- Sometimes I get so discouraged with time and money constraints... mostly with time constraints. I am usually ok with the fact that to spend time with my baby and husband the way I want to (the pets have been getting a little bit of the short shrift), the house can't be as clean as it once was. It doesn't stop me from being sad when I find some gross spots.
- A good, cheap busy toy that I loved as a kid and forgot about until recently? Wooly Willy!!! (Dependent on your child's interest in taking apart of course)
- Re-watched Despicable Me and Alice in Wonderland (new one). Love them both!
- I love the soundtrack for Despicable Me.
- Investigating Montessori for E. Anyone have thoughts/stories?
- We may have to apply for a scholarship and hope we get it. I don't know.
- We are also on the plan for me to start working part time when E goes to school. We were thinking Kindergarten but looking at how Florida runs VPK, we may start when he's four.
- The plan involves me trying to work for Starbucks 20hrs/week so I have health care benefits and trying to get E covered under Florida Kids coverage. Health care is such a stress.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Busy and Worried
Monday, August 27, 2012
Florida Pros and Cons
In the ongoing indecision (though it's currently a moot point until some things change) over moving from Florida are the following pros and cons:
Con: ROACHES. ROACHES IN YOUR HOUSE AS A REGULAR OCCURRENCE. I hate those bastards.
Pro: Hispanic food and culture. I've mentioned my love before, and I'll probably mention it again.
Con: ROACHES. ROACHES IN YOUR HOUSE AS A REGULAR OCCURRENCE. I hate those bastards.
Pro: Hispanic food and culture. I've mentioned my love before, and I'll probably mention it again.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Culinary Delights
Our church recently dropped a service, and we have a horrible time getting E motivated and going by the time it starts... so we tried a different church today. Not so much. I haven't been pleased with it in the past and was very much not so today. E wasn't a fan as always. He likes our regular church all right once he's there. He just can't get going that early.
So we ended up ditching and wandering across the street to a new little area where various Latin businesses have sprung up. It's so fun, interesting and new to us. We pressed our noses against the glass at a little Hispanic bakery that has almost every bakery delight known to Italians, Hispanics and a few others. The counter is so long and so high, I imagined E thinking he'd been magically transported to tasty toddler heaven with no end in sight. In fact, he spent a very enjoyable few minutes pointing at various cakes saying, "Dat wooks good! That one wooks good too! Dat one wooks yummy!" It was a beautiful display of cakes and berries and breads and snacks. E and I had a chicken empanada and strawberry cream cake (which he helped choose.) Hub had tiramisu... before lunch. Then we walked over to a new Paella place where Hub tried some chorizo carried out still flaming. I had potatoes with ali oli sauce. It was a very interesting dressing that tasted a bit like a fresher ranch with more bite. E opted for some rice. He hasn't been feeling 100%, so it's been bland all the way for him lately. The restaurant itself was cute, elegant and homey all at the same time.
We rounded out our culinary adventures of the day by trying the sandwiches and desserts at our new Wawa. We reveled in the cooler rainier weather (Thank you Isaac. Now just don't hurt too many people.) by sitting out on the metal chairs and tables. Yeah. We know how to rock it with the elegant crowd.
So we ended up ditching and wandering across the street to a new little area where various Latin businesses have sprung up. It's so fun, interesting and new to us. We pressed our noses against the glass at a little Hispanic bakery that has almost every bakery delight known to Italians, Hispanics and a few others. The counter is so long and so high, I imagined E thinking he'd been magically transported to tasty toddler heaven with no end in sight. In fact, he spent a very enjoyable few minutes pointing at various cakes saying, "Dat wooks good! That one wooks good too! Dat one wooks yummy!" It was a beautiful display of cakes and berries and breads and snacks. E and I had a chicken empanada and strawberry cream cake (which he helped choose.) Hub had tiramisu... before lunch. Then we walked over to a new Paella place where Hub tried some chorizo carried out still flaming. I had potatoes with ali oli sauce. It was a very interesting dressing that tasted a bit like a fresher ranch with more bite. E opted for some rice. He hasn't been feeling 100%, so it's been bland all the way for him lately. The restaurant itself was cute, elegant and homey all at the same time.
We rounded out our culinary adventures of the day by trying the sandwiches and desserts at our new Wawa. We reveled in the cooler rainier weather (Thank you Isaac. Now just don't hurt too many people.) by sitting out on the metal chairs and tables. Yeah. We know how to rock it with the elegant crowd.
The Case of the Strawberries
So.... well... I wanted to show you my "genius" idea for my strawberry plants. So I took a picture. But then I rethought sharing with you my "genius" idea. Why you ask? Well, nothing big really... other than the fact that the plants growing in the photo are not strawberries. Yeah. It wouldn't come as much of a shock if you knew my history (as some of you may) with growing things (or not growing them as the case may be.)
I bought this root ball kit thing at Lowe's. It was "guaranteed" to grow. And in just the right time after I planted it, something did grow! And they resembled baby strawberry plants, so I stopped there and got all excited. Then more things grew; except that the more things didn't look like the previous things. Then none of them had leaves that really looked like any strawberry plants I knew. And they kept getting taller... too much taller. And they smelled funny. So I stared at them and stared at photos of various types of strawberry plants; willing them to be good. But it was no good. They were weeds hiding in the bag or blown in from the yard or whatever.
So without further adieu, here is my grand idea of growing my strawberries in an old pet cage. I bought some fabulous mesh to put around the outside to further discourage raiding pests. I figured that was such a good idea. Also in this photo are the buzz kills - the non strawberries. Enjoy. I will be buying full fledged plants online in the Fall planting season. I will also be following directions exactly, growing them with companion plants and buying only the ones that are good for Florida.
Wish us all luck.
I bought this root ball kit thing at Lowe's. It was "guaranteed" to grow. And in just the right time after I planted it, something did grow! And they resembled baby strawberry plants, so I stopped there and got all excited. Then more things grew; except that the more things didn't look like the previous things. Then none of them had leaves that really looked like any strawberry plants I knew. And they kept getting taller... too much taller. And they smelled funny. So I stared at them and stared at photos of various types of strawberry plants; willing them to be good. But it was no good. They were weeds hiding in the bag or blown in from the yard or whatever.
So without further adieu, here is my grand idea of growing my strawberries in an old pet cage. I bought some fabulous mesh to put around the outside to further discourage raiding pests. I figured that was such a good idea. Also in this photo are the buzz kills - the non strawberries. Enjoy. I will be buying full fledged plants online in the Fall planting season. I will also be following directions exactly, growing them with companion plants and buying only the ones that are good for Florida.
Wish us all luck.
Mr. Sensitive
When we are watching Blue's Clues together, there is often a segment where Steve has to rearrange a sentence so that it makes sense. Of course he gets it wrong a few times before the pieces of the sentence fall into the right places. E runs into the hallway and peeks around the corner at the TV when he knows Steve is going to get it wrong. I guess he can't handle watching him make the mistakes. (Hub and I still do this with shows in which someone is horribly embarrassing him or herself. The Office comes to mind.)
The other day I was home from work wondering if one could die of intestinal/stomach discomfort. It seemed to be a 24 hour bug because by the time late afternoon rolled around, I felt weak, but good enough to pick E up from daycare. (Hub had taken him in the morning while I huddled under the covers. We pretended I was already at work. Taking care of a toddler was NOT in the cards.) Anyway, I decided to pick him up earlier than usual and called daycare to tell them.
When I arrived, I rang the doorbell and heard the general commotion from inside that always accompanies. When the door was opened, I walked in and saw E playing with all his little friends. He looked up, and when he saw me, his mouth dropped in shock. Then his face crumpled, his lip quivered and he started doing the "trying not to cry" pant. He was so emotionally overwhelmed by my early and unexpected presence. Oh the stab to the heart! I quickly knelt down and said, "Come on baby! You can come!" He ran to me, clutched me around the neck and buried his face in my shoulder saying, "Up?" I picked him up, and he began to calm. He maintained his death grip as I talked to Miss D. though and stroked my pony tail (a calming technique for him) throughout our discussion. My sweet sweet attached and sensitive boy. How he slays me. To use a favorite line of Jen's; I think we'll buy him a pony.
**************
The other day I was home from work wondering if one could die of intestinal/stomach discomfort. It seemed to be a 24 hour bug because by the time late afternoon rolled around, I felt weak, but good enough to pick E up from daycare. (Hub had taken him in the morning while I huddled under the covers. We pretended I was already at work. Taking care of a toddler was NOT in the cards.) Anyway, I decided to pick him up earlier than usual and called daycare to tell them.
When I arrived, I rang the doorbell and heard the general commotion from inside that always accompanies. When the door was opened, I walked in and saw E playing with all his little friends. He looked up, and when he saw me, his mouth dropped in shock. Then his face crumpled, his lip quivered and he started doing the "trying not to cry" pant. He was so emotionally overwhelmed by my early and unexpected presence. Oh the stab to the heart! I quickly knelt down and said, "Come on baby! You can come!" He ran to me, clutched me around the neck and buried his face in my shoulder saying, "Up?" I picked him up, and he began to calm. He maintained his death grip as I talked to Miss D. though and stroked my pony tail (a calming technique for him) throughout our discussion. My sweet sweet attached and sensitive boy. How he slays me. To use a favorite line of Jen's; I think we'll buy him a pony.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Happy (Very Belated) Anniversary Babe!
During my hiatus, Hub and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary and had a very brief staycation with E. We enjoyed it, but it's never enough time is it? We are lucky though. Hub and I talk about how we've had so many adventures and done so many "cool things" as we so cleverly say it. In honor of that and in honor of our anniversary, I thought I'd post a memory list of those times here. Some of these you may know, some you'll only know if you are familiar, and some will probably be a me and Hub thing. Let me know if you recognize and have done any of these and how you liked them.
I may add more later.
1. Our first fancy restaurant outing across the border in Maryland on that little island. The waiter was very snooty and rude. We tipped him exactly 15% to the penny because we didn't want to prove him "right" by under tipping, but he certainly didn't deserve more.
2. Taking pictures on the glass floor of the CN tower, and posing at the Hockey Hall of Fame.
3. Toronto clubbing
4. Cruising on the "Three Rivers."
5. Exploring more of DC than we ever thought possible while trying to find the "real" Library of Congress.
6. Toronto Film Festival
7. Fireworks competition
8. New Year 2000 downtown
9. CNE
10. Seeing & meeting the Barenaked Ladies (Pittsburgh, Albany, Syracuse, Toronto)
11. Old Forge
12. The best (and cheapest!) cannolis ever - little bakery in Utica, NY.
13. Driving through cute ski towns on the border between NY and PA.
14. Bicycling along the river to a little pizza shop near our apartment for lunch - in the very leafy 'burbs! (oh how I miss this type of living!)
15. Licking ice cream and watching fireworks going on all around us in the Tonawanda park from July 1-4th.
16. Niagara-on-the-lake
17. Christmas celebration in Skaneateles.
18. Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Hollywood
19. Blue Waters
20. Montreal - the food, the sights, not so much the people
21. Niagara Falls rendezvous
22. Riding elephants
23. Feeding rhinos & giraffes
24. Exploring Dallas
25. Up close and personal with gorillas
26. Seeing me on TV
27. The carriage ride on our wedding day
28. Driving 1200 miles to Florida. Thrice.
29. Moving me, you and us 7 times in our relationship & carrying it out over 6 different states & 7 different cities.
30. Watching Magic Kingdom fireworks while your parents enjoyed like kids again.
31. Me clutching your arm (and Alex's) while we rode Tower of Terror.
32. Denali National Park
33. When we stood together in a beautiful valley surrounded by towering mountains and beautiful purple wildflowers in awe of the silence and stillness.
34. Whales, sea otters, & sea lions in Seward.
35. Watching a wedding in an outdoor chapel in the Dominican Republic.
36. My family reunion on a beautiful mountain top. (Great food, company and surroundings)
37. Landing in a European country together for the first time for both of us and our chuckling disbelief at how easily we walked through customs.
38. A sunset walk through a charming, German hamlet that seemed to take us back in time. The smell of strawberries, the sound of birds and the feel of a cool German summer breeze.
39. Driving through Germany and the Netherlands and again being amazed when the change to a new country was simply marked by some flags and a small sign.
40. Learning how to use German public toilets.
41. A wedding in a beautiful Dutch castle with two dear friends.
42. The gorgeous juncture of the Rhine and the Mosel.
43. Touching some of the Berlin Wall.
44. Cruising for the first time... being in awe of the blue of the Western Caribbean waters (especially Cozumel.)
45. The beauty, fascination and wildlife of the ruins of Tulum.
46. Second City, fancy dining, the CN tower and a beautiful hotel for a long weekend.
47. Staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.
48. Getting stuck on the tarmac in Puerto Rico because the iguanas wouldn't move.
49. Flying almost by ourselves on a 747.
50. North Beach at Fort Desoto
51. Merritt Island Birding
52. Cocoa Beach
53. South Beach in October - the dining, the beach, the nightlife - not so much the scary hotel with the hole in the wall.
54. The Everglades
55. Islamorada - Finding a Great Blue Heron white morph!
56. Driving down the keys and exploring them as we went.
57. Walking around Key West and seeing the beauty of Fort Zachary and Mallory Square.
58. Seven Mile Bridge
59. Seeing the Grand Canyon (the first time for me) from the window of an airplane.
60. Seeing Mt. Rainier the same way.
61. Holding hands as we exited the church on our wedding day.
62. Signing documents for our first house on our anniversary.
63. Eating at a very fancy restaurant at the top of the city.
64. Looking at each other over the table at a seafood place as we both (silently and nervously) considered that I may be pregnant.
65. Repeatedly staring at the 4 pink lines that confirmed my pregnancy.
66. Video recording E's crazy movements visible on the outside of my belly.
67. Staring at and crying over our beautiful new baby.
68. Taking E on his first plane trip together.
69. Staying on Disney property for the first time ever.
70. So many sunsets.
71. Experiencing E's every first together as a family.
I love you babe.
I may add more later.
1. Our first fancy restaurant outing across the border in Maryland on that little island. The waiter was very snooty and rude. We tipped him exactly 15% to the penny because we didn't want to prove him "right" by under tipping, but he certainly didn't deserve more.
2. Taking pictures on the glass floor of the CN tower, and posing at the Hockey Hall of Fame.
3. Toronto clubbing
4. Cruising on the "Three Rivers."
5. Exploring more of DC than we ever thought possible while trying to find the "real" Library of Congress.
6. Toronto Film Festival
7. Fireworks competition
8. New Year 2000 downtown
9. CNE
10. Seeing & meeting the Barenaked Ladies (Pittsburgh, Albany, Syracuse, Toronto)
11. Old Forge
12. The best (and cheapest!) cannolis ever - little bakery in Utica, NY.
13. Driving through cute ski towns on the border between NY and PA.
14. Bicycling along the river to a little pizza shop near our apartment for lunch - in the very leafy 'burbs! (oh how I miss this type of living!)
15. Licking ice cream and watching fireworks going on all around us in the Tonawanda park from July 1-4th.
16. Niagara-on-the-lake
17. Christmas celebration in Skaneateles.
18. Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Hollywood
19. Blue Waters
20. Montreal - the food, the sights, not so much the people
21. Niagara Falls rendezvous
22. Riding elephants
23. Feeding rhinos & giraffes
24. Exploring Dallas
25. Up close and personal with gorillas
26. Seeing me on TV
27. The carriage ride on our wedding day
28. Driving 1200 miles to Florida. Thrice.
29. Moving me, you and us 7 times in our relationship & carrying it out over 6 different states & 7 different cities.
30. Watching Magic Kingdom fireworks while your parents enjoyed like kids again.
31. Me clutching your arm (and Alex's) while we rode Tower of Terror.
32. Denali National Park
33. When we stood together in a beautiful valley surrounded by towering mountains and beautiful purple wildflowers in awe of the silence and stillness.
34. Whales, sea otters, & sea lions in Seward.
35. Watching a wedding in an outdoor chapel in the Dominican Republic.
36. My family reunion on a beautiful mountain top. (Great food, company and surroundings)
37. Landing in a European country together for the first time for both of us and our chuckling disbelief at how easily we walked through customs.
38. A sunset walk through a charming, German hamlet that seemed to take us back in time. The smell of strawberries, the sound of birds and the feel of a cool German summer breeze.
39. Driving through Germany and the Netherlands and again being amazed when the change to a new country was simply marked by some flags and a small sign.
40. Learning how to use German public toilets.
41. A wedding in a beautiful Dutch castle with two dear friends.
42. The gorgeous juncture of the Rhine and the Mosel.
43. Touching some of the Berlin Wall.
44. Cruising for the first time... being in awe of the blue of the Western Caribbean waters (especially Cozumel.)
45. The beauty, fascination and wildlife of the ruins of Tulum.
46. Second City, fancy dining, the CN tower and a beautiful hotel for a long weekend.
47. Staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.
48. Getting stuck on the tarmac in Puerto Rico because the iguanas wouldn't move.
49. Flying almost by ourselves on a 747.
50. North Beach at Fort Desoto
51. Merritt Island Birding
52. Cocoa Beach
53. South Beach in October - the dining, the beach, the nightlife - not so much the scary hotel with the hole in the wall.
54. The Everglades
55. Islamorada - Finding a Great Blue Heron white morph!
56. Driving down the keys and exploring them as we went.
57. Walking around Key West and seeing the beauty of Fort Zachary and Mallory Square.
58. Seven Mile Bridge
59. Seeing the Grand Canyon (the first time for me) from the window of an airplane.
60. Seeing Mt. Rainier the same way.
61. Holding hands as we exited the church on our wedding day.
62. Signing documents for our first house on our anniversary.
63. Eating at a very fancy restaurant at the top of the city.
64. Looking at each other over the table at a seafood place as we both (silently and nervously) considered that I may be pregnant.
65. Repeatedly staring at the 4 pink lines that confirmed my pregnancy.
66. Video recording E's crazy movements visible on the outside of my belly.
67. Staring at and crying over our beautiful new baby.
68. Taking E on his first plane trip together.
69. Staying on Disney property for the first time ever.
70. So many sunsets.
71. Experiencing E's every first together as a family.
I love you babe.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
New Things I've Discovered
1. I got some Martha Stewart bathroom cleaner on clearance, and it's great! Low odor, great cleaning power, pretty bottle. I also bought some dishwasher detergent, but I haven't been able to try it yet.
2. Organic strawberries really are very consistently better than conventionally grown. They taste like the fake strawberry fragrance smells! They taste like real strawberries! I've gotten them numerous times now, and they are so much better without fail. They're even a prettier red and seem to last longer. Hopefully my home grown strawberries are as good.
3. Hulu Plus. It's awesome. Now if I could just justify the cost per month.
2. Organic strawberries really are very consistently better than conventionally grown. They taste like the fake strawberry fragrance smells! They taste like real strawberries! I've gotten them numerous times now, and they are so much better without fail. They're even a prettier red and seem to last longer. Hopefully my home grown strawberries are as good.
3. Hulu Plus. It's awesome. Now if I could just justify the cost per month.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Things I Learned While Flying With a Toddler
- I borrowed Jen's Traveling Toddler. I will soon be buying one myself. It worked fine on a large suitcase, but I had to check that suitcase. So instead, I rigged the traveling toddler and car seat on top of our umbrella stroller. It worked surprisingly well.
- NOTE: I only put E in there when I was desperate and then held the car seat back while I pushed just to be sure it didn't go anywhere. It was far from an ideal set up and probably not the safest, but I had to do what I had to do. I don't think much about traveling alone with a toddler is safe to tell you the truth.
- I was very proud of my ingenuity though.
- I will now be buying a suitcase I can stow just to use it for these occasions.
- I also learned that it is pretty much impossible to tighten the car seat down on the plane seat. (Jen may have mentioned this, but I don't remember.) The place where you pull the strap to tighten ends up inside the car seat, and there's no way to get it as tight as it's truly supposed to be. There's also nowhere to anchor the top strap for forward facing.
- I spent some long, sweaty, frustrated moments with a fussy boy and an intimidating man staring at me before I gave up.
- As I've said before, traveling with E is a delight for me, though it is a lot of hard work. Having him sit on the window helps a lot so he can look out and play with the blind. It also means he doesn't have to sit next to a stranger. Another thing that helps is making him feel like he's in on the game. I have him "help" me by pointing out signs, holding things, exclaiming over something new etc.
- Something else that helps SO much is my Kindle Fire. I can't say enough about it. We downloaded a couple of TV shows and new games for him, and it was a lifesaver in many a long line or drive.
- And ACCEPT HELP! If someone wants to carry your car seat. Let them. Save your back and sanity.
- Finally, I had the sippy explosion phenomenon happen to me as well. I had totally forgotten about that. Luckily it wasn't very full so it only spit out about 2 feet in the air.
- And in completely unrelated news, I am almost finished with my strawberry plant modifications. I will post that next. (I think.)
Monday, August 6, 2012
I Read 3 New Books!
I have to be honest and say that I still enjoy real books much more than Kindle versions. I also find it far easier and cheaper to either get books from the library or to buy them from Amazon. I gave in to that truth recently and ordered a bunch of books for delivery from our local library system. I just finished reading Two Kisses for Maddie by Matt Logelin, Bossypants by Tina Fey and Stories I Only Tell my Friends by Rob Lowe. I highly enjoyed all of them.
Two Kisses for Maddie is a beautiful, moving book that accomplishes what I think Matt Logelin wanted it to be - a memoir of the love and loss of his wife. It's obvious he's a newer writer, but the emotion and beauty in that writing make it so worth the read. It probably doesn't hurt for me that I had been following his story on his blog for some time before reading it.
Bossypants is hilarious. Tina Fey is so smart, sassy and fun that I found myself nodding my head and bursting out in giggles all throughout the book. People at work thought I was losing my mind. Among my favorite lines is... about people who barely know her who say that her scar is "beautiful.." "You might as well say, let me be amazing at you." She crystallizes what we all think so well. If you've read it or do read it, please let me know if you spit out your lunch like I did when you read the line where she describes how sad the YMCA Christmas is. You'll know the one. Also, if you read Here We Go Again, please tell me if this makes you think of Jen. Maybe it's just because I get to see her very sassy side. But she does write conversationally much like Jen. I think they would be great friends.
Stories I Only Tell My Friends started out slow and disjointed for me. But by halfway through the book, I had gotten into it and ended up enjoying it a great deal. I was surprised when I saw Rob Lowe on various interviews for the book. I liked him in spite of myself. After reading it, I'm happy to say I think I still do. It's worth it if you have an interest in how Hollywood works without the glamour.
The best thing about all this reading is that it's nudged my writing back to life some. (well that and the fact that E has been a good sleeper lately.)
Two Kisses for Maddie is a beautiful, moving book that accomplishes what I think Matt Logelin wanted it to be - a memoir of the love and loss of his wife. It's obvious he's a newer writer, but the emotion and beauty in that writing make it so worth the read. It probably doesn't hurt for me that I had been following his story on his blog for some time before reading it.
Bossypants is hilarious. Tina Fey is so smart, sassy and fun that I found myself nodding my head and bursting out in giggles all throughout the book. People at work thought I was losing my mind. Among my favorite lines is... about people who barely know her who say that her scar is "beautiful.." "You might as well say, let me be amazing at you." She crystallizes what we all think so well. If you've read it or do read it, please let me know if you spit out your lunch like I did when you read the line where she describes how sad the YMCA Christmas is. You'll know the one. Also, if you read Here We Go Again, please tell me if this makes you think of Jen. Maybe it's just because I get to see her very sassy side. But she does write conversationally much like Jen. I think they would be great friends.
Stories I Only Tell My Friends started out slow and disjointed for me. But by halfway through the book, I had gotten into it and ended up enjoying it a great deal. I was surprised when I saw Rob Lowe on various interviews for the book. I liked him in spite of myself. After reading it, I'm happy to say I think I still do. It's worth it if you have an interest in how Hollywood works without the glamour.
The best thing about all this reading is that it's nudged my writing back to life some. (well that and the fact that E has been a good sleeper lately.)
The Kindness
It's amazing. Every time I travel with E, so many people step up to help. And the interesting thing I've noticed is that it tends to be the others who have (or are having) difficulties themselves who help the most. For example, this time while I was waiting to pre-board in my home airport, a group of families with a total of about 6 children ranging in age from 3-9 offered to help me carry my load of toddler, car seat and bag onto the plane. Also in the mix offering to help was a very well dressed, lovely older woman of perhaps 70.
Then, when I landed at my destination, the rental car agent behind the counter actually left her post to help me carry my luggage etc the whole way down to the car pick up area. Then she even offered to help me to the car, but the people there beat her to the punch by pulling it up right in front of me. Simply amazing. (I still need to write a letter to the company about her.)
But what really touched me was my experience when flying back. I barely made it to the airport in time to check in for various reasons, but everyone there, from the rental car return agent to TSA security seemed to make it a point to make life easier for me and other passengers. When one security agent noticed E's distress at having to put his treasures through screening, he told him he'd make him an honorary officer and handed him a shiny gold badge sticker to put on his shirt. E was so proud of himself. He wore it the whole way home and then showed his Daddy. And I told the agent that I was going to make it a point to fly smaller airports in the future if I could. Wow. The most enduring help I got was from the man behind me in line at the ticket counter. He was on the same flight I was and was running just as late, but motioned me to go ahead of him for everything. The he lingered every time we needed to do something just to help me. He took my luggage to the security drop off. He carried the car seat the whole way through the airport even though I had rigged a way to carry it myself (more on that in the next post.) And he did all this even though he knew he'd be behind as well since they'd have to screen his prosthetic leg, and that took extra time.
I don't know how he lost his leg. I don't even know his name. But the military shirt he wore, and his gallantry made me imagine him as a hero who continues to serve others. It was amazing. He was humble and kind and continued to worry about our well being right up until we deplaned at home. I told him I'd buy him some coffee, and he tried to get out of it. I saw a Starbucks and wiggled my eyebrows. I knew I had him when I saw a glint of excitement in his eye. We were coming in on a late flight. Then, incredibly, he tried to buy his drink and get ME one when we got up there. That's when I brought out the Mommy growl and told him I was buying it and to shut up and drink it. He got a mocha frappucino. I think he liked it.
Traveling with E is always such a joy. We have fun, and we have the same attitude toward exciting new adventures as well as appreciating the little things. But it is made even more joyful by the renewed faith in human kind I find on each one of these trips.
Then, when I landed at my destination, the rental car agent behind the counter actually left her post to help me carry my luggage etc the whole way down to the car pick up area. Then she even offered to help me to the car, but the people there beat her to the punch by pulling it up right in front of me. Simply amazing. (I still need to write a letter to the company about her.)
But what really touched me was my experience when flying back. I barely made it to the airport in time to check in for various reasons, but everyone there, from the rental car return agent to TSA security seemed to make it a point to make life easier for me and other passengers. When one security agent noticed E's distress at having to put his treasures through screening, he told him he'd make him an honorary officer and handed him a shiny gold badge sticker to put on his shirt. E was so proud of himself. He wore it the whole way home and then showed his Daddy. And I told the agent that I was going to make it a point to fly smaller airports in the future if I could. Wow. The most enduring help I got was from the man behind me in line at the ticket counter. He was on the same flight I was and was running just as late, but motioned me to go ahead of him for everything. The he lingered every time we needed to do something just to help me. He took my luggage to the security drop off. He carried the car seat the whole way through the airport even though I had rigged a way to carry it myself (more on that in the next post.) And he did all this even though he knew he'd be behind as well since they'd have to screen his prosthetic leg, and that took extra time.
I don't know how he lost his leg. I don't even know his name. But the military shirt he wore, and his gallantry made me imagine him as a hero who continues to serve others. It was amazing. He was humble and kind and continued to worry about our well being right up until we deplaned at home. I told him I'd buy him some coffee, and he tried to get out of it. I saw a Starbucks and wiggled my eyebrows. I knew I had him when I saw a glint of excitement in his eye. We were coming in on a late flight. Then, incredibly, he tried to buy his drink and get ME one when we got up there. That's when I brought out the Mommy growl and told him I was buying it and to shut up and drink it. He got a mocha frappucino. I think he liked it.
Traveling with E is always such a joy. We have fun, and we have the same attitude toward exciting new adventures as well as appreciating the little things. But it is made even more joyful by the renewed faith in human kind I find on each one of these trips.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
All Kinds O' Stuff
- We recently returned from one of our big trips. (Just E and I) I would like to share with you two different posts from that experience. 1. The kindness of others and 2. Tips I learned from traveling alone with a toddler!
- We had LOADS of fun. The Outer Banks are still just as wonderful as I remember them from more than 10 years ago.
- But that will have to wait until after THIS post.
- The hanging tomato plant experiment is over. Someone or something ripped my plant off right at the base. I discovered it lying a few feet away from the bag. I think it might be a someONE since there seemed to be no damage to the actual plant. It was just cleanly snapped off at the base. Bummer. It was even getting flowers.
- My strawberry plants (normally growing) are still alive though! I have a cool new idea for them that I'm going to try tomorrow and hope to share.
- I started running again today! WITH THE HUB! Can you believe it? I had to start over at the beginning of my training, but that's what summer in Florida does to me.
- I got new reading glasses even though my vision is 20/20. They say I have strain. E is delighted. He loves glasses and now Daddy and I "match."
- E has started telling us, "You're the BEST!" It's awesome.
- I think we've decided on going to Big Sur, CA for our 10 year anniversary (always subject to change!) Please let me know if you have any tips for the area.
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