Missed the Green Monstah, But the Gahlic Fries Were Pissah!

See these people? They went to the RED SOX GAME this weekend!! It was WICKED AWESOME!


I kid you not, there were more Sox fans there than Mariner fans! I was dying! As you can see, I wore my hat, and people were high fiving me left and right. For a brief moment, I almost felt like I was at Fenway. Almost. This was the scene all around us... check it out:


We also happened to have killer seats. Right on the first base line. I was sorely disappointed that Lester pitched almost the whole game, because I really wanted to get my lens on Pap, and I thought Beckett was making his comeback this night. Alas... Lester's mediocre pitching lost us the game and lost me some great photo ops.

Youk was all over first base, which was nice:

And of course, Big Papi hit the only run of the night. Fo'real... check out the fans in the stands- those Bostonians are going CRAZY! LOVE THEM!!

This was the emotional moment where Big Papi nearly hit another home run, but it was caught. See how he's looking at me for reassurance and affirmation? I gave him a wink so he would know he still had loyal fans. We don't expect perfection from him, and we love him unconditionally. I'm sure the moment we shared meant as much to him as it did to me.


Anyway. The Sox lost, but the fam got to eat lots of crap, and I got to watch my boys play. We had a great time, and I think I even heard the kids yell "GO BOSTON" once or twice. Which means I am a good parent. And in the immortal words of Jim Gaffigan... "YANKEES SUCK AND DUNKIN DONUTS RULE!"

That's all.

Cawl Me, We'll Tawk... Nevah Mind. We Won't.

Is there something wrong with me? Let's analyze the facts:

1. I hate talking on the phone.

2. I avoid it at all costs.

3. I seek out any possible alternate mode of communication before I make a call.

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love my friends. Back in the olden days when a smoke was a smoke and groovin was groovin, I used to write letters regularly. This was primarily because my dad got really mad at me for running up VERY EXPENSIVE phone bills. Remember toll calls on rotary phones? I made many, many of those. If my dad had been a Love and Logic parent, I would have no college education today, as that fund would've gone to pay for the exorbitant bills I incurred with AT&T.

So what happened? When did I go from LOVING to spend hours and hours chatting about... um... honestly, I have no idea what we talked about for hours and hours in 1989... to ignoring almost every ring that presents itself on my phone? We have caller ID on our home line, and I usually don't even bother to see who's calling because I don't want to talk to them anyway. I answer my cell phone for about 4 people. It is completely preferable for me to let it go to voice mail, and then see what they want, and THEN decide whether or not to call them back.

Is it because people usually want something? Maybe. Am I lazy for not wanting to do whatever it is they're calling to ask me to do? Maybe. Is this normal? I find many of my friends seem to feel the same way, and we seem to have all our conversations via chat, email, blog commenting, or texting. Am I contributing to an erosion of healthy social skills? Or maybe it's just me... maybe no one likes talking to me either, and I'm swimming alone in a sea of non-cellular conversations.

Here's a theory. If you talk in person, you have to confront the reality of awkward silences. If you're totally electronic and there's an awkward silence, you can get up, use the bathroom, grab a snack, come back, edit a few photos, and then pop back into the conversation. Or by email- you can draft what you want to say, come back later and make sure you haven't been too offensive... and then hit send. No more foot-in-mouth!

Maybe I'm just a hermit at heart. Who knows. But the whole thing really is pretty fascinating to me. I would love to hear your thoughts on it all... just don't call me to discuss it.

Airplanes, Cars, Jam and Cookies. A Pleasant Mix.

We went to this airshow. It was absolutely unreal. I had no idea how cool it would be to watch airplanes do dangerous stunts. I was very nervous the whole time, and kept hoping we didn't end up on the national news documenting an airshow gone wrong. There were no collisions, however, so in the end I was able to enjoy myself. Check this stuff out:

Four planes, flying that close to each other! Also the cool patriotic tribute... very impressive.

Seriously? I can hardly stand to have a PERSON that close to me, forget another airplane!

The moon and a stealth bomber. Tell me THAT'S not an amazing shot!

And also this weekend, we went to a car show. My husband is IN LOVE with cool cars. He was in heaven. I tried mostly just to watch his face, and when his eyes lit up, that's when I knew I should take a picture of whatever he was looking at. Mostly, I can tell you that we saw cars. Some were yellow, red, green and even purple. They all had tires. Vroom vroom.

The kids and I made strawberry jam. We are dying at how good it is. We made about 15 jars of it. This week, we're trying raspberry. We're eating toast like twelve times a day just so we have something to put the jam on. It is sooooooooo good!!

And we made these. Did you know that they are officially called "Peanut Butter Blossoms"? I think that name is SO LAME! But I couldn't come up with anything better, so we're left calling them "Peanut Butter Cookies with Hershey's Kisses Stuck On Top." Yeah, I know. Equally lame.

We are having a great time with Jordan and Sam. My parents will be out next week, and then my three kids get back shortly after. We can't wait to have our house full again!! Being a parent is probably my favorite job right now. Probably because I miss my kids so much, and I'm forgetting how hard it really is. Also probably because I'm presently otherwise unemployed. But you get the point.

And It Goes A Little Somethin' Like This...

For my son's 12th birthday, we bestowed upon him the gift-of-all-gifts in the tweenage world. The cell phone. We all know my feelings on kids and phones- it's ridiculous. Even at age 12, it is completely pointless. But I also realize we are not living in 1985 anymore, when SOME people I know were 12... and that the times are indeed a'changin. So I conceded. And generally, my firstborn has been relatively responsible with his new gadget.

My kids are visiting their father for the summer. I will admit, the phone has come in handy for keeping in touch. However, please join with me for a moment in reviewing yesterday's text message conversation:

ME: Where's your sister?
HIM: Right here.
ME: Let me text her for a few.
HIM: No. She's being a total brat.
ME: Um, who pays ur phone bill?
HIM: I'm serious. She is blatant disobedient. (I know, incorrect useage of an adjective here)
ME: When u pay the billl, u can make the rules.
HIM: She is bossy and rude and bratty!
ME: Not my problem. Put her on.
HIM: WHY?
ME: Bummer that I'll have to disconnect your phone.

And he never put her on. With just a few simple clicks of the mouse, the phone service was suspended. And at no additional cost to us! How handy is that?!?

The key lessons to learn here:

1. You don't get to tell Mom "no" and expect that to turn out well.

2. When you are financially responsible for yourself, you have much more freedom.

3. Stay in school, get a good job, and support yourself so that you can one day cut those apron strings and tell Mom "no" ALL YOU WANT.

The end.

The View Out My Kitchen Window... and more.

There is so much construction in our neighborhood, that usually when I look out my kitchen window, all I see is lumber and dirt. But today, the lawnboy was at work. Hubba hubba.

So here's the house. They are building across from us, behind us, and to the right of us. They still haven't built to the left of us yet though, which is great because I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have construction going on at 5am every day to wake me up. Looking forward to more.



Here's the kitchen. Obviously, I didn't do a good job of staging my photo since my dish towel is askew. But I like my kitchen. It's a bit small, but I think it's beautiful.



This is that big, open entry hall that has me nervous. We have no furniture for the formal living room yet, so it sits empty. By "empty" I mean "full of boxes and random items that we have yet to find a home for." But do you love the hardwood? I do.



And lastly, we've been spending a lot of time at the beach lately. It's been great. GO HERE to see more. My husband goes back to work next week, and I'm already depressed over it. We have been hanging out for a whole month now, and I hate to see it come to an end.

*Pardon my windblown hair and his farmer's tan. We let our pride go.

Name Those Kids...

You can't see their faces, so they are unidentifiable. But I will give you some clues as to who we have here:

1. They are crazy.
2. They crack us up most of the livelong day.
3. They give us lots of extra loves and snuggles.
4. They DON'T hate it here.
5. They do my chores.
6. They help me cook supper every night, thus cutting my work time in half.
7. They routinely seek out beatings from the man pictured below, and laugh the whole time.


It's nice to have kids around. As much as we love our couples time, we do love these kids.