'A Ha' Moments

Hannah spent the night on Wednesday. She has outgrown the portable crib.

'A Ha' Moment #1.  After weeks of fretting about where she would sleep when she was here for her much-anticipated overnight visit, the purchase of an inflatable mattress (still in the box), a cottage-like tent to make it fun to sleep on (still in the box) and a couple of travel locks for the doors to keep her from wandering into the building hallway or onto the patio in the middle of the night (easily removed by her in record time), the simple solution was sleeping with her on the sofa bed in the den. I made up the bed while she was busy playing office at my desk. When she came into the den, her jaw dropped. She had no idea that her favorite sofa could be transformed into a sofa bed. She hopped right in clothes and all! 

'A Ha' Moment #2.  The next morning, while she was putting her pajamas back on (having decided that she would be a sofa bed potato all morning), I turned on "Bubble Guppies" in the living room because it was playing in the den in an effort to coax her into some breakfast. When she came out to get back in bed to watch, she stood in the doorway between the den and the living room looking from one television to the other. She looked like she was watching a tennis match. Then I heard "Nana, Nana, look." as she excitedly pointed to each TV. The smile on her face was priceless as she realized that the sets could play the same show at the same time! And then, she had breakfast in bed - the sofa bed.

The Christmas Planner

The year that Grace was born, I made a Christmas Planner. I may have shared it but I don't remember with whom! I keep it up to date.  It is a history of gift-giving, card-sending, keepsake-saving and holiday-decorating for every year since 2007. Today, I took it from the shelf and opened it to begin the record for Christmas 2015, the last year that will fit into this volume.     * Note to self: Buy another notebook to set up for Christmas 2016.*     I opened it at breakfast this morning and am still browsing and smiling over it at 1 p.m.!!!

Take-aways:

1. Picture cards received from family and friends are amazing.  Just look at how their kids have grown!
2. The pictures with Santa from Macy's are priceless.  Should I make a special album for these cards and pictures? Maybe I should frame them and bring them out to display for the Christmas season.
3. Every year I make a Christmas budget that I ignore.  (But this year will be different.)
4. Secret Santa proposals to manage gift-giving for adults do not work in our family.
5. I send more than 100 holiday cards and mail them on the day after Thanksgiving.  I mailed them one day later in 2014.  
6. *Note to self:  You bought stamps last week for this year so don't plan to buy them again now that the planner is in play. What safe place are you using for them?*
7. Amazon wish lists are a good thing.  And, the Amazon wish list button added to my Firefox browser is wonderful.  

Because I have no pictures in this post yet, here are a couple before I sign off.

I don't miss that wallpaper, but I still use those little window wreaths and the wii game that the guys are setting up here. Thanks again guys.

Snowy Day

Make a free collage

Chestnut Street at Park Drive, 5:50 p.m.

The lead goose stopped the traffic by standing in front of the car ahead of me and honking at oncoming traffic before the goslings stepped into the roadway.  Even the geese have adapted to life in a small town.

My *heart* daughter

On Sunday, 9/25/2011, I spent the day with my delightful daughter.  We were checking out tea rooms in the city as possible fun places for her baby shower.  It was a beautiful day that ended with our visit to the Queens Museum.  I had not been to Flushing Meadow since the World's Fair!!!  I was in high school for crying out loud.  It was strange to be out of the car, passing by, and on the ground looking at the structures that I remembered from the long ago trip.

The Meadow is now a beautiful park and the Panorama Building is the Queens Museum of Art.  The helicopters that we rode in to view the Panorama have been removed, but the ramp is still there.  It serves as a viewing deck around the Panorama for visitors to walk around.

The Panorama is a scaled down model of NYC that has been kept reasonably up-to-date.  The reason for the visit was a talk by author Brian Selznick (The Invention of Hugo Cabret) who stood in the East River on the Panorama with a sign language translator to tell us about his journey to success as an author and his new book Wonder Struck in which the Panorama is a character.  If you are unfamiliar with Selznick, perhaps you are interested now :-)

Jackie was a bit rattled by the autograph session, the crowd was a little out-of-control, but, she was so determined to get her copies of the books signed to share with her kids at school that she hung in there to the end.

I have a beautiful daughter with a loving husband both expecting their first child.  She is happy to spend a day with her mom and is so in touch with her life.  My heart is bursting with pride for the woman she has become.

9/11

Hard to believe that it has been 10 years, I watched the memorial service today.  The new national memorial in NYC is spectacular.  I have not been downtown to that area since the attack, but now a visit would be good.

It was especially nice to hear the readers of the names thank the first responders, the volunteers on the pile, the construction workers and everyone who is responsible for this beautiful permanent memorial.

Irene Flood Before and After

Hurricane Irene

Irene reached the area this morning.  I was surprised that it was so quiet, just a steady downpour and raging Third River. The river has crept higher by about three feet since I began taking pictures of it around 7:15 a.m.

Here it is at 9:30 a.m.   The Memorial Park pathway is next to the row of young trees and streetlight.  It is underwater.  The Mudhole pond is indistinguishable from the river overflow.


Power is still on in my neighborhood although I saw a FB post earlier from a friend in town whose home is without power.  If it goes out during the day, I am prepared for an evening of audiobooks and lantern light.  I even purchased a few flowers to sit next to my candle to soften the mood.

My emergency supplies and more pictures from my windows and doors.  Check this video. The good part begins around 1:01.

February 15, 1903

On this day in 1903, the teddy bear was born when Morris Michtom and his wife Rose placed two stuffed bears in the window of their Brooklyn shop window. Michtom sent a stuffed bear to President Theodore Roosevelt and asked for his permission to use his nickname, Teddy, for the dolls after a 1902 political cartoon depicted Roosevelt refusing to shoot a bear while on a hunting trip in Mississippi. The sign along side the dolls in the window read “Teddy’s bear.” The toys were an instant sensation and Michtom started the Ideal Novelty and Toy Co.

Clifford Berryman's political cartoon of President Theodore Roosevelt's bear hunting trip to Mississippi that gave the teddy bear its name. This is one of several cartoons he drew of the same event.

Garage

Memorial Day weekend was beautiful, and, I was very motivated to clean up and spruce up for Spring. A great "ah-ha" moment occurred at 7 a.m. when the garage clean-up beckoned, but I had not borrowed the shop vac from my friend. The leaf blower came to mind. Not only did I put the holiday decorations away properly and throw out a ton of "stuff," but I also used the leaf blower to dust everything and then blow all of the dirt on the floor out of the door! The garage is a vision of cleanliness and organization :-)