Skiing

This is Patrick skiing last weekend. It was only his 3rd time ever downhill skiing. He did great!

And a little clip of Harper, who doesn't really ski with me anymore because she's too good and too grown.

CM: Jersey Girl, Navy Veteran, My Chum

Last night my dear old friend and comrade, Christine called me. We haven't talked for a little while and she had a question for me. She also chastised me for not blogging. She apparently loves this blog. She's my lurker! Since I haven't had much to say lately (or at least not much to say here) I figured I could say a few words about Christine; a good use of words, time and space, really.

Christine and I started working together almost 10 years ago. We literally job shared for a couple years and then continued to work together for several more. For a while, I was even her Boss! We don't work together anymore and we live just far enough apart (about 45 minutes) that we don't see each other as often as we'd like. We kind of "grew up" together in our part of the battered women's movement. We learned and raged together, argued and cried together. I love CM dearly. And she has the nicest kids and one of the sweetest husbands you'd ever want to meet. I miss Katie and Pat (yep, she has a Patrick, too)! While CM and I get together every few months, I rarely get to see the kids, who are kind, thoughtful, interesting people.

Now I'll post this and see how long it takes for CM to call and scold me for posting her picture on the internet! Hey, no last names and this picture is 2.5 years old--you don't even look like this anymore, what with your "incredible shrinking woman" gig. But yer still cute!

9 Days

Holy Moly that was some trip. I want to write all about it, but I truly don't know where to begin. The inauguration, visiting friends who I wish I could see more of (so bittersweet!) and, finally, the culmination of an exhausting, joyous 9 days with last night's incredible party at The Hong Kong. It's been an emotional week, filled mainly with mind-blowing highs, over-the-top laughter and hard-core celebration. I'm actually so exhausted that my eyes are blurring. And I feel lucky, rich, full and happy.

Mom, thanks for all your support this week! From being so excited about getting my phone calls from the inaugural to treating the kids to a great 48-hours while Neil and I were in the city to packing snacks for our ride home. You're wonderful!

The Supah Six



I LOVED these boys when we were kids. They were my boyfriends. Well, not at the same time, or at least mostly not at the same time. They've turned out to be wonderfully sweet, good men. I have great taste. Rich is on my left and Toby on my right.

Wicked Awesome Snow!

Today was nearly perfect. We awoke to about 6 inches of new snow and it was still coming down. We spent the morning cross country skiing. Here are the kids headed out on the trails:
This is me:
Patrick taking a rest:

My handsome husband:

She She and me:
Rosie was happiest of all:
This is a picture of Patrick climbing a very steep hill on his skis after about an hour and a half of steady skiing. What? You can't see Pat in his cute little red, Eval Knieval, ski pants? Oh, that's because my kid is a goddamn machine and booked it up the hill before I could take my camera out of my pocket! Cross country skiing is his calling:
After our morning of skiing, we left Neil behind to watch football and the kids and I went to a friend's house in a beautiful spot in Sutton for an informal sledding party. Boy, did we tucker ourselves out! But it's January (not March) so we still love winter.




Oh, and I made a lamb tagine for dinner, which was a pretty good ending:

Manny on a Sunday Morning

New Year's Resolution; the Art of Small Talk

I'm really excited about my resolution.  It all started on New Year's Eve day.  Jen and I went to the Hardware Store and Agway to buy some sleds.  We wanted to do some serious sledding with the kids and all we had here was one crappy old sled.  I don't know what happened to our red plastic sleds.  Anyway, we're in these stores picking out sleds and Jen is chatting with everyone, just being funny, charming Jen, not trying at all.  There she is, in my community, wearing her gaitors, making people laugh and smile while I keep my head down, get out my wallet to pay for the sleds and make sure I don't drop a glove.  Fast forward a few days and Deb and I are doing errands together in East Burke and Lyndonville.  We go to the post office so I can mail Benjie his left-behind watch and she can buy stamps, and Deb's chatting with the post master lady.  The post mistress is a really nice woman and she always remembers my box number when I have a package.  I really like her; she's much nicer than that mean old lady who must have retired or been transferred.  But I just never think to chat with her about the various types of stamps or anything else.   The next day, after the incident at the post office, I shared a story with my family about an encounter with a friend/acquaintance of mine:  I ran into this guy at the post office one day about a year ago and he said something complimentary about my hair.  I thanked him (and I think I even smiled), collected my mail and went on my way.  He later told someone that I was unfriendly to him; wondered what my problem was.  I was surprised at his interpretation.

It may come as a surprise to some of you, but I can be pretty shy and introverted.  When I'm out in the world doing errands, whether they be personal or work related, I'm all business.  But when I think about Jen and Deb, and even reflect on times out in the world with my mom, who is also shy, but very chatty, I admire and envy their social skills.  I want to be friendly!  I WILL be friendly!  It makes the world a nicer place.

So I've been working on a resolution to be more friendly and chatty.  So far it's going great. Turns out, it's not so hard!  Sure, during these first few days of my efforts, I have yet to achieve the easeful charm of Jen or Deb.  But I feel like with practice I just might some day.  In any case, it's a goal, something to aspire to and work towards.  And it's probably easier than giving up cookies or red wine.

This picture has nothing to with anything except for the fact that Nina is awesome.  And five years old!

A Merry Din

I love Christmas. I'm not much of shopper and I'm wary of over consumption, but I love the day and the night before too. Hosting my family for the event for the first time was awesome. I love the ebb and flow of the day.

I love waking up to find cousins splattered throughout the house. Shani slept on the hard wooden floor in the living room, one hand resting on his open laptop and Kayla actually slept in the living room chair. Two sleeping mats leaned up against the wall. Five people slept in the addition alone, which is not a very big space, but everyone said they were comfortable. Manny got up at about 4:00am, snuck most of his presents from under the tree and opened them in his room. He tried to tell us that Santa had left these toys by or under his bed. But we know this is a lie. He spent much of the day in his room with his new legos.

Then there's rising morning excitement and consumption of many pots of coffee and egg treats. Last year someone (Henekis?) started calling everything a treat, so our breakfast strata is now "egg treats" and the spiced nuts my mom makes are "nut treats". Clam dip is "clam treats", etc.

One of my favorite parts of the day was the Gram Jam game. Grammie Robin makes the world's best jam and gives it to us all at Christmas (though she sneaks Neil some at other times throughout the year because he loves it so much). This year she made a game out of everyone choosing their jam. I think she just liked the opportunity to boss us all around. And I liked her bossing us. This video clip is a nice example of the chaos, silliness and fun of my family on Christmas Day:


Then there is the late afternoon. Presents have been opened, turkey dinner consumed and people start to spread out around the house. Jordyn's lying on the floor on her belly, texting and Joe and Terry are playing a guessing game with pictures. Kali is in the easy chair where Kay slept the night before reading Patrick's library book (Encyclopedia Horrifica) and Alan is studying 35 ways to play poker. In the other room, Neil does the dishes and shouts to someone "gum breath" while someone else is singing. Henekis is laughing and Dahe is heartily and happily cursing. The light is getting low and I am reveling in this din; the hum of love.

Later on there is more coffee and out comes the cake! I am very proud of this cake:

In the early evening we again gather round and Henekis reads to us from Jack Handy's Deep Thoughts. This one is our favorite and made Kali laugh so hard he cried:
I remember that one fateful day when Coach took me aside. I knew what was coming. 'You don't have to tell me,' I said. 'I'm off the team, aren't I?' 'Well,' said Coach 'you never were really ON the team. You made that uniform you're wearing out of rags and towels, and your helmet is a toy space helmet. You show up at practice and then either steal the ball and make us chase you to get it back, or you try to tackle people at inappropriate times.' It was all true what he was saying. And yet, I thought something is brewing inside the head of this Coach. He sees something in me, some kind of raw talent that he can mold. But that's when I felt the handcuffs go on.
Anyway, for me it was definitely one of the best Christmases ever. Kali was supposed to ruin it and I was a little disappointed that didn't happen. But my mom's cooking made my life pretty easy (it's so fun cooking in my kitchen with my mom!) and I think everyone had a wonderful time. Maybe they'll let me host again next year. I love you all so much!
Netdahe as Santa
Momma and me
Jen, Brook and Alan