Apparently...

Tucking your arms while you roll down a hill is not instinctive. Despite poor form, you can get a surprising amount of momentum.

Rolling down a hill hurts as much at three as it does at 34.
Seventeen month olds are not good at rolling, at least not intentionally. They can however slide down a hill and ruin their pants.

Fascinating Facts about moi...

Mindi tagged me for this meme.
What I was doing ten years ago:
Ten years ago, I was living in a lovely sea side village with my good friend Clancey. I had just started working for DSS (child protective services in MA) as an ongoing case manager and had been dating Brad for a year.

Five things on my to do list for today:

• MOPS Steering Team Meeting


• Picnic lunch in the park with friends (it's supposed to be 68 degrees!)


• Hem the pajama bottoms that I made (I'm learning to sew!!!)


• Put away 5 baskets of laundry


• Cook dinner for Brad's dad. My MIL is on a cruise this week.

Of the five things on my list, I only manged to do the first and last. Picnic was cancelled due to sinus infections and pink eye among our would be picnicing friends. Plus, my friend Sharon called this morning to see if I could watch her son Andrew today. I don't know how you folks with three kids get anything done :)

Five things I would do if I were a billionaire:

• I'm passionate about inner city kids and breaking the cycle of poverty that happens generation after generation. I don't know what it would look like, but I would set up some kind of organization that would give grants to people and organizations that wanted to run inner city programs and programs that were specifically targeted at helping at risk youth.


• Pay off all my good friends and families mortgages and set up college funds for their kids.


• Make my parents retire and buy them a house in the country


• Travel and invite whoever wants to come along


• Buy a house on the ocean a get another boat (these are things that we had before we had kids....back when we were at least thousandairs)

Three of my bad habits:

Only three?

• I'm a huge procrastinator.


• I'm very opinionated and don't like to be wrong.


• I am very loud. Everyone in my family does. I blame it on the fact that my dad is pretty much deaf and we all grew up yelling. It drives my husband crazy.

I know, I sound like a delightful person don't I? A loud, lazy know it all....

Five places I have lived:

• Vermont till I was 4


• Central Connecticut is where I grew up.


• I went to college outside of Boston and have lived here ever since.

That's it....

Five jobs I have had:

• Camp Counselor at Hartford's Camp Courant, a day camp for inner city kids.


• Catering wait staff in college. I got to go to the Kennedy compound for John Jr.'s birthday and their Irish boat boy gave me a tour of Ethel's house.


• Paralegal for a trial attorney


• Social worker for child protective services


• Nursing home social worker

Five people I want to know more about:

Well, I've actually seen this on a lot of the blogs I read already. So, if you haven't done it and you want to play, just say I tagged you, okay?

City Kid

Except, we don't live in the city. These horses live about two miles from us. They're pretty aren't they? Definitely not threatening looking, right?
This is as close as my tough guy would get. If there wasn't a tree to hide behind, I'm not sure he would've gotten this close.

Better with age

My friend Jenn sent this to me yesterday to remind me of "how far we have come".

That's me with the "Shane" jean purse (it's to bad you can't see all the patches on the other side) and acid washed jean jacket (There was a rock and roll patch on the inside of it, I remember thinking it was very cool, even though I didn't listen to a whole lot of rock.)

How about those white Reebok aerobic high tops? Jenn's look pink and if I'm not mistaken, her jeans are "pegged" to be higher than the tops of her sneakers. Speaking of jeans, how are those for retro? No back pockets? Where did we keep our green "mood" lipstick? Do you remember that stuff? Oh, and don't you love the big white sun glasses? I think I kind of look like Paris Hilton. Okay, maybe not so much. I have a feeling that they may have said "Coca Cola" or something equally ridiculous across the glass.

In case you are wondering where we were looking so svelte...We are in DC, at Washington for Jesus. We slept on The Mall, in the rain. Unfortunately, I can't blame the look on the weather or lack of a hair dryer. It's all 1986's fault

Jenn, Do you remember how we stalked DC Talk? I can't believe they weren't all over us.

So many choices...

As we were talking about where to go for my birthday lunch...

Sam: "Can we go to Friendly's?"

Brad: "Sam, it's Mommy's birthday so she gets to choose."

Sam: "Hey mommy, can you choose Friendly's?"

I didn't. Instead we went somewhere much more upscale...The 99. Here's to this chapter in life where your restaurant choices are limited to places with a kids meal menu and complimentary crayons.

34...really?

Do you remember when you counted the days till your birthday with much excitement and anticipation? I do. I also remember when I stopped. Twenty-one. In my mind, once I could legally buy my own alcohol, there was no need for another birthday. And yet they keep coming. Thirteen of them to be exact.

Today I turn 34 and somehow, that just doesn't seem possible. I just can't get over how fast all that time has gone. I can't believe that I can say things like:

"Remember that summer 20 years ago, the one before you moved to Virginia, when all those surfer boys in RI that we'd been dreaming about since 6th grade finally noticed us?" to my oldest friend, Jenn.

Or to my college roommate and dear friend Bethany, "Remember when we first met 17 years ago? You did such a great job curling my hair for prom." or "Remember when we moved into our dorm room 16 years ago? Remember Abraham and Isaac? That picture on your blog of Aaron and the boys reminds me of it. When they get a little bigger, you can do Shadrach, Meshach and Abedngo, I promise I won't drool."

Or to my best friend in high school Meg, "Remember 18 years ago when Mr. Francini bought us dates for the Snowball?"

Or to my little sister Michelle, "Remember when Jenn and I dyed your hair pink. Oh, you do? I would have thought that maybe after 21 years, you would have forgotten."

There are sad things too, like realizing that my friend Tom, who died before our Senior year of high school, has been gone for longer than he was alive. Or that it was 14 years ago today that my mother called me to tell me that my grandma had died.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not mourning the fact that I am getting older. Honestly, even if I could, I wouldn't want to be 21 again. My current life is so good. I have a wonderful husband and two beautiful children. While I have many of the same friends, I have many wonderful new ones as well. I'm closer to my parents and siblings and I have a deeper relationship with the Lord. I'm more comfortable with who I am. My life is more real.

Yet, I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that I am 34. The time has gone so fast, and I know that the next 20 years will likely go by even faster. In 20 years, our children will be grown. Our house will be empty. It sounds so far off, but it's not. So, my resolution today is to make the most of every single one of these crazy days that I have been blessed with. Twenty years from now, I hope that I will be able to look at Brad and say, "Life is so good. Fifty-four is perfect. I wouldn't go back if I could."

Peek-a-boo

It finally stopped raining and was warm enough to go out and play. Spring really can't get here soon enough!