’s doing to my man. You know he’s not himself when he comments that it costs $1-something a minute just to talk to me, and yet keeps right on talking. Not that I minded. When we dated, we would regularly run up large phone bills monthly. (He lived there, I lived here, and not in the same state, actually several states away.) This call reminded me of those times.

They sucked then too.

5 days and counting. Missing you. Loving you.

What I’m Rocking On The Zen: Roisin Murphy: Ruby Blue.
M even likes this. See, TV can broaden horizons. I would never have heard this artist had I not watched Grey’s Anatomy. Had I not checked out the Music Guide and downloaded many of the songs from the show, burned them onto disk, and played them ad nauseum in my soccer-mom mini-van, my son wouldn’t have heard of her either. Music, I tell you, brings people together. Believe it.

‘Tis The Season For Miracles

Wow, my kids TOTALLY made it up to me for waking me up with the sun (literally) yesterday. I’m gonna pay for this, big time. I know it. This is one of those times that my kids are going to do something really bad later on in life and will take that opportunity to remind me of last night by saying “Remember that night, mom, way back when I was absolutely PERFECT in a restaurant for Grandad’s birthday dinner, even while I waited like 45 minutes for a pepperoni pizza? Don’t remember it? Well, I’m sure my Aunts will be able to remind you. Now, about that Maserati I really want for my 16th birthday…red will do, yeah, cherry red.”

I am SO SCREWED!

Most of the time, we hate taking our kids out for dinner. Unless it’s a kid-friendly restaurant, hopefully a step up from a McDonald’s with a play place, do we rarely not just get stuff to-go if we don’t feel like cooking. Sometimes I’ll take M out for dinner if we go to a Friday Shabbat service, but R can be a bit of a challenge. Seeing as he rarely, if ever, actually eats at our own kitchen table at home; I don’t usually hold out high hopes anywhere else.

So imagine my horror when it’s decided that we’re taking my father-in-law out for dinner for his birthday. Not that the man doesn’t deserve it, because he so does. But the fact that I have no backup with me (i.e.: the hubby) makes me think of hives and have night sweats. Plus, were going to a restaurant in their town that they love, and know the owner, so no pressure there, right?

I decide that the night before needs a test run. We go to Chili’s, a kid-friendly place; they even have crayons and drawing paper at the table. R lasts 10 minutes in his seat, and I’m being generous. Luckily, they seat us in a corner, so he can play behind me, and other diners don’t suffer too much. He eats well, and I count the night as a success. As long as we get seated in a corner of the restaurant on Sunday, I’m golden, right? *gulp* I hope…

Crack of dawn Sunday arrives. Hang out, make breakfast, play, finish up homework due Monday, watch a movie, kill time. Head out to Blockbuster to change out movie (Get to rent Madagascar for free, thanks, Blockbuster!), start the trek to the in-laws which takes about 45 minutes or so as the crow flies. (Me? I tend to “fly” a little faster.)

R falls asleep during the trip. Not surprising, it regularly happens. No big, he’ll probably wake up when we get there as he usually does. We arrive, and even with the doors sliding open on my van, not even a flinch. Woah… I carry him into the kid’s room and lay him down on the bed. He stirs, but within a few minutes he’s back out again. This next part is really important….

I GET TO VISIT, KID FREE, WITH MY IN-LAWS. FOR SEVERAL MINUTES. An hour passes. Then another. I get to play a card game. This is huge.

I love my husband’s family. They are the most awesome people I have had the pleasure to call family. So to be able to carry on a conversation that actually allows me to stand and hear the reply to my question instead of having to run to the other side of the house to find out what that crash was in the playroom is…wow, I’m tearing up just thinking about it. Amazing.

Fast-forward to getting ready to head to the restaurant for dinner. Pile kids into van, remind (and beg, who am I kidding here!) kids to please be on best behavior at dinner, stay in seat, no yelling, etc…Then I check my bag ‘o tricks to make sure I have things to give them to keep them occupied…

Yeah, nope. S*it! Need to get creative. Get to restauraunt. Find out we are seated practically in the middle of the restaurant. Yikes! Take deep breath and hope for best, knowing if push comes to shove I’ll just be the queen of to-go. It’s an italian restaurant, and they have high-end dishes as well as pizza. Things are looking good. Boys have my last two pieces of paper I can find, and pens. All quiet on the table front. Drinks, toast to the birthday boy and girls, order, wait for food. And wait for food. And wait for food. And wait for food. And wait for food. R comes and snuggles in my lap. We do “cheers” with our tea glasses. M’s Pepsi that I never allow him to have at dinner (but they didn’t have milk) sits, untouched. He’s busy drawing and explaining what he is doing to his aunt. Bread comes. Still waiting for food. People who came in before us get served, pay checks, and leave. I’m beginning to panic for several reasons:

1. My perfect kid behavior time is running short, I just know it… and….

2. My mom-in-law has planned a surprise party back at her house for the birthday boy. Someone has to get back there to let guests in and make sure last minute details are tended to so it goes off without a hitch.

Mom-in-law joins in my panic, but luckily birthday boy thinks it’s all because were worried about the kids. Hee.

Food finally arrives, boys get to eat. I have about 5 bites of my dinner (linguine with white clam sauce, delicious!), and tell them to box it up, we need to get home (excuse du jour: School night). The boys and I race outta there and I then tell them the rest of the story I couldn’t tell them earlier because I was afraid of them spilling the beans; we’re going back to help set up and surprise grandad, then head home. We hide the van down the street, around the corner, head to the house, get everyone in, and SURPRISE!!!!! Goes off without a hitch. I scarf a chocolate mousse (Kiki: YUM!!!), and we head home.

Bath for one, shower for the other, M did garbage detail without being reminded, lunches made, quick Little Einsteins game on the (now working) DVD, and bed.

I got to watch Grey’s Anatomy, and just before the show ended, my hubby called me from Mumbai, India to let me know he had made it there okay and met up with his co-workers.

It wasn’t until I had said my I love you’s and hung up that the floodgates opened. I didn’t realize I had held all that in. I was just so greatful to hear his voice, and I missed him terribly, but I thought I was handling this really well. I guess I am, but boy do I miss him, and I’m glad he’s okay.

Bring our troops home soon, Mr. President. My husband may only be on a business trip, but if this is how it feels for the wives and families of our troops for months on end; let me say this sucks. My hats off to those families, and those men and women out there helping Iraq seek a better life.

Love you honey. Kick A$$ with work this week!

Shash

What I’m listening to on the Zen Micro: Grey’s Anatomy playlist.

Aren’t Sunday’s For Sleeping In???

…Someone should notify my kids of that notice, they must have slept through that one, or just not paid attention, which is more likely. 6:15 A.M. EST came WAY too early for me.

Spent last night hanging out with the boys. We went to Chili’s for dinner, ate for less than $20.00 total, including tip, which is HUGE for us, usually it’s more. Stopped by Blockbuster to rent Little Einsteins Big Huge Adventure and March of the Penguins. We were going to go to a play at my neighbor’s church, but I didn’t think R was up for the challenge, seeing as he had problems sitting still at dinner. Got home, made popcorn, got our jammies on, and snuggled up to watch Little Einsteins and….nothing. DVD was so scratched up the player couldn’t read it. So I cleaned it up and we got the disk to finally work, but the game in the Special Features just refused. We’re hoping to exchange it today for one that does work. It’s a very cute movie.

March of the Penguins is awesome. We loved it, so much so that R fell asleep halfway through it. (YAY!) I’m glad we didn’t go see this in the theater though, M and I got a little loud during parts of it. I laughed, I cried, I cheered. What more can you ask of a movie, I tell you? I think it might be one we own. I’m jus’ sayin’.

We’re off to the Grandparent’s house today to see the Aunts and celebrate some December birthdays. It should be fun.

Was lonely last night without my sweetie. Will probably be lonely tonight too. Sigh…

Shash

Passage To India, Day One

My husband just left for a weeklong trip to India for his company. This week I’ll be posting what we’re doing here at home while he’s over there doing the work thing. We’ve started off today by starting laundry, cleaning out the refrigerator and all the leftover hiding Thanksgiving things, and plan to vacuum and dust the house. All boring but necessary things. Don’t worry, the kids have already complained about the “work” they have to do.

Basically, it’s just a typical Saturday here at the house. Just not the same without my hubby here though.

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Watched the Knots Landing Reunion show on TiVo this morning. Let me say I’m a fan of the show. Not a HUGE, Die-hard fan with signed autographs and KL bedsheets or anything; but I can hold my own in a trivia contest or two. Tried to watch it when I was in High School in the ’80’s, but had prior engagements on a Thursday night. I was REALLY excited in the early ’90’s when they stared playing Dallas and Knots on (I think) TNT during the day, but then they stopped. SoapNet took up the challenge not only with Knots, but another oldie-but-goodie, Falcon Crest. So I felt all caught up because I have FINALLY seen every episode, some even several times. Yay me. It was nice to see many of the cast again, but I kind of got a sense of “what else is there to say?” from the interviews. The only thing really left is the people we didn’t hear from. Tonya Crowe, Lar Park Lincoln, Pat Petersen, Brian Austen Green, Hunt Block, Doug Sheehan. I’d of loved to hear from them, and the ultimate one for me, Constance McCashin. Alas, it was not to be. Wish there was a way to bring KL back though, but there’s not really a call anymore for the type of storytelling KL did. Even with the O.C.’s of the day, KL would have KO’d the O.C.. Believe it.

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Well, laters. Gotta get back to work, I’ve dallied long enough. Besides, just downloaded some Dave Matthews Band to my Zen Micro and now I have incentive to get back to work. C Ya!