A Dream Vacation Getaway Awaits You...

Tired of the daily grind? Bored with your same routine? Stuck in a rut? Want to get away from it all? Then escape to the beautiful western suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. You will be amazed at all this paradisical destination has to offer.....

white, sparkly sandy beaches snowy streetsbeautiful viewsdelicious cuisine intriguing local wildlife

a variety of recreational activities

Act now! Book your trip while you can--it's prime tourist season for sure. You don't want to miss the Midwest this time of year! See you soon!

A House of Order?

I'm in that mood again. The throw-away mood. The feeling of being overwhelmed by all the junk in this house. Too much clutter. So, with the sun shining brightly on this cold February day, I started "spring cleaning." My friend's daughter is in Andrew's kindergarten class, and she dropped her off to play this morning. With Andrew and Kate playing pirates and hide-&-seek, I was able to spend some quality time with my kitchen cabinets.

I can hear you asking yourself, What exactly did she do this morning? To the outside viewer, these pictures may still look like extremely cluttered and unorganized cabinets. But to the trained eye of one who visits these cabinets daily, I see marked improvement. The things I am most excited about? Finding a place other that the closet floor for my crockpot, creating a new home for my beloved muffin pans, getting all of Porters supplies in one place, and filling a huge garbage bag with mugs, cups, old cookbooks, mismatched plastic containers and lids, and lots more.

And, dear readers, this is only the beginning. Still on the agenda for today? New shelves for Emma and Leah's hordes of stuffed animals (if it fits, you can keep it--if not, it's out!), another round of garbage bags to be filled by the kids with junk from their rooms, sifting through the stuff in the various baskets around the house, and tackling this very desk I happen to be sitting at. Oh man, am I on a roll. I'll keep you posted...

I Left My Heart In San Francisco

I would have to say that my favorite day in California was Monday...we all rode the BART into the City by the Bay. I thought it would be fun to go to Chinatown since it is Chinese New Year, so Dad and I looked it up and found some fun places to check out. I was a little worried that it would be crazy crowded, but it wasn't at all. We walked past all the souvenier shops, found the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, oohed and ahhed over the red lanterns hanging everywhere, and ate some great mu shu pork at Chef Jia's. The only disappointment was that the "street fair" turned out to be ratty game booths run not by the local Chinese but by people who looked like they were pulled off the nearby street corner. Not quite the cultural experience we were hoping for. Also, the little Chinese outfits that I thought were for American Girl dolls turned out to be wine bottle cozies. Other than that, it was "filled with sights and smells that overwhelmed us." In a good way.



It was still early in the day, so Stephen suggested we head to Coit Tower. He warned up about the steep hills and stairs, but we were up for the challenge. He wasn't joking. It was quite a workout. But so worth it. The view was amazing. It was a perfect, clear day, and we could see the whole San Francisco area, from the Golden Gate Bridge to Alcatraz to the East Bay. On the east side of the hill we saw some steps leading down. People were heading down, so we decided to follow, even though we didn't know where they lead. It turns out they were the Greenwich Street Stairs, which go right down Telegraph Hill between cute houses and beautiful gardens. We were also fortunate to see the famous "Parrots of Telegraph Hill." We walked right out the the Embarcadero, went out on Pier 2 to take some more pictures, and then walked back through downtown to the BART station. All in all, we walked almost seven miles and saw a lot of the city. We had beautiful weather, Jenna did great, and we burned enough calories to not feel guilty about our dinner at Sweet Tomatoes on the way home. I have now added this day to my list of the best days of my life...something I may blog about later. In the meantime I am just grateful to have had a day worthy to make the list!

Toto, I don't think we're in Cleveland anymore....

It can only be California when...

It is warm (high 60's) and sunny every day

Flowers are blooming in February
Your "Chipotle" dinner is the real deal

A one-car accident causes a 45 minute traffic jam, preventing you from attending the temple
You can find It's It ice cream sandwiches, a junior high snack bar treat, in the supermarket

These nubby trees are everywhere
You can have a s'mores / Reese's PB cup frozen yogurt

You get to be there for Jenna's first birthday party

Californa Dreamin'

My dreams come true today! California here I come! I will try to bring home some sunshine and warm weather for everyone.

A Sunny Snow Day

Yesterday the temperature dropped into the single digits and that's not factoring in the wind chill. There was blowing snow and ice everywhere. Sure, you'd rather be indoors in your pajamas, but who'da thunk we'd be getting a snow day out of the whole deal? And it seemed the schools made the decision pretty early...Melissa called me with the news around 9 last night, and the Ryans were called by their school district at 8!

The funny thing is that it is a nice sunny day...no sign of the blizzardy conditions from yesterday...until you go outside! It is bone-chilling cold out there. So that means that the kids are not going out to build snowmen in the sunshine. Well, we just make do. The kids and I got the basement cleaned up, I got dinner going in the crockpot after spending almost an hour on the treadmill, and then we've had a day of cousins. The Chattertons came over for a bit in the morning, and then Tyler and Becca came over for lunch.

Tyler brought over PS2, so Andrew was in 7th heaven. They played basketball, football, hockey, and snowboarding. The girls had a little American Girl olympics. The featured events were soccer, karate, gymnastics, and basketball.

The girls then decided to make some chocolate covered pretzel sticks for a snack and for the FHE treat tonight. They did it all by themselves and they turned out very pretty and very yummy.

So even though it feels like the north pole outside, we're nice an cozy inside. Andrew is wearing shorts and a t-shirt as usual, so all is right with the world.

Trimming the Fat

I love throwing things out to try and reduce the clutter in the house. However, not all family members are on board with this concept. In fact, no one is. Until this weekend.....

Friday night I was catching up on Oprah, and there was an organization expert who claims that you cannot lose weight until you lose the clutter. In other words, if your environment is not a healthy one, you will not be able to make healthy choices. They showed a family who of course was an extreme case of clutter, disorganization and uncleanliness. But SOMEBODY happened to be in the same room, on the couch next to me, working on the computer and this person must have picked up on some of the things the guests were talking about because.....

Fast forward to Saturday morning. I went to the church at 11 and was gone for a couple hours. I walk through the door and Glenn excitedly grabs me and says, "Come upstairs--I have to show you what I did!" I walk into our bedroom and see two huge shopping bags full of his old clothes! Do you realize how big of a deal this is?!?! Glenn voluntarily went through his things and set items aside to be removed from the house. I am so proud of him. He may have been inspired by me giving each of the kids a bag and telling them to fill them with junk from their bedrooms. Sometimes a little Oprah can do us all some good.


I am so excited for Friday, when the Purple Heart Veterans come to take away all these bags. Now if only I could lose the corresponding weight from my body.....

Brooke's Head

We got the MRI results for Brooke yesterday--no change or growth in the nodules! This is good news, but still leaves the mystery of the headaches. I am going to make an appointment with the pediatrician to see if we can get this figured out. In the meantime, I am so glad that there is no surgery in Brooke's immediate future. What a relief!

Radio Head

As much as I love Cleveland, one complaint I have always had is that radio in this town stinks. There is not a big selection in the first place, and what there is to choose from leaves much to be desired. Too urban, too redneck, too mid-70's rock. You know it is really bad when you actually start to enjoy listening to Radio Disney, an AM station that is pretty staticky most of the time.

Between two trips downtown to Cleveland Clinic and two trips to the dentist in Avon, plus swimming and piano this week, I've gotten to spend some quality time with my kids in the car. They of course request Radio Disney, and I have to say I don't mind and am even tempted to listen to it even on my own. I mean, you can't go wrong with a little Hannah Montana and songs from the High School Musical soundtrack. Those seem to be the songs in the highest rotation. But they throw in Carrie Underwood's song from "Enchanted," "Tatoo" by Jordin Sparks, "Love Like This," by Natasha Bettingfield, a lovely acoustic version of "Wait For You" by Elliot Yamin, and even some U2. That is more than I can say for Q104. I hate Pink and Nickleback and why did I hear Bon Jovi TWICE on that station the other day?

So what if I have "Bet On It" constantly stuck in my head? Who cares if I miss the chorus of "Miss Independent" due to some weird interference noise? What difference does it make if I am supporting the biggest machine in this country's industrial history? Disney makes my kids happy, and I am not ashamed to admit I love the magic too. Tune in next time to AM 1260.

We're all ears!

Happy 100th Day!

Yesterday was the 100th day celebration in Andrew's kindergarten class. As a room mom, I got to go in and share in the festivities. Each child had to count out 100 of something and bring it in to school. Andrew brought in 100 pennies. They strung 100 fruit loops on a string for a necklace, made 100th day headbands, drew a picture of what they'd look like when they are 100 years old, drew what they would buy with $100 (Andrew drew a home theater), and had a special snack. It was a lot of fun to see the kids and hear them say over and over, "Happy 100th Day!" Here are some pictures of the festivities:

Andrew with his collection of 100 pennies.

Our beloved Miss Zkiab (in red) and friends checking out everyone's collections.
Stringing a fruit loop necklace
A fitting 100th day snack!

Andrew got to go home with a friend after school, so after I got the kids a snack, I sat down to watch the rest of Project Runway. The girls of course followed me into the living room and lined themselves up on the couch to watch and do homework. They were actually pretty productive--maybe it's better to be comfy!

Study hall!

Update

I called the Clinic today to see if there were any MRI cancellations, and lo and behold--there is an opening on Friday! So the wait has been cut from 3 weeks to 3 days. Much better.

I have to tell you something funny Andrew said as we were waiting for the bus. But first, a little background. Our mailman is the nicest guy, but a little dense when it comes to actually delivering the mail properly. Quite often we get mail for others, not too big of a deal, but it makes us wonder what mail of ours is misdelivered. One Saturday the entire stack of mail in our box was for our neighbor. Included in that pile were some important looking envelopes, i.e. bills! I called the post office in frustration and the lady I talked to said our carrier would be reprimanded.

Now, this guy always says hello and has throughout the years, so I don't want him to get in major trouble, and I kind of felt bad that I had snitched on the guy. So one day when Andrew and I were out waiting for the bus, I saw the mail truck down the street. I told Andrew I was going to hide on the porch because I didn't want the mailman to see me after I had called and gotten him in trouble. In the days that followed, Andrew either missed the bus or I sent him out by himself (while watching him out the window, of course) because I was still in my PJ's and it was really cold. Today was the first day in a while that I had gone out with him. He said that he would tell me if he saw the mailman coming so I could go hide again. Then he says "The mailman is going to get rubber banded." Huh? "The lady at the post office is going to rubber band him!" I may have to call back with the rubber band suggestion if the reprimanding doesn't work! Ouch!

Appointments and Accomplishments

Brooke had her appointment at the Cleveland Clinic today. The doctor confirmed what I had been thinking, that the chances that the nodule on her brain growing this fast are very slim, but she should have another MRI to make sure. I made an MRI appointment for the 25th--far away, I know but that was the first opening. They said I could call back daily to see if there have been any cancellations. A pain, yes, but that's how it goes. I feel calm about everything, and it was good to take her in today, because he sees nothing else wrong with her. So I guess we now play the waiting game.

In other good news.....the new interim principal at Holly Lane has a new bulletin board in the front hallway called the "Wise Owl" board. Teachers submit a student's work or something good they've done (weekly I believe) for display. Andrew's "H" worksheet has been chosen this week! Way to go, Andrew!

Today at Holly Lane children's author Stephen Krensky is visiting. He has written over 100 chilren's books. He spoke to the kids today, and I took Andrew to the school this morning to hear him (Andrew is in PM kindergarten and Mr. Krensky was only speaking in the morning). He was very entertaining and funny, and the kids had a lot of good questions for him.

The 3rd and 4th grade classes had a writing contest, and 2 students from each class were chosen to have lunch with Mr. Krensky. Leah and Sydney were chosen! We are so proud of them and I can't wait to hear what it was like to sit down and talk with a real author! I hope Leah got to ask lots of questions...one thing she has said she might like to do when she grows up is be an author or editor, so this is a great opportunity for her.

The kids will be home soon and we have a nice, relaxing afternoon ahead of us!

A Taste of Cleveland

Poor Andrew. His Patriots lost last night. With a big smile on his face he exclaimed, "The Indians, Ohio State, and the Patriots! All the teams I like lost!" Isn't that funny. Welcome to life as a Cleveland sports fan, my friend. He puts his support behind an undefeated team and he's still disappointed. He has no idea. One of these days that smile will fade as he pounds the floor and yells at the TV yet pulls out the Indians/Browns/Cavaliers t-shirt at the start of each new season with renewed hope. It's the circle of life here in the Cleve.

Hmmmmm......

Does this look like someone who is sick? I am not so sure. Brooke was complaining this morning of a headache (nothing new these days) and an upset stomach. I asked if she thought she might throw up and she wasn't sure. So I told her to get her PJ's back on and she could stay home from school. Andrew was thrilled to have a TV watching buddy. However, with no fever, no vomiting, and no lethargy, I think I may be dropping her off at the ol' Holly Lane here pretty soon.

Still, I am not too excited about headaches coupled with nausea. Let me just say that I am very glad Brooke and I are headed to the Clinic tomorrow. I'll keep you "posted." (Appropriate use of air quotes, no?)

Our Super Bowl Celebration

There has been a lot of talk about the Super Bowl in our house this year. Andrew is really into football, a bit obsessive perhaps (gee, wonder where he gets that from), so we have had a lot of talks about Giants vs. Patriots, Brady vs. Manning, etc. Andrew and Glenn are both rooting for the Patriots (gravy trainers, I say) while I am hoping Eli gets a ring of his own to flash in Peyton's face. This girls don't have much of an opinion on the matter, except for Brooke, who declared, "I hate the Patriots. I hate the Giants. I hate all football. Daddy shouldn't be watching sports on Sunday."

So our party today has been a long time in the planning. Andrew decided he wanted to make a cake and frost it all by himself. It features a Patriots helmet and a smaller (of course) Giants helmet. Andrew specifically wanted to put the "vs." in the middle. He had a clear vision of how he wanted his cake to look.

The master at work!

The finished product!

The Ryans, Franklins, and Chattertons came over for the big feast this afternoon. We had sub sandwiches (Emily Musso's wonderful recipe!), veggies and dip, seven layer dip, little smokies, cheese and crackers, fruit salad, and spinach dip with sourdough bread. Yum-O!

And of course, Daryl made his famous wings.

You cannot have a Super Bowl party without them. Daryl, Emma, Leah, and Sydney had a wing eating contest. Pound for pound, I think Sydney was declared the winner. Emma and Leah would have kept going but they ran out of BBQ wings and they just couldn't make the transition to the world of hot sauce.

Who knows how the game will turn out. Glenn and the kids are in there right now watching it. It is funny to hear the kids laugh at the commercials and listen to Glenn explain why we care not sure why Tom Petty is the half-time show entertainment. At least we won't have to worry about any wardrobe malfunctions. Well, I hope not. Anyway, I need to go remind Glenn that we need to pause the action to get the kids in bed. For now, Andrew can only dream of the Patriots making history and will just have to check out ESPN in the morning.