<p>Waiting for my dishwasher and washing machine to break down as I run load after load of every dish/pot/pan or eating utensil and all of my kitchen linens. What an ordeal! Still more Tupperware and dishes stacked and ready to be sterilized. I needed a break so poured a glass of a good cab. H is off to a basketball game to see some top national recruit. He gets to put everything away…hehe! I am also weeding out things I haven’t used for a few years so it feels good to purge. I don’t think I have cleaned this well since we moved in to this house! </p>
<p>D2 and her BF came home to shovel the driveway, sidewalks, deck and hot tub cover from our little snow storm. Had a quick take out dinner and they are now back to school. Nice to visit even if it was short.</p>
<p>Mice…cute in the lab, or in the field. Not in my house. We had a kitty until a few years ago, and I figured that probably helped. So far no evidence, but I won’t be surprised. We did have a bat get in a few years ago. The can crawl through amazingly small slits. </p>
<p>D decided to do the NYC interview in about 10 days. The company is having a car service driver pick her up at JFK, which is a gift, imo. At least she’s 22 now. The last time she was in JFK she was 12, flying home alone from Europe as an unaccompanied minor (for which I had paid a mighty pretty fee, I might add) and was told by Air France to find her own way to the Delta terminal once she got off the Air France flight despite all the unaccompanied minor arrangements that were in place. Pre cell-phone, of course. One of those stories I’m glad I only heard after she was safely back at home.</p>
<p>NMN - we got mice one winter. Interestingly, I figured it out because I found dog food under the sink and I knew the dog didn’t do it. As it turns out, I have a corner sink and they were actually behind the lower cabinets. we got rid of them, pretty easily but it took a while to catch the last little sucker.</p>
<p>One time in an early apartment we had a mouse. Trapped the mouse and then went out of town for the weekend. When we returned there were five or six dead tiny mice babies on the kitchen floor. I hate mice. Other cat would kill, the one we have now is awesome, but isn’t a hunter so I always have traps set. Use peanut butter!</p>
<p>hmm, thanks for the laugh. OK, so a week ago I swear I saw a rat, not a mouse, run into the house. I then saw two droppings. But now nothing nothing nothing. So I kinda wish I had been drinking that night but, alas, I was not. I thought I heard noises last night but it was an open window. So, we have put the 11 rat (not mouse) traps away and are hopeful.
SO! the thought of a mouse or 10 in my house just seems fine compared to a rat!.
I also had an amazing experience when in my early 20’s. A mouse died inside the oven insulation. Yep, heated it to cook a casserole and had baked mouse. Now there is an odor never to be forgotten. That stove went out into the yard and had to be replaced. Then there was the time that 7 beds at our cabin were infested with mice droppings. We had accidently left the heat on for a few weeks. Spent hours and hours at the local laundrymat washing comforters and bedding.
Mice…or rat…you choose!</p>
<p>Last p. m. D called and decided to come home in 2 weeks for her break. Bringing the dog–who I like of but have been just fine living without. S and DIL sent the cutest video of Gson and he was doing a toddler jig just like S use to do. Then B called to say our Mom is so much nastier but healthier.</p>
<p>It is interesting to have a D who just moves in and out of our lives physically. Sometimes her messes and inability to actually load a dishwasher properly makes it a trial but then many times it is just fun. It is never cheap–she, as well as D and myself, are foodies…</p>
<p>Enjoying the mouse/rat stories…as long as they aren’t mine.</p>
<p>The house is overwhelmingly cluttered…trying to decide what to tackle today. I think I’ll finish my closet then start on my drawers. They will at least stay neat longer, since I’m the only one in them. Last weekend I found some horrid business attire from the 90s…blazers that were expensive and well made that I had in bags to keep them nice in case they came back in style…very long, almost to my knees, huge shoulder pads. The thing is, they were huge on me (and I weighed less then). Did everyone wear things cut way too large, or was it just me?</p>
<p>Found out that yet another friend has breast cancer. I guess we’ll all be long gone before they figure out what our generation was exposed to.</p>
<p>I’m in the process of researching schools for younger D, which is the most challenging yet [Son should have been but I didn’t know that at the time]…specific major and geographic desires, lower GPA than it should be, no more money than for the other two. Last night I computed her GPA without all the 100s for choir and cheer. Not as bad as I’d feared, but below the middle 50% for one school I was considering.</p>
<p>Hello. Ladies (andShaw), you now have me peeking in my drawers!
All clear despite the irresistible temptation this place must be. Perhaps they’re all shacked up in the pool house ;)</p>
<p>Have sweatlodge today and have to go get groceries to make some stew. I took a recuperative mid-morning nap after the dishwasher repair guy left and now I’m behind schedule! Serves me right for being naughty last night, but it was fun!</p>
<p>Whave mice up at the lake house, part of the package. I dont like to think about it.
My D2 is pretty funny. one night we awoke to her meowing, evidently she thought she heard a mouse in the walls, you might want to try that.</p>
<p>km–LOL–what kind of drawers are you peeking in?
mp–I wore my largest size when I was my thinnest. What was that all about? Was it the style? I wore these granny dresses everyday to work. I bought them from Eddie Bower. Totally shapeless.
dt-love the meowing. Must remember that.</p>
<p>It must be contagious - we have another mouse, this time in the kitchen! Again, spotted by H after I went to bed. Trap is out with provolone. Eeeek! I am being very cautious when I open any drawers or cabinets!</p>
<p>Slipped while walking the dog Thursday night, and my rear end really hurts. Had another snow day from work yesterday. Right now more snow is forecast for Sunday night/Monday morning. Wonder when we’ll be back in business?</p>
<p>My “church ladies” group is having a girls’ night out tonight - we have such a great time and laugh so much when we’re together. Glad the roads are clear for the important things in life!</p>
<p>Another weekend away. This time visiting D at school…our last visit before the insanity of graduation weekend!
No mice in the hotel room so far.</p>
<p>Many traps were set and nary a mouse was caught. Could I have really caught them all in the trash can yesterday??? We have multiple sticky ones and the regular ones throughout the house. Nothing has been touched. Of course they could have been forced out by the toxic cleaning fumes from yesterday! H already had traps in the garage and basement storage area and nothing has been in that area. Keep your fingers crossed that they have vanished!</p>
<p>Forgot to mention…did any one else watch Mark Cuban on The View on Friday? Interesting to hear him weigh in on the rising cost of a college education. He compared it to the mortgage bubble and urged families to shop around for reasonable COA. He thinks the smart families will be ones who look to online introductory courses (English 101, psych 101, etc) instead of sitting in big 300 student classes or looking at community colleges for those classes and then transferring. He brought this up in response to the question "is the price of a college education necessary in this economy? ". He believes in college educations but feels you have to be a smart consumer.</p>
<p>Designers and clothing manufacturers have our number, quite literally. I have 6’s and 12’s in my closet… they both fit the same if you don’t count the style. I “should” be an 8. But I gave up on sizes a long time ago. I can wear a medium or an extra large, depending on the store/label. My conclusion: The higher the price tag, the smaller the size. Yep… they’re selling to our ego. But speaking of shopping… I have to start looking for a dress for D’s wedding. </p>
<p>Yesterday I bit the bullet and signed up for the little gym down the street… one of those fitness 19’s. Cheap cheap, but it’s half a block from my house and I won’t feel pressured to show up in full face in order to work out. The issue with our “health club” is it is as much about being seen as it as about working out it seems. Everyone shows up perfectly coifed for yoga! Now, I can do that, but I mostly want a boot camp for the next several weeks.</p>
<p>So I meet with the trainer on Monday 9am. 10lbs has got to go or I can guarantee you I won’t like anything I try on - no matter what size the label says.</p>
<p>So… D got in the game yesterday. Almost 6 minutes. I was even watching and didn’t notice she was in the game until there was a fast break away and she was scored on. So… that’s her stat for the day. She was happy to get in the game but slightly embarrassed that the only shot on her went in. But really - it was the ONLY fast break of the entire game, during the last two minutes with a lot of players in off the bench. No defense in front of her. She’d also been standing in the cold and rain for the whole game before this - no warm up etc - before taking the field. And I saw the goal… there was nothing she could do and had she saved it, it would have been a gift. Not discounting the love of a gift, but… still gotta hand it to the girl. They could have easily left her on the bench, so as I told her, she must be working hard to have earned the minutes. </p>
<p>But oh… here’s a question for you… How do I tell my family/friends on FB that in order to not quash my ability to promote the news (aka Brag), they cannot tag D in their congrats OR write on her wall. She is mortified saying “Old people have ruined Facebook.” She doesn’t want them liking pictures, or tagging her in comments. if I could come up with a nice way to say that my kid is going to prohibit me from ever mentioning her again if tagged by me or anyone else, that’d be good. She’s weird in her “humbleness” to be honest… but she has never liked being the center of attention, ever. The girl hasn’t had a birthday party since 4th grade! I think it would be fine of her peers commented etc, but unfortunately, mostly it is “the old people” who have ruined facebook. And I guess I could just never mention her specifically, but not sure I would succeed.</p>
<p>Have been through this before. She can set her privacy so they don’t show up or you have to tell others not to post on her wall or tag her. I have one just like her. I just tell people she doesn’t like the attention. No big deal.</p>
<p>NMN - I saw that View… and while I agree PARTIALLY, it is not so easy to just “transfer” credits or even yourself! I agree on using your dollars wisely and the truth is, you could be accepted as a freshman and take summer classes online/CC over summer and know for certain they will transfer. I’ve just seen a lot of people thinking they have X number of credits or will enter as a junior or whatever only to find out that not all those credits transferred.</p>
<p>Just had a whirlwind day in NY. Breakfast. Century 21 for 50 minutes. Brunch with niece and nephew – niece had told her mother that she had a problem and wanted to talk to me about it and was interested in strategic career advice. Then met one of my grad school roommates – an extraordinary guy who has the title of SVP of Research and Insights for a big media corporation – for gallery-hopping in Chelsea. Hard to see that some of the paintings selling at $325K were as good as ShawWife’s for $12K. Then a rest and onto a play. We saw a play called The Other Place, which was very good but there was an absolutely outstanding performance by Laurie Metcalf. Then we went to a restaurant called Esca which was excellent. A seared raw salmon au poivre (with black, white and green pepper) appetizer. Bronzino coated in rock salt and egg mixture and then baked for 20 minutes. Incredibly tasty and moist. Two outstanding deserts: Meyer lemon semifreddo “Baked Alaska” with candied almonds and grapefruit and Raw sugar gelato with brownies and salted toffee, drowned in espresso. Got back to the room at midnight tired but really happy.</p>
<p>One interesting observation. In our hotel, at Century 21, and at Starbucks (left that out, didn’t I), everybody who helped us was friendly and helpful. A lot more so than in Boston.</p>
<p>Now, sometime after breakfast, we’ll head to NJ so that I can be a good son. I will pick up all of my mother’s tax forms so that I can arrange to file her tax returns. Despite the fact that I’m doing this, she’ll complain about something – about the fact I didn’t come for the weekend, about what my accountant charges or how complicated it is to do certain things. It seems to me as if there are always implicit criticisms.</p>
<p>Oscar night tonight…you’d think it would be a fun night at the Pie house, but you’d be wrong. Son takes it way too seriously. He gets genuinely upset if his favorites don’t win. Last night he was monologuing on the Best Screenplay nominees and how Django Unchained shouldn’t win and it was about 1 am and when he veered off into why Samuel L. Jackson was the best movie villian ever, I reached the end of my almost infinite patience and had to cut him off, after which he stormed angrily to his room. Aspergers does not go away.</p>
<p>We have one like that too, mp. I have tried to instill some cynicism about the process, but he focuses on who is ‘best’. I do think that he likes to complain about the injustice, tho. As usual, I have not seen any of the movies.</p>
<p>We had a nice potluck dinner at Ds U, where they had foreign language night with performances in the languages of study. As always, am thankful when we can hop in the car and make the trip without weather worries.</p>
<p>I think it will be considered an upset if Argo doesn’t win. And not that I don’t like Ann Hathaway - and I didn’t see the movie - but I’d like to hear a different speech. Is it just me or does she seem extraordinarily scattered?</p>
<p>Shawbridge… I couldn’t get 12 DOLLARS for something I created. And I have no idea what you do to work off the calories, but you eat very very well. This is certain. </p>
<p>In comparison, I emptied the freezer and made eggrolls and wontons last night for “dinner.” H&I were supposed to go out to eat but when he started talking about MY spending (which is a complete and utter joke since I spend very little on myself), I lost my appetite. Not a fun night at the Moda house.</p>
H already had traps in the garage and basement storage area and nothing has been in that area. Keep your fingers crossed that they have vanished!</p>