<p>I was so glad that I was able to monitor Facebook on my phone earlier this week…so glad that many of you checked in on Facebook to say that your loved ones in the Boston area were safe.</p>
<p>I happened to be in the car this morning when NPR was broadcasting the Boston Interfaith Memorial service live. I wasnt able to listen to it all but what I heard was profound and moving. Lots of bad things have happened this year, and if youre grieving for any reason, I think you will be glad to have taken the time to watch this.</p>
<p>Just back from a treacherous drive to pick out counter tops for the cabin. The rain has morphed to sleet and ice in this part of the Cities and snow falling in others. Saw police and accidents on my way home. yuck… Will spring ever get here???</p>
<p>Ish…sorry to hear about that missypie. That would be drive me crazy and I am sure there would be" HEdouble hockey sticks" to pay!</p>
<p>I still need a grad outfit! I am thinking navy lace top, white pants (if it ever gets warm!) and a jacket of some sort. </p>
<p>I can’t watch any more coverage of the devastation in Texas or the Marathon. So sad.
:(</p>
<p>Moda, if you are serious about wanting a trumpet player for the wedding, call the Directors of Music for the largest churches/synagogues in the greater nook area. They will have a good read on the area musicians.</p>
<p>Kmc, congrats on the weight loss!</p>
<p>Z, Shaw and arabrab, congrats on your kids’ achievements!</p>
<p>West, Texas is best known as the place to stop for kolaches if you’re driving down I-35 to Waco or Austin. Not much else there (even before the blast). Can you imagine living or going to school close to a fertilizer factory?! So sad to think of the fire fighters going in to try to stop the fire before the place exploded.</p>
<p>I was feeling all kinds of smug that I was traveling on American Airlines on Wednesday instead of Tuesday (the day American Airlines grounded its flights). The smug was fairly quickly wiped off my face after my flight was cancelled. Got to bed around 4 am, but I even managed to find my luggage. I will try to think of the fabulous young American Airlines employee who got me the last seat on the last flight out last night, rather than the many many other American Airlines employees who were callous, rude, unsympathetic, curt, etc. The thousands of passengers who were inconvenienced were generally a good natured lot. I saw one guy flip out but he went away from the 2 hour line when they threated to call the police. I saw two other young women in tears, but I admit that I have cried over a cancelled flight before.</p>
<p>[I initially typed “AA” in the paragraph above, but after I re-read it, realized that it appeared as if I was slamming African Americans, so I went back and typed in American Airlines instead. I’ve got to watch slamming American Airlines on Facebook because I know lots of employeees of American.]</p>
<p>Moda i really, really like your post and you make some great points about the advantages of being a young parent (this from someone who had her first at 34). Oregon, your S might not be on the path you expected but I for one am impressed that he stepped up and help create a family and that he is doing right by them. I know lots of families who started out that way (helps to have grown up in a small town and know everyone’s history) and have seen lots of people who made it work.</p>
<p>And moda, it sounds as if your S is doing just fine. </p>
<p>shaw - that’s fantastic for your S. Best of luck to him.</p>
<p>Am impressed by anyone here who has a graduation outfit planned already. I am at the “we will be going via subway from a hotel in midtown up to yankee stadium in the Bronx so I have to plan around comfortable shoes stage”. That’s as far as I am.</p>
<p>Less busy at work this week, but inlaws will be here until Monday. Thanks to cc, I am especially greatful that they really are nice people. Yes I am lucky. (but still would not mind a week or so alone).</p>
<p>All this sadness in Boston and now Texas and it’s flooding in the midwest where my parents are (they are fine, but I am hearing stories of people who are not). If anyone has some really good news please share. We need it.</p>
<p>Wow, so sorry for the bostonites and drama, but at lease the one suspect was decommissioned. Hope they find the second soon. Stay safe folks.</p>
<p>Moda, I just wanted to echo that your observations about Oregon’s s were right on, and beautifully put. Thank you for reminding us all that there are so many different ways to “win” in life, and love is the best one!</p>
<p>A few of us were joking around during our night out last week about mcson pursuing the arts and his burgeoning practical streak and what he has and hasn’t accomplished to date. A friend of mine who has always been very attuned to mcson (because I suspect he was similar in his youth, and his eldest son is very similar) pointed out that above all else, he found the love of his life in the hallowed halls of performing arts So true!</p>
<p>Boston/Cambridge area folks, please check in as you can.</p>
<p>We were up last night rather late. I checked twitter and read about the MIT cop’s death, then the rest of it as it developed…basically covered only by BBC news and retweets by people and groups I follow. We checked all the TV news outlets & not a word of it. So the “24/7 news cycle” is really play repeats of old intereviews after 11 pm cycle.</p>
<p>Stay safe.</p>
<p>Record rain in Chicago…if I hadn’t gotten home the night before I certainly wouldn’t have gotten home yesterday. </p>
<p>H&I fell asleep really early last night (just as the headline that gunshots were heard at MIT) and I woke up this morning to quite the update. Hoping that the second bomber isn’t killed so we at least understand a little bit more about these killers. And frankly, I feel badly that this only continues to give people from the middle east such a deadly reputation. The one guy is 19!! 19!!! Impossible to fathom but yet it’s truth. </p>
<p>There is seriously at least 10 inches of snow in my yard. It looks like January vs the end of April!!! What the heck happened to the lion and the lamb? </p>
<p>Older D called me yesterday in absolutely choking sobs! She had taken her dress and gone to a tailor I had found thru a “best of” list. Had I done due diligence and dug deeper I would have perhaps noted her demeanor was questionable, but at the same time I probs would have concluded that was the other person’s issue. But my daughter, unlike me (seriously), is probably one of the sweetest young women you’d ever want to meet. She has the patience of a saint and is just generally kind. She said the woman was a complete bully, refused to answer questions or address concerns and when she pinned the bustle and the under-underskirt showed, obviously D was thinking this wasn’t right. She tried to tell d that there was only one way to do a bustle (lie). When D said she felt there had to be another way, the woman SCREAMED at her, ripped up the ticket, took the pins from her dress and made her cry!! D said it was the worst experience of her entire life, to say nothing of it destroying what should have been such a happy time. I was INCENSED! And cried right along with D in apology. In her screaming that she was a professional (not) and an award winner (for making a best of list?), I decided to use MY professional skills as well.</p>
<p>So… After sending her a strongly worded email, I spent last night writing reviews wherever I could find her name as a source AND wrote to the publication which listed her as a best of to say they had been duped OR were duping their readers. That yes, it is trivial in the grand scheme, but they also had the best docs on this list and I sure hope that wasn’t also compiled with such deep disregard. It became clear to me in listening to D’s experience and then reading the reviews i had dug up online that she probably doesn’t really have the skill set to do the quality of work necessary. Bullet dodged in my book, but still… I was so sad for D, mad at myself and furious that this woman ruined what should have been a joyous time for my daughter. </p>
<p>In OTHER alteration news: Nordstroms was great in that when I went to get my suit altered she said they did not have the ability to create the edging on the knit (a detail I wouldn’t possibly know) without sending it back to the designer. I was thankful she pointed it out instead of just doing it. So, I called the woman who did D’s prom dress (not cheap but definitely to perfection) and yes, she could do it. Figures due to the part of town in which she is located. SO… that’s what I am doing today. Also taking the Kate Spade top I bought and another dress to have them both slightly taken in at the hip. So… I THINK I am good for two graduations, a shower, the rehearsal dinner, the wedding and the brunch! Still in need of shoes though. And the snow isn’t helping to motivate me in packing up to leave for the summer to say nothing about what’s going to happen with this house over the summer (IF it ever gets here).</p>
<p>That’s all from me folks… SUCH trivial crap when so much other deadly crap is going on in Boston. Seriously… Looks completely surreal from what they’re showing on the news.</p>
<p>shaw, congrats on your Ss invite for the accelerator. </p>
<p>I hope everybody in Boston stays safe today. My best friends S (S1s age) was working Monday (one of those companies in the financial sector that never heard of Holidays) and reportedly was supposed to go pick up lunch right when and where one of the bombs went off. However, his boss gave him one more thing to do first, so luckily he was delayed and was still in the office at the time of the explosion. It will be interesting to hear if he is required to work today as well. Im not sure how much of the city is being shut down.</p>
<p>Moda, so sorry for what your D went through but great response.</p>
<p>Moda how unbelievable! People who are in the service industry should know better! I feel so sorry for your D.</p>
<p>I have gotten 3 dresses and a skirt so far for 2 graduations and the shower. Still nothing for the wedding although I have one targeted. I need to find someplace where I can go try it on. May not make that purchase until the layoffs although I guess regardless I’m going to need something! I managed to fine some shoes that I just love at Talbots and they currently have a 30% off sale on all full price items. Just FYI.</p>
<p>Yes, To all of you in the Boston/Cambridge area-stay safe and hope this gets resolved soon. Scary stuff. People who knew the 19 year old said he was a normal, friendly kid in high school -wrestled,went to the prom,etc. You just never know.</p>
<p>sev - listening to the same thing. Confused by his parents who live abroad and that no one seemed to know he even had a brother. Scary stuff … you just never know.</p>
<p>I got a response back from the city pages that does the “best of” list who gave me a link to leave comment. At this point I am just cutting and pasting, but I think if nothing else, I’ve done my duty towards my D… talk about a mama bear! </p>
<p>Now off to do all the things I had hoped to have done on Tuesday! The thing about this weather is that it leaves me very unable to get other crap done. BUT I am just going to start packng for summer and get out of dodge on time. Will hope to hear back from the cleaning lady and the garden crew. I know H is kicking himself but I think we’d be kicking ourselves more with the “what if’s” had we accepted the initial low offer. Thing is… the weather has been and continues to really cripple people’s desire to go house hunting at all!</p>
So true!</p>