Oh jeesh, was I not ready for THAT one! After reading one evening, M sorts of rolls over and abruptly tosses that one at me. Yikes.....
"no, I'm not because everyone dies eventually."
"but aren't you afraid it will hurt?"
"well, I hope it doesn't happen in a painful way, but I try not to think about it"
"would you just like to go to sleep and not wake up?"
"that's probably one of the 'best' ways to die. You shouldn't worry about dying; you've got a lot of time left"
"yes, but you don't. You're old and might die soon"
Holy crap.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Friday, March 24, 2006
I....LOVE....New York.......
We're back! We got home late Wednesday night from our too short trip up to NYC. We, along with hubby's business partner and his wife, took the train (THE BEST WAY TO TRAVEL, HANDS DOWN) to Penn Station. Traveling by train is just so cool; very low stress, and you get to look at cool stuff on the way. Granted some of the scenery isn't the most flattering, such as Baltimore, in which you see the backside of the bad part of town, and it's gross, but for the most part, it's really relaxing and sometimes mesmorizing to sit back and watch the scenery go by.
(Footnote to my last post re: things I want to do in my life - I want to do a cross country train trip some day. It takes about 3 days, but I would like to take the rail trip from DC to Seattle, via Montana and the upper Rockies. Not with small children, however.)
So we got to NYC and dumped our stuff at the hotel (The Hotel New Yorker, right across from Madison Square Garden. Clean, convenient, and relatively cheap for NYC). We went and had lunch at the Stage Door Deli next door. Great food, but too much of it! We were stuffed. Then we played tourist and took one of the Gray Line bus tours through the downtown area. I've been to NYC a few times, but have never ventured down past about 30th St. The tour, which is a hop-on, hop-off type of tour, was cheap and had a tour guide. We sat up on the top, exposed level of the bus until we couldn't stand the cold any longer. We went through Chinatown, Greenwich Village, Chelsea, SoHo, past Ground Zero (we didn't get off - there's really not much to see there anymore), past the Brooklyn Bridge, then back up the East Side, past the UN. It took a couple of hours to do that, and we didn't even get off the bus! We went back to the hotel and got ready for the show.
The main purpose of the trip was to go see "The Odd Couple", with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. We had seen them a couple of years ago in "The Producers", and just loved them, so when the opportunity presented itself last summer to get Odd Couple tickets, we jumped. And boy, oh boy, did we have great seats. Fourth row back, dead center stage. The actors could have spit on us, had they the desire. Now, Odd Couple hasn't exactly bowled the critics over; basically Lane and Broderick are rehashing variations of their standard characters; Lane is hyper and messy, Broderick uptight and whiney. But hey, it works. We had a blast.
And can I just say that Broadway theatres are just the coolest?! They aren't very big, and all of them have been lovingly restored at some point over the years. So many details; they just don't make em like that anymore.
After the show, we headed to Times Square, where we got something to eat at Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co. As far as I'm concerned, I don't ever need to eat there again. It was a perfectly boring meal.
Okay, back to the hotel for a terrible night's sleep (our room was right next to the elevators). We had breakfast at a diner the next morning, then headed out to do the Gray Line tour of Uptown. We got off at Lincoln Center because I wanted to pop in on a flute guy that I bought my piccolo from, Phil Unger at Flute Center of NY. Once we found his place, he was really nice. Even took mine and hubby's picture. I think that's the prize for actually FINDING him; it's not easy. Anyway, my companions were very patient with my one flute-thing that I had to do while I was there. My other trips to NYC have been to take a lesson with my teacher, Bart Feller, who is principal in the NJ Symphony and the NY City Opera. Turns out he lives directly across the street from Phil's shop. I had NO idea, or I would have stopped in sooner.
We hopped back on the bus and toured around the upper West Side (sheesh, the money!), then to Harlem, then down to Museum Mile, where we got off at the Met Museum of Art. We wanted to get some lunch at that point, but guess what? Certain parts of NYC, most notably to us at the point, the exact part WE were in, have NO restaurants. None, zip, nada, zilch. If you want to eat, it's a sidewalk vendor. We really wanted something more substantial, so we walked for a while down Madison Avenue (still no restaurants). Eventually we came to a little place, barely noticable, called Coco Pazzo. It was 2:45 at this point, and their lunch kitchen was closing at 3:00, but they graciously seated us. I have to say that without a doubt, that meal was one of my "Hall of Fame" meals. Simply unbelievable. I had veal scallopini that was sheer perfection. We had some great wine, good company, great desserts (we all shared), and the whole restaurant to ourselves. Our waiter was just great. I truly didn't want the meal to end, it was THAT good. So if you're ever in NYC and looking for a great meal on the East Side, check them out.
We then headed to FAO Schwartz, 'cuz you have to when you're in NYC, even if you don't have kids. We bought a couple of things for M&L (which were big hits, by the way), then caught a cab to Macy's.
NYC has truly got the cab thing down. Those yellow cars are EVERYWHERE. And hailing one is just like on TV; just raise your hand and one appears. It's a real power trip. But then you have to close your eyes when it gets moving, or else you fear your life will end in the next minute. I don't know how they keep from having an accident every 20 seconds; they don't stay in any form of a lane, and sometimes they just go tearing off through this miniscule openings that you think there's no way we're fitting through that! But somehow, you always arrive safe and sound (but a tad grayer) at your destination.
Once at Macy's we decided to see just how many floors there are. It's supposedly the biggest store in the world (or at least was once), but we had no idea HOW big. Can I tell you that that store is NINE, I repeat, NINE, stories tall?!!!! We just kept going up and up, expecting around the fourth floor for each to be the last. Nope. On and on, higher and higher. When we got to the furniture dept on the NINTH floor, we sat down and had to call someone just to tell them that we were on the ninth floor of the NYC Macy's. I know, how dorky can you get? But NINE FLOORS?! And very cool - as you go higher and higher, the escalators get older. By the sixth floor or so, the escalators are wooden. They still work just fine, but I guess they get less wear and tear since fewer people probably venture up to the top floors. Just us touristy geeks that want to see how high we can go.
We rode the elevator back down.
By that time, it was time to collect our luggage and head to the train station. We arrived very tired and with sore feet. When we got home, we found that our new kitchen/family room area had been drywalled, so it's starting to look more like a real room. The kids were safe and happy in bed, and I did the same shortly thereafter.
I love New York.......could NEVER in a gazillion years live there, but I sure love to visit.
(Footnote to my last post re: things I want to do in my life - I want to do a cross country train trip some day. It takes about 3 days, but I would like to take the rail trip from DC to Seattle, via Montana and the upper Rockies. Not with small children, however.)
So we got to NYC and dumped our stuff at the hotel (The Hotel New Yorker, right across from Madison Square Garden. Clean, convenient, and relatively cheap for NYC). We went and had lunch at the Stage Door Deli next door. Great food, but too much of it! We were stuffed. Then we played tourist and took one of the Gray Line bus tours through the downtown area. I've been to NYC a few times, but have never ventured down past about 30th St. The tour, which is a hop-on, hop-off type of tour, was cheap and had a tour guide. We sat up on the top, exposed level of the bus until we couldn't stand the cold any longer. We went through Chinatown, Greenwich Village, Chelsea, SoHo, past Ground Zero (we didn't get off - there's really not much to see there anymore), past the Brooklyn Bridge, then back up the East Side, past the UN. It took a couple of hours to do that, and we didn't even get off the bus! We went back to the hotel and got ready for the show.
The main purpose of the trip was to go see "The Odd Couple", with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. We had seen them a couple of years ago in "The Producers", and just loved them, so when the opportunity presented itself last summer to get Odd Couple tickets, we jumped. And boy, oh boy, did we have great seats. Fourth row back, dead center stage. The actors could have spit on us, had they the desire. Now, Odd Couple hasn't exactly bowled the critics over; basically Lane and Broderick are rehashing variations of their standard characters; Lane is hyper and messy, Broderick uptight and whiney. But hey, it works. We had a blast.
And can I just say that Broadway theatres are just the coolest?! They aren't very big, and all of them have been lovingly restored at some point over the years. So many details; they just don't make em like that anymore.
After the show, we headed to Times Square, where we got something to eat at Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co. As far as I'm concerned, I don't ever need to eat there again. It was a perfectly boring meal.
Okay, back to the hotel for a terrible night's sleep (our room was right next to the elevators). We had breakfast at a diner the next morning, then headed out to do the Gray Line tour of Uptown. We got off at Lincoln Center because I wanted to pop in on a flute guy that I bought my piccolo from, Phil Unger at Flute Center of NY. Once we found his place, he was really nice. Even took mine and hubby's picture. I think that's the prize for actually FINDING him; it's not easy. Anyway, my companions were very patient with my one flute-thing that I had to do while I was there. My other trips to NYC have been to take a lesson with my teacher, Bart Feller, who is principal in the NJ Symphony and the NY City Opera. Turns out he lives directly across the street from Phil's shop. I had NO idea, or I would have stopped in sooner.
We hopped back on the bus and toured around the upper West Side (sheesh, the money!), then to Harlem, then down to Museum Mile, where we got off at the Met Museum of Art. We wanted to get some lunch at that point, but guess what? Certain parts of NYC, most notably to us at the point, the exact part WE were in, have NO restaurants. None, zip, nada, zilch. If you want to eat, it's a sidewalk vendor. We really wanted something more substantial, so we walked for a while down Madison Avenue (still no restaurants). Eventually we came to a little place, barely noticable, called Coco Pazzo. It was 2:45 at this point, and their lunch kitchen was closing at 3:00, but they graciously seated us. I have to say that without a doubt, that meal was one of my "Hall of Fame" meals. Simply unbelievable. I had veal scallopini that was sheer perfection. We had some great wine, good company, great desserts (we all shared), and the whole restaurant to ourselves. Our waiter was just great. I truly didn't want the meal to end, it was THAT good. So if you're ever in NYC and looking for a great meal on the East Side, check them out.
We then headed to FAO Schwartz, 'cuz you have to when you're in NYC, even if you don't have kids. We bought a couple of things for M&L (which were big hits, by the way), then caught a cab to Macy's.
NYC has truly got the cab thing down. Those yellow cars are EVERYWHERE. And hailing one is just like on TV; just raise your hand and one appears. It's a real power trip. But then you have to close your eyes when it gets moving, or else you fear your life will end in the next minute. I don't know how they keep from having an accident every 20 seconds; they don't stay in any form of a lane, and sometimes they just go tearing off through this miniscule openings that you think there's no way we're fitting through that! But somehow, you always arrive safe and sound (but a tad grayer) at your destination.
Once at Macy's we decided to see just how many floors there are. It's supposedly the biggest store in the world (or at least was once), but we had no idea HOW big. Can I tell you that that store is NINE, I repeat, NINE, stories tall?!!!! We just kept going up and up, expecting around the fourth floor for each to be the last. Nope. On and on, higher and higher. When we got to the furniture dept on the NINTH floor, we sat down and had to call someone just to tell them that we were on the ninth floor of the NYC Macy's. I know, how dorky can you get? But NINE FLOORS?! And very cool - as you go higher and higher, the escalators get older. By the sixth floor or so, the escalators are wooden. They still work just fine, but I guess they get less wear and tear since fewer people probably venture up to the top floors. Just us touristy geeks that want to see how high we can go.
We rode the elevator back down.
By that time, it was time to collect our luggage and head to the train station. We arrived very tired and with sore feet. When we got home, we found that our new kitchen/family room area had been drywalled, so it's starting to look more like a real room. The kids were safe and happy in bed, and I did the same shortly thereafter.
I love New York.......could NEVER in a gazillion years live there, but I sure love to visit.
Monday, March 20, 2006
Ponderings on Life
For some reason, I've lately been pondering life, and more specifically, MY life. I don't know why; I'm not ill, and am happy, but just thinking about my life in general. Things like: How do I want to be remembered? What would I do differently if given the chance? What would I like to do before I die that I haven't yet? Stuff like that.
Does this mean I'm finally a grown-up? Does wondering about such things qualify one as such? Funny, I really don't feel grown up yet.
Anyway, I don't think I would do anything differently if given a "do-over". Only little things (which, in the end, are big things), like being more patient, having more time for my kids, less judgmental. The biggies are keepers. Even what I would consider my life's two biggest mistakes I wouldn't change. One gave me one of my kids, and the other (changing my college major from music to accounting) allowed me to achieve financial freedom, and led me directly to the path I'm now on. If I had continued on in music, I most likely would have always struggled for money, may not have ever had children, and would not now be able to play just for the love of it. I most definitely wouldn't have met my husband, since I met him on a business trip. I wonder if I'd be as content in my life as I am now. What it boils down to is this: everything in our life, good and bad, leads us to where we are today. If you're happy today, then all the bad was not only necessay to get you there, but part of who you are, and you shouldn't want to change anything.
As for what do I want to do still? Definitely travel more. I want to get to Europe before I'm too old to enjoy it. Australia, Africa, and Russia are also big on my list. I'm still thinking about the rest of my wish list. I always wanted to get my pilot's license. I have an innate love of airplanes and airports (thanks to my Air Force Dad!); since I was very little, I was fascinated by airplanes and have always wanted to learn to fly. I even took a few lessons years ago, but it's expensive, and since I've had kids, the idea sort of fell by the wayside. I may never get to fly them myself, but will always love to be around them. The first time I ever flew on a Boeing 777, I thought I was in airplane-geek heaven.
Kind of deep today; sorry. I guess I sort of had to vent. Tomorrow, hubby and I (along w/ another couple) are off to the Big Apple. Woohoo! We're going to see "The Odd Couple" and play tourist for a couple of days. My wonderful in-laws are watching the kids for us. Be back on Thursday!
Toodles
Does this mean I'm finally a grown-up? Does wondering about such things qualify one as such? Funny, I really don't feel grown up yet.
Anyway, I don't think I would do anything differently if given a "do-over". Only little things (which, in the end, are big things), like being more patient, having more time for my kids, less judgmental. The biggies are keepers. Even what I would consider my life's two biggest mistakes I wouldn't change. One gave me one of my kids, and the other (changing my college major from music to accounting) allowed me to achieve financial freedom, and led me directly to the path I'm now on. If I had continued on in music, I most likely would have always struggled for money, may not have ever had children, and would not now be able to play just for the love of it. I most definitely wouldn't have met my husband, since I met him on a business trip. I wonder if I'd be as content in my life as I am now. What it boils down to is this: everything in our life, good and bad, leads us to where we are today. If you're happy today, then all the bad was not only necessay to get you there, but part of who you are, and you shouldn't want to change anything.
As for what do I want to do still? Definitely travel more. I want to get to Europe before I'm too old to enjoy it. Australia, Africa, and Russia are also big on my list. I'm still thinking about the rest of my wish list. I always wanted to get my pilot's license. I have an innate love of airplanes and airports (thanks to my Air Force Dad!); since I was very little, I was fascinated by airplanes and have always wanted to learn to fly. I even took a few lessons years ago, but it's expensive, and since I've had kids, the idea sort of fell by the wayside. I may never get to fly them myself, but will always love to be around them. The first time I ever flew on a Boeing 777, I thought I was in airplane-geek heaven.
Kind of deep today; sorry. I guess I sort of had to vent. Tomorrow, hubby and I (along w/ another couple) are off to the Big Apple. Woohoo! We're going to see "The Odd Couple" and play tourist for a couple of days. My wonderful in-laws are watching the kids for us. Be back on Thursday!
Toodles
Saturday, March 18, 2006
The joy of Legos and Tchaikovsky
M&L have just, and I mean just, discovered the joy of spending hours building things with Legos. Now, they've had legos since they were itty-bitty (inherited from older brothers), but during the past couple of days, they're spending hours at a time building. L even built a fire engine USING THE DIRECTIONS. I was impressed. Of course, about 5 minutes after he came and showed it to me, he proceeded to drop it on the foyer floor, which sent it into a gazillion pieces. After a few minutes of sobs, and some serious mommy-hugs, he pulled himself together and re-built it. I kept telling him that that's the cool thing about Legos - you can always rebuild anything that falls apart or is, ahem, destroyed by your sister.
Reminds me of when Matt, my 22-year old stepson, was about 10 years old. He would build these amazingly complex and intricate creations, then put them away for what seemed like forever. E, who was about 5 at the time, would find them, and proceed to, egads, cannibalize them for HIS creations. Matt would, without fail, fall into hysterics of mammoth proportions. It was unbelievable the tantrum he would throw about these things. We really just had to sit back and laugh at him, it was just that ridiculous.
The Legos that M&L are now playing with, well, at least some of them, were hubby's when he was a kid. See, Legos are stupidly expensive, but we stick it to the company by holding on to the stupid pieces for 40 years. That'll show em.
Okay, now to the joy of Tchaikovsky part. I just got home from playing a concert as second flute for the Prince Georges Philharmonic. The concert was themed around Shakespeare - music from Othello, The Tempest, Twelth Night, and of course, Romeo & Juliet (that's the one Mr. T wrote). R&J is the very famous tune that most people recognize, whether they listen to classical music or not. Anway, it was a blast. The orchestra played really well tonight, with only some minor intonation problems. But jeesh, everyone seemed to be in a contest to outblow each other! Why is it, that during performances, this orchestra plays louder than they ever do in rehearsals? Which, as a result, makes the pitch go sharp, and causes the intonation problems. Oh well, I guess that's the difference between us and an orchestra where the players actually get paid for their efforts. (I'm not complaining, trust me. I love to play, whether I'm paid or not). And lest I forget, the county executive (in other words, head dude of Prince Georges County) was there. VERY important for a county-funded orchestra. So I'm glad we played well for him.
Reminds me of when Matt, my 22-year old stepson, was about 10 years old. He would build these amazingly complex and intricate creations, then put them away for what seemed like forever. E, who was about 5 at the time, would find them, and proceed to, egads, cannibalize them for HIS creations. Matt would, without fail, fall into hysterics of mammoth proportions. It was unbelievable the tantrum he would throw about these things. We really just had to sit back and laugh at him, it was just that ridiculous.
The Legos that M&L are now playing with, well, at least some of them, were hubby's when he was a kid. See, Legos are stupidly expensive, but we stick it to the company by holding on to the stupid pieces for 40 years. That'll show em.
Okay, now to the joy of Tchaikovsky part. I just got home from playing a concert as second flute for the Prince Georges Philharmonic. The concert was themed around Shakespeare - music from Othello, The Tempest, Twelth Night, and of course, Romeo & Juliet (that's the one Mr. T wrote). R&J is the very famous tune that most people recognize, whether they listen to classical music or not. Anway, it was a blast. The orchestra played really well tonight, with only some minor intonation problems. But jeesh, everyone seemed to be in a contest to outblow each other! Why is it, that during performances, this orchestra plays louder than they ever do in rehearsals? Which, as a result, makes the pitch go sharp, and causes the intonation problems. Oh well, I guess that's the difference between us and an orchestra where the players actually get paid for their efforts. (I'm not complaining, trust me. I love to play, whether I'm paid or not). And lest I forget, the county executive (in other words, head dude of Prince Georges County) was there. VERY important for a county-funded orchestra. So I'm glad we played well for him.
Friday, March 17, 2006
Happy St Patty's Day!
My daughter told me this morning that today was her favorite day of the year. I asked her about Christmas - "oh yeah, after Christmas". No way was wearing green going to outscore Santa. I'm trying to think of green stuff we can eat for dinner tonight, that the kids will eat. Maybe I'll dye their milk green. Then they probably wouldn't drink it, with my luck.
We're getting very frustrated with the renovation right now. For some reason, we've been getting an inspector that just has a hair up his you-know-what, and fails the project for some stupid little unknown reason. All of our contractors (all well respected) are just baffled; they've never seen this before. To make it worse, the guy goes down his list until he hits the first problem, then stops there. So we fix that problem, then he comes back, and gets to the next problem, fails the project, etc. We've been at this for a couple of weeks. The stuff he's failing us for is just ridiculously stupid; no one we know has ever heard of such things. If it fails again today, our contractor is going straight to the county to get to the bottom of this. We've got all our cabinets sitting still in the boxes, and the appliances were delivered last weekend. We just need a finished space to put them in!
Two sayings spring to mind: 1) Good things come to those who wait, 2) If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
THIS JUST IN - WE PASSED!!!!! WOOHOO!! HAPPY DANCE! The inspector came early this morning (we didn't even know he was here), and passed us. So Monday they start the insulating and then the drywall, and all the other stuff that will make it look like a REAL kitchen. Yay!
We're getting very frustrated with the renovation right now. For some reason, we've been getting an inspector that just has a hair up his you-know-what, and fails the project for some stupid little unknown reason. All of our contractors (all well respected) are just baffled; they've never seen this before. To make it worse, the guy goes down his list until he hits the first problem, then stops there. So we fix that problem, then he comes back, and gets to the next problem, fails the project, etc. We've been at this for a couple of weeks. The stuff he's failing us for is just ridiculously stupid; no one we know has ever heard of such things. If it fails again today, our contractor is going straight to the county to get to the bottom of this. We've got all our cabinets sitting still in the boxes, and the appliances were delivered last weekend. We just need a finished space to put them in!
Two sayings spring to mind: 1) Good things come to those who wait, 2) If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
THIS JUST IN - WE PASSED!!!!! WOOHOO!! HAPPY DANCE! The inspector came early this morning (we didn't even know he was here), and passed us. So Monday they start the insulating and then the drywall, and all the other stuff that will make it look like a REAL kitchen. Yay!
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