Making it.....barely

Just a quick note.....

NYC was awesome, did a few things I hadn't done on any previous trips...will devote a post to it some time this week. Very busy this weekend with our tag sale. Here are a couple of my initial observations of tag sales:

1. They suck
2. You sweat a lot when you are working them
3. People are so f*ing cheap...whole post on this one too
4. It is hard to remove the sentimental from the item when determining price
5. People can't read signs, specifically start and end times and prices tags
6. They start WAY too early
7. I will never ever again have one, no way in hell

Chugga chugga choo choo!

Greetings friends! I am writing to you aboard the super cheap (aka skanky) MTA railroad from my IPAD. MyMom and I are headed to the Big Apple for an overnight stay. Of all the times I have stayed in NYC I have never stayed midtown. I am psyched to get to sleep in the heart of the city, well at least close to the heart.

A couple of things I may be faced with:
- having to lug my big ole duffel bag onto 2 subway stops to get to my hotel
- forgetting to pack deodorant and likely having to pay $8 for 1 stick
- deciding to forgo deodorant for 1.5 days, I mean hell I can't smell that bad right?
- neglecting to wear a jacket down to the train station, and learning that the weather won't be warmer than 60....with rain tonight
- staying dry (even though I will be cold) because I did remember to bring an umbrella

Tomorrow we need to be up bright and early heading up to the Upper West to ABC studios. We are going to see The View. My sister had applied for tickets 2 years ago and when she got them the date coincided with my Mom's visit. So off to The View we go. Unfortunately the guest is that whack job Lady Gaga. It figures too. Not one of us going in my sister's group like her. I watched her on SNL last night. Still not impressed. Oh well, it will be the experience that will be cool.

So everyone set your VCR's, DVR's, or watch live and look for me! I will be wearing a fuchsia colored Vneck sweater! Yeah you'll pick me right out won't ya! If you DO see me, make sure you let me know!

Forcible relaxation......

My Spa day yesterday was great. The 90 minute massage, the facial - superb. The pedi was so/so. I won't get one there again, only because I LOVE my Asian Pedi place. The Ladies are a hoot and they do a fantastic job. However the other spa treatments I had were awesome.

I had been to one other "spa" before in my life, several years ago T bought me a half day at some spa the ladies at work told him about. It was a horrible experience. The massage was weak, the facial was sterile, the pedi was rough and fast. This bad experience was the reason I have not returned to a SPA in all these years.

Now I do want to clarify that I do go for massages at least every 2 months, and pedi's usually every 4-6 weeks in the summer, maybe twice over the winter. So I do pamper myself here and there, just not in a spa environment.

Well the experience I had on Saturday was night and day....as soon as I walked in, they knew my name and greeted me with a warm smile. Asked me to kindly fill out some paperwork and then escorted me to the Ladies dressing room. They provided me with a locker, robe and flip flops. (the changing room was equipped with Salon shampoos/conditioners/facial cleansers/combs and brushes/ razors/toothbrushes/femine products) Once I was ready I made my way to the "waiting area". This was a nice dark room, with a fire place, wine glasses of water, light music and elegant chairs. My massage was first, one word for you FUCKINGAMAZING (well I made it one word!). I told her that my left shoulder and both shins were feeling a bit tight. She was awesome at her job let me tell you!

In between the massage and facial they moved me to the "relaxation room" OMG I want one of these in my house. There were 6 big comfy chairs and ottomans, waterfall sounds and light music, dimmed lighting, and warmed blankets to cover up with. I was in there for about 15 minutes and easily fell asleep with in 2 mins!

The facial was good, not at all what I expected. The girl only "sales pitched" me once, advising that I should get away from using soap on my face and look into a cleanser instead. Otherwise she just worked, massaged, and then left the room for 15mins or so...where I again fell asleep. The facial room was just like the massage room, dimmed lighting, quiet music, warm bed.

And then we moved into pedi's and like I said, it was ok, but nothing worth telling about.

The one revelation I had yesterday was that it was really, REALLY hard to let go and just relax. As a Mom, a Wife, or even just a female working full time, we don't really give ourselves that permission to just relax. Sitting in that relaxation room, I found myself jones'ing for electronics. I realized that it should not be THIS HARD to sit back and relax. I felt forced to relax, and did not like that. So out of this experience I have decided that I need more practice and have scheduled myself for another Massage and Facial in July! I am thinking that $200 every 8-12 weeks is reasonable for the amount I work and give to my family. A few hours to take back is deserved.

Friday Night (Saturday Morning!) Leftovers....the Blogger ate my post edition

What the F* was with Blogger being down for nearly 2 days? I had my FNLO post all built and in save, with at least 6 really great things written thus far. Blogger went and ate it. And of course, becasue my memory sucks so bad these days I can't really remember any of it. Now you are going to get stuck with my tired Saturday morning thoughts instead.

• K wakes up and the first thing out of her mouth is I want to pla y with IPAD! I want IPAD! IPAD! IPAD! IPAD! The child needs an intervention. We have to hide it because she searches under cushions, furniture, behind curtains for it!


• We had yet another failed experience out to dinner on Mother's day. It is a crap shoot with her really. It all depends on her nap and how she wakes up. On this day, she woke on the wrong side of the bed.


• I love coffee. I also love that it has been warm enough lately after work for me to start my tradition of Iced Venti Black tea lemonades unsweetend! I love (late) Spring and Summer.


• I failed at the gym this week...not even one visit. Instead I slept late every single day.


• TMI question here: Have you ever taken a Sh*t and turned around to flush with amazement that THAT came out of you? I had one of those moments this week. Seriously, how does THAT come out of ME?? Kind of creepy when I start to think about it.


• Heading to the SPA today for my Mother's day gift to myself. Nervous about the facial experience, but super psyched about the massage and pedi!!


• 48 more days till Vacation in the CAPE!
  

Thanks to Danifred for hosting us all even with the interuption of blogger.

Sir spam a lot.....

My fellow readers....I am so sorry.


I have had to turn on the word verification. Oh how I do despise word verification. However in just 5 hours today I received 33 spam comments. All of which were either porn pics or erectile disfunction ads.

So I am sorry that I have had to add this step, I hope that you will continue to read and comment....

All about me Monday~

I missed FNLO this week, and cute baby Saturday, and Sunday Senses.....so here you have the ALL ABOUT ME MONDAY!

• I have found myself listening to old school Nirvana on my way into work lately. One thing that hit me this morning was Nirvana = wanting to slice my wrists. No more Nirvana at 7am for me....


• My gym membership expires in June (which really it expired in march but I conned an additional 3 months out of them!) and at that exact time my company is offering our on site fitness facility for FREE! It was around $40 a month. So now i will need to determine if exercising at 5:30 pm before my drive home is a better option for me than 5:30am before work. One other downside is no weekend access. I just hate to spend the $$ on a gym when I can get it for free....


• I have a physical in 1 month....FML


• As a gift to myself for being a KICK ASS MOM I am going to a half day SPA visit on Saturday. 90 minute massage, 60 minute facial and 60 minute pedicure. *Queue Jealousy*


• This is my first "official" week working 2 days from home! Tuesday and Friday are now my designated days.


• I am terribly tired of hearing about Osa.ma Bi.n L.ad.en. For real people. DONE


• I spent 5 hours planting flowers in my flower beds Sunday. I really hope they grow. I have NEVER grown ANYTHING outdoors.


• I haven't touched my IPAD in over a week. It seems to have become T and K's Ipad. Money well spent.


• My Mom will be here on the 19th and my Sister has invited us to go see a live taping of The View on the 23rd! While I am not really a fan of the show, I think it is super cool to get to go to the taping. I am looking into Hotel rooms in time square for the Sunday night before hand. Psyched to go to NYC again so soon!


• Speaking of trips, I have 51 more days until our Cape Cod vacation! I am so excited. Last night I booked us a hotel room for the Friday night before our house rental begins. If you have ever driven to the Cape on a weekend, In Season, especially on 4th of July weekend, then you understand the traffic jam that is Rt6. Instead I decided (yes, I decided) that we will leave home Friday night (it is a 4.5 hour drive) when K is ready for bed, and head up to the Cape to a Hotel room. We can check out as late as 11am, get lunch, hit the beach, have an Ice Cream and check into our House at 4. PERFECT plan to me.


• On a sadder note, we are officially not going to have another child. It has been decided and I AM moving on. I know K can be happy as an only child. I know we can provide her with so much more as an only child. We are having a big Tag Sale Memorial day weekend and I will be selling off as much baby stuff and clothes as I can. (Don't worry Kate - I am keeping some good clothes for Em!!) I am done being sad about it. I am fortunate to have the one perfect child that I do have.

Eye opening...

On Sunday K and I spent a large part of the day with a good friend on mine and some of her nieces and nephews. While I love for K to get to spend time with other kids her age as often as I possibly can I learned a few things about myself today.....

1. I do not spoil my child excessively (I mean come on, we all spoil to a point)



2. I do not give into her every demand or allow her to "run the show"



3. I am a DAMN good, no make that FUCKING GREAT Mom



4. I may be too laid back, and in the end make my child be *shudder* well rounded



5. I have worried about K's speech for no reason WHAT SO EVER

While I don't mean for this post to bad mouth anyone, especially my friend, because well, these are not her children after all, it may come across that way. So just know in advance, that is not how it is intended......

Holy shit, can I tell you about a spoiled child? One of the kids we played with today was so spoiled. Every time he whined, cried, demanded anything - he got it. Don't want to share? No problem Mom had 3-5 of everything so he wouldn't have to.

My kid can play independently, she can play in a group, she can sit and watch a movie or read a book. Whatever I tell her she should do, she does. (pretty much). Not this kid, no sir. He made the rules, his mother was his puppet. What he wanted, he got, bottom line. Temper tantrums, hitting, dumping sand on other's heads, pushing others........no discipline, no threats, no nothing....just don't be a bad boy, don't be fresh.....what? seriously? Let me make the statement that if my child took a shovel full of sand and dumped it over another child's head she would certainly be reprimanded and punished. Nope not this boy.

When I tell K "No" she listens 96.9% of the time....not this kid, he specifically goes and does it repeatedly afterwards, and what is done? .......chirp chirp............................chirp chirp..........................yup that's about it.

Onto my Speech revelation. In the 3+ hours we played with these kids (who are exactly 5 and 7 weeks younger than K) I heard 3 words out of the girl and maybe 6 from the boy, along with a lot of grunting. Now I am not judging or assuming anything about there speech or lack of, what I took note of was how clearly K spoke in comparison. As an example, early in our visit she was in need of a snack and I sat her at the kitchen counter on a stool, when we went back in for lunch she was at the table with the kids and I sat on the stool. She got off her chair and came over to me and said, clear as day "scuse me mommy, that is my seat please", another example was while playing in the sandbox (which BTW I am totally getting her cause she LOVED it) and the little pool she picked up the little toys that were there and said "look Mommy, I got a fish, a frog and a salamander". And she did have just those things in her hand.

Because I heard less than a dozen words come from the other kids and both their Mom's commented on her speech I am certain that I no longer need to be worried. I know it was natural of me to worry, that is what parents are for, but I am done. My kid is a fucking genius, bottom line :)

When T got home from fishing, I talked about our day with him. I feel so confident about our parenting style, about how really well behaved our child is (I know she has her moments, but that it, they are moments). You know as hard of a job as parenting is, we are really good at it. I truly feel that. It is the best job I have ever volunteered for in my life.

NYC Recap in photos (no bacon ice cream..boo)

It was a sunny yet cool day in the city. I managed to cover downtown and midtown in a matter of hours. I did zero shopping until my last hour (Jack in the Box from FAO for K - which BTW she LOVES!). Had lunch with an old school mate of mine at 5 Napkin Burger. Super good, check it out if you are in the city. Otherwise I walked around and took photos and enjoyed the history and vast amount of culture the city offers.