Saturday, June 30, 2007

Happy Birthday To Me

Yeah right.

Just another day in my life where I feel pretty much forgotten.

I talked to my father last night when we got home from Fort Lauderdale and he had already forgotten about it. I guess he sent a card some time last week (I only know this b/c he had to call and get my address) and that's fulfilled any obligation to recognize the day. Pretty typical of my Father.

My Mom called this morning and made no mention of it until I asked her if she remembered what day it was. This, after spending a LOT of time and money on her surprise 60th party 2 weeks ago.

Did I mention that my birthday is only 3 days after her's? As a Mother, I think that would be pretty hard to forget...but she did.

Kelly did cook me breakfast in bed, which was sweet, but nothing else is going on. He's napping and we still don't know what we're doing for dinner, but one thing is for damn sure...I'm not cooking.
It sucks that *I* have to plan my own birthday dinner.

Oh..to top it off, my lovely "friend" came today.

That would probably explain why I've been quite bitchy lately...and my excuse for today as well.

Hopefully the rest of my 34th year shapes up to be a little better than today.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Sushi and compassion...an interesting mix

To sum up tonight....and excellent meal followed by a heart-heavy moment.

Dinner was good tonight, we went to an amazing restaurant that serves Japanese and Thai food. I had the BEST Tom Yum soup and the freshest sushi I've had in a while. Landon scarfed down some shrimp wonton soup ( YUMMMM!), veggies, wontons and all, and then almost another full plate of terriyaki chicken and rice. Colin was content with his broth and rice...UGH! If only the child would *try* something! He talks about how good things smell, but still refuses to try them...how frustrating is that? That's beside the point though.

After dinner, we headed down to Carvel to get some ice-cream, just a short walk away from where we had dinner. As we walked up, I noticed an older man standing right by the door in tattered, dirty, clothes. He wore glasses and had a full beard on his noticably dirty face. He was eating an ice-cream cone and silently watching the tv through the front window of the store. He stood next to a grocery cart full of plastic bottles and aluminum cans, and there was a tattered comforter folded neatly on top of it.

For some reason, my heart immediately went out to him. He never extended his hand to ask for anything or even looked my way, but my heart broke when I tried to imagine the circumstances that brought him to this place in his life.

We went in and bought our ice-cream cones and decided to go outside to eat them. The man was still there, standing by the window silently. Not one person spoke to him, and it seemed as if everyone just looked right through him. It seemed as if to others, and even to himself, that he wasn't "present".

A few minutes later, he walked into Carvel. I only noticed because a security guard ran past me to go in to the restaurant, obviously he was following the man. The homeless man walked to the counter and ordered a cone. A man outside commented to his wife, chuckling "Watch, this guy is going to be kicked out of here in 10 seconds...10, 9, 8.....". As he said that the homeless fellow walked to the counter and pulled out some money to pay for what he ordered. Then he walked out to the same spot to eat it and watch tv again.

Colin and Kelly finished their cones, and the one that Landon and I were sharing was just a melted mess, so we were done. I headed to the trash can with it, which just so happened to be right behind the homeless man. As I carried it by him, he looked at it like a dog might watch scraps that someone is about to throw away. I asked him, "Would you like this?" and he said, "yes...please." I handed it to him to finish eating it.

Yeah...maybe it's a little gross to some, but my heart broke even more when I handed it over to him. How could he end up here? He had to be sick....lost....something had to have happened that was beyond his control.

Before we left, I walked up to him and asked him if he minded if I gave him something, and I handed him the $5 that I had in my wallet. I said, "God bless you..." and he said the same to me. He seemed shocked beyond belief that someone spoke to him...much less gave him any money. I only wish that I had more.

We walked back to the car and past the security guard who was still watching him very carefully. I asked him if he was a threat to anyone. The security guard went into a tirade about how he was a public nuisance and that he had already gotten 20 calls from people who didn't want him "hanging around" and, what if he had hepatitis and he breathed on me or one of my kids and we "got" it too. I told him that the man seemed sick, and he said, "oh yes...I'm sure he is...he needs to be in a hospital or something". So I said, "Well, then is there someone that we can call that might be able to help him?" "Nah....here's the police, I'm sure that they're here to pick him up".

For what? Buying some ice-cream and trying to enjoy it outside like the rest of us?

What an A$$hole!!

I just don't understand how people can see someone like that who is in NEED...true need, and just pass them by....on top of that...COMPLAIN about him! He has to be someone's son, brother, uncle, or friend. Maybe even someone's FATHER! What if he's lost and he's doing all that he can just to survive day to day? What if he has dementia or alzheimers and has no idea who he is, or where he belongs? What if people are looking for him, missing him, and he has no idea that they are even out there?

It made me sick, and I cried when we left. I wish I could have done so much more to help him.

I don't think that I'll ever forget his crystal blue eyes behind those dirty lenses.

They reminded me so much of Colin's.

God forbid he's ever in that place one day......

I hope that if he ever is that *someone* would extend a helping hand or a gesture of compassion instead of looking down their noses and laughing at his misfortune.

Never thought I'd say this....

....but, I need to work out......regularly.

I hadn't done so in a week and a half due to our traveling, and boy...I was bitchy the last two days.

I guess it could be just plain 'ole pms too.

I decided to take advantage of the treadmill here at the hotel, and I feel SOOOooooo much better.

I'm sure my family will appreciate me taking the time to work out as well. *I* didn't even want to be around me today.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Pools + Footballs = HUH??

WTF is it with kids that want to throw hail marys in the freakin' pool??

I thought this was just an issue at our neighborhood pool and that we would be safe to swim at our leisure here in Fort Lauderdale.

Alas, I was sadly mistaken.

I went through the swimming ritual with the boys yesterday so we could head downstairs and cool off.

Sunscreen on Colin.

Chasing Landon and pinning him down with two handfuls of suncsreen, and then praying that I got most of him covered.

Getting the swimsuits on the boys, and then *finally* getting my suit on and spraying myself down with sunscreen.

It only takes about 45 minutes, so you know I was hoping for at least a *little* longer of an outing after all of that work.

We got downstairs and got Colin's swimmies on. (He thinks that he can swim, by the way, which scares the living hell out of me. He can stand on his tippy toes at our neighborhood pool, and he assumed that he could here. It only took him a few seconds to realize that he *can't* swim after all.)

So, once Colin has on his flotation devices, Landon and I plopped in the pool as well. We like to stay by the stairs so that Landon can walk around and splash at will.

Within a matter of 20 minutes, 5 or 6 boys showed up.....with their damn football.

Within 5 minutes of *that*, they had taken over either end of the pool and were tossing it back and forth.

Now...have any of you been *hit* with a football? They are not soft. Do these kids give a shit about that? Not in the least. Are there any parents around that might remind them of that fact? Nope.

So...me being the kind, nice, lady that I am (snort!), I stepped up and asked them to please be careful. I tagged that phrase with, " I will be very upset if me or one of my boys gets hit."

Within 10 minutes of that statement, I felt a huge ***SPLASH*** right by my head. I turned slowly to see all of the boys pointing to one kid at the far end of the pool.

I calmly stated to all of them, " I don't really care who threw it, you guys are monopolizing the pool. Everyone who would like to swim cannot because they are scared they are going get hit in the head!"

Needless to say, the throwing stopped...for at least the next 15 minutes.

As we walked back up to our room, I watched as a 20'something walked into the pool area.

Towel and, you guessed it, football in arm

WTF???

Monday, June 25, 2007

Knock, knock, knock....HellooooOOOOoooooo??

Anyone there??

Probably not.

Well, I did fall off the face of the earth for a while there. Sorry about that to anyone who may still be reading/checking.

I haven't had much to write about, so I figure it wasn't worth taking the time to start something that I knew I wouldn't finish.

Currently....life is pretty good. We are vacationing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida as we speak. It's quite interesting. I can tell that this town is geared for the younger/drinking crowd. There are loads of families, don't get me wrong, but the restaurants are hysterical. Three for one drink specials were on the menu where we ate last night. Your choice of a long list of martinis, house liquors, and wine. I felt like a little drinky-poo after our long day of travel, so I decided to go for it. Of course, we read the fine print later and found that there was no "sharing"....that meant it was SIX drinks for the two adults at the table. Hmmmmmm. Have I mentioned before that I'm a lightweight?

Needless to say, I was relaxed and loads of fun after dinner. The boys all went swimming in the ocean while the thunder and lighting acted up in the distance. I'm sure the sober Mommy would have put up more of a fight upon seeing that, but drunk Mommy just let the boys have their fun.

Luckily...no one was electrocuted.

Don't get me started on some of the people here...my GOSH!!! Loads of PDA goin' on and it's not necessarily of the hetero variety. Not that I care or mind what other people do, but with two small children, one of which is VERY observant and extremely curious, I will have some "splainin" to do soon.

Won't that be fun.

This morning, Kelly left for a CPE class around 8:15. Guess who had some quality alone time for one full hour PLUS fifteen minutes??!! MEEEEE!!!

Colin woke up around 9:30, and Landon, well, THAT boy slept until 10:00!!!!!!

WHOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOO!!!

The boy has discovered the luxury of sleeping in. I think my life is taking a positive turn from here on out.

We're in a hotel that overlooks the ocean and the intracoastal waterway. The boys and I had a great time eating breakfast and watching all of the boats. I now need to head to the shower and get ready for dinner.

Hey, a week of no cooking, sleeping late, and lounging at the beach??

I can handle that!

Maybe in my new-found relaxed state, I will be able to post more.

We can only hope!

Monday, June 04, 2007

Andria....

Email me where to send the Hotsling to at: another_sweet_day@yahoo.com

I'll get it out some time this week. Probably not tomorrow b/c I have strep throat and I need to do a little more recovering.

Hope you guys are doing well!!!