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About this blog

THE SWEET SPOT My journal on my expedition to Bandlandia and my adventures there. I plan to stay forever (been to Onederland many times, but I never stayed long). Join me!:see

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6/2/09 Fill Me Up

I'm going for my first fill this morning and wanted to celebrate...Here's hoping my Doc isn't late (thus the verse is fitting) for my appointment again!   Sing to the tune of (play it as you read- Click here):     Why do you fill me up (Fill me up) Band Check-up, baby just to let me down (Let me down) And mess me around And then worst of all (Worst of all) You never fill, baby When you say you will (Say you will) But I love you still   I need you (I need you) More than anyone darlin' You know that I have from the start   So fill me up (Fill me up) Band Check-up Don't break my heart   ”I'll be over at ten”, You told me time and again But you're late, I wait around and then (bah-da-dah) I run to the door I can't take any more It's not you, You let me down again   (hey, hey, hey) Baby, Baby, try to find (hey, hey, hey) a little time, And I'll make you happy (hey, hey, hey) I'll be home I’ll be beside the phone Waiting for you ooo-ooo-ooo, ooo-ooo-ooo   Why do you fill me up (Fill me up) Band Check-up, baby just to let me down (Let me down) And mess me around And then worst of all (Worst of all) You never fill, baby When you say you will (Say you will) But I love you still   I need you (I need you) More than anyone darlin' You know that I have from the start   So fill me up (Fill me up) Band Check-up Don't break my heart
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6/1/09 Letting Go

DD started her first ‘real’ job today. It was a wild morning to say the least…She panicked over what information they requested that she might be forgetting to take (she had it all)...she tried on different outfits, fixed her hair two different ways, and has she had almost a month at home to work this all out…yeah, that’s my girl…women, we reserve the right to change our minds. She gave herself an hour and 15min. to get downtown, but got a late start because the GPS wouldn’t take the address (remember that month of being at home…hmmm). I calmed her down and made her take off and I’d talk her through it (she’d only been there once for the interview). At one point I was holding two phones up to each other (had DD on one phone and DH on the other phone), while I had Mapquest up on the computer. She made it…about 25 min. early even…and then I talked to her the whole way walking from the parking lot into work building her up for her first day. We hung up and then I teared up, as usual. She’s my oldest so I was sitting here remembering her and my FIRST DAYS…   …of childcare…we moved to Cincinnati when she was 10 days old and I started a new job in her third week. I cried all the way from childcare to work….I also made the mistake of wearing a dark silky fabric work dress…let’s just say breastfeeding and leakage didn’t work well with that dress…that afternoon I ran back into childcare past all the parents with my arms crossed…she’d done fine, but it was so hard for me.   …of Kindergarten…she was transported to school by another childcare when we lived out near Philly. I cried after all the way to work after dropping her off that day to childcare with her new backpack and her shiny nametag pinned to her...I was so sad I wouldn’t be there to see her off and take her there. She did great…my little outgoing girl couldn’t wait to go!   …of new Schools (we’ve had 6 different homes since she was born)… …we moved back to Columbus when DH got transferred and in the summer a few weeks after I had my youngest and I quit work. We lived with my parents for a few months while our house was finished being built. They were in a different school system, so I drove her to/from school for those months with the boys in tow. I remember taking her picture by the school the first day of fourth grade and then walking her in…I cried all the way out hoping she’d be accepted…she had a list of friends the first day and had a wonderful time. …we moved out here near Pittsburgh (another transfer) the summer before her eighth grade. Again, we were building a house and it wasn’t finished so we temporarily moved into an apartment for nine months. It was a hard move for her because she was leaving so many friends and my family. She was really involved in many activities back in Cols., she'd been dancing competitively for years with a studio, had just made Cheerleading again, Swim Team, etc. It was hard starting over with no activities that first year and not being able to even live in our home and find new friends there. I cried and had my usual bout of ‘Mom Guilt’, but she adapted quickly and soon became involved in all kinds of new activities. She handled this last move better than I did.   …of College…I thought I was prepared for this one. We shopped all summer before. If there was a contest for the most furniture and other ‘stuff’ fitting into a tiny, shared dorm room, then she would have won. DH was convinced it wouldn’t all fit and people were actually laughing at our ‘pile’ when we unloaded (I was going to have no guilt over leaving her without everything she needed). Well, DD and I had no fears…you know me (Mary Poppins); I’d pre-measured the room and knew where it all went. While other parents were standing in line for hours at the local Wal-Mart buying longer extension cords, she and I arranged it all, hung artwork we’d made, put up cute lights and decorations…the girls on the floor were all coming in asking where we’d gotten things and ooogling. As prepared as we were I still cried the whole way out of town.   So, why should today be any different? It just doesn’t get any easier…no matter how independent they become and how many times you’ve seen them adapt well (better than you) to new situations and changes, you still worry about them. If only I could keep the three of them home and little forever. It’s just so hard to let them go.
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5/31/09 Practical Jokers

We’re still working outside. My neighbor and good friend’s daughter came around selling plants for cheerleading. I was done planting, but I bought 2 more flats of plants. Yesterday we went to pick them up along with a few bags of mulch (yeah, those 8 yards weren’t quite enough) and a few more items we needed. Deja vu …another planting and mulching weekend…groan.   I married my DH for his sense of humor…he still makes me laugh. My youngest-13, DS2 is his Dad in the making with jokes (he can always get me laughing), but unfortunately he also picked up on the practical joke trait…I hate practical jokes, so of course they torment me with them. All day long yesterday DS2 was ‘getting me’ with practical jokes. I’m turning on the hose and a trickle comes out…it happens now if there’s a lot of water running elsewhere (had to have our water pressure turned down after it blew out our first water heater). I’m yelling to DH to see if someone’s in the shower and the dishwasher is running. You guessed it, DS2 around the corner snickering while he holds a fold in the hose! I’m setting up the sprinkler, you guessed it…on comes the sprinkler in my face! Practical jokes are a family specialty. The first time I drove down for the weekend to meet DH’s parents his dad he tormented me with them. I poured my cereal and went to get the milk…came back and my bowl was gone…the snickering soon began as I was puzzling out where I left it…that was just the beginning…one shoe missing, etc. His dad is now 80 and he’s still pulling them on me…there’s no hope that DS2 will ever outgrow this. DH has been doing these to me for years…he sees an opportunity and he’s all over it…he’s very quick witted…that and sneaky. Luckily when others are around I’m not the only mark. We were all driving in one of my sister’s vans and she stopped to get gas. We had the same make of van and DH was sitting in the way back…he knew there was a wire back there that is a backup in case your lever that opens the gas door breaks. She finished filling up and closed the gas door…you guessed it ‘POP’ the door opens up…her windows were tinted so she couldn’t see that we were in all hysterics watching her close it over and over as DH was quietly pulling that wire ‘POP’!   He’s done almost the same scenario on his sister as we all watched from the window in the house…POP the trunk keeps opening on his car as she’s putting something in it (electronic opener).   My Mom, the gardener is always bringing me plants. When we first moved here she proudly brought us a May Apple plant. I'm thanking her and DH makes this huge deal out of how nice it is and that we need some cool shade plants for the woods behind us and sends her back into the woods to plant it. We soon hear "VERY FUNNY!' (I didn't know it, but he did, the woods was full of May Apple plants).   Once my sis and I went into the bathroom while DH was getting gas. We came out and got back into the car only to realize it wasn't our car! DH saw the same car waiting in line behind him and quickly got gas and moved around the corner to watch it all unfold...pure evil! The only thing worse than a practical joke is scaring me…I HATE being scared! He’s gotten me really badly many times, but I put the kibosh on that after one particular incident (I don't think I shared this yet). We were newlyweds and living in our first apartment and both working day jobs. I’d forgotten something I needed at home and went home during my lunch to get it. Well, I had to go so I went into our one bathroom and had a seat. I’m doing my thing and I suddenly hear a loud moan and two arms come around from either side of the shower curtain right next to me reaching for me …so NOT FUNNNY…I could have had a heart attack! He had forgotten his lunch that day and came home to eat it and heard me coming in…sneaky, the man is sneaky…and now I have two of them at home.
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5/30/09 On the Ice

It's the start of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals tonight and this town is rockin'. It's a rematch...with a new ending! Go Pens!  
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5/28/09 Weather Lady

We've had 3 days of rain and it looks like we're going to have 3 more...good for my new plants and all that mulch! We call my Mom the Weather Lady. It’s become an obsession of hers. In fairness, she’s an avid gardener and still volunteers at a local park with beautiful gardens at least once a week (big-wig there), so weather is important to her. If you want to know what the weather will be like today, or even a week out, call her. When we lived in Columbus we got updates all the time when the weather was turning bad and I always knew when it was time to grab the kids and head for the basement (she was appalled our community didn’t have tornado sirens). We live about 3 ½ hours due East of her now, but if the weather is coming from her direction, trust me, she knows when the storm will be reaching us here in Pittsburgh. She has a fancy electronic weather machine outside that gives her digital readouts indoors, but her favorite forecaster is the 24/7 local radar cable TV channel with the electronic/computer generated voice giving you updates. Here we only get ‘The Weather Channel’ and it drives her nuts when she visits that she had to wait until the local on the 8’s.   When we moved here my parents gave me a Weather Alert system (they have one of these too…or maybe ‘two’…gotta have one upstairs and down). My Dad programmed it for me (I still haven’t programmed my VHS). You put it in your bedroom and can input different counties around you and program it to blast an alarm and details for any kind of weather (it’s only woken me up twice as I don’t care about the severe thunderstorms or floods up on my hill…just tornado’s, volcano eruptions, and glaciers coming my way, thank you very much). There’s a button you can push to get the NationalWeatherCenter weather (24/7 of course) for your county too…I just look outside. I’m getting her one of these for her birthday and I'm going to have it personalized with her name…just trying to decide between the wall hung version or the stand-alone for her garden...tough decision. My DH is a weather nut too, but for different reasons…when we moved here one of the local channel’s had a cute little locally grown weather gal on it in the mornings and I soon noticed he had a preference for that channel (midlife-crushes are so cute don't you think?). Well a year or so back the gal left for a station in Texas…DH was in mourning for a year…this year she came back to the Pittsburgh station as Chief Meteorologist…they had countdown commercials advertising her coming back…I’m telling you, you would have thought she was reporting pigs were flying or it was really raining cats and dogs he was so attentive (can’t remember what I said a minute ago, but ask him when the weather is on…she’s now on 3 times every evening)! No one can report the 4 months of ‘Snow’, ‘Snow’, and more ‘Snow’ like that gal! I swear she’ll make it to ‘The Weather Channel’ one day and then DH (and most of the men in Pittsburgh) will be in heaven…..hours and hours of Julie Bologna…LOL. I found out she wrote a book "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Extreme Weather." I might get it for DH (fitting title), but it better have pics...he’ll be looking for the centerfold (too bad it's of cloud formations).
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5/24/09 Speed Racer

I jinxed myself. Here I am giving you all advice about driving, signs and the traffic on this holiday weekend. DD went camping and boating to a lake here in PA (about 3 hours from here) with a bunch of her friends this weekend. She drove a group and the last thing I said to her was ‘Drive safely!’ An hour later I got a call…her voice was shaking and it freaked me out ‘Mom?’...me ‘IS EVERYONE OK?!!’…Her ‘I got a SPEEDING TICKET!!!’ …me…just breathing again. It was her first ticket. Remember how I told you all to watch the speed limits as you drove through unfamiliar streets? Hmmm…should have reminded her. She was on one of those 4 lane rural roads that has stop lights and a few businesses every once in awhile to somewhere she’s never been. The speed limit kept changing from 65 to 55…well she was caught speeding in a 45 mph zone; didn’t see the sign changing the speed limit. She was so upset…of course ‘everyone around her was going the same speed’. It’s a good lesson. We had a ‘teachable moment’ discussion and she calmed down. I only hope it doesn’t hinder her from getting good car insurance when she moves out of here and can’t be on our policy anymore. I’m just SO relieved it wasn’t a wreck and everyone is safe. Oh, and the 8 yards of mulch is FINALLY done…we’re all exhausted, but now we can enjoy what’s left of our long weekend. I soaked in the jacuzzi tub for a half-hour and my muscles still hurt…black mulch…looks beautiful, but I have no fingernails left and my hands, even with garden gloves on, won’t come clean.
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5/21/09 Sign, Sign, Everywhere A Sign

My kids are off school for the next 5 days. Boy, that huge mulch pile arrived at just the right time…coincidence? I’ve been thinking, many of you are probably taking trips for Memorial Day weekend. Yes, the mulch pile has my name on it, but you're headed to better places...probably involving a beach chair and a cabana boy. I'm happy for you.......really I am.   Now you know the traffic is going to be crazy and I want my LBT friends to be safe out there. Please drive safely people and pay attention to the street signs as you're driving new routes through unfamiliar streets!   Pay close attention to the speed limit signs. And I'm sure you know better than to speed lest you spend your long weekend in the pokey (no cabana boys there, but maybe some cute boys in uniform). Children have the weekend off too. Remember my kids are off starting today, so please don't hit them...I can't make any more...and that mulch pile has their names on it too.   You might want to wake up the person riding shotgun when you need some help navigating and fly by signs like these at 45 mph. ...and when in doubt, just STOP and get your bearings. Have a great vacation...and if you have no plans, no worries, you can always PM me for my address...we've got some crazy fun times planned involving wheelbarrows and pitchforks. I'll SIGN you up...I'm even taking long haired freaky people!
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5/20/09 First Car

I was moving cars into the garage this morning to make room for the mountain of mulch (8 cubic yards...my back hurts just thinking about it) that will be arriving any minute and was reminded I keep forgetting to tell you that DD bought her first car. She could have had this: Or this lovely ‘green’ car:   But Instead she bought a Toyota Corolla. It’s used, but is in pristine, mint condition, has very low mileage and gets over 40 mpg. It was honestly owned by a ‘little old lady” (my brother is in the Automotive industry). Before she saw it she was a little disappointed in the color (same as the one in the pic), but then it was love at first sight. I was reminded of my first car…my hatchback Plymouth Arrow…When I found the ad in the paper my first question on the phone was “What color is it?”. It was red and I thought I had the sexiest car around…I had to keep jumper cables next to me on the front seat at all times, but I loved that car. DH bought his first car in HS. It was a Mustang and he still talks about that car. First cars are like other important 'firsts' in your life; you never forget them. First cars are a rite of passage into the adult world. They give you the independence and freedom to go where you want, when you want, and they signal to the world that you’re now old enough...to have your own debt!
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5/19/09 Parrot Head

You might recall I turned 50 the same week I got my Band (and DH’s 50th too). The next week we had DD’s college graduation and had both sides of the family in for a small party. DH and I decided we didn’t want to celebrate our 50th’s while the family was here as it would take away from DD’s event and we wanted the weekend to be all about her. We did open a few gifts at discreet times over the weekend.         You might recall I turned 50 the same week I got my Band (and DH's 50th too). The next week we had DD's college graduation and had both sides of the family in for a small party. DH and I decided we didn't want to celebrate our 50th's while the family was here as it would take away from DD's event and we wanted the weekend to be all about her. We did open a few gifts at discreet times over the weekend. DD has been telling me that she's been working hard on our gift (from the boys and her) and this weekend they presented it to us. They bought us tickets to the Jimmy Buffet Concert! She also arranged for 3 of our favorite couples/friends to go. We go next week and I can't wait! When we lived in Columbus, DH was in Sales and we lived within a few miles of the local amphitheater. His boss loved taking customers to this concert, so we hosted customers and went every year. If you've never been, it's a rowdy raucous event…huge tailgate parties with the most outrageous setups you've ever seen; tiki bars, swimming pools, palm trees, shark and fins ontop of cars, with limbo, hula hoop contests and giant twister games; people dressed in beach gear, Captain hats, pirate outfits, coconut bras and grass skirts. Beach balls and inflatable sharks fly all through the concert, and everyone (all ages, seriously) dancing and having fun. We had one couple have to cancel one year at the last minute, so I took my parents. I made my Dad (loves attention) a baseball cap with a parrot attached (fans are called 'Parrot Heads') and a sign on the front that said 'Virgin Parrot Head'. I got them dressed in Hawaiian shirts and leis. He was delighted at all the attention he got…Parrot Heads love old people at the concert, and a virgin is even better! We haven't been since the move (9 years) as the amphitheatre here is an hour away and tickets sell out within minutes. DD finally snagged some from a ticket broker and we're all set…I'll have to get some new hats ready for our friends! It's on a Tuesday night; how much trouble can I get into...we'll see! Fins up!   Random Fan Photos:        
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5/17/09 All Hail The Magic Bullet!

I don’t usually get this excited about appliances, but this thing is awesome. A few years back we bought one of those Smoothie machines for DD (like a blender with a spigot at the bottom) and it lasted about a week before the motor burned up. The Magic Bullet has been everything it promised and more. I love how easy it is to use and I especially love how easy it is to clean…everything can get thrown into the dishwasher. Someone really designed this well and thought through this product. It’s seriously a Bandster’s best friend, especially during the liquid diet and I have a feeling I'll be using it even more to chop things up into smaller bites once I have some restriction. I’ve used it for making frozen drinks, smoothies and protein shakes. It does a great job of chopping fruits and veggies as well and I've used it for onions, dips and soups. The motor base takes up about as much room as a coffee cup on your counter and I use it so often it’s now got a permanent place sitting out. OK, the rest of this is going to sound like a Billy Mays infomercial, but that’s how much I love this thing. It comes with two different blades which work well on ice or even hard coffee beans or spices. There are 4 cups and 2 different sized containers. You pour everything into the cup or container and twist on one of the 2 blades…turn it all upside down and stick it on the motor…lock it down with a twist for steady mixing (less than a min. recommended so you don't stress the motor, but I've never needed a whole min. even) or press and release to pulse. Now you turn it upright again and untwist the blade…twist on a lip ring if you’re using a mug and you’re drinking in seconds. There are even covers if you don’t finish the whole thing so you can throw the mug in the fridge for later. It’s also completely microwave safe. They include 2 steamer/shaker tops for steaming veggies or whatever in the microwave or there are different sized holes for shaking out cheeses or spices. I bought this set at Kohl’s for about $30 (it was on sale and I had one of those 30% off scratch card coupons). Online it comes with bonus items of a full sized blender and a juicer. My DH says that they now offer it at Costco for $50 and it comes with more items than my set.
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5/11/09 Proms and Moms

I had a great busy weekend. DS1’s Prom was on Saturday. It’s a mixed blessing to see your kids growing into adults…you’re so proud of them, and yet you’re sad that you’ve lost that small child that was so dependent on you. I missed not helping to pick out the outfit like the ‘great prom dress hunt’ DD and I enjoyed 4 years ago. It’s different with boys…he took his date to the tux shop and she helped him select something complimentary to her dress. For his first dance I’d gone with him to pick out the flowers, but this year he went with a group of his friends to the florist, and he did a great job (and he bought me a beautiful flower arrangement for Mother’s Day). It’s hard sometimes watching them become independent adults. We had fun watching him getting ready (I did get to help with a little hair gel-40-50 mph winds) and then meeting at a friend’s home with about a dozen couples going for pictures. We took pics for about an hour and then off they went to dinner and then the ‘Grand March’ (televised march of each couple being introduced under an arch, indoors because of the wind) before boarding the buses for prom. He had a blast! *Pic attached minus faces, since I don't have their permission. Mother’s Day was wonderful! We cleaned out our small pond/waterfall I built out back…my least favorite job of the year (involves netting the 2 dozen goldfish, emptying the pond and waterfall, cleaning all the muck, repotting all the stinky pond plants, and then putting it all back…a huge job), so it was great to have help. We actually started this Sat. and didn’t finish until Sunday. The kids pitched in Sunday on planting all the flats of annuals I’d bought too…another big job. It was the best Mother’s Day gift of all to have them all happily helping with something I usually have to do on my own. We finished early afternoon and then the kids took me to a movie matinee, Star Trek (BTW it was a great movie, we all loved it).   I did splurge with some refried beans/salsa DD made me for dinner (mushies-a day ½ earlier than I should have). I can tell you that although my band is wide open I either ate them too fast or too much because I definitely got that ‘hurt’ feeling in my chest that I had right after surgery. It was a good reminder to take things slowly and measure everything. I go to the doc tomorrow morning for my post-op visit and to get cleared for mushies for the next 3 weeks.   It was the perfect weekend!
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5/10/09 Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day all you wonderful moms out there!   This is the gift I'm hoping for...a completely waterproof room I can just hose down...because there's nothing like a plastic covered sofa to relax on in the summertime (make mine the kitchen please...and that drain better have a garbage disposal on it)...just read... they're now available!   Yes we are! OK, but I at least want the Wonder Woman headband and the wrist cuffs...and maybe that Lasso of Truth would come in handy.
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