No breakfast in bed

We had a busy but nice weekend. Friday started out at Kaiser pediatrics to uncover the mystery behind Max's horrendous two-day headache. No answers but at least it wasn't the swine flu/H1N1. Nor was it a head injury. Just some sort of weird virus that gives a nasty headache and extreme exhaustion.

Lucky for me, Max woke up Friday afternoon refreshed and mostly back to his old self making it much easier to leave him with a babysitter, with the least amount of guilt. Friday night was the Blame Sally CD release party and BZ got to play backup on a bunch of songs so I really wanted to be there.
Backstage, where I was not allowed, yes, I am a wee bit bitter (long story), they had hair and makeup people for the Sallies. Someone had a brainstorm and suggested BZ get his hair done too. He was game and within no time, his hair was straight. And brushed straight down on the sides of his face. Nice. Kind of a 70's metal look. Or, more like a bad wig on a transgender fellow/woman. Here's the thing, BZ has beautiful hair whether it's straight or curly, and, he's a good looking guy, but they styled his hair like a girl. And, that didn't work so well on his head. Next morning it looked a bit better after sleeping on it.
The concert was great, I mean to say, Blame Sally was fantastic, it was a near sold out Palace of Fine Arts (that place seats around 1000). I am so happy for Monica, she has worked so hard for this....
Anyhoo, went to a kid birthday party on Saturday afternoon and stayed into the evening drinking Margaritas getting an early start on Mother's Day. And, good thing since on Mother's Day, I got exactly 20 minutes of Mother's Day attention, from 7:40 am to 8 am. I'll take it where I can. And in addition to the candle holder from Aiden, the flower pot from Max and his two beautiful cards, I also ended up getting new cushions for our patio chairs. Now I know this isn't standard and I should have probably gotten breakfast in bed, but really, breakfast in bed would probably lead to more laundry and perhaps be more trouble than its worth (I'm remembering the baked pancakes from a few years ago).

I don't need no stinkin' pancakes, look at my chairs!!!

New York

I love a good surprise. On a very last minute whim, I booked a ticket to NY for a weekend to surprise my parents a week after their 50th anniversary. There was a dinner party planned for them and I didn't want to miss it.

I arrived late Friday night, almost midnight, Auntie Evelyn picked me up at the crazy hip new Jetblue terminal and we returned to her home in Harlem. Evelyn lives in this tiny spot of Harlem Renaissance history that has mostly been frozen in time. She lives on Jumel Terrace across from the Jumel Mansion, which now has classes for kids on all sorts of things like gardening, and anything to keep them interested and off the streets. The mansion itself is now a museum.

You might be able to notice in the pictures that the streets are still cobblestone. How cool is that? Apparently not very since they don't get quite the attention they need and it can really mess up the bottom of a car on the bumpy parts. I still think its cool.

These houses aren't as nice as the ones across from the mansion which really are the most amazing brownstones from the late 1800's (didn't get a good photo though).

On Saturday, I visited with my old friend David in Chelsea and we had a great time catching up. Always good to be reminded of your past 15+ years later. It was as if no time had past.

Finally, Evelyn and I took the subway down to the restaurant in the late afternoon, getting there crazy early to prepay the garage for my parents. but of course, since my parents are always about 5 hours early to everything, "just in case," they were entering the garage as we were leaving. My dad drove right by me, but my mom was standing right at the entrance to the street. It seems in retrospect, that I could have walked right by her and not been seen but I was stunned and couldn't move. She looked right through me even though I was two feet away and finally she sort of recognized me in an equally stunned way. After a quick "I love you" hug, I ran off to hide from my father.

When my parents arrived at Cafe Des Artistes, they sat at the bar waiting for Evelyn, who they were supposedly meeting for dinner. The maitre' de offered to bring them to their table which they declined, saying they would wait. The maitre'de got grumpy and insisted that they sit and brought them to a table for two, which they found confusing. Luckily, a few minutes later, Evelyn and I, along with two of their oldest, closest friends came in, this is finally the surprise part, and yes, they were surprised. Just like my mom, my dad looked right through me, as well as his best friend from college, not even seeing us. We discussed later that the term for this was "cognitive dissonance." I only mention this since the discussion was led by a tipsy therapist, old friend of my mom's from grad school.


I know, crappy picture but we're still waiting for the real photos to arrive. My parents are on the far left, Dad in front, my mom sitting next to me. It was a perfect dinner. Great old stories, lots of laughing and very happy parents. As shy as my mom can be, she really loved being celebrated. By the way, the restaurant is so beautiful, the food is great and well, it was indeed perfect.

I spent Sunday in Nyack doing what we usually do together, eat, buy yarn, discuss books, watch 60 minutes. I was exhausted by the end of the day, but did not want to go to bed since that would mark the end of the day and my return home.

We left the house at the crack of dawn Monday morning, got to the airport with PLENTY of time to spare. Boy, I sure wish I lived closer.

Fruit strip

Monday afternoons I pick up Max from school and we go to our "special
place," a cute little cafe on the way back to the car.

So great to hear the after school stories, just us.

Happy 50th Anniversary!!!

My parents have been married for 50 years. They got married April 25th, 1959. Wow. I have to say I find that pretty impressive. Mostly, because they seem so happy together. They've been through good and terrible times and then some more stuff in the middle. And, today, its really amazing to see how contented they are together. 50 years have done wonders for them.

I felt kind of bad that we couldn't put together a big family party so I put together a family video. Don't feel like you need to watch it but I am going to attach it for those related and those willing to put up with a long family video of goofy smiles and very bad singing.

Anyway, here's to love and partnership. I look forward to as many of those years with BZ and of course with my kids, family and friends.

I warned you:

Happy 50th Anniversary!!!

I do it

"I do it!!" is a popular phrase in our household. In the photo, Aiden is preparing his own oatmeal (not the microwave part).

Aiden is a very independent fellow at 3 years old. He has tantrums if we don't let him do everything for himself. This can be frustrating when behind schedule, which is my usual state. I admire the independent streak but wondered why it didn't translate to potty training. Most of his fellow preschool buddies seem to be in big kid underwear while he's still in pullups with no interest.

Until now. About a week ago, I decided to begin again. From scratch. With better bribes. And a schedule of sorts. And consistency.

So, bribery still doesn't work BUT the celebratory dancing do. He loves the "Aiden pooped in the potty!" song and dance. He loves the honor of getting to use toilet paper and running water in the sink.

As of today, he is starting to run to the potty on his own. He's been in Madagascar undies all day, without an accident.

I'm thinking we might be completely out of diapers by summer. Wow. No more baby boy.

House of Doom

So its been almost 2 years and the house next door is still not built. Three owners later, there is 1/2 of a house. When we first moved to our Oakland home, there was a hill of trees next to us with a "For Sale" sign. I hoped it would stay that way.

A few months later, late spring of 2007, someone, a contractor, purchased the property along with the blueprints for a 3000 sq ft home. He had big plans. He bragged it would be on the cover of Sunset magazine with a waterfall going through the living room. We just asked that he start by building a foundation in the two-story mud pit he dug and left empty next to our home.

After multiple complaints to the city, he was threatened with fines and loss of permits if he didn't keep building so to his credit, he began to build a foundation. Then he stopped. Ran out of money. His ex-wife's fault. He says.

Owner # 3 came along last year, last summer maybe. At this point, we have all been staring at this big gaping muddy hole with a partial foundation and a bright blue porta potty on the corner for over a year. So, we are happy to hear and see new owners. We secretly dream of a young family with children. Actually, the real dream is that they will tear out all that crap and fill in the dirt and replant the trees. Ha.

The new owners get to work immediately on the property. This is good. They leave for about a month around Thanksgiving. They sort of return. They begin again but then its raining. Its been many months with no activity but half of a structure of a house. Several big dirt moving vehicles and the very bright aqua potty still on the corner.

The news on the street is that the latest stop occurred when they got to the part of the plans where they begin to consider the roof and...well, they found that the plans don't work. Something is wrong and they need to redesign the house so that it can have a roof. Huh? Anything to do with a waterfall?

Its now mid-April and today they are back out there doing...something related to home building. I am thankful for the sound of hammers and a loud radio. Perhaps they will finish this year?

A day with Max

Max and I had a whole day together. We went to the movies, a bookstore
and a bite to eat. A really nice day.