Misprint

For some very odd reason, the title last posted here for my blog, on NorthForkBloggers, came from a partial blog-post I never finished and never posted...and the last one I did post, on The Shoe Books, never showed up on NFB. If you click on the misprint title, you get told it doesn't exist.

Very odd. Very, very odd.

So, sorry for this misprint. Please read about the Shoe books, and comment!

The Shoe Books

Ever since I saw You've Got Mail (the first time) I've wanted to check out the "shoe" books. Remember the part of the movie, after Meg Ryan's character has already lost her little bookstore to the big Barnes and Noble-type, where's she's just browsing around, like a customer and ends up in the children's section? A customer asks one of the sales-kids (who has no knowledge of anything bookish whatsoever) about the "shoe books," and Meg pipes up with the author and the titles.

Well, I finally got to them, I don't know how many years later. (I love that movie, and I've seen it several times.) Even tho' I am still plowed under with necessary reading for my school jobs, I just had to squeeze them in.


So far, I have read Noel Streatfield's Ballet Shoes and Theater Shoes. (Sorry, I can't figure out how to underline these titles with this program.) I got them through interlibrary loan, of course, and you can, too! I am waiting for Dancing Shoes to come in, but I expect it to be just as lovely as the first two.

I recommend these books particularly for girls (altho' Theater Shoes could be for a boy,) probably between the ages of 8-13, depending upon reading ability. They're really good stories, intelligent, and moral without being preachy, if you know what I mean.

j-m's rating: **** (4 stars!)

:)

Ahhh - Choo!

I have been sneezing and sniffling and itchy-eyed for days. I thought I was sick with an early cold, but then bumped into a few people (and, quite literally "bumped" into them...my head is in such a fog I can't think straight) who are complaining about their allergies. And since the roof of my mouth and my eyes are so itchy, it must be allergies. But I don't usually get allergies now. What's up with this?

And I apologize to everyone to whom I have been excessively cranky (particularly those closest to me), and I'd like to say that I'm as disappointed as everyone else that our lovely plans got ruined (by more than just the allergies.) And I would like to apologize to the poor drivers stuck behind me for the past few days. I keep forgetting where I'm going, and practically veer off the road when in the middle of a sneezing fit.

I would like to thank Kleenex for their generous support, and would like to tell all the pharmaceutical companies that they really need to get their collective act together and make a product that will remove the effects of allergies without making one into a zombie.

And I would like to know why I left my wallet home when I went out to the store on an errand that absolutely had to be run and which I absolutely did not want to go on. I knew, when I took my wallet out of my purse, to check my library card for the phone number of the library, that it was a stupid thing to do, and that I would end up forgetting my wallet, which I NEVER do, and leave it on the computer desk...which is exactly what I did. As soon as I pulled into the parking lot of said errand-destination, I realized the wallet was home. And realized, forthwith, that my pockets were empty, there was no hidden change in the little pockets of my purse, and the cupholder was empty as well. With a deep sigh of frustration (for now I had no time to re-run the errand, which I had barely time to complete as it was), I headed back home. And, as soon as I pulled into the driveway, I realized that I had a bank envelope in my purse containing $30 cash, which would have been plenty of money for the errand-running.

Sigh.

Just thought I'd share.

Sniff.

Statue of Liberty

Ok, little Readership, whoever you are...

I am looking for info and can't find it on the huge Web. I want to see if the Statue of Liberty will be open on Columbus Day. I'm assuming it closes on holidays.

Anybody know or can help???

More Farm Outings

D.H., Little Sir and I tried to go peach picking at Davis 2 weeks ago, but the crowds were insane! By the time we got through the lines, they'd closed the U-pick peach orchard, and had the next section roped off. Those weren't ready yet. We coulda picked plums, but we figured out the price per pound and it was definitely NOT worth it. Plus, it was just wall-to-wall people. Sort of puts a cramp in that whole going-to-the-farm feeling.

So, since we'd had our hearts set on picking, we decided to find SOMETHING to pick. We settled on a smaller farm which had tomatoes, eggplants and peppers $1 a pound. We had a great time, and there were lots of varieties...much more than we'd planted in our garden, which is pretty much done for the season, with the exception of a few tomato stragglers who will be used as fried green tomatoes (mmmmm!) The cherry tomatoes were especially yummy, and have kept well in the fridge. Still haven't used up all of the eggplants, but the bigger tomatoes have been turned into sauces and soups.

But I keep thinkin' about those peaches. I really wanted to pick a big basketful and make compote and things. Think there're any peaches left on trees around here? I think we'll try again.

Apple Picking

I can't believe it's been over 2 weeks since I've written in this blog! The school/work schedule has kept me runnin', in more ways than one. I have been very grateful for the Jewish holidays, (altho' our school only gave us 1 day off last week, and then this Thurs. coming up.) Have to be back on Fri, then off Mon. Isn't that crazy? Why can't they just give us Fri. off, too, since most of the kids won't show up anyway and the teachers won't really do a full teaching day, due to that, and give us a 5 day weekend. Would that kill anybody?

DD, Little Sir and I had a glorious day on our day off, apple picking. We crammed so much into that one day, but it was absolutely worth it. We went to our favorite apple orchard, White Cap Farm, which belongs to the Milk Pail's Halseys.

After picking (and eating!) our favorite varieties, we headed back to the Milk Pail. They were just making fresh batches of their incredible apple donuts, so, of course, we bought a bag. We also got a few gallons of their fresh pressed apple cider and amazing cheddar. DD liked the softer one, and I love the hard, sharp cheddar. Both go great with fresh sliced apples. We also bought something new, an apple cinnamon maple syrup, with a cinnamon stick floating in it. I can't wait to try in on apple-stuffed french toast. Mmmm.

We enjoyed some apple-peach cider and warm apple donuts in the car on the drive home. (Little Sir ate 3! Guess he really worked up an appetite.)

I went back to work refreshed and feeling like I could deal with all the stresses there again.

I've also noticed that Little Sir has been happily eating those apples. He was never great about eating fruit, but since he picked these, they seem more appealing to him. Nice perk.

Happy Autumn, everybody. Enjoy these beautiful days ahead, luxuriate in the foliage, and bask in the sunshine while you can, before the daylight hours shrink down too low. I feel like making a happy little pumpkin arrangement. How 'bout you?

First Lady?

Reading some others' blogs lately has gotten me thinking. Of course, politics is on everyone's mind these days, as well as Shearson Lehman's demise, AIG and all that other scary stuff. But I have recently been thinking of the media coverage of Michelle Obama. It suddenly occurred to me that, all other issues aside, if I had to vote solely on who was to be First Lady, my choice would be abundantly clear.

Now, who would YOU want in that role? Michelle Obama or Cindy McCain?

And my mind runs to other of the world's women of power, or women of special significance (politically, spiritually and otherwise,) in no particular order, but the one they've popped into my head in:

Golda Meir
Benazir Bhutto
Eleanor Roosevelt
Margaret Thatcher
Angela Merkel
Michelle Bachelet
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Mother Teresa
Indira Ghandi
Gladys Aylward
Catherine Booth
Corrie ten Boom
Maya Angelou
Lady Diana
Joan Baez...

I could keep this up for hours...

Whether or not you react in the same way I do when you read these names, is not the point. I am not holding any up to be objects of perfection. The point is, each of these women has had a particularly significant role to play, and has touched the lives of untold numbers of people. Which of the two listed above shall we add to the list? Would one of them even be worthy to be mentioned in the same breath?



(My apologies for any misspellings in this post...too tired to check anything at the moment.)

Batten Down the Hatches

Watching the news from storm to storm makes me wonder. Are we gonna get hit this season? We've had some particularly brutal thunderstorms over the past few months, with some pretty heavy winds. And they were just storms. One ripped our shed right off the foundation and threw it across the yard...everything inside scattered in twenty different directions. Now, we have noplace to hide the garbage pails from the raccoons, who'll even rip into the paper recyclable pail...you'd think they could smell which one really holds food. Anyway...get ready, it's hurricane season!

School-Dazed

I have been incapable of blogging since school started (Aug. 21st, actually, for me, as our crazy school required teachers to be back then!) I thought I was busy before, but now I am teaching until 4 pm, then off to my other 2 jobs. Yes, two. I just accepted an adjunct-professorship, last-minute (in addition to my private music students.) This is absolutely crazy. But I have been trying to get into this college for awhile now, so when opportunity came knocking, I gave it a very warm welcome, shoved lots of other stuff aside, and...take a deep breath...diving into the deep end of the pool.

Wow. I are intelligent and I are a college professor!

Highlights of Summer 2008

Here's my list of this summer's highlights:
1. Memorial Day at the Bronx Zoo with DH and Little Sir (seeing them ride the camel together was the best!)
2. Running on the beach in the evening with DD and Little Sir.
3. Little beach get-togethers with DD and Little Sir, sometimes with friends, in between work shifts for us ladies.
4. DH getting a promotion!
5. Getting free tickets to Splish Splash and going spur-of-the-moment with DD and Little Sir...his first time!
6. 4th of July fireworks on the River front (on the 5th of July!) with friends.
7. BBQ with my Stony Brook grad buddies and all of our kids...I actually made a bunch of new career-friends, who will be my professional contacts for many years to come.
8. My birthday celebrated by an amazing dinner (DD's treat!...she shocked me) at Edgewater Restaurant in Hampton Bays, with my dad and his girlfriend, DD, DH, Little Sir and me. (No. One Son was away in Chicago at a wedding.)
9. DH getting an incredible deal on a used car.
10. Finishing my first-ever job of teaching special ed ESL summer school. I made connections with some awesome kids, learned a lot about this kind of teaching, and about myself!
11. The Long Island Game Farm with my dad and his girlfriend and Little Sir. (His little face, as he got to pet and feed the deer, sheep and goats was priceless!)

One not-highlight, but a prayer of thanksgiving:
Number One Son walked away from a terrible car crash with only minor injuries. The Jeep is dead, but it's replaceable. He is not.



Now, it's your turn. What are your Highlights of Summer 2008? (No fair just reading and not commenting.)

Last Day Off

Well, I had planned to do lots of fun things with Little Sir before I had to report for duty, but his allergies kicked in something fierce, and he ended up a very sick little boy. After living with the nebulizer, followed by steroids to get the lungs under control, he's now on Singulair which is better than previous meds. We lost a week of play time, tho', and he hasn't been to karate all month.

But, Wednesday was my last day to play, and we took my dad up on his offer to take us to the Long Island Game Farm. He's been asking us to set a date all summer. Wednesday's weather was perfect, and we had such a good time. I haven't been to the game farm in years, and I was surprised at how much they have there, now. The tiger show was great, and Little Sir was thrilled at how close he could get to all the animals. (We'd gone Memorial Day to the Bronx Zoo, and so many of the animal habitats there, while great for the animals, allow them to hide really effectively, making it disappointing as you trek across that campus to see your favorites. "All the good animals are sleeping!" he said.)

Probably the most fun was being able to pet and feed so many animals. He wants to go back really soon! I'm going to see if we can book it as a field trip for his school (it's $8.95 pp, group rate...about half price.) I'd definitely go as a chaperone for that one!

If you haven't been there recently, you should go. It's so close, only the Manorville exit, it's a shame not to.

Freedom

I hereby am thrilled to announce that I have completed teaching summer school 2008! Yay!!! I can't tell you how relieved I am that it is over. And sad that there's so little of summer left to celebrate in.

And, I have a "Professional Development" to attend in my school Aug. 21st. Sigh. Not much of a break in between.

I am starting to get a little excited about September, my little brain whirring with ideas, making lists, planning to clean out my school cabinet (at home) and get busy sorting and planning.

BUT...I want some summery break first!

I am so tired. Have to find something fun to do tonight with Little Sir.

Painting

I just finished one of those spur-of-the-moment projects. My back and knees are telling me they don't think it was such a hot idea.

DH and I have been planning to paint the house (inside) by the end of the summer, but our schedules have been hectic, and we're rarely together. Others I could enlist to help, also seem on the opposite schedule from mine. So, this afternoon, fresh from work, I decided that, since the weather was kinda cool and crisp for August, it was a good day to start painting.

The bathroom is the smallest room of the house, so I figured I'd tackle that and be done before DH gets home from work around 2 or 3 a.m. So, off to buy spackle and paint, rollers and all the necessary tools. Get home quick. Read the spackle container. Has to dry for 4 hrs. Perfect. I could spackle the few spots that needed it, then run Little Sir to karate class, go do my music lessons, and be back just in time for it to be ready to paint on.

So far, so good. Back home, spackle's dry. Make a quick dinner for Little Sir, and get started. Of course, he doesn't want to eat when I'm doing something much more fun, so, after making him eat a little, prepped the room and handed him a paintbrush and instructed him in the art of painting the low areas. I got busy with the roller.

Three hours later, both of us with more paint on us than I wanted, sore and sleepy, we are done! It's not perfect. It's gonna need a second coat, probably (even tho' the can says it's a 1-coat-er), and I have to re-do part of the trim and put the fixtures back up. And paint the little shelf and remount that. Then do the window.

But, not bad for a work-day project.

Blahhh

Well, July has come and gone, and it's all been a blur. I distinctly remember going to see the 4th of July fireworks (on the 5th of July), but, other than that, all I actually remember doing is working, working, working and spending a little occasional down time with my kids.

I did have one visit with a friend, but it was to prepare me for an upcoming interview (she very professionally grilled me on my interviewing techniques, and gave me a mock interview. Very helpful. Constructive criticism is a very good thing.)

My summer job has taken up way more of my time than I had thought it would. I had wanted to go to the beach after work yesterday, but the reports from everyone on excessive jellyfish at the bay, and really scary rip currents at the ocean made me think twice. So, we visited my dad instead (haven't done that in a long time, either) which is always a good thing, and Little Sir got to mosey around his yard, watering everything in sight (including shooting the hose at a woodpecker at the suet feeder. Tsk tsk.)

On the one hand, DH and I have been doing a pretty good job of achieving our debt-erasure goals for this summer...paid off one loan, and are chipping away at my college loans. That eases the burden, that ever-present weight on our shoulders. (It felt reallllly good to make that one final payment!) But, on the other hand, summer is supposed to be memory-building family time, and we've missed doing so many things I used to find time for. Now that it's the beginning of August, I have to make a conscious effort to get to free stuff we like...the outdoor concerts, library events, parks and beaches as weather permits. I do not want this to be remembered as the Summer-Mommy-Only-Worked.


I am open to suggestions...if you hear of any good free family things, let me know! (Yes, I do check out North Fork Parents!)

The Garden Fairy

Sprinkle, sprinkle...
Sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle...

sigh

Sprinkle-sprinkle-sprinkle-sprinkle-sprinkle...

Ah--ah--chooo!

sigh


sprinklesprinklesprinkly-sprinkle--sprinklety-sprinkle


sigh


(The work of the Garden Fairy, liberally dispensing cayenne pepper, is never done. Particularly after rainstorms.)

Quote for the Day

"So many hats, so little time"

(Pop Tarts wrapper wisdom)

How many hats are you wearing today?

Little People and Picnics

I don't know if it's the idea of the blanket and the picnic basket and all the visions conjured up by Yogi Bear and other cartoons, but little kids always seem enamored of picnics. Even the most simplified ones, just out in the yard. Little Sir has been asking for a picnic for quite awhile...he's even satisfied with one on a blanket on the living room floor. So, the other day, after a particularly long stretch of busy-ness, where I kinda felt like he was getting the short end of the stick, real-mommy-attention-wise, I decided to have a real picnic out on the front lawn. We had so much fun, just we two. And it really wasn't any more work than eating in the kitchen. Somehow, we talked more, too...in the kitchen, he always wants to take 2 bites then run off and play, and I have this ongoing battle of keeping him in seat to eat a little more. (He thinks 1 baby carrot is enough for dinner.) So, we tried a new twist...one of these really hot, muggy evenings, we had dessert outside in the yard, where it was 'way cooler than in the house. We stayed out in the yard 'til the fireflies started their light show, and the bats just started to be visible. So peaceful out there. Nice. Very nice.

What Tickles Your Funny Bone?

Well, it's movie night again, and I had decided to actually read a little instead of watch a movie, so Little Sir was watching Alice in Wonderland (the Disney version) on the computer. I wasn't paying much attention, until I heard him giggling. The giggling soon turned to full-throated laughter (which always makes me laugh for some reason, it's contagious or something.) So, I went to see why he thought it was that funny.

He had reset the language button to French. I can't really tell you why it's funny, but the scene with Alice and the white rabbit arguing in French, quickly followed by her growing huge inside of his house and destroying the whole thing was very funny.

So, the next time the kids get bored, try resetting the language on a movie they already know...see what happens, and let me know!

Gardening Update

Well, the mystery-peppers, that I was really hoping were bells, seem to be turning out to be jalepenos and another hot variety. Not much of a hot pepper type, so I guess these'll be lots of give-aways. Figures. The most prosperous part of the garden!

The eggplants have gorgeous lavender flowers, and the cucs came back after being pillaged by the woodchuck. (Thanks, Anon. Blogger, for the tip on cayenne pepper...seems to be working there!)

Unfortunately, he seems to be willing to brave the cayenne to get at the tomatoes, tho'. They just start getting about fist-sized, still hard and green, when I find them half-eaten on the ground. sigh. Think I'll double dose the cayenne...

The strawberries were an absolute flop. I'll never buy from that company again.

Ticks seem to have been losing their side of the battle, altho' the weeds are suddenly growing very quickly and I'm gonna have to tackle them before they become hiding grounds. I'm pushing back the borders, in regards to the poison ivy. Seem to be making some headway there, too.

All in all, I like the progress we've made and have been able to maintain. I'd like to conquer new yard-territory, but the work schedule has been too all-consuming lately. As long as we maintain, I'm ok with it.

Now, I am waiting to actually EAT some of these rewards (...um...except for the hot peppers.) Anybody want some?