Mom to the Screaming Masses

Updated shot of baby Riley

Updated shot of baby Riley 

25 things about The Hubster

25 things about The Hubster

I think, no, I KNOW, that I don't always give The Hubster the credit he's due. Yeah, he aggravates me a lot. He can't seem to figure out where the dirty dishes go, never mind the dirty laundry. He never thinks he's wrong, ever. I find myself repeating things over and over to him, and he never remembers when I tell him stuff. But, there's good about him too, and so, without furthur ado, I'd like to present some good stuff about The Hubster.

1) He is generous to a fault. It drives me crazy sometimes. We tithe our 10%, or fairly close to it, on a pretty regular basis. But, he will do above and beyond. He paid for his dad's car to be repainted - he told him he'd pay about $300, and it ended up costing $1000. He's having the seat in the same car repaired. He gives donations to any and all who ask, and even those who don't. The kids love to go shopping with him, since they always come home with new stuff. He helps out family members, with cash, bills, home repairs, and ear to listen. He never grumbles about it, like I do.

2)He makes me laugh, and laugh, and laugh. He is one of the funniest people that I've ever met. He's got a super sense of humor,and he has been the fodder for some of my best blog writing ever. Remember the poop story, and the super glue? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3) He has a gorgeous singing voice. He cantors every Sunday at the 7 a.m. Mass, and for weddings and funerals, if asked. He sings at home all time. He doesn't have the memory for the words, but, man, can he sing. People come up to me in the school parking lot all the time to compliment him.

4)He can fix anything. And I mean anything. Right after we were married, he decided that he wanted to have the locks on our apartment door rekeyed. He removed the handle and took the lock apart, laying all the pieces out on the table. He looked over at me, with a grin, and said "I've never done this before. I have no idea what I'm doing." Damned if it didn't come out perfect, and with two leftover parts. He can figure out how to repair or redo any thing that we ask him to do. Sometimes, it drives me crazy. I want to be able to do some of this stuff, and I can't, and he can. At least it gets done. He can build anything he wants, and it *always* comes out perfect. Sometimes, I hate him for this.

5) He is a great father. Despite the fact that he yells too much. I yell too much too. (As an aside, a new parent to the school asked me how she should prepare her daughter for the teacher she was assigned this year, one who has a rep for yelling. The mother said, "My child has never been yelled at!" either she's delusional, or we yell too much. Probably both.) Right now, he is walking Emma around the block on her bike, just so I can have some quiet time to write. He is buying a used Suburban, and the main reason is that the kids like it. He takes the kids for walks, and they always end up at 7-11, for slurpees and candy. He spends a lot of time doing things with the kids - swimming, bike riding, trips to the Y, the beach. He once ran a 1K with Nikolas, even though he wasn't in shape, just because Nikolas wanted to. We held up yellow tape for them to run through at the end of the race. He plays cars on the floor with Gabe whenever he's got a day off.

6) He is very religious. Way more so than me. In fact, he took a trip to Italy, to determine if he had a calling to the priesthood. Thank goodness for me he didn't! He runs a daily prayer group at his job, he holds a monthly rosary presentation at church. The presentation is complete with slides and dramatic readings. He lives his faith too - in fact, he does so more than some priests I know. He has an hour of Eucharistic Adoration, every Wednesday night from 11-12 p.m.

7) He can't dance. At all. Good grief, it was funny, the first time we went dancing. He moved from the waist up, with his feet planted firmly on the floor. I have seen him, though, do that dance move where you get down on the floor and twirl your legs around in a circle, through your arms and back. Kind of like clock hands, you know? Not a very clear explanation, but it's a twirly, spinny thing that I've seen rappers do. It made for a disturbingly funny photo.

8) He surprises me almost every day. There have been days when I have woken up to find the rooms repainted, or the furniture moved. Or the laundry folded, or ironing done. Or, he comes home with a treat for me, be it a cup of coffee or a cookie.

9) He constantly tells other people that I am a great mother.

10) He tells everyone that I'm much smarter than he is. May be true, may not.

11) He doesn't argue (usually) when I want to eat out.

12) He is a great employee. I'd hire him in a minute. He works longer hours than anyone else, staying after until all his paperwork is finished.
He holds great retention in his numbers, and his office is full of glowing letters from customers. In fact, I run into people all the time, who have done business with him, and they tell me how much they love him. It gets annoying, after a while, cuz no one loves me that much, but I'll get over it.

13)He is a neat freak. It drives me nuts, but our house does look pretty good.

14) Before we had children, when I worked in a tourist area, he came to pick me up when I worked late, just to drive me to my car.

15) He loves Italian foods. And chocolate chip cookies, and brownies with nuts. He taught me how to make eggplant parmigana, and now I make it better than he does.

16) He sleeps on the sofa almost every night, because he snores insanely and he knows it keeps me awake.

17) He could, and has, eaten an entire bag of Cheetos. And had the orange fingers to prove it the next day. Mackenzie once played a trick on him, and gave him the Shrek cheetos, the ones that turn your fingers and teeth green.

18) He grew up in a two family house, with 5 kids on the top floor and 9 on the bottom. In Queens.

19) He once let his brother take the blame for peeling the wallpaper off the wall, a fact that his brother still talks about to this day.

20) When he was a kid, he would flick his green vegetables behind the radiator.

21)I still can't get him to eat his vegetables.

22) He drinks a disgusting concoction every morning. Concord grape juice, canned unsalted peas, protein powder and a banana, all blended together. It looks like vomit, and smells worse. But, it's healthy!

23) He loves Carribbean, Hawaiian, and Mexican music.

24) Because his first wife was from the Dominican Republic, he speaks Spanish. And loves rice, with almost eveything. In fact, that is a standing joke here - "How did you like that meal?" "Well, it'd be better with rice."

25) He cried when each of our kids was born.

An exercise in stupidity This

An exercise in stupidity

This weekend, my mother took two of my girls to the mountains. They brought back a bunch of fresh apples. I had been craving apple cake, and was emailed a recipe for apple struesel cake yesterday. I figured that this must be divine providence. After all, a new recipe, and a ton of fresh apples. I brought the recipe into the kitchen and got busy. I measured flour, creamed butter and sugar, added orange juice. I mixed the sugar and nuts and butter for the struesel. I greased the pan, layered the ingredients, and baked it for the required time. It smelled so good, and I was so glad that I had waited for the fresh apples. The timer binged, the cake came out. I mixed the glaze, and poured it oh so carefully over the warm cake. I cut a large wedge, anticipating the taste. I took a large bite of the apple struesel cake.....

and realized that I had forgotten to add in the apples.

Duh.

Polar opposites Besides being separated

Polar opposites

Besides being separated by almost 6 years, Nikolas and Mackenzie could not be less similar. The cartoon below pretty much sums up Nikolas in the morning. (click on it to enlarge, if you can't read it)He gripes, he groans, he yells, he covers up and refuses to get out of bed. when finally he is vertical, he picks fights and is generally unpleasant to be around. It takes him about 30 minutes before he is human. Conversation with him sounds like conversation with a caveman - "Grr. Grumble. Ugh."

Mackenzie, she's different. When you wake her, she grumbles for about 10 seconds. Then she pops out of bed, jumps into her clothes, and dashes downstairs. "Good morning, Mommy! I had the best dream - it had a pony, and a purple scarf, and cookies, and ......" About this point I tune out, since in reality I resemble Nikolas most in the morning. It's a struggle for me to be kind - gives me something to offer up every morning!

The difference in these two extends throughout the day, and was never more clear than two separate conversations I had yesterday. Mackenzie and Nikolas went out to ride bikes. "Mommy, I can ride my two wheeler really well! I am a great bike rider! Guess what! My teacher says that I am a great reader! I know how to do everything! I am so happy! I'm good at everything! Traa-laa-laa!" (All is true, except the traa-laa-laa, but you can bet if she knew it, she'd be saying it.)

Nikolas fell off his bike - well, he was riding Allegra's bike, which is too small, and he turned the wheel too sharp and fell. He had the walkie-talkies, and called for me. I went running, and helped him up. He was covered in blood - he had really banged up his knees and elbows. I helped him back to the house, during which we had this conversation: "I am so stupid, I am so dumb, I can't believe how stupid I am! No one falls off a bike except a baby. I do everything wrong." He feels this way, just about all the time, about everything.

Two kids, same parents. I don't think I did anything different, but I certainly need to parent them differently.

funny cartoon, for the story

funny cartoon, for the story above..... 

HEY! Yesterday was my blogiversary!

HEY!

Yesterday was my blogiversary! (However you spell it, anyway!) I've been rambling for a whole year, and people still read! Woo-hoo!

I'm registered at Amazon, should anyone desire to send gifts.......

Have to! I was watching

Have to!
I was watching the Steve Martin movie Parenthood this past weekend. I love that movie. Every time I watch it, I see snippets of my own life, and it is always a different part. This time, I was struck by the scene where Steve Martin's character says, "My entire life is HAVE TO!" The Hubster turned to me and said, "Is that how you feel?" As I looked around the house, at the laundry pile, the ironing pile, the dirty floors and the dishes, my jaw hit the floor - he finally got it! Then, he blew it, cuz he said,"That's how I feel, anyway."

It's true, though. My daily life is have to - have to go pick up the kids, have to strip the beds, have to fold the laundry, have to cook another meal. BUT. If I only concentrate on those things, the mundane, the boring, I drag myself down. Instead, I want to focus on the good have to's.

I have to bathe the babies, and as a result, I have to rub lotion on them. I have to hear Emma laugh hysterically when I rub her belly, and see her try to rub lotion on me. I have to snuggle with Emma and Riley, clean warm and sweet smelling from the bath. I have to help Emma balance blocks on her stacking moon, and see her excitement when it tumbles.

I have to work with Gabriel on his letters, and see his excitement when he recognizes the letter "A" in another location. I have to pick him up from school, and hear how much fun he has. I have to take him to gymnastics, and see his unabashed delight in jumping and tumbling.

I have to watch Mackenzie and Allegra play soccer, and kick the hell out of the ball. Both of them are *excellent* players - so say their coaches and the sideline parents, anyway! - and it's exciting to watch them really enjoy themselves. I have to take them both to audition for the Moscow Ballet production of the Nutcracker - Allegra's third year and Mackenzie's first.

I have to take Nikolas to purchase new sheet music, and revel in the fact that my son rocks on the trumpet and baritone, and he could have a future in music. I have to recognize that my son is growing up, and soon will be driving and dating. Soon he will be an adult!

I have to shop for Christmas presents, and imagine the delight when they open the gifts that I planned for months ago. I have to cook dinner, and make something that The Hubster loved, and hear him ask me to make it once a week. I have to wash sheets, and get to lay in fresh sweet smelling sheets. I have to wash diapers, and look at a big pile of clean diapers, and feel good every time I pin one on one of the babies.

I have to pull out the winter clothes, and appreciate how much my children have grown. I have to see what we can pass down, and feel good that I took good care of their clothing. (well, most of it.)

I have to go get a cup of coffee, and be glad that I am providing a job for the Starbucks crew!