It has been awhile since I posted the status of our garage construction. The deck is completely done. The electrical has passed rough inspection. The plumbing is ready for our rough inspection and we're almost ready to start putting in the insulation and closing up the walls. This weekend we had to go out and buy the bathtub since that has to be in before they close up the walls. Jake was kind enough to model it for us.
And yes, I helped Lincoln carry the tub up the stairs. All 17 deck stairs.
Last year Grandpa Snow let Jake take some of his extra bean seeds and plant them along the side of the driveway in the dirt/clay/sand. Not only did they grow, they grew so big that they had to replant them in Grandpa's garden.
I've never been successful with a garden and all I know about gardening is that it's a lot of work but this year Santa decided to let Jake attempt one on his own. Jake received a huge collection of seeds for Christmas and our neighbor up the street came down and dug up a patch for Jake's garden. He also dropped off a few broccoli and eggplant seedlings for Jake. Today Jake and Hannah planted his garden. Who knows if any of it will grow. He put a little bit of everything in and I'm sure none of it was planted at the right time, the right depth, or with the right spacing, but it's his garden and he's just excited to try. It will be interesting to see what comes of it. Especially since right now it consists of sweet corn, sweet peppers, sunflowers, pumpkins, watermelons, peanuts, carrots, tomatoes, sage, and lavender in addition to the aforementioned broccoli and eggplant. The good news is that we're not relying on the garden to feed the family this summer. But who knows, maybe Jake's style of totally random plantings will reap big rewards and we'll open our own farm stand.
Jake also plans on planting radishes and kohlrabi later this summer for when Grandpa is here in August. And, just a heads up to Mom, Jake informed me that Grandma Dena will be making us a pumpkin salad from his garden. Better start looking for recipes Mom.
Tuesday was very easily one of the Top 10 best days of my entire life up until this point. You've got the obvious ones...our wedding, the birth of our children.....and then there are those "best" days that are just regular days that somehow become extraordinary days. Tuesday was one of those days.
Monday night I was bummed out because I wasn't going to be able to see some friends of mine that I graduated high school with in Arkansas. I hadn't seen them in 15 years and it would have been nice to spend some time catching up. They were going to be in NYC on Tuesday and that is certainly within day trip distance so I was trying to figure out how to get down there for the day. I could drive but it's about a 4 hour trip and I knew I'd have trouble staying awake on the ride home late at night. I could take the train or the bus but that's pretty hard for a day trip since they each take so long. I could hop on a JetBlue flight but that would cost too much money and a lot of commuting time from the airport into the city. I had pretty much given up on it when it hit me, at 10:30 p.m. Monday night, that my little sister Shani is home from college and loves to go to NYC. I sent her a text to see if she wanted to drive down with me and she was ecstatic about the idea. I had an appointment early in the morning so I said I'd pick her up about 9 a.m. and we'd head down to the city to meet the guys for lunch.
When I was heading home after my appointment it was about 8:10 a.m. and it occurred to me that there was no reason - other than school, of course - that Hannah couldn't go with me. I called Link to make sure he was okay with it and he just reminded me "You better hurry. The bus comes in 5 minutes." I zipped over to his parents house - where Hannah catches the bus - and asked her what they were doing in school that day. She has been bummed out with school lately because according to her they're not learning anything new the rest of the year and only doing review at this point. I asked her if she wanted to go to NYC with Shani and me and of course she said yes.
When I asked her about this I was a little worried that Jake would want to go too and there was no way he'd be able to do a whole day down in NYC. It's a lot of walking and not that much fun for a 5-year old. (Although, to be honest, I first took Hannah when she was five but they're totally different people.) I should have known better though. I think he was more concerned that I might even suggest that he go with us then he was about being left behind because he was very concerned it would mess up his carefully planned routine that he has at Grandma and Grandpa's house three days a week.
After picking up Hannah we ran back over to our house and this is when the perfect day started. Hannah is truly my daughter. She is a little me. My "mini me" if you will. Within five minutes of getting to the house she had a backpack packed with water bottles, NYC guide books, activities for the car, her wallet, sunglasses and sunscreen. Yes, my daughter can switch gears and be packed and ready to go on a trip in under 5 minutes. She's amazing. She even looked over at me and noticed my slip-on sandals that I was wearing and said "Mommy, those aren't very sensible walking shoes for our trip." I just laughed and told her that I had my tennis shoes in my backpack.
We left the house, gassed up the car, and went to pick up Shani. The drive down to NYC was a ton of fun. For the first half of the trip Shani and I got a chance to catch up while Hannah read some books and just chilled out in the back seat. The second half of the trip we played the "Alphabet Game" in the car. Hannah started off a little slow because it takes her a little longer to scan billboards for words starting with each letter of the alphabet but she creamed us in the end. We actually ended up playing the game two more times that day. Once in Central Park and once on the subway.
We arrived in Manhattan around 1:30 and met up with the guys for lunch. It was a nice leisurely lunch and I got to catch up with the guys while Shani and Hannah entertained themselves. After lunch the guys were heading over to meet up with some other friends and then go to a baseball game so we said good-bye and headed out to explore the city a little bit before meeting up with another friend of mine for dinner. Maria and I used to work together (her in the NYC office and me in the Boston office) and we try to hook up whenever I'm in the city. I emailed her that morning and asked if she was free to meet us for dinner. Luckily she was.
It was a gorgeous day and the weather was perfect. Since we were pretty close to Central Park after lunch we decided to walk around in there. Shani had never been to Central Park and since she's a huge film freak she wanted to find some of the most used sites in Central Park that are seen in movies and Hannah wanted to go to the Central Park Zoo. We wandered around and eventually made our way over to the zoo. Unfortunately it was 15 minutes before closing time so we didn't get to go in but we decided to just keep walking through the park. Shani wanted to find Bow Bridge which is one of the most common film sites. Eventually we came across the Central Park Boat House (also seen in a number of movies) and there were a number of people out rowing on the lake. I figured it would be too expensive for us to do but it was actually only $12 for all three of us to rent a boat for an hour. Well, you couldn't beat that for price. Especially in Manhattan! The three of us climbed in the row boat and rowed around the lake for about 40 minutes. I started out doing the rowing and it was hilarious. I haven't rowed a boat in YEARS with the exception of some kayaking Lincoln and I did a few years back. It took me awhile to get the hang of it and get us out of the dock area but eventually I got it under control. Hannah wanted to give it a try so she moved over to sit next to me and do the right oar while I did the left one. Once she had that mastered she wanted to take over completely. I moved back a seat and let her take charge. She was amazing! She mastered that boat in no time and had us cruising all over the lake. It was such a gorgeous day and there were a lot of people on the lake so she had to maneuver us around other boats which is much harder than it sounds since so many of the people out on the water are novices. We had a few near misses but so did everyone else on the lake.
After about 40 minutes we had to head back to the dock because we were meeting Maria for dinner at 6:30 down in Little Italy. We walked out of the park, grabbed a cab, and headed out for dinner. The restaurant was one that Maria had taken me to years ago and I had always wanted to go back to. I was a little worried because it wasn't the type of place that would have a kids menu but Hannah adjusted pretty well. She didn't really like the food but she found enough to eat to fill her up and she never complained. She did however practically eat an entire loaf of Italian bread by herself. I'm glad she loved the stuff but I was about ready to Google "can you die of a bread overdose" on my phone.
We finished dinner a little later than we had hoped considering we had a 4 hour drive back to Upton but we stopped at a few souvenir shops anyway down in Little Italy before hopping on the subway and heading back to where we had parked our car. We had parked in an area known as Hell's Kitchen, which is near Times Square, and hit a few more souvenir shops there since Hannah hadn't found anything she wanted to buy down in Little Italy. She finally found a t-shirt that she bought herself and then we got in the car and headed home. We had to drive through Times Square on our way out of town and that was the only time we were there all day but that was okay since that's where we usually start our journey. We're very familiar with Times Square.
The drive home was fairly uneventful but there was an amazing amount of late night construction traffic coming through Connecticut. Hannah slept the entire way home and Shani did a good job of keeping me awake. We got home about 1:30 a.m. and all immediately crashed. Shani spent the night and Link took her home the next morning.
So, as you can see, it wasn't that "special" of a day but it was one of the most extraordinary days of my life. Hannah was so amazing and so adaptable. Even when we were just sitting by the fountain at Columbus Circle she was perfectly content just to be in NYC. She made me laugh and it was great spending such a nice day down in NYC with her and Shani. I got to see friends that I haven't seen in 15 years and I got to spend an incredibly pleasant time just floating around a Central Park lake in the warm sun, taking in the beautiful scenery with Hannah and Shani. It was just a great day. Considering the overwhelming number of bad days that I've had lately, this was just a gift. A really, really great gift.
Fifteen years ago this year I graduated from high school. Since there I haven't seen many of the kids that I graduated with even after attending the 10 year reunion in 2005. One of them that I've really missed is my friend Cody. He contacted me via Facebook earlier this year and told me he was planning a trip to Washington DC and New York City at the end of May. He thought he may be able to do a day trip up to Boston as well and I was really excited to see him. Unfortunately now it looks like they won't be able to make it up here. I am really bummed.
Lincoln doesn't talk a whole lot. It's not that he's anti-social but he usually sits back and just takes in everything around him. I'm the one that chatters all the time. When we go out with others Lincoln just sits back, nursing his beer, and then - out of nowhere - comes out with the PERFECT one-liner. It's a skill he inherited from his father who does the same thing.
And now Jake is developing that skill.
I know you're saying to yourself, "Wait, Jake never shuts up. How could he sit back and wait for the perfect moment?"
Well, tonight he did.
Our niece Kayla came down for dinner tonight. After the main course the kids made "peanut butter roll-ups" with peanut butter and flour tortillas which Kayla invented. Hannah and Kayla went off on this whole long conversation about building a business around this idea. The whole conversation was hilarious with one or both of them cutting the other out of the business at one point or another. And for some random reason Hannah kept bringing up the fact that they had to make enough money to cover income tax. She's a smart kid.
But anyhoo.....
There was talk of Kayla cutting Hannah out of the business because she didn't like some of Hannah's ideas for expansion. After some good natured bantering back and forth she said to Hannah, "I'd never kick you out. You're family. That's how I roll."
And Jake, who had surprisingly been silent this entire time says:
This morning Jake and Hannah were working together to get their lunches packed for school. As Hannah was washing off the apples for snacktime she asked Jake to do something for her.
Hannah: Jake, can you go look at the menu and see what is being served for lunch today?
Jake: Sure.
Hannah: Oh wait, you can't read. How about you wash the apples?
Jake: Okay.....wait! I can't reach the paper towels to dry them off!
This weekend I'm going away with Tracy and some other friends of ours. We're going "camping" in a really swank RV that our friends own and I can't wait to just sit around the fire, sit in the sun, and relax. I need to mentally recharge my batteries. I'm not taking my laptop, I'm turning on my phone only when I call to say good night to the kids and Link, and I'm completely untethering myself.
For 32 years my best friend in the entire world has been Rachel. And tonight, when I was in an incredibly dark place, with the dark clouds overwhelming me once again, she was there for me. In those 32 years I could not ask for a better friend. And more than that, she's been like a sister to me. I love you Rachel. Thank you.
Last night we received our official approval from the town to make the space above our garage a mother-in-law apartment. Today we passed our rough electrical inspection. The deck is done and the plumber is starting on Monday. We're making great progress!
This morning Jake came up to me and gave me a kiss good-bye. As he pulled away he said "Mommy, how do kisses change after you're married?"
Umm.....
I wasn't sure how to answer and while I hemmed and hawed Jake - who has the attention span of a gnat - got distracted and moved on.
Thank God. I wasn't ready for a question like that before 8 a.m.
When Hannah hit me with this one at dinner time a few years ago I was much better prepared. She asked "Mommy, what's a virgin?" to which I quickly replied "It's a drink without alcohol in it."
I have grave concerns about how the current generation of children are going to turn out once they reach adulthood. First there are the jumpless jump ropes so that uncoordinated kids don't get their feelings hurt. Then, of course, there are the trophies that every kid gets for participating in a sport. There is no such thing as MVP or Best Hitter or Highest Scorer anymore. They're all special. But this post isn't about coddling kids and being politically correct. This rant is about the lack of consequences.
Lincoln and I are fairly strict disciplinarians. If the kids do something wrong, they get in trouble. It's as simple as that. And if Hannah forgets her homework we tell her she has to live with the consequences.
And that's the problem.
There are no consequences.
Last Monday Hannah stayed home sick. Every Friday she has a spelling test. That gave her Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to study but she forgot to bring the list home every single day that week. Thursday night I asked her about it and she said she still hadn't brought home her list so I told her she'd have to take the test on Friday and deal with the consequences. She's pretty good at spelling so even having not studied she probably would have scored pretty high on the test but it was the principal of the matter and the idea that she'd have to take the test even if she wasn't ready.
Me: Hannah, how did your test go today?
Hannah: I didn't have to take it.
Me: What?
Hannah: The teacher said I didn't have to take it because I was out on Monday.
Me: Yeah, but you were there on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Hannah: I know. I told her I was ready to take it but she said I didn't have to and didn't give me the test paper.
What the hell?!?!
I happened to be chatting with a friend of mine right after Hannah and I had this discussion and I was telling her about it. She said that another friend of hers had a son who hadn't been turning in the weekly assignments all year. The teacher never called or emailed the mother about it until after the mother contacted the teacher after overhearing another student in the class talk about the assignment. The teacher just didn't make him turn them in but admitted to the mother when asked that it had been, in fact, a weekly assignment ever since the beginning of the year.
What are these kids going to grow up thinking? That life has no consequences? That everyone is special and will get awards just for breathing.
I'm sorry but that's bull shit. It's bad parenting. It's bad coaching. It's bad teaching. It's just overall bad news. We are going to be one seriously fucked up society when these kids are in charge.
Ever since my doctor put me on medication for anxiety and depression life has gotten a lot better around here. It also helps that the building repairs are done, the yearbook is done, and life in general is back to normal. But that doesn't make things perfect.
I've been doing good about taking my medication but it's definitely not a magical cure for everything. Today was a particularly down day. It doesn't help that I don't feel well. Or that the bills are due this week and it will be a struggle to pay all of them. But that shouldn't be enough to bring the dark clouds back. Hopefully this is just one bad day and things will improve tomorrow. I was feeling so good about being out of the darkness that I hate the thought of going back into it.
I had a wonderful Mother's Day on Sunday. Hannah made me an absolutely gorgeous jewelry box in Grandpa Snow's wood shop and a few pieces of jewelry to go with it. It is incredibly impressive and could easily be sold in a store. It looks professional. She also made me a great "10 Things I Love About My Mom" book in school.
Jake wrote me a story called "My Mom" at daycare. It was a fill-in-the-blank type story that the teachers wrote for him but he had to provide the answers. Here is his story with his input marked in bold.
My Mom By Jacob Snow
My mom is the most wonderful mom in the world! Her name is Diane Snow. She's pretty as a flower. She is 50 years old. She has brown eyes and brown hair. She weighs 100 pounds and is 7' tall. Her favorite food is paninis. In the good old days when she was little, she used to watch TV. I think Mom is funny when she tells me jokes. But I know she's really angry when she makes a mad face. I wouldn't trade my Mom for a lollipop. I love my Mom because she doesn't get angry with me.
Happy Mother's Day, Mom!
Love, Jacob
Yep, that's me....a 7' tall, 100 lb., 50-year old woman. God I love that kid.
My "off duty" weekend turned into a longer one that I expected. Yesterday I came down with a nasty stomach bug and spent the day curled up in my bed. But I'm back now with a bunch of stuff to post including pictures of the completed deck. It still needs to be stained (which I informed Dad I'm more than willing to let him do when he's out here next) and I want to paint the white boards between the stairs a burgundy color to match the shutters on the house but it looks great. It's so nice to have it done.
Not that I do much around the house anyway but I'm taking this whole weekend off. It's Mother's Day WEEKEND after all. The deck is done but I'm too lazy to post pictures and I have a long rant I want to write about Hannah's school but I don't have the mental energy.
Link emailed me this photo this morning of the deck yesterday afternoon. He's the only one of us willing to climb on the rocks to take the picture. It definitely gives a better view of the deck though.
The deck boards are down, the railing is going up, and the footings are prepped for the cement to be poured. This deck is moving right along. Too bad the one around the pool that Lincoln and I are building isn't moving as quickly.
I don't eat fish. I also don't particularly understand the lure of fishing (pun intended) but I can see where it could be rather relaxing. I started out my formative years in the Midwest and we vacationed on one of Minnesota's largest lakes. To me, fishing is either sitting in a boat in the middle of a lake too big to even see across or sitting alone on the end of the dock with Grandpa's scarecrow JoJo looking out over that same lake. I can see where it would be a nice activity if you enjoy solitude. It seems very tranquil. Not to mention a good opportunity to sit in the sun and get a tan. But coming from a person who keeps a magazine on the front seat of her car for long stoplights, it seems a little too tranquil for me. My brain can't sit still for that long. On the flip side, I can see where it would be a lot of fun to sit in a boat, drinking beer, and hanging with friends while you fish. But that brings me back to the fact that I don't eat fish. Or touch them. Or touch worms. So I guess I'd really just be in it for the sun and the beer and I can do that on the deck overlooking the lake. Same tranquility, less stink.
But I digress.....
I don't understand the people who fish along the busy road coming to our house. There is a two-lane road that goes between a lake and a pond. A very small strip of grass and weeds lies between the metal guardrail and the lake. People stand there all summer long and fish while cars rush by at a minimum of the 45 mph speed limit. That just doesn't seem relaxing to me.
So do they need the fish? Are they too poor to go out and buy fish for dinner at the grocery store? Or do they just like fish fresh from the lake coated with the pungent aroma of car exhaust? Are they doing some family bonding with each other? It seems to me it would be hard for a father to bond with his son while he is hoping one of the cars whizzing by doesn't go off the road and kill the both of them. I can see where fishing would be an enjoyable activity in the right setting but is it such a compulsion that you need to do it in the middle of rush hour on the one busy road leading in and out of town from the interstate? It's not even the only fishing spot in town so why there?
I think the reason it bugs me so much is that I feel sorry for those people. At least I've experienced the purity of the experience in it's truest, Midwestern form. And while I may not eat fish - something I blame on the fact that I used to watch Grandpa clean the fish - I'm glad that I've been able to have that experience.
Eleven years ago this August Lincoln showed up for our first date with a handful of flowers. They weren't just any old flowers, they were ones he had made from telephone wire on his lunch hour. Believe it or not, I still have that bouquet in a vase in our bedroom.
Today is Grandpa Snow's birthday so the kids decided to make him wire flowers as a gift. Lincoln gave them a little lesson first thing this morning.
As much as I love our new garage and breezeway, I'm very excited at the thought of eventually putting on the planned wrap-around porch on the front of the house curving around to the breezeway. Right now the breezeway looks like an itty bitty house sandwiched between two skyscrapers.
More progress has been made on the back deck and we have doors on the garage! The electrical still isn't connected but Lincoln was able to make a temporary connection by plugging one of the garage door openers into the house's electrical outlet. Tonight is the first time ever that we've parked in our new garage!
The garage door people just showed up. I guess we're getting doors today. Woohoo!! I'll post pictures tonight. The deck people should be back too so we'll have progress on that as well.
The Derby party on Saturday was a huge success. We had about 50-60 people here - including a Massachusetts State Senator - and it was lots of fun. The kids of course loved the ponies the most.
Last week Jake wanted to call Grandma Dena to chat. It was absolutely hilarious on this end because as soon as he got on the phone he kicked back on his little couch and just "chilled" while talking to Grandma. I totally got a future glimpse of him talking to girls when he's a teenager.
There hasn't been much visual excitement happening with the garage lately so I haven't been posting any pictures. They poured the concrete floor last Friday and the electricians are just about done roughing in the electrical. Neither of which is very exciting in photos. Today though they started the back deck so here are some more pictures.
I am a 33 year old mother of 2 married to the most perfect man on the earth. Since the rest of my family and friends are scattered all over the country I started this blog to let them all know what was going on in our lives.
DEBBIE AND MARK - my sister and her awesome husband. They live in Seattle and I don't get to see them as much as I'd like but hopefully they'll be coming out to visit soon.
HANNAH - My 9-year old daughter. She is brilliant, precocious, and wise beyond her years.
HUNTER - Tracy's 9-year old son and a good friend of Hannah's. Jake's idol.
JAKE - My 5-year old son. He is constantly in trouble for hitting, kicking, and punching and I fully anticipate having to visit him in jail someday.
JEN - my former assistant. She may have moved up to nice, quiet Portland, Maine but I'm sure she still calls in late to work while doing the walk of shame and she's also the one that had Bret Michaels autograph her breast.
KAYLA (KIKI) - My 11-year old niece and one of my childrens' favorite people in the whole world. Jake gave her the nickname Kiki when he was a baby. She's the ultimate tomboy and is fantastic with the kids. They adore her.
KEGAN - The little brother I always wanted and Mom and Dad never gave me. He worked for me briefly before moving up in the company. Now he's just a thorn in my side but I adore him anyway.
KYLE - My 17-year old nephew and a great kid. He may be a big, cool, important high schooler but he's so great with the kids. He'll let Jake think they're doing serious wrestling without ever letting him be in danger.
LINCOLN (LINK) - My wonderful, perfect husband that I don't deserve.
MA AND PA SNOW - Lincoln's parents and my fantastic in-laws. They live right around the corner from us and are a true godsend.
MELISSA - my favorite co-worker. Melissa and I spent the first couple years of our acquaintance sharing a small office at work. She mocks my lack of music knowledge and I do her expense reports in exchange for wine and other gifts.
MOM AND DAD - my parents (duh!). They live in Seattle and come to visit often.
MY HAREM OF 20-SOMETHING BOYS - The young boys that I hire to work for me as runners.
RACHEL - My bestest and most longtime friend. My mother started babysitting for Rachel while she was pregnant with me so I've literally known Rachel since the womb.
THE OTHER DIANE SNOW - my sister-in-law who bears the same name as me and lives two houses up on the same street.
THE WALKERS - My second family. Deb and Michael are my Boston parents. Deb was my 10th grade teacher when I lived in Arkansas and she and Michael took me in when I moved to Boston. I even lived in their basement for the summer when I first moved here. Their daughters, Shani and Kristen, are my little sisters. They go to concerts with me, babysit my kids, and are just generally cool chicks.
TRACY - My BFF. Between bail bonds and locked psych wards we have it covered.
Posts
