TGIF

I like how the "poll" I was running closed.

I do not like that I have now fallen up the stairs at my parent's house four times. I fell down the stairs at my brother's house once so far.

I don't like that I've now hit my head 2 times since I've been in NY and stubbed my toe twice on assorted ill-placed objects.

I like how I've decided to start using the word "blog" as all forms of speech (kind of like the Smurfs did w/ "smurf" - smurfy, smurftastic, etc). So as I mentioned in previous posts there's "blodder." My brother turned his website into a blog and I've dubbed him "blogetition." There's the generally accepted "blog" as a noun and blog as a verb.

I do not like the Gold's Gym in Lynbrook. What kind of place has a hand mirror in the bathroom - I can only imagine what people are using it to look at (I suspect they're not checking out the back of their haircut...although maybe they're checking out their "new haircut" - http://youtube.com/watch?v=4JMOh-cul6M - not safe for all moms). Also, why does the gym "now have tanning?" And why are all the men at the gym under 5'5"? I don't like that.

I like how I can wear sweat pants all day long and no one is any wiser (however, as a result, I might be growing dumber). I like how I woke up to 5 inches of snow this morning and I especially like that by the time I got home kid's had already built snowmen in their yards!

I don't like stepping in melted snow and getting my feet soaked.

I like how in 2 days I might be snowboarding in snowy upstate NY. I like (even more) how in 10 days I'll be in sunny Argentina.

TGIF folks!

"Come, as you are, as a friend, as a known memory..."

I just saw "Definitely, Maybe" and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting a very corny, rom-com (romantic-comedy) and it was actually not at all cheesy and only mildly predictable. I have no idea how to review a movie without giving away essential plot, so I won't. I'm just saying, I kind of recommend this rom-com. It was a little "When Harry Met Sally" (one of my personal favorites), but I also sensed bits of "The Princess Bride" (another personal favorite). Abigail Breslin was underwhelming, but I definitely fell in love with Ryan Reynolds and have loved Isla Fisher since "Wedding Crashers" (what's not to love).

Happy President's Day folks!

Living with your Parents - It's the New Black

I figure I'll take a moment to highlight some of the pros and cons of living with your parents (err, rather my parents). Considering that I'm still paying rent and all in DC, I don't get to go with the obvious benefits like "no rent." I also couldn't go with "free food" or "always food on the table" because that's also not the case around here. I had to dig deeper into the more obscure benefits (and drawbacks) of returning to the nest, even if only temporarily.

For starters, dishes never pile up in the sink. I'm not sure who or what is responsible, but if you put anything in the kitchen sink, it will be gone but not a moment later. Some say it's urban legend, but I assure you, I put a fork in the sink and within one blink it was gone. Oddly, if you leave anything on the bathroom sink, like my toothbrush and facial wash, it will never move. I can only assume that they're afraid if they moved my toothbruch that I would never find it again and in turn my teeth would rot out of my head.

Along with the benefits of the sink phenomenon, come the drawbacks of what I can only describe as "shoe elves." To describe this a little - no matter where I leave my shoes, they will end up in another place. I've been toying with the elves for the past 2 weeks. For example, when I left shoes by the back door, they vanished, presumably placed in a closet somewhere, never to be found again. When I left shoes at the front door, they ended up at the back door. Now, the really interesting thing is that when I left shoes in the den, a room that is occupied by my dad (presumed leader of the elves) for about 85% of the waking hours of the day (and an even greater percentage of the waking hours of his day), they ended up at the bottom of the stairs, but only after several days had elapsed.

Now, like I said, this house isn't abundantly stocked with food supply, however, presumably, if I placed an item on the shopping list it would appear in the cabinets - definitly advantage if this theory proves true. I have yet to test this theory, but with the regular food runs, I think this could come through. One drawback that comes with this, is that the rents don't seem to be as open to dinner suggestions as one might think. In fact, it was like pulling teeth trying to get them to use ground turkey rather than ground beef in the chili. They (speaking thru mom) made the following excuses: we don't like it (then "they" admitted that "they" couldn't tell the difference); we don't know where to find it; dad's rolling his eyes; and finally, my favorite, we don't eat like that (to which, I'm still wondering, like what?). Luckily, the Scaleres 2.0 (Michael, Katie, Maddie, Livi) live close enough and tend to have a) a well stocked fridge, b) more openness to dinner ideas and c) a good open door policy that allows me to stop by there for food (more often than they probably realize).

Some other advantages: I will say that there exists an overwhelming cable package and a 42 inch flat screen tv (apparently with surround sound), which seems to be availabe after 8pm on most days. I'll also say that I was expecting that if I left my car in the driveway long enough with the gas light on that someone would miraculously fill it up, but that hasn't happened yet - disadvantage. I did manage to get a pair of pants taken to the dry cleaner, which I'm hoping come back at some point.

Some things that are always in the house: chocolate ice cream, cool whip, potato chips, and possibly a pot of "gravy" (what non-Scaleres call "marinara sauce") or chicken soup. Also, there are bottles of poland spring and two britas (although I'm not sure how often their filters get replaced). There is also an abundance of 1970's workout equipment in the basement, which deserves an entire blog post unto itself.
As an aside: in the past 5 days I've hit my head twice, once on the trunk of a car and second on the ceiling beams in the basement trying to ride the stationery bike in the standing position - disadvantage!!

And if I'm ever feeling lonely at about 5:45 am, I can find dad up and moving about, working out, and making coffee (although I might've dreamed that).

Let this be a lesson to any of you pondering a move back in with your parents, or at least with my parents. They say it's the new black, but we all really know brown is the new black.

Happy Valentine's Day!! <3

The Kids' Take on the Giants

On Sunday, my brother told my niece, Maddie, that we were having a Super Bowl party (apparently using the term "party" very loosely). He explained to her that we'd have chips and dip for the super bowl. Later that day, she asked "Daddy, what did you tell me about tonight?" He replied, "I said we were having a Super Bowl party." Eventually he put out two bowls of chips for the girls and turned the game on. I sat there watching (shocking, I know) as Maddie and Livi ate chips. Maddie starts talking and says, "Is this the Super Bowl?" and she's repeating it several times (I think kids just like to hear themselves). I finally say, "yes," and she keeps saying "Is this the Super Bowl?" Finally, I look over at her and notice that she's cradling the bowl of Sun Chips and pointing to it. "Oh...no, that's not the super bowl, that's a regular bowl, this game is the Super Bowl." Unfortunately, I could only explain to her that some games are called bowls, like the Rose Bowl and the Orange Bowl - and between me and Mike, that's all we could come up with. Then we explained to her that in this family the super bowl was a game that had very good commercials. Although, this year, obviously, the game proved to be much more interesting than the commercials. (As an aside, this caused us a slight problem - we paused at half time so they could put the kids to bed. By the time he came back, we watched half time, but the game picked up afterwards that we couldn't fast forward through that and we obviously couldn't fast forward through the commercials. So the ultimate dilemma was reached when running on tivo time. We managed to catch up to just about 5-10 minutes behind the actual game).

Today, I was sitting with Maddie while she was coloring and eating yogurt. Satisfied that she was thoroughly distracted, I turned the tv to the Giants' parade (rather than cartoons). Thinking she's not listening to me at all, I told her that this was the Giants' parade. She doesn't respond for several minutes. Finally, she says, "Are they this big?" as she points to her coloring book. "No, they're a team; they're much bigger than that book," I say. "Are they as big as the house?" she asks. Ah - she heard "giants" not "Giants." I just told her, "yeah, they're huge."

They call *this* rock bottom...

Just when you think you've hit rock bottom, you fall another 100 feet . That having been said, I quite like it down here; moreso than I would've expected. This can't possibly be rock bottom - it's far too nice!

More to come when I settle into my newfound surroundings...