September 11, 2002

Today, I am writing about the first anniversary of September 11th. I guess I could tell you my story of what I was doing when...but to be honest, it wasn't very different from most people's stories. And I think a lot of them can express what I went through that Tuesday better than I could anyway.

But on the first anniversary of September 11th, I had recently moved back to Brooklyn after a year and a half of living in Manhattan. My grandma, Betty Jo, had died a few weeks earier and I was still reeling from that loss. So, remembering and mourning, and missing someone loved was very fresh on my mind.

I remember walking to Flatbush Avenue to run errands or something. And the sky was super clear blue, just like the year before. Except this day was windy. Incredibly windy. And the streets were quiet. It was as if every New Yorker was walking around wrapped up in whatever they were remembering. And what each one was remembering was so singularly awful that it all added up to collective silence. Every store I went into, the people were whispering. And on Flatbush, they were mostly whispering about the wind.

One woman said that the wind was all the souls of the people who died. Blowing down the streets because they were sad and angry and didn't want us to forget them. And that's really what it felt like. Clear blue sky, no clouds, but fierce wind. And then all I wanted to do was be home in my new apartment. I didn't like the idea of walking through all those souls.

On my way home, I thought, "someday it will be 10 years from September 11, 2001". And I wondered what that anniversary would feel like.

And here it is. Here we are. Ten years later.

I don't really have an answer.

Yummy Mummies

Make me want to barf. Apparently, clueless/rude mothers are an international phenomenon. I guess I didn't realise that once you have a child and a giant stroller you have to turn in your common decency. I have a child. AND a GIANT stroller, but I haven't tried to run anyone down with my stroller yet. And I especially haven't let my child run wild on her stupid scooter thing. I hate those scooters and I am going to do everything in my power to make sure Baby E never even SEES one!

I know that children take up a lot of "brain space". But I don't think I'll ever forget that standing FOUR abreast on a not-huge, busy sidewalk is not a good idea. These Mummies, standing around talking to each other, letting their kids run around crazy, make it impossible to MOVE!

I'm all about Free Range Kids, but seriously, reign 'em in Ladies! There are cars inches away and TONS of people trying to get past you. Somebody is going to get hurt.

And it might be YOU.

I can't control what my giant bag of groceries might accidentally bump into...

Freddie Mercury is Raising My Baby

Not really...but wouldn't that be AWESOME!

My daughter's taste in music is surprisingly similar to mine. Weird right? I was a little concerned when all her stuffed-up animals refused to sing anything other than Queen today. But I've given in. No use fighting. For now.

This will either make her super cool when she gets older. Or lead her to hate all my music choices on long drives or while I wash dishes. Please let her be super cool.

Well, Hello There!

Did you miss me??? I missed YOU! Because YOU are my favorite! Don't tell the others...

So, I guess the last time I posted was in March. That's ridiculous. I'm sorry. Way too long. Hopefully it will never happen again. It's not like I was busy or anything. Or maybe I was. I can't remember. Because...I have a baby! She's a girl and she's beautiful, wonderful, super cute, hilarious, perfect, so smart, gifted AND talented!

Seriously, you should see her. I've never seen a baby better at grunting and drooling. Not to mention filling diapers like a champ! Takes after her mom!

I'm wondering if, now that I have a daughter, I'm a Mommy Blogger.

Probably not.

Technically though, probably.

Anyway, I really missed writing to you all. Also wanted to say, "Happy Birthday!" to my friend Elizabeth. I'd been thinking about writing a post again...your message finally gave me the kick in the pants I was looking for!

See you all soon!

The Pioneer Woman

This probably doesn't merit a blog post.  But it's what I'm thinking about this morning. And #1 sister-in-law isn't awake yet - so I can't just keep emailing her.  Well, I can, but she's not emailing me back...

Let me start by saying that I think PW is amazing.  She cooks like a crazy person, takes beautiful pictures, raises her 15 kids (she might just have 4), lives on a ranch, runs a media empire, and manages to post something on her blog almost everyday.  Oh, AND she homeschools. 

I don't know how all of that is possible.  She says she doesn't do it on her own - that she has a ton of help from her husband.  I have a husband.  He is helpful.  But I'm certain that I couldn't do all that.  At this very moment (9:57am, London) I am already tired.  My breakfast bowl is sitting on the couch waiting to be taken to the kitchen to join all the other dirty dishes from last night's dinner.  And Hastings is sound asleep in his cat bed.  I keep trying to wake him up to teach him how to read.  But he just doesn't seem very motivated. 

I still have to: shower, call to make an appointment, go to the veggie store, go to the butcher, wash dishes, vacuum...hmmm...I thought there were more things. 

Basically, I was thinking maybe I could hand my life over to PW.  She does such a good job with hers.  She could make me another tab on her blog, right up there with Confessions Of and PW Cooks.  

Almost a whole month...again

Ugh.  I really do mean to write more often.  And I have tons to say...I'm just lazy.  That's it.  No other excuses come to mind.

But I saw a really interesting article on cnn.com today.  Here's the link:

http://afghanistan.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/10/viral-post-pits-coverage-of-sheen-fallen-soldiers/

The article talks about the viral status going around about how while we've all been talking about Charlie Sheen, US soldiers have been dying.  The status goes on to list 4 of the fallen soldiers.

The thing is, that while I thought this viral status was thought provoking, I didn't think it was accurate.  Remember the one about Lindsay Lohan a few months ago (I actually shuddered a little bit just typing her name)?  I just assumed that both of them were along the lines of the spam email you'd get from some well meaning person about the guy who hides under your car and slashes your Achilles tendon - and then kills you.  Basically, something to think about.

Turns out - it's real.  Those four men listed actually gave their lives while I was posting quizzes about which crazy person said which crazy thing (Charlie Sheen vs Moammar Gadhafi - very funny).  So, today I'd like to thank those four men and their families - and the others you'll learn about in the article who weren't listed in the status.

I'm not really sure what else I'm trying to say.  Maybe it's this:  Charlie Sheen is crazy and a completely spoiled turd.  We shouldn't waste any more time, money or energy on him.  There are better things to do.  More important things to think about. 

Army Spc. Rudolph Hizon, Cpl. Andrew Wilfahrt, Staff Sgt. Chauncy Mays, and Spc. Brian Tabada.

A Very Special Still Waters...

Dear Readers.

It is with much sadness that I inform you that I totally shrank the crap out of my favorite sweater.  It wasn't even a nice sweater and I'm sure that style-wise, it did nothing for me.  But it was great for throwing on over a t-shirt or taking with me when I wasn't sure if what I had on would be warm enough.  Or wearing around the house.  Or wearing with my fleece so that I wouldn't have to wear my great big coat.

It was grey.  Actually.  It is STILL grey.  It's just that now, it's probably too small for my 9 year old niece.  Who is a normal size, it's not like she's a giant.  It's that my sweater is THAT small. 

I would have laughed when I pulled it out of the washer if it wasn't so horrifying!  I did laugh - until I thought, "This is not funny!  This is...horrifying!" 

I have forced my arms into the sweater (it's a cardigan, kind of) and I will eventually be attempting to button it.  I would like you all to know that there is nothing in the world more uncomfortable than damp wool.  Especially damp wool that is WAY too small for you.

So please.  When your favorite sweater says, "hand wash only".  Wash it by hand. 

I guess what I find most disturbing is that I wear, excuse me, wore this sweater ALL.THE.TIME.  Is this really the first time I washed it?

Love,
Jenny

Mr. Bill Speaks Again!

MY LONDON BLOG

1/19/11 - 14:45

I'M ON VACATION!

1/19/11 - 15:25

WE ARE leaving!

1/19/11 - 15:27

Had to stop for cash, burgers & gas.  On the road at 16:15

1/19/11 - 17:45 (CST)

We're in Room 724 at the Holiday Inn.  Once again, Kitty made an excellent choice.  I'm hungry.

1/19/11 - 19:15

Just finished pizza and wings for supper.  Both were very good.  Now we are relaxing with sodas.  I got two different spots on my t-shirt.  Thanks Betty Jo & Jim! (editor's note: Betty Jo = my grandma, who ALWAYS ended up with some part of breakfast, lunch and supper on her shirt.  Jim is a dear friend who seemed to have the same skill)

1/20/11 - 06:50

"CRUISER BRUISER WHITE"  We are checked in, thru security, at our gate and Kitty says, "Cruiser Bruiser White!"  We're inside the airport, we can see our plane out the window and Kathy spots a White PT Cruiser on the tarmac!  She really is the champion.

1/20/11 - 08:40

CLICK!  My seat belt clicked.  I am in my seat and looking out the window.

09:00

The plane is VERY EMPTY.  Kitty and I moved to an Emergency Exit Row MUCH MORE LEG ROOM

We moved AGAIN.  We are sitting in the middle row.  We have three seats!One seat is for Kitty, One seat is for me, AND one seat is for ALL the junk.  Pillows and Blankets (airline's and ours).  Newspaper and other stuff.

1/20/11 - 10:00

We're on our way to see Jenny, Tony and Hastings.  When's Breakfast?

  11:00

Breakfast WAS GREAT.  I had coffee, silver-dollar pancakes, scrambled eggs, ham, fruit, and coffee.  I think I need a nap.

Now Dark.  I just remembered that the candy (chocolate) is supposed t o be GREATin the UK/  I'm not hungry.  I'm just planning my vacation.
 
23:05 GMT


I saw The Eye as we were on approach to Heathrow.  It was a nig circle with blue lights.

The graphic for women is different.  She is wearing a hoop skirt.

1/21/11 - 00:45

WE'RE HERE!  The Driver picked us up.  We got in with him and drove to Jenny and Tony's apartment.  The only problem is that Jenny and Tony are still at the airport.



  

Announcing My First Guest Blogger!

Well.  Since I am a super-duper blogger, I thought it was time to invite a Guest Blogger to my site.  You know, like how all the other super-duper bloggers do.  So, without further ado - here he is, MY DAD.  But actually, I'd like to inject a little "ado".  Dad arrived in London saying that he was going to blog about his trip to London.  I was surprised to find out that he even had a blog.  He said, "Here, let me show you," and from his coat pocket brought out a small notebook. 

 Mr. Bill, getting ready to start his vacation

A close-up of his blog

Mr. Bill In His Own Words:


MY LONDON BLOG
1/18/11 - 17:30

This is a blog and not a journal.  I am not sure how to spell journel.

48 hours from now I should be in LONDON.  "Should be" because of my greatest fear for this trip.  You see, I'm about 6'4" tall and about 4 1/2' Round.  I am AFRAID that I can't fit into the Airline seat.  It is seat 25B if I sit in the Aisle seat or 25A is I sit next to the window.

Kitty is taking care of me.

She is sure that we will fit.

Kitty has made great plans.  We will stay at a Holiday Inn Express tomorrow so we won't be late AND so we have somewhere to park the van.

I got to pack tonight.  My dream is to come home from work, throw stuff in the van , AND leave for Chicago.  I don't know what will happen; but I'm going to see my daughter, son-in-law, Grandcat and


1/19/11 - 03:50

I can't sleep anymore, so I will get ready and go to work.  Machine is not ready to finish testing.  The code is not finished.

Sidetracked or You Can Probably Skip This One

There are several things I am meant to be doing right now.  Cleaning my house.  Going to Ghetto Tesco to buy some pasta.  Dishes (which is a separate activity from house cleaning).  Making a list of all the other things I want to get done before tomorrow.  Making a list of all the things I need Tony to get done before tomorrow. 

I even had to cancel a night out with a friend because I haven't gotten enough done.  Which is really too bad.  I like having friends and doing things with them.  Maybe I should have invited her to mine for a crazy afternoon of Dishes!  I could have offered her a warm can of Coke and some Mini-Cadbury Eggs.  It's probably best that she's not coming.  Because I had the last 3 eggs for a snack today.  And all I could offer her would be warm Coke. 

But I'm too excited about my parents coming to town to do anything.  Isn't excitement supposed to motivate you?  Give you limitless energy and drive???  I have none.  I've been sitting.  Almost all day.  And we don't even have cable. 

And now, instead of doing things on my list, I am blogging about nothing.  This will be the most boring post ever.  Ever!  At least it's taking up my time.  I apologize for taking up yours. 

p.s. I find it's always best to end a post with the words, "up yours."  How unfortunate.  

Drier or Dryer?

I know you all want to see some pictures of our place.  And we're getting there.  But today I wanted to tell you all about the fancy clothes dryer we have here in London.  And then...I was confused by the word dryer.  Is it dryer or drier?  Apparently, it's DRYER.  Here's how to remember it: the clothes dryer makes your clothes drier.   Or at least, that's what I learned on the Internet.  And, tell me, when has that ever been wrong???

So...here's ours.  And I know you're jealous.  I can feel it already.  I'll explain how you can get one too below the picture.

Basically all you need is a compression shower rod.  A hallway, preferably with a window, so you have something to look at while you're hanging everything.  And a TON of hangers that the previous occupant didn't take with him.  You might think that's gross, used hangers...but really, what sort of gross things can happen with nice plastic hangers?  It's all about re-using and reducing in our house!  We're Erbalicious!  (note:  they pronounce it Herbalicious here)

So...what can we see out this window when I'm not drying all of our clothes?  Here are some shots from our back window.

Isn't England pretty?  It all looks so, English to me.  Imagine my surprise when upon arrival I found that London pretty much looks like how I'd imagined it.  At least my neighborhood...

And here are some winter scenes.  Same window.  And a couple from our "Juliet Balcony" in our kitchen.  For those of you who don't know, a Juliet Balcony is basically a DOOR that opens to NOTHING...except a 15 foot drop to the roof below.  It's a HUGE selling point here.

See!  It snows here...everyone lied...



And here are some pictures from our living room, excuse me, reception room.  

So, a lot of pictures of the outside.  Maybe I'll invite you in next time...

HASTINGS!!!

After six long months and a very long day for all of us, Hastings is home safe and sound.  Thanks so much to my mom and dad for all their help.  Especially Mom, who now knows more about the PETS Travel Scheme than any person could ever care to know.

He's a little confused and tired (who isn't after a 7 hour international flight?), but I think he knows where he is.  And who he's with.  Lots of meowing and petting.  And shedding.

This is basically how it all went down...

And then this is what happened next...

I'm so happy he's home!

Another Big Deal, But Just to Me

I met a friend of a friend for lunch today.  And...I didn't get lost.  Not once.  I got off The Tube and started off in the correct direction and found the place I was supposed to be.

It's basically the very first time that's happened to me here. 

A Decision

I've stopped doing New Year's Resolutions.  Mostly because I can never I think of anything really interesting to do.  Ummm...loose weight?  Better control of finances?  I do, however; challenge myself in one way or another a couple of times per year. 

Anybody remember, "I'm not drinking Diet Coke anymore"?  That's one of my favorites.  And it was surprisingly hard - every time I did it.  Come to think of it, the last time I really did that was in 2009.  And I've not really had any Diet Coke since.  I decided that if I was going to drink pop (suck it NYC), then I was going to go for the real deal.  I figured that the sugar (corn syrup, whatever) was probably better than the chemical soup that is artificial sweetener.

Now though, I LOVE a cold can of Coca-Cola.  Yum.  But I don't always have it in the house.  And when I do buy a 6 pack, I only put a can in the fridge when I want one.  So, 6 cans usually lasts about 2 weeks.  Blah, blah, blah.  Basically, I wanted to let you know that I'm better than you because I drink less pop than I used to.  Also, I just ended that sentence with a preposition.

But - what I really wanted to tell you about is what I've decided to do today.

You all know that I've been spending WAY too much time online reading crap and checking to see if you've updated anything on Facebook or if Dooce has finally posted another picture of Chuck.  Don't worry - I'm not changing anything about that.  BUT...one of the other things that takes up a ton of my time, and I'm so super ashamed to admit this, was reading Perez Hilton.  A lot.  Checking to see if anything was new.  CONSTANTLY....All.the.time.

I know a lot of you have very strong feelings about his super pink blog.  He used to be very mean and crass; sadly, I didn't really notice that until he stopped.  Which I think is admirable.  The stopping, not the me not noticing.  Apparently, he decided in the wake of all the child-suicides that he too needed to stop being a bully.  And I think he's done it.

But.  I've decided to stop reading.  Not because of anything he's done or said.  But because I realized I don't really care at all about most of the stuff on there.  I have never heard a Justin Beeber song and could not care less who a 13 year old boy is dating.  And I know Lindsay's had a tough time, but I skip everything he writes about her. 

So I think it's time.  I'm giving it up.  I'll let you know how it goes.  And hopefully, I'll come up with something super cool to replace it with.  Like...dishes!    

Happy New Year!!!

A little late...but whatever.  I'm sure it's not like you've been checking my blog every 15 minutes to see if I've posted anything new...Because I never do that.  I never spend entire afternoons reloading pages just to see if anything is different.  Why would that be a productive, fulfilling, edifying thing to do with my time???

Whatever.  I totally do it.  All weekend.  And then I complain at you all when you haven't been productively blogging for my entertainment.  But it's totally cool when I take 3 weeks off.  Is off a preposition?  I think it is.  And I just ended another sentence with a preposition.  My favorite grammatical error!

Well, anyway.  Today is Monday and in the U.K. it's a Bank Holiday.  The day the banks and post offices and other random places get to close because New Year's Day was on a Saturday.  It's Tony's last day of vacation before heading back to work.  And I'm pretending that it's my last day of vacation too, even though I don't have  a job.  But I refuse to do anything work-y.  Like laundry.  Or folding laundry.  Or taking down the tree.  Until I and the rest of the Untied Kingdom go back to work tomorrow.

I would like to take a moment to thank The Queen, Paul McCartney, and Stephen Fry for making this Bank Holiday possible...............................................................thank you.