Monday, August 27, 2012

Full Time..

It's official.. I now have 4 kids in school, full time. Dang. It's bitter sweet..but  mostly sweet (shh, don't tell them, k?)
It doesn't mean, however, that I am alone. I am still watching my sisters kids. Her boys won't be in kindergarten until next fall, but they will be attending pre school 4 days a week. From 11-2. It'll be up to my mom and I to transport them to and fro their bus stop 20 minutes away. Am I looking forward to this? No. Why am I doing it? Because I'm a sucker for my sister, that's why.  ;)
I spent yesterday trying to find the floor in my girls room. It took most of the day, but was well worth it. We spent the day before that school shopping. That was awesome, like a pap smear is awesome, or a root canal. Thankfully, my girls only required a few things, crayons, glue sticks and other cheap items. My oldest son, who is now in the 7th grade (holy shite!!) went with a list of school supplies longer than the one he used to mail to Santa. When I was in school, back to school shopping was all about the clothes. Fresh, new, name brand clothes that I wasn't allowed to wear until school started. He only wanted new sneakers and a couple of t shirts. He's a no nonsense kind of kid, and I adore him for that.  He was so excited to get back to school, and back to learning. He's something else that kid. I'm not sure where he gets his love for learning, but I am not questioning it, I am just going with it. My youngest son who started 4th grade this morning, was begging me to home school him. If I thought I could do it, I would..however, I can completely picture the scenario in my head.. "mom, I don't wanna work today".. "yea, me neither..let's get lunch!" He would learn as much as he claims he needs to learn...which apparently is just reading. What else could he possibly need in life besides reading? Why does he need to know math, or science? He won't need it when he's a professional baseball player. It's hard for me not to agree with him, and even harder to hear, because I had the same exact attitude when I was his age. It's my mission this year to get him into learning, and to be excited about it. It's probably a mission I will totally fuck up, but I'm gonna give it my best college drop out shot!
Last night, as I was getting my girls ready for bed, one of them started crying. She didn't want to go to school. She was scared. Meanwhile, her sisters sitting on the bed saying "I can't wait to go to school" which only makes the other one cry harder. Last year, on the first morning of kindergarten, she woke up puking. Nerves. This morning, when they got up, and had breakfast, the puker goes "should I get dressed now?" All excited.. "um, sure" And it went on smoothly like that until the bus came. Unbelievable.
So, here I am, with my sister's 3 kids (her daughter won't start 2nd grade til Wednesday). It's weird. Our summer was spent with all 7 of our kids at my house, playing, fighting, swimming, more fighting, more swimming..making me crazy..but for the most part, creating memories that they will hopefully carry with them long into adulthood. The summers they played at Camp Fernandes, will hopefully be some of the best they have!

Tuesday, August 07, 2012

Mumford and Sons..

This past weekend, I got to see my favorite band..ever, my boys.. Mumford and Sons. It was their 3rd time in the northeast, and my 3rd time seeing them. The first time I saw them, they were unknown. That was the only reason I got to meet them and why they got a kick out of me, their self professed number one fan. They were on the verge of becoming huge, which is what I told them..amongst other things that honestly, I don't quite remember.. I was as sauced as sauced gets, and besides mentioning the banjo player's "schlong" (yup, that's what I called it) in a photo from their website, and telling them that their music makes me cry, the rest is a blur.
The second time I saw them was at a slightly larger venue, only 6 months later. The show was better than the first and the energy from the crowd to the band, and back was intense. They were gaining ground, and clearly the majority of the audience had been listening to their album and knew they wouldn't see this band at a venue like that again.
When I heard they would back in New England again, I promptly got on line the morning the tickets went on sale and quickly grabbed two..shortly before they sold out. They were touring with several other bands, in a show called Gentlemen of the Road. It was a beautiful day in Portland, a city I love. They played at the Eastern Promenade, an outside venue on Casco Bay. The backdrop was gorgeous, and despite the hot August day, the breeze off the ocean cooled us all down. There were about 15,000 people there..about 14,998 more people than I would have preferred, but as usual, they played an amazing set and the crowd adored them, not as much as me..but whatever, I couldn't help but feel the love everyone had for them, and I understood it.
I ran into an old college roommate while I was there, and his wife. That was a highlight. A low light would have been running into a douchebag while waiting to pee in one of the many port a potties (which btw, were located clear across the park, far far away from the "beer gardens", on top of a huge hill, that could have been planned out better, but whatev's). Anyway, while waiting in line, this dumb, young douche thought it would be funny to "stamp" girls in line. There were girls all around me with stamps on their arms.. I have no idea what the stamp was, something to do with the band, but for whatever reason, this assbag stood next to me, and stamped my cheek, which I promptly, unintentionally, smeared off because I had no idea what he had just done. I did get him back though..I watched to see which one of the several dozen port a potties he went into, then locked him in it with a twist tie that had been left behind to secure the doors later when they were transported away. I got into one a couple down from him, and then listened to him struggle to get out. He did. But it wasn't easy, and I'm pretty sure one of his buddies had to help him. Yes, I can be a vindictive bitch. But I thought it was funny..what a dub.
I can't wait to see them again, and to get their highly anticipated (at least by me) new album that comes out Sept. 24th. I'm happy for their success, I really am. They deserve it. But sometimes I'm not a fan of sharing..yes, I know I sound like a 3 year old..but I can't help it. At least I still have my dreams, in which they visit me often..and are always doing a private show for me. Sometimes I am the luckiest girl around!! ;)
This is the picture I had seen on their blog, and brought up to Winston "Country" Marshall.. he blamed it on lighting, and I told him that I appreciated his modesty. jeesh.. too bad I had forgotten about that part of our conversation!!

Wednesday, August 01, 2012

What's that smell??

I have been asked by Better Homes and Gardens to come up with a scent that best represents my home state of New Hampshire. They are teaming up with Walmart, to promote their line of wax cubes, and for whatever reason, (most likely because if you google anything about NH blogs, mine isn't too far down the list!) however, ignoring that fact, they have asked me to be the smell ambassador.. so to speak. I was given 2 days notice, and $35 in Walmart gift cards, to purchase some of their scented wax cubes and a wax warmer. It was my job to combined and concoct the perfect smell for State #9.
This was very flattering to me, as I haven't done much with my poor pathetic blog lately, but sure, why not! I trucked on down to the Walmaht,  (one of my most favorite stores) and picked up a bunch of wax cubes, and a candle warmer.
It was a challenge coming up with what NH smells like. I mean, right now, when I go outside, it smells like shit. Big piles of freshly thrown down cow shit. It's disgusting, and I certainly wouldn't buy any sort of wax cube that replicated that smell. So, I took to facebook, and asked for some creative help from some of the 350+ "friends" that I have. The response was overwhelming, and hysterical. And pretty much right on. My favorites included the summertime aroma of paving, called "traffic" or a tax free shopping center which usually smells like cigarettes and b.o. The suggestions were endless! And mostly along those lines..
I decided to try and represent the best NH has to offer. I was surprised at how much our little state has, it's not often I think about it, and I guess living here all my life, has made me take it for granite (no pun intended btw). So, we have beaches (only 13 miles of it, but whatev's, the people from Massivetwoshits seem to love it anyway!) We have mountains, with some of the best skiing, snowboarding and hiking in the Northeast. We have lakes, gorgeous lakes. And we have leaves. Leaves that every fall change a million different colors and attract a million different people. There is quite a plethora of touristy things to do. But again, I'm coming up with a smell, right? Well, here's my brilliant idea "The Four Seasons Of NH". It's a layered waxed cube, with the first layer representing the winter in NH "Snowy Evergreen Forest", the second paying homage to the spring, and our lovely state flower "French Lilac". The third for our teeny weeny little coastline "Ocean Flowers" and finally the 4th layer, and my least favorite season-Fall with "Warm Autumn Welcome".
I mixed this up, and it actually smells really good. It goes from cold winter, to spring, to our quick summer, and topped off by the spicy smell of fall.
So, all you douches reading this, better head over to facebook and "like" Better Homes and Gardens, and vote for me! Did I mention the prize? You didn't think I was doing this for nothing did ya? The grand prize winner, the blogger that gets the most votes, gets an all expense paid trip to visit the Better Homes and Gardens Headquarters..located in lovely Iowa. A state I have always wanted to visit.. yup, a-ha, that's right.
And just so you know, if you go and vote for NH, you will be entered in to win your very own wax warmer, and 6 wax cubes! Go on now, what are you waiting for?? go here, and simply click on the sweepstakes tab, and find the tiny little state of NH, and VOTE!