OK, so I cried today

I had to go into Alexandria today and was traveling down the parkway which is right along the river and as I rounded the bend I saw a Mama Duck and her babies trying to cross the divided four lane highway ahead of me.

As I slowed down this JERKY car in front of me ran over the mother and the little babies started scurrying all over the road.

I slammed on the brakes and this JERKY driver behind me blared on the horn and nearly rear ended me and as I stopped braking I ran over one of the baby ducks.

I barely made it to the nearest exit when I burst into tears.

I'm sorry poor little baby ducklings. I really didn't mean it.

And to all of you JERKY drivers who are in such a rush to get to wherever you are going, why don't you stop and take a break and appreciate life!

Rah, Rah - We LOVE Cheerleaders

One morning on our weekend beach trip was spent at Brown's on the Boardwalk for breakfast.

They make homemade doughnuts and serve them HOT!

Nothing at the beach is diet related so you just have to go with the flow and enjoy yourself.

And speaking of diets... This table was right next to us and I found the lady's jacket on the end interesting.

It was monogrammed with See's Viking Cheerleading Squad.

Since I found it hard to believe she was actually part of the cheerleading team I came to the conclusion that she was the See's Candy Store's chief representative.

Could you pass the chocolate covered caramels, please??

"Pleasant"ville

Saturday was the day for the Ocean City flea market and mass yard & garage sales. In the middle of town was a collection of of nearly 70 vendors selling their wares plus dozens of private sales around the island.

One vendor was selling old glass door knobs and vintage architectural salvage items. My sister needed a new (old) door for an opening in the house that was discovered when they took the old paneling down.

The lady said she had a salvage shop in Pleasantville and had lots of old doors, stained glass, hinges and other stuff so we decided to take a trip out there.
As it turned out Pleasantville was NOT so pleasant afterall. The whole town had certainly seen better days.

One block had this strip of storefronts which included:

The Discount Divorce Center
Latino Tax Preparers
a Bail Bondsman
The Karaoke Training Center
Shiatsu AND Tantric Massage Salon
and last but not least
The Forever Nail Studio offering nail extensions and "African" weaves!

We finally found our way to the Architecural Salvage place only to see that it was closed.

We wandered around for a while and stumbled into a Thrift shop in hopes of finding some hidden treasure. No such luck.

I did come across a pair of crutches but one of them was about 6 inches shorter than the other "match". I looked at my sister with curiosity in my eyes and she says to me "Please don't go there" I told her they must have belonged to Eileen.

I had to explain to her that the crutches belonged to I Lean.

We literally ran out of the store in hysterical fits of laughter!

Baxter's Beach Trip

Baxter went with us to the beach and he had a blast running up and down the dunes and checking out the surf.

He was getting adjusted to the new house and sounds and every time someone walked by the house he would start barking at the top of his lungs.

Woof, Woof, Woof, Woof

As I scolded him and told him to stop, he would then "tone it down" a bit and bark at a normal level.

Woof, woof, woof, woof

I then would say "Baxter, enough barking" and he would stop, stare at me and go

woof, woof, woo, woo quietly

"Baxter, stop"

woo, woo, wo, w, w in a whisper

Obstinate little Mutt!

What's with Religion?

Yesterday was a chilly day at the beach and so we decided to break in the new "beach" chairs by having a little happy hour on the driveway which shielded us from the winds.

A new neighbor of Lila's came down to introduce herself and said "Hi, I'm Nancy. I'm from the Jewish house a couple of doors up the block"

I thought to myself; "Myself, that was a little odd. How am I supposed to reply? Oh, Hi. I'm Chris and we're from the Episcopalian house right here?"

Well, we exchanged our pleasantries and off she went. Later in the day we walked by her house and the shingle on the gate read "The Hewisch's" and it all made sense.

Good thing I CAN keep my mouth shut from time to time and didn't actually reply as the poor lady would have thought I was off my rocker, or a little more off my rocker than I already am.

Animal Cruelty

As we crossed the Delaware River and headed into New Jersey on Friday and started our trek through the rural farms of south Jersey we passed this cow farm which had all these little igloos around the barn.

The image isn't all that great since I took it as we raced past at 60+ miles per hour.

My youngest sister then proceeded into this long story about Molly (my other sister) going on and on about how cruel is was to have baby cows stuck in these things and how horrible it was, blah, blah, blah.

She went on and on about how people need to start an action plan to save the suffering animals, blah, blah, blah.

Later that night, she goes on, Molly and the rest of the group goes out for dinner and she says to the waiter without even thinking; "Oh, I think I'll have the veal parmeson"

The soda I was drinking actually snorted out of my nose!

Where's the Quality Control?

I knew that my road trip to the Jersey shore was going to be a "gut buster" of a weekend but thought "Why not throw caution to the wind" and enjoy myself, extra calories and all.

So before we even pulled out of the city limits of Annapolis I was already rooting through my sister's bag full of food to see what I could eat and found (my all time favorite) the "new" Golden Oreo cookies in the snack pack size.

Well I must admit I was devastated and disappointed all at the same time when I saw that the creamy goodness inside each cookie was pathetic and didn't even cover the entire wafer! I ranted and raved about it for a while until my 2 sisters looked at me with their famous "Shut the F*%K up" face but continued on about how I should write a complaint letter to Nabisco about their lack of quality control.

I mean, after all, it wasn't even worth eating them at all if I was going to be shorted out of the best part of the cookie.

As I was finishing the last one out the the six pack I made one final comment about how cheated I felt and got "the stern look" once again and realized I had gone too far.

An Interesting thought

A friend of mine sent me this curious notation about Men, Women and the human body.

It takes 7 seconds for food to pass from the mouth to the stomach.
Human hair can hold 3 kg.
The length of one's penis is 3 times the length of their thumb.
The femur is hard as concrete.
A Woman's heart beats faster than a man's does.
Women blink twice as much as men do.
We use 300 muscles just to hold our balance when we stand.
A woman has read this entire text.
A man is still looking at his thumb!



So as I'm reading this I absentmindedly reached for the ruler on my desk and as it was nearing the edge of the table I though to msyelf;

"Myself, Have you utterly lost your mind!?!?"

After all, I had done that before and already knew the answer! Geez.

A Little Sand between my Toes!

First thing tomorrow morning I am headed out to Annapolis to meet up with 2 of my sisters for a road trip to the Shore!

My "baby" sister and her husband bought a beach house in Ocean City, New Jersey and they've been rapidly renovating it to get ready for the Summer, 2010 season.

Lila plans on spending the Summer there with the kids. I am so very happy for them as it's been a dream of hers for a very long time.

Although it is NOT on my diet I plan on enjoying every bite of the famous Voltaco's "Philly" style Italian subs, caramel covered popcorn and salt water taffy.

Baxter will go coming along for the ride and I'm excited to see him run on the beach and check out the surf.

It will also be great to see my Uncle Joe and the family. He is nearing 90 years old but still sharp as a tack and is even looking forward to his daily bike rides on the boardwalk this Summer after his hip replacement surgery.

And it even looks like the weather is going to cooperate with a sunny forecast and warm temps. Happy "almost" weekend from DC, soon to be OCNJ!

Earth Day 2010

Today we celebrate and honor the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. And I have to ask the question; Are you doing your part?

I know for myself that I have lots and lots of room to grow!

Recently the District of Columbia instituted a "green grocery" ordinance in an effort to conserve the use of plastic bags. Now every store HAS to charge 5 cents for every bag you use when you make any purchase.

I find that I'm walking more now that I live in the city which is good for me healthwise and also good that I'm not jumping into the car every time I need to run an errand.

Two Feet and A Heartbeat, Baby!!

And simple things like turning off the lights, powering down the computer, using recycled bags.

Now if I can invent a reusable doggie poop bag or get in the habit of blowing my nose into a Kleenex twice instead of once.... OK, maybe this is taking things a little too far.

Happy Earth Day from DC.

Mr. Springtime must be confused

Hot weather clothes, cold weather clothes. Day in and day out!

We've gone from "Summer" like high's in the 80's one day to cloudy and cool with low's in the 40's another.

All this combined with record high pollen levels make by body want to sit in a hot and steamy shower for an hour each morning just to clear the congestion. The one good thing is that it gives my voice that sexy raspy quality. HOT!

Meanwhile I am looking forward to my day today. A friend who I met on Saba is here for a conference which wraps up today and we are headed out for lunch and then an art exhibit.

She wants to have Ethiopian food. I mentioned to another friend last night that I was having a little Ethiopian for lunch today and he looked at me like I had said something naughty!

Then we're off to The Phillips Collection for the Georgia O'Keefe Collection. A lot of her work (I've heard) has been somewhat controversial as her paintings look like female anatomy.

Not being so super well versed in "that" category I don't see it.

Gosh, Eat a little Ethiopian for lunch and then enjoy vaginas in the afternoon. What a sexy day I'm gonna have. Wow!

Happy Chilly Sunday from DC!

And Speaking of Roller Coasters....

NO, not my emotions!

My sister sent me these images of a new roller coaster that has opened my "moist reviews"!

Not being one to handle or enjoy my own roller coaster I look at these images and think,

No Thank YOU!

The topsy turvy spins and rolls this thing makes makes me sick to my stomach just thinking about it.

and the downward spirals. Yikes!

Thank goodness I at least have strong bladder control.

Happy Thursday from the "roller coaster ride of life".

The Continuation.......

4 weeks ago today I arrived home to DC to take the next step in my life's journey and it's been an interesting evaluation.

I arrived back to welcoming arms of friends and family with everyone wanting to "do something, offer something, help out in any way", etc. It was all pretty darn overwhelming to me.

I allowed myself some time to disconnect from the world for a bit and then started focusing in on what mark I could make on the world once again.

So far I've felt like the little awkward kid standing on the sidelines of the soccer game desparately wanting to be picked for a team to play but ends up just standing there picking my nose. However in my mind it's NOT a soccer game but a dodge ball game and I'm the one they are eyeing, not as a team member, but as the target.

It's been pretty amazing to me that a short time away (18 months) could all but erase a sense of confidence. Just the other day I went to the Target to pick up some supplies and was surrounded by more people in one store than most of the residents of Saba put together and had a little panic attack and started profusely sweating and had to leave. I literally walked away from my cart full of goodies and left and then sat in the car for a half hour just to compose myself.

And of all the "well wishers" attempts to comfort me and to help I find myself avoiding questions of WHY, HOW & WHEN "it" didn't work. All things I don't care to talk about now, and quite possibly, ever.

So as we near the one month mark of being back stateside I have decided to start writing in THIS blog again. Afterall, the "big Saban Adventure" as it started is still ongoing, just moving to a new locale.