January is almost over

Jan 21, 2009 (Weds) There’s only 1 thing sadder than eating the last pistachio in the bag - - especially when they have wide openings. And that is giving my mom back her empty fudge tin.

Sparky’s test results came back fine. There is nothing wrong with her. I guess she just had an upset tummy. Maybe she caught something from one of her doggie friends in group play at her hotel. Maybe I’m just an alarmist. When Alex was a baby we used to rush him to the emergency room every time he bumped his head. The radiology people would make fun of us & say something like, “First time parents, huh?” Okay, I guess we were overly-worried about our baby. And we’re still like that - - only now it’s the little princess.

This is a picture of my sisters & mom & me a few months ago

Went to Maggiano’s Little Italy today for lunch with 3 other ladies from work. That’s a wonderful restaurant. Great appetizers too.

I called the hospital today & had them release Alex’s recent x-rays to us. We’ll have them to take to our appointment on Feb 5 with the new surgeon. We have all the others – about 3 years worth. But the most recent ones should help even though the dr. will probably take his own x-rays anyway.

Sparky had a little accident this morning around 3:00 a.m. I got up to clean it up & then I went to the bathroom. When I came out of the bathroom I saw some more of her “little accidents” on the bathroom floor. I looked down at Sparky. She was wagging her tail. I said, “I don’t believe tail-wagging is appropriate right now, little missy.” Then I got my plastic gloves out & proceeded with the clean-up. Lewis is at home today. He called me & told me she had another accident. Looks like a little doggy tummy virus. Lewis gave her a couple Saltines. So now I really do think she caught something from one of her new doggy friends.

Lewis & I both aren’t feeling great either. Well, I’m not feeling sick; I just have a sore throat. I’m awfully tired today, but that’s from being up this morning from 3:00 to 4:00 & then going back to bed & waking up at 6:00. I’ll go to bed early tonight.

Little Miss Sparkle sunning herself on the patio

Tarah has been sending me ultrasound pictures of the babies. They are well formed now. I can see the little noses & eyes & fingers. It’s so amazing. I can’t wait until they’re born! The little girl is much smaller than the little boy. I think I’ll start wrapping all of her shower presents tonight.

The little boy’s name is Caleb Jonathan Stuart & the little girl’s name is Ailani Marleigh Stuart. She’s due in April, but Terri thinks it will be sooner.

Alex’s basketball team did great on Sat. He had a few 3-pointers, & by himself, carried 30% of the points again.

Jan 27, 2009 (Tues) Jan 27 is Chocolate Cake Day which is a chocolate lovers delight, and a day to eat cake. This is a day to "bake your chocolate cake....and eat it, too!" On this day, a white or yellow cake will not do. Nor, will part chocolate, part white suffice. It must be chocolate, all chocolate. You can make milk chocolate, dark chocolate, fudge, or any other type of chocolate cake. This day is for you, and all chocolate lovers. There are three objectives of Chocolate Cake Day: To bake a chocolate cake. To decorate a chocolate cake. And, to eat a chocolate cake. Of course, if you are to busy to bake or decorate a cake, then just eating a chocolate cake will certainly do! I LOVE Chocolate Cake Day.

As a surprise for Lewis & Alex I got them Cardinals Championship mugs & t-shirts which I will give them a couple days before the Super Bowl.
More excitement: Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band will be playing in Phoenix in April. Yeah ! We usually get emails regarding the pre-sale for concerts. I wonder if Alex will want to go to this one with us. At one point (before the Police & Elvis Costello concert), Alex asked us if we would stop “dragging” him to concerts all the time.

Sparky & her brother playing with her new toy

I also received an email about Fleetwood Mac touring this summer, but I can’t find a date for Phoenix yet. Don’t forget there’s a picture of me & Mick Fleetwood in my blog archives. It’s the very first one I ever wrote.

Cathy's kids Natalie & Adam with Alex

Lewis is home sick today. He’s been sick for a few days, but today he seems to be worse.

Alex will be staying a little later at school tonight for a meeting with the tennis coach. Yesterday he joined his friend, Josh at the JCC for the boys’ Jewish organization. He went to Josh’s house on Sunday & met the other 6 kids on the board. He was very interested. Yesterday Lewis took him to the JCC for another meeting & activity. He likes it. So we will write another check. But this is really good for him. Of the 6 kids on the board, I only didn’t know 1 of them. Alex has known all of them in 1 respect or another from the time he was 2 yrs old. When he was 2, 1 of the kids was on his basketball team. That’s when Lewis was assistant coach. I have a group picture of those little guys at that age getting their trophies. And now these kids are in high school. The other kids he knows either through Hebrew school, JCC summer camp, Temple Chai retreats at Camp Pearlstein, or sports.

I met Rosalie last night at the Marriott for a happy hour drink. Only they didn’t have happy hour prices or appetizers. I was stopped twice on my way by a policeman directing traffic, asking me where I was going. This was because they were directing everyone to parking for the golf tournament at the TPC (Tournament Players Club). But that was 5:20 pm. Who is going to a golf tournament at 5:20 pm? I went to work a different way this morning & I will go home that same way. When the tournament is over in about a wk, they still don’t take all of the barricades down for about another wk or 2. Then the Arabian horse show begins at WestWorld & we start this over again. That's what you get for living in a resort town.

I’m meeting Cathy tomorrow for lunch. It’s our once a month lunch. She emailed me yesterday & told me she got bit by a cat & that she would tell me about it at lunch. Said she had to get a tetanus shot. Wouldn’t that be a rabies shot? Maybe if she knew the cat definitely did not have rabies she wouldn’t have to. She doesn’t even have a cat. Wonder what the story is there.

The 3 of us at a friend's bar mitzvah last month

I had a really good Szechuan beef for lunch today – in the cafeteria at American Express. It was delicious. I’m always hesitant to eat beef that Lewis or I don’t cook ourselves, but this was done perfectly & had a wonderful spice to it. Lewis thinks I’m pretty weird about food & my eating habits. And the people in my chavarah used to wonder about it too. When we go out for Asian food, everyone always agrees to share their meals with each other. I don’t want to share my food because I don’t like a lot of the other foods, so if everyone is eating my food & I won’t be eating theirs. I’d just have less food. They understand that now. They’re great people to put up with my little food habits. They’re great people for more than that.

Shannon’s grandma passed away last wk. She went back east for the funeral. And Dan is in the hospital with pneumonia. What is going on? Lewis has been home from work sick for a couple of days, & Alex’s back is getting worse. Everything at once. After all of that, I will never complain about my tank top being twisted inside out again. Or about new shoes that hurt me. (Although yesterday was a pretty bad shoe day -- but you didn’t hear it from me).

I have all of Tarah’s shower gifts wrapped. I can’t wait until the shower. I love this kind of stuff!

I’m reading a detective novel by Robert Crais. I’ve never read him before. It’s very good. I took Alex to the library a few nights ago & he, coincidentally, picked out another Robert Crais book. He didn’t even know I was reading it because it’s been in my purse. Finally getting him to read more. Books, that is. He has no trouble at all reading his “Sports Illustrated” magazine when it comes every month. There’s a little section at the library where you can buy books for 50 cents or $1.00. I bought a few books & Alex got some movies on VHS for 25 cents each.

Jan 28, 2009 (Weds) We may not have the Super Bowl party at Jonathan & Shannon’s. With Dan in the hospital & Shannon back east, we’re not sure if it’s a good idea. Shannon will probably be back by then. We’ll have to see how it goes.

Lewis was home sick again today. He went to the dr. yesterday & was prescribed antibiotics.
I made us perogies for dinner last night. They have cheese in them so Alex won’t eat them. I made him eggs with ham. It’s still a mystery to me how this child of an Italian mother has never liked cheese. He’s missing an entire world!

Jan 29, 2009 (Thurs) Jan 29 is National Puzzle Day. Here’s a fun puzzle link: http://puzzlemuseum.com/
National Puzzle Day honors puzzles of all size, shape and form. Crossword puzzles are by far the most common. Sudoku, a number puzzle, is the most recent puzzle rage. There are puzzles that fit the needs of every person, and every skill level.
So there you have it! - as if you didn't know.

I parked in a different row this morning at work. Every morning I park in the same row, walk to the building looking at the same cars’ bumper stickers, same cars' personalized license plates, same cars. It’s getting boring. I need a change of scenery. I really kind of like change anyway. So this morning I parked in the next row over. When I walked to the office I got to read a whole new bunch of bumper stickers. I’m not a fan of bumper stickers myself. I don’t like to put any kind of adhesive on my car – my baby. I do have a small Jonathan memorial sticker on the corner of my back window. Some cars in the parking lot have AZ Cardinals flags flying above their car windows. I haven't seen any license plates that I can't figure out yet. I love word play. Sometimes they can be challenging. A lot of people ask me what mine means. My license plate is: AU N 50. If you know what that means, let me know.

Speaking of cars, there is one of those little Smart cars in the parking lot in my old row. It’s a bright yellow. That thing is so tiny. It looks like a roller skate. Makes you think you could go right over there & pick it up. I can’t imagine it could be safe. It sure doesn’t look like it’s 3,300 pounds or more. From all the safety issues I’ve read, you need a car that weight to have a chance in an accident. I’ve been researching cars for Alex for the last yr. I’m Googling “safe cars” first. Then we’ll go to reasonably priced safe cars.
Last night one of the Phx news guys on tv said they are changing their colors from black & yellow to black & red. It’s a Cardinals thing. They don’t want to be sticking their black & yellow microphones in front of any of the Cardinals’ faces on air. I thought that was a good idea. I wouldn’t have thought of it.

Alex laid on the couch when he came home from school & fell asleep. Then he woke up & said he was going into his bedroom to take a nap. That is very unlike him. I woke him about an hr later or he wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. We had dinner, & about 2 hrs later he went back to bed.
Lewis has poker tonight so I will be making dinner for Alex & me. Never can tell what that means. But Alex has tennis tonight so I have extra time to think of what to make (or defrost).

Much to our surprise, our poor mistreated son asked us if he could go to the Bruce Springsteen concert with us. This is just months after he asked us if we would please stop “dragging” him to concerts. The kid knows good music! Martha, are you going?

January 30, 2009 (Fri) Alex wanted to wear his new Cardinals Super Bowl shirt to school today, but when he put it on it was way too big. So I threw it in the drier for a while to shrink it, but that didn’t work because we didn’t have enough time. I’ll put both of his shirts in tonight - - wash them on hot & then dry them on hot. But when I don’t want to shrink clothes, they shrink!
We probably aren’t going to go to Jonathan & Shannon’s for the Super Bowl. Alex is just coming down with something & Lewis is still sick. It’s been about 2 wks now for him. And I’m not feeling all that great either. I’m mostly tired. That’s too bad too because Jonathan is a great cook.

Jan 31, 2009 I really messed up. I wrote this whole long, boring story here on my blog & then closed it out without saving it. Spent a good 45 minutes on it. So now I have to bore myself again.
Oh, shoot. I can’t remember what I wrote in the invisible entry. Something about a bobcat pooping in my backyard. When I took out the recycling this morning, I noticed more little things on the ground on that side of the house. We do have a bobcat that roams the neighborhood. Sparky does not have a doggie door. There. So that was my 45 minutes summarized. Did I mention I hate living in the desert?

Feb 1, 2009 Can you believe it’s already the second month of the year? Some pretty exciting things in Feb: Feb 6 is Babe Ruth’s birthday; Feb 11 is National Inventor’s Day; Feb 17 is Random Acts of Kindness Day; Feb 18 was when Pluto was discovered (& then it later got demoted). So there are lots of reasons to celebrate this month. Oh, let’s not forget Valentine’s Day.

Today, we’re just going to watch the Super Bowl here. Well, I won’t. I’ll sit in the living room & read. Lewis will call me when the commercials come on & when the half time show is on. Those are the parts I look forward to. Bruce is the half time show. It’s a good one this year. By the way, the new Bruce CD is pretty good. It’s different than what you’d expect, but it’s still good.

Time to get something to eat. Lewis just made us shrimp cocktail & some chips & that warm dip. We'll have more food later.

Hugs,

Candace