Crazy Mom

When I was a kid, I had friends who were twins named Nina and Elise. Nina and Elise's mom was rumored to be crazy. I don't know that for a fact, but she certainly acted like it. She was horribly mean to them--yelling and cursing at them for no good reason. Then they would leave for school and she'd open the window and yell out to them, "I love you--have a nice day." Sometimes, I feel like I'm turning into Nina and Elise's mom. Like today--I was tired and cranky to begin with (had a late night and feel overwhelmed by all the holiday crap I have to get done), and then discovered that H "misplaced" her Nintendo DS. It's likely in the house somewhere as they're not really allowed to take them out, but it really irritated me that she had no idea where it was. They have so much crap that they don't even notice when something huge like a Nintendo DS is missing. And then looking for it compounded a bunch of other issues--how they leave their crap everywhere, never clean up after themselves, have the attention span of gnats, etc. So I was horribly mean to them today, and then felt terrible about it when I put them to bed, so was extra nice. I kind of understand what Nina and Elise's mom was going through, and I wonder if people think I'm crazy.

The Joys of Home Ownership

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a new heating system for our roof so the gutters wouldn't freeze up.

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a new furnace for the first floor family room.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a new furnace for the rest of the house.

I hate to see what else I'm getting. Wouldn't it have just been easier to say it with flowers?

Speaking of flowers, the beautiful orchid plant given to me by a client has long since lost its blooms, and is now a barren looking plant of 3 long spikes. I've done a lot of reading on how to care for it, and am hoping for new blooms soon. But so far, things look bleak.

I'm happy for Nick and Starr--they were definitely the most capable team. I'm also happy that Ken and Tina seem to have had a happy ending--Phil was not the only one moved by the ring exchange.

TMI

Fiber One bars have too much fiber.

T made the travel hockey team--it's a good thing, since I got his travel soccer report card today, and soccer clearly isn't his sport. When his sister, who is the antithesis of athletic (at least with respect to soccer), gets higher marks than him, that ain't good.

We ate at Graham Elliot the other night. The food was great and the service was fun and filled with light banter, but never crossed the line like it did at Joe's. (Still have to send Rich Melman my complaint on that one.) I had buffalo chicken and scallops, and A had sweetbreads (ew!) and pheasant. I'm a pretty adventurous eater and have in fact tried sweetbreads once, but I certainly didn't enjoy them enough to eat glands voluntarily again. Our dining companions had Caesar salad (I got to eat all the white anchovies!), risotto, venison tartare (another ew! from me), skate and something else that escapes me. The desserts were phenomenal. Definitely one of my favorite meals, right up there with Aigre Doux.

A had his second shoulder surgery today. So far, so good--keeping my fingers crossed....

Rude!

I don't know what pissed me off more: the fact that the doofy frat guys are in The Amazing Race finals instead of Dallas and Toni, or the rude woman who sat next to me on the train this morning. The empty seat next to me had a newspaper wedged in between the seat and the back. A woman got on the train, looked at it and said to me "excuse me" clearly indicating that she wanted to sit there. I told her it wasn't mine. She continued to stand there just looking at me and the newspaper. I should have just turned away and continued reading my newspaper, but instead I tried to help her by pulling the offending newspaper out. Well, it was wedged in there pretty well, and took me a couple seconds to yank it out. She just stood there the whole time, holding up a line of people behind her. I finally got it out and another woman who had been waiting took it from me to throw in the trash. Then the original rider sat down, saying nothing to either me or the woman who threw the paper out. A "thanks" considering we got her seat ready for her would have been nice.

I think I am forgoing a new coat this winter (it's a recession!) but I have been checking out the puffy down coats anyway. I saw a really nice one today--it was white with a fur-trimmed hood... and it was worn by a dude.

T confessed to me that the only reason he said he only wanted kisses for Christmas was because he was hoping Santa was listening and would be so happy to hear him being a good boy, that he would get extra presents. I'm less mad at him for being untruthful than relieved that I can give him his gifts now and impressed with his ingenuity!