from flip flops to snow boots

Saturday night my family and I returned from Florida. We had a fabulous time and a well needed break. Just before we left Brooke came down with croup and missed most of the week of school. Going to Florida for a week was a perfect remedy.

We stayed with my good friend Julie and her family in Boca Raton. They have a great house and a pool that the kids had a blast in. Highlights included Parrot Jungle and lunch at Big Pinks in South Beach. Disney World, Kennedy Space Center and adults dinner out at Gotham City back in Boca. The weather was great, most days in the mid 70's to low 80's. We only had one rainy day which was Friday, but we did manage to hang out with Seth and Erika and family that day. The kids had fun walking on the beach, avoiding washed up jelly fish and collecting coconuts (Andrew). A good time was definatley had by all.

HOWEVER. Today and into this evening we are supposed to get around 4-6 inches of snow! Gimmie a break! Maybe it would have been easier to take had I not been in tropical weather last week. I can definatley see the benefits of being a snowbird.

the best show on television

I would like to tell you about the best show on television. You may be thinking that I am going to wax poetic about how great Desperate Housewives is or how fantastic the latest incarnation of The Bachelorette is. Firstly, Desperate Housewives looks nothing like the domestic life I lead and secondly, I have a deep loathing for all shows "reality".

I have nothing against using television as escapism,(I am a tremendous Spongebob fan) but if you want to improve your general understanding of the world we live in, there is no better show on television than Frontline.

I have become a ravenous fan of this show. Last night the featured program was all about the Saudi Royal family called The House of Saud. It outlined the history of the Saudi Royal family and explained the relationship between the Saudis and the United States. In short it was excellent. I learned so much, my brain actually felt like it had a workout. The web site link has streaming video so you can catch the show online if you happened to miss the broadcast.

Some of my favorite past shows include: The Choice 2004, The Man Who Knew, The Secret History of the Credit Card and Is Wal-Mart Good For America? The Choice 2004 was broadcast in October of 2004 right before the election. I learned more about each candidate from that show than I did watching all three of the debates, cnn, reading Newsweek or any other media outlet. (I am a huge political junkie, and I catch alot!) It was so comprehensive and detailed, it should have been required viewing for anyone who is of voting age. The Man Who Knew was a stunning biography of a man named John O'Neill an FBI agent who specialized in terrorism, especially Al Qaeda. In short, he tried to warn his bosses about the impending threat of Al Qaeda and of course nobody wanted to listen to him. They viewed him as a renegade and basically had him removed from the FBI. Ironically, he went on to a job in security with the Port Authority at the World Trade Center.

I suggest you find a block of time when the kids aren't around or your boss will be in a long meeting and watch one of the episodes on streaming video. You will be glad you did.

And in case you are wondering, yes, I am a huge Daily Show fan as well. Jon Stewart rocks!!

under the freakin weather

So for the last few days I have been running a fever and had a headache. The same symptoms my children complained of the last 2 weeks. Andrew was sick 2 weeks ago and Brooke was sick last week. And here I thought I would skate through this winter without illness. Oh well, at least my latest client had her baby 2 weeks ago. It does make it hard to do post partum visits.

I am also counting down the days until we head for Florida. We are staying with friends for part of the trip and then heading to the town of Mouse for a few days. I can't believe that I am going there. The kids will have fun.

Today was also adventures in puppy class. I have enrolled Milo our (almost) 5 month old golden retreiver mix in a puppy kindergarten class. He is the biggest dog in the class (weighing in at 42 pounds) He looked pretty funny next to the weiner dog. I think he will be easy to train. He is eager and motivated by the string cheese that I cut up for his training treats. I know it will be a matter of being consistent. Oh yes, and doing our homework.

birthdays and basketball

So today my daughter turned four. It was a crazy day from start to finish, but I did find myself reflecting on her birth this morning. She was born at 9:54am so as the morning went by I tried to remember the details of her birth. When the hour finally did strike, I was observing her in her montessori class room. I was a little in awe as I watched her walk around the circle and serve her classmates the banana muffins we made. As a doula I am surrounded by birth a lot, but obviously my kids' births are my favorites. Even my son's which was extremely hard and resulted in a vacuum extraction, I still can look on with fondness.

The hilarious part of my day was this afternoon. I am a basketball coach. I have to admit right here, I have no earthly idea what I am doing. I have never played organized basketball, yet I am coaching kindergartners. I did have a good time however. The kids are excited, eager and relatively well behaved. We ran drills and everything!

Off to bed. A long day of birthday celebrations and athletic practices really takes it out of me.

Thougths from the fog part deux

Have spent the last couple of days mostly at home. My (almost) 4 yo dd has been home sick with a fever. She was supposed to go to a friend's birthday party tonight, but won't be able to now. Such a bummer. This is one of her best friends at school.

I did manage to get out to the grocery store last night. I grabbed a few things for lunches and some jello to make dd feel better. Then as I was checking out, I was able to do one of my favorite things. I love standing in line and checking out what other people are buying. I love to create scenarios in my head about their uses. Are all these things going to be used at once? Immediately when they get home? Or are they more long range purchases? So yesterday while I was in line at Meijer, this is what the guy behind me had: 3 cans of Alpo, 1 Pay Day candy bar, a fifth of J & B scotch and a brand new alarm clock. Now I ask you, doesn't your mind just reel with the possibilities?!!?

Surfing around I found this. Good news is I have 50 years left. Click on the image to find out when you will die.