Finally got our tree, although the poor thing is parked on the porch until further notice. Shopping almost all done, not one cookie made. Waiting for wind storm, which is never a good thing in our tree heavy yard. Last time an enormous pine fell, towards the house, and just missed. The time before that, a pine snapped in half and grazed the neighbors. I wish all I had to do was wait for Santa.

Last night we went to our friend's annual Christmas party. They are a couple who are totally into the most kitschy Christmas decorations. They have literally hundreds of items, all vintage. It takes them days just to arrange everything just so. At least they're in the spirit.

Bah!Humbug!

Totally,completely not into it.

Falalala.......blah!!!!!!!

The Waiting Game


Sitting here in the kitschen,glued to CNN,trying to get something,anything, done.Throw in a load of laundry,check the tv....turn on the dishwasher,check the tv....let in the cat...check.......The polls don't begin to close for 5 1/2 hours....there is pretty much nothing to check yet,... but i can't help myself. This is the 1st election in years....well, maybe my life, that I really care about. I actually believe in a candidate,actually believe that change can come. I actually believe that we can and will make a difference in this country. So, I will vote for Barack Obama today. I'll drag my kids in the voting booth after school, to watch history in the making. And then I will watch tv incessantly all night, on pins and needles, until it is absolutely for sure that the race is over.And tomorrow will be a new day.

Can it be? Can summer be winding down? I can hardly believe it. There have been crinkly leaves shed over the lawn lately. No way! I think. The hydrangea is in spectacular bloom. And the farmers markets are full of tomatoes,squash,early apples and ...gulp...mums. No,no,no!But truth be told, I am a fall lover. I love the woodsmoke scented air,the tummy hiding bulky sweaters,the apples,the cider,the guiltless feeling of staying indoors. I say guiltless,because here in Upstate NY, when our weather is warm I feel like I should spend every minute enjoying it outside. Winter is longggg and coldddd. Ans so,in fall,I can cut myself some slack and enjoy cleaning out closets and rearranging furniture without the feeling that I am wasting the sun.

So today,I am gardening,and soaking up the late summer sun....cuz I know it won;t be long till winter winds blow.

Today must be "Annual Animal Fun Day"....Heard a strange howling outside the door this morning, openned door to check on Snowy Kittie....she flew into the house...and too late I realized that she had a huge chipmunk in her mouth. I flew at her, knocked down a beautiful jade colored moderntone cream soup bowl...smash all over the floor, followed by me, smash all over the floor. Three cats and 5 hours later one cut and a nice bruise later, no chipmunk. It disappeared into the maze of junk in the basement. These crazy cats better start to earn their keep. Spoiled rotten they are!! Drop my youngest at a friend's house, where there is much commotion about a found dog. The afternoon was full of phone calls and dog walks, animal control and found dog signs...and then....success..."Gilligan" was returned home full of dog treats with his quota of pets for the month full up. Cut to the garden center where there was a rack of poor free annuals outside the gate that I just simply could not leave behind, so I filled the trunk to overflowing. Inside I bought tons of lavender plants on clearance to make my ever dreamed about lavender walk and patch. Saturday will be a big gardening day around here. I want to get them in as soon as possible to allow for a good amount of growth before...gulp....winter. Hopefully, a lavender walk will grace our yard next spring.Green thumbs and fingers crossed.

Another not so Augusty day here in Upstate,NY. The girls and I slept late, and then embarked on unearthing their rooms. Unlike most chores, this one gained momentum as we went along. They are excited to get things all squared away before school begins. I can hardly believe that there are only three weeks of vacation left. Where does go?

Hello...Hello....anybody out there? I doubt it, since I haven't posted in over a year! I have been....uuuhhh...busy...yeah, that's it. Truth is, I never figured out how to post photos [I know!] and I just keep lurking around all these other cool blogs,wishing I was oh so productive. I like to write about my thrifting finds, but that seems like a very common theme. I like to write about my life and family, but not too much as I don't want crazies knowing too much about my kids. [you're not nuts,are ya?] And who really cares about what I had for dinner or what I bought yesterday? Clearly no one since I hardly ever had any hits anyway. So, I've been taking a lot of blooging regrouping time, trying to find an interesting theme on which to base it. And I've pretty much come up with nothing. At least, nothing earth shattering. So, I guess I'll just attempt to keep posting, maybe write a little bit about the town in which i live and see what happens. Surely some part of that should be interesting to someone! We'll see.

I'm outta bed!!! I'm feeling halfway normal!!!! And I've lost a couple pounds!!!Hurray!!! This 'cold' thing has kicked my ass for 3 + days. Never thought I would get bored with sleeping, watching tv and eating fudgicles.I'm even cultivating a desire to clean! Wow! I must be sick!

So, am still bummed that my beloved Peter O'Toole did not capture an Oscar. Really, what is wrong with those people? Its all bullshit anyway. A lot of blah blah blah. Please. ...

No thrifting done this week, but last week I scored at the little consignment shop. I got a little device for making yarn daisies. I love it!

Down for the count

I am sick...down with who knows what nasty virus...a nasty ' i think i just might cough myself inside out' kind of thing. Good excuse to laze on the couch tho. Lots of cleaning and rearranging going on around here with girls rooms. New futon bunk bed combos that will turn little girl rooms into dorm like rooms. This is the end of a fabulous fun filled feb break....ear piercing, museuming, ice creaming, pizzaing, malling, book shopping and a couple movies. Saw Venus with [sigh] Peter O'Toole. Please, please, please, baby please!!!!!!He is soooooo hot for an old man....still got it. Loved it, hope he wins academy award but was a little bummed about ending....a little formula...but, oh well. I did a little thrifting this week and scored some awesome 50's decorating handbooks. Love!!!!!

Sunday Morning

Sunday morning has just slipped into Sunday aternoon. Gray day...can't seem to get started. Almost too many things to do; can't settle on just one . Our old city neighbor is having an annual open house this afternoon. Husband does not want to go but 11 year old daughter does. They have custom made chocolate coins every year that she stuffs in her pockets.Plus she is hoping for chocolate covered cream puffs! Husband is eyeing the half finished basement floor that he started last week. After 3 cups of coffee he still has not ventured downstairs. Told ya...a gray, gray day.

It is a powdered sugar afternoon...fluffy snow has been falling for 2 hours now. Every tree in our yard is frosted white. Especially the tall pines and the Magnolia. This morning there were deer tracks in the snow circling the house. There were two of them, searching for leaves to eat. There were also smaller tracks leading under the bushes surrounding the porch. I wonder who is under there.

This weekend...Roller skating night at the Y...dinner and drinks with old friends...starting to install a floor in the basement to make a family room...making a vegan chocolate cake that I found a recipe for yesterday...and ?????who knows.

A morning of kitchen scrubbing followed by an afternoon at the cafe with my daughter, drinking coffee and doing the crossword puzzles. She is Newsday and I am The Times. Today, as usual, she kicked my ass. Finishing first and completely...me, lagging behind and not quite finding every word. We do this a lot.A couple times a week. She comes home from school, dumps her books and we head to the village coffee joint, papers and good pens in hand. Her favorite table is in back, mine is by the window with a view of the town clock. I have to be home soon for my younger daughter's bus so I like to watch the time. We get our drinks and begin. I'm sure folks wonder about us, as we barely speak on most days...so engrossed in our puzzles are we. But, we are together.And, really, I am quite proud. I am there, with my daughter, having fun. I am so lucky.

Julie

A Good Day


Clarinet music drifts upstairs, a collage in progress clutters the living room floor, a fat grey cat cuddles in my lap, my coffee steams in the great 50cent mug I love, the taste of cheap raspberry filled chocolates lingers in my mouth and takes me back to my Nana's house...she always looked for candies and treats on sale, she never had much money to spare, no Godiva at her house...once when I was in 1 st grade she picked me up from school ,her junky car broke down and she only had enough bus fare for herself and she was embarrassed that she had to ask if I could ride for free ...I miss her...there is white,fluffy snow streaming down from the sky,covering everything that I can see from my window...my husband will be home soon.

The Kitschen Table

Happy New Year!

My 1st resolution should be to actually write my blog a little more regularly! I'll attempt to get back to a schedule of posting and lure back the few readers that I had.Q The few comments that I got along the blogging way were really kind of thrilling...knowing that someone is actually reading your musings.At the moment we are in the midst of a January heat wave...I found a dandelion , johnny jump ups and budding hydrangeas this afternoon. We have many pine trees in the yard, so I took 3 baskets full of pinecones and filled the empty windowboxes with them. Kinda nice...better than the dead leaves that were in them. OOOppppS! More Later...

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY

Has been 14 days packed with the good, the bad, and the ugly.[you be the judge] Been busy angsting over a real estate deal gone baaaaaad [no new house ], a mighty virus that is making the rounds of our house [nasty bastard] and assorted mini anxieties blah blah blah blah blah blah.Halloween was a warm success. We made the rounds with a french girl in beret and a pleather clad batgirl. We always head to our old city hood...it never disappoints. Incredible displays of Halloween spirit by the adults ....hanging ghosts that drop on unsuspecting passersby....a wacky doctor with an unidentifiable accent 'performing' brain transplants on trick or treater...and so much more. So fun! Also have been busy spending time at tweeny concerts [Cheetah Girls.....so fun....the girls had an absolute blast. They shook their $5 glo sticks and screamed on command. Yea, yea,I am not oblivious to the commercialization etc....but they really had a BLAST....... even waited outside the stage door and spied the gals themselves! Oh! Squeals of joy!] So, just in case ya think we're twisting our kids with tweeny concerts,and letting them mainline teen magazine idols, I also took them to meet Hillary Clinton at a luncheon hosted by their daddy. They sat thru 30 minutes of Hillary's talk on health care and then met her and got her autograph. They were suitably bored...however,Maggie WAS extremely impressed with the array of cookies served aferwards.[And just in case you wondered, there was not one squeal of teeny bopper joy at the Hillary thing.]

The rest of my time has been spent junkin' at my usual haunts. I hope to learn to post pix this weekend so that I may share my acquisitions with you all.

Tween World

My daughter Maggie and I are leaving to pick up her best friend in an hour. She is decked out in nail polish, gauchoes, an animal print blouse and hair tie..and new Esprit embroidered boots. She is so excited she can barely stand still. She is going to her first concert....THE CHEETAH GIRLS !!!!!![this is where you are supposed to experience high pitched screaming, room rocking jumping, and perhaps a swoon or two!]

The change from little girl to tween has been sneaking up on us for a while, but it has really hit its stride lately. Piles of tried- on- yet- discarded clothes appear on her room floor mysteriously every day. The cd player is in full swing, hairbrush at the ready as an impromtu microphone. I am not allowed to laugh too loudly in publc...or hug her too tightly or do any of a growing number of horrible embarrassing things that I apparently do all the time.

She just yelled out that we are leaving in 45 minutes!!!! I have just enough time to change, grab the camera AND the Tylenol.

The Public Market

Today was a warm fall day with no real sunshine. Saw kids off to school, a meeting at school about art projects, and then a fantastic couple of hours spent at the Public Market downtown.

Booths were overflowing with baskets of apples, pears, cauliflower, potatoes...I ws so happy to find my favorite purple cauliflower and broccoli. Also got some apples from those folks who through in a free Rome apple for me to try. Radishes and lettuce and cilantro from another young vendor.

Suddenly It Hit Me!

Well, got through the open house and despite the understocked refreshment stand, I gotta say, it was pretty cool. It really does seem to be a fantastic school. My oldest, Hadley, is a pretty smart cookie...honors classes etc... Teacher after teacher went on about how teaching her class is the highlight of their day because the kids are so motivated and into it. I guess that's bad news, tho, for the rest of our less gifted children who must be, if the theory holds true, well, lets just say, more like a low light?

And, forgive me, but when did the parents get soooooo old? I felt like I was in class with MY parents. OOOOWWWWWW! A little wake up call there!

But turns out I would have been better off playing hooky cuz after the 5 minute hike off campus to find my junky mini van [that I love cuz another scratch don't mean a thing and I can get a huge honkin load of good junk in the back] I pulled into the line of brand spankin new SUVs to wait my turn at the light and.........BAM!!!!! Mr. enormous SUV slammed into my little mini van. Pull over, check damage [none!] and he, embarrassed and concerned, me self deprecating and understanding... inside my van trashed cuz all my latest junk acquisitions thrown around the back[ which little girl left an open can of diet coke in the back????] Turns out that his SUV sits up so high that only his license plate hit our boat hitch! Exchange numbers, he apologizes and says his fault...I am again understanding...go home and my neck and back feel weird...husband a little bit pissed about the guy hitting me ['always the fault of he who hits from behind'] a couple glasses of wine and bed. And today my back is hosed!

Could be the fender bender or maybe just the utter nonsense of me and other mid aged parents having to squeeze into school desks for 2 1/2 hours!

The Kitschen TableBAD MOMMY

Okay...so, I don't get it. When we lived in the city, I used to volunteer at school, take my kid to the school playground, run the book fair, and attend every function. I religiously went to book fairs and plays and open houses where I ooohed and ahhhhed over essays and art tacked to the hallway walls. I felt like an involved parent.

Now in the burbs, I'm considered a real slacker. My kids come home from school and do their homework. I do not hover over them. I figure it is their job and they better learn how to do it on their own. Not to say I never help, but I try to let them figure stuff out for themselves. I should have known I was in trouble when another mom cornered me at our local dairy and asked how I felt about the "quality "of the homework coming home....it was 1st grade!!!! Some of the parents out here seem to consider volunteering at school to be a vocation. And the little snipes at us less active parents are pretty glaring....' oh...is this the first time you've stepped up to the plate?"

Tonight is open house at my 15 year olds high school. From 7 til 9:30 we are expected to attend class like our child for 15 minute sessions. Doesn't this seem a little much? I'm considering playing hooky!