Jeff's graduation

Jeff graduated from North Shore Community College on Thursday. He graduated with honors from the Physical Therapy Assistant program. He earned his Associates Degree. It was amazing being there, I was proud, but nothing compared to how his family felt. I have known him for such a short time. Here are some pictures.

Jeff about to get his degree:
Jeff and Julianna:
Jeff and his family:
Jeff and me:
You may have noticed we all had similar shirts. I found a website that made physical therapy shirts, Julianna's says "My Daddy is a Physical Therapist", his Mom's says "My son is a Physical Therapist", Jackie's says "I love my physical therapist" and mine says "My heart belongs to a Physical Therapist". I also got him a "Physical Therapist" shirt. We had signs, we held up
J-E-F-F when he walked in, then when he saw us (and turned bright red and shook his head) we flipped them over and it said W-E-(heart)-U. He was blown away. He was completely surprised, he said we made his graduation awesome. He also said that we made his graduation so special that he didn't even miss his dad, that he didn't get sad. I think that was the most important, and we weren't even aiming for that!

May is here!

May is here, a fantastic month but always a busy busy one. From now until the end of May is going to be like a race tothe finish line. Last Saturday was Julie's birthday! Yeah Julie, the big 31! On Sunday it is Mother's Day and my birthday. Yeah me, the big 33. I already got my birthday / mother's day present from Julie in the mail. She said I could open it early or I could wait until Sunday. The box is from Sephora, and as tempted as I am to open it, I am going to try to save it. I like to have something to open on my birthday, and I love to look at it and imagine what amazing things Julie has picked out for me that are inside. I have no plans this weekend besides church. Jeff has said that he will come to church, and of course we will have Julianna. We are having a cookie walk after church to raise money for the church scholarship. Following that big day, May 15 is My BFF Cheryl's birthday, Jeff has court for child support from Julianna's mother and it is the Art Show at Bates, and Alison has a picture in it!!! Nana's spring concert with the choral soceity is the 18th. The 22nd is my busy busy busy day. Alison's Oma is flying in at 5:05 to visit for the weekend, Alison is in a Fashion Show at her school for her afterschool program at 6, and Jeff is graduating college at 6. How on earth we are going to work it all out I have no idea. The morning of the 23rd is Alison's Memorial Day show at school at 9am.

Circus!

The Shriner Circus was last week, and we went Saturday night! My Papa was a Shriner, so we have pretty much gone to this circus every year since I was little (when I am in this area!). We had such a fun time! In the "big cats" act there was a Liger! So cool! I think we all agreed that the motorcycles in the big metal sphere was the best act! They had a six-year-old on a small bike go in it and drive around and around (with an adult in there spotting him) which Ali and Julianna thought was awesome! I was super impressed when the two performers took off their helmets and one of them was a woman! Here is a picture of Ali and Julianna with the tigers, $10.00 for a poloroid of them! Ack! I snapped this with my camera phone.

happy

I really like this guy!! His name is Jeff and he is awesome. Since we are both busy single parents, we decided to get our kids together earlier than we would normally. On Saturday we took the girls to Boston. We had a FANTASTIC time. The girls were like two peas in a pod. Everyone thought they were sisters, and neither of them were quick to tell them otherwise. Here are the girls, my Ali and his Julianna with a clown and their wonderful balloon creations at Fanual Hall.

I really like Julianna. She is a sweet kid. She is not close with her mom and looking for a new mom. She has started calling me mom which I am not really supporting. I am not putting the kibosh on it, but I don't want her to get too attached too quick. Although I am CRAZY about her dad, I still don't want anything to go too fast. Ali really likes Jeff. She thinks he is silly and funny. She knows she can joke around with him and she likes that. He likes her, she gives him the puppy dog eyes and he melts. He is such a dad, can't say no to the puppydog face. My dad was always the same way with Julie!

Here is a picture of Jeff and I from the other night. We couldn't really get a good picture, we kept laughing. I really like him!

Someone New

I have met someone. (Yeah me!!) His name is Jeff, he lives a few cities over from me. He is a single dad, his daughter is 8. We went to the movies Friday night, saw The Ruins. It was pretty good, I am sure the book is better though. We also went out Sunday night, went to Salem Beer Works. We had a great time talking and laughing. Jeff is a physical therapist, he is actually doing his clinical work, he will be graduating in less than a month. Being a single dad, he shares the same concerns I have (don't want to let out children get close to someone who won't be in the lives, etc) and problems (He was running late Sunday because his daughter was giving him a hard time, I was running late because Ali didn't want to go to bed). We are both looking for someone to spend some time with, go out with, possibly leading to more. I really like this guy. More to come I hope!

My little Girl Scout

Girl Scouting was a big part of my life growing up. I was a Girl Scout for 12 years, I went to Girl Scout camp every summer and I earned my Gold Award when I was a senior in High School. Now Alison is old enough to be a Girl Scout, she joined a Daisy troop in the fall, and I am so excited. She had her investiture a few weeks ago and her first event Saturday night. The event was fun, especially seeing some of my leaders. I have to say, after experiencing this event as a scout, a leader and now a parent, being a parent is the most boring. Here are some pictures of my little Girl Scout:

This is her whole troop at the investiture:


This is Emma, Caroline, Ali, Madison and Logan at the event singing their song:


And Caroline, Ali, Madison and Logan closer. Ali and Caroline are best friends, have been since the first day of kindergarten. They are inseperable, they also look quite a bit alike and act alike. Two peas in a pod! Logan is a close second, she is in a different K class, but goes to the afterschool program with them.

so much to update!

So much to update on, so little time! the big fun news is that I finally figured out how to get pictures and movies off of my phone and music on. So for today, here are some great pictures off of my phone.....

Ali's picture of Martin Luther King, Jr. Hanging up in her school on the wall:

I swear I have never let her watch South Park!!

Next is some pictures from almost a year ago. This is from the building we used to work in. It was an old dilapitated building, and these flowers were growing in the steps. I loved them, felt it was such a great metaphor!

Here is a picture of my lovely new haircut. As you can tell, I was goofing off in my car taking this picture. I do love the haircut.
And lastly, here is my sweet girl. Love her bangs?? She wanted them, and I of course let her. I think they look fantastic. Her hair is no longer in her eyes and face. She looks so darn cute. She is hugging her bear that Cheryl got her when she was about 6 months old. Like her coat? She is such a military girl!

Poor baby

My poor baby has strep throat. She has been feeling sick off and on for the last week, but I thought it was just allergies or he being over-tired. Last night she was miserable, headache, sore throat, belly-ache. She then slept horribly all night (So I got about 2 hours of sleep). She stayed with Nana today, then I took her to the Dr. Poor baby. Now she is on anti-biotics, so she will feel better quickly. Lucky for me I was put on antibiotics last week for my abcessed tooth (root canal next week, yikes!) so IF I had strep, it has already been treated.

And in other news..

And in other words, I finally finished Ali's scarf. I bought this great yarn at an Alpaca party. A friend from church's sister has an alpaca farm in Maine. She came down to show her "wares" and I bought this pretty painted yarn with the intent of making something for Alison. I found this neat pattern on my knitting calander. You cast on, then knit into each stitch, knit it until you have half of the length you want (or for me when I was almost out of yarn) as below:

Then you drop every other stitch and RIP OUT HALF OF THE SCARF! See the ripping in process below:

Then you end up with this gorgous lacy scarf. I made pom-poms for the end of it. Here is the finished project modeled by my favorite model:

Last Monday it rained like crazy all day. In the afternoon the rain stopped and it was nice out (near 60) so we went to the beach to see what the storm washed up. I love this beach. It is where I go to get centered. I always feel at peace there. It is easy to see why:

Here is Ali trying to pick up a ginormous friendship rock.
And Ali trying to tempt the waves to catch her, good thing she had her rain boots on. Like her rock pail? It is her pumpkin from halloween. She cracks me up.

Yesterday we took the train into Boston and went to:

My mom got Alison tickets for all of us (Ali, Katie, mom and I). We were 8 rows off of the ice. It was so cool! It reminded me how much I miss the theater. I spent most of the show figuring out all fo the technical aspects, the costuming, who had wigs, why the props were like they were. Man do I miss it. Time to change occupations?? Teach at a theater maybe and work backstage??

Chop Chop

I chopped my hair off today. I have been planning on doing it for a while, but I finally got the time to do it. Here are some before pictures, the back and front. Not the best pictures, Ali took them (I should have kneeled down)

And here is after. I love it!


It will look better once I put some "product" in it. I didn't have them put anything in it at the salon because of the snow. Unfortunately I couldn't donate it to Locks Of Love because I had it highlighted before. Oh well.

the New year

The new year has started at a fast-pace as usual. Ali turned 6 on the 8th. My baby is 6! I got her a cat. A real one. My cat Jet is really just my cat, she never let anyone pat her or even go near her. Ali loves pets, she loves Jet even if Jet didn't really love her back. So we went to the Animal Rescue League and adopted a new friend. His name was Patriot, but we re-named him Simba which is much more appropriate. He is HUGE, and he is only a year old. He is a love-bug, he loves being patted, and just being near us. his previos owners seemed to have some problems taking care of him, he had to have most of his back shaved because it was matted so bad. I have been cutting out mats since we got him, but he is looking much better. Here are some pics of the big boy:

Besides that, we have been busy with school and church and our everyday life!

Goofing Around

Ali got a Gabriella from High School Musical barbie from her Oma. We found out that the bracelet doesn't stay on her wrist too well, but works great for something else. Here is my punk-rock daughter.

Goodbye 2007.... Hello 2008!

I can't believe it is already New Year's Eve! Julie got me this wonderful 5 year journal for my birthday. It has a small section to write in each day, and it goes on for five years. It will be so exciting to write in it and see what I was doing or thinking one, two or more years ago on that day. I decided to wait until Jan 1st to start writing in it. I stopped by Starbucks today to get a Peppermint Mocha before they are gone for the season and it got me thinking. Peppermint Mocha has been somewhat like that journal. It only come out at Christmas time, so I can think back to where I was at each time I had it. When I first had it, Ali was 2 and I was living in Maine. I had met a wonderful lady at church, Deborah who had a son Ali's age and a daughter a few years older. She had invited us over for a visit / playdate. I wanted to bring something and since Starbucks was on the way, I stopped and got us yummy Peppermint Mochas. Whenever I drink it, I think of Deborah. At that point I was desperately grasping, reaching to figure out who I am. Although Deborah and her husband are only a few years older than me, I somehow felt like they were adults and I was a kid, and they were going to figure it out. That somehow I didn't belong. Of course, it wasn't them, they are fantastic people, I just didn't feel like I belonged anywhere. It was in fact Deborah and Jeff who helped me start onto the path that led me to myself. Seeing them togtether, seeing them happy and always working together towards the same enjoyment ahd happiness in life. I knew it was what I was missing and what I wanted to find.

The next time Peppermint Mocha came out, I was newly seperated. I had just made the hardest decision of my life, and did the hardest thing I ever had to do. I was reeling, trying to figure out what next. How to find a job, what to do, what to do with Ali. I was living with Nana and searching for my next direction. My life was in turmoil, but I knew I had taken a step in the right direction. The next step was out there, I just had to find it.

When Peppermint Mocha was next available, so much had changed. I had a full time job teaching. I had just started teaching English at a juvenile justice facility. I was running a mile a minute, trying to learn on the go. I loved my job, but the stress of learning how to do it was intense! On top of that, I had just put Ali in daycare and was nervous about that.

The following Peppermint Mocha season, Will was in Afghanistan and Ali was settled in preschool. I was unhappy with the school she was in and was pulling her out of it and putting her in the one at our church. I had become more assertive, more confident in my job and who I was. I no longer felt like a kid pretending to be an adult, I was no longer afraid to ask for what I wanted or thought was right.

Now I am sipping Peppermint Mocha, so different from that scared person a few years ago. I know who I am. I know what I want. I am happy with my life. I am not afraid to demand that is right for me and for Alison. I love my church and am very active in it. I love my job and feel confident in what I am doing. Ali is in kindergarten and is a happy, smart, healthy soon-to-be-six year old.

My 2008 resolution: pretty much the same as 2007. Work out more, have fun more. New for 2008, get my finances in better shape. Save money, no more living paycheck to paycheck. Hopefully meet someone to share some time with.

Happy New Years!

Christmas update

We had a fantastic Christmas. Julie, Pete and Lily and Mia came out for the holiday. On Christmas Eve Alison was in the pagent at our church. She was an angel. Here is a picture:

After the pagent we had an open house. We had a great time, my cousins Alan and Kristina came which was fantastic, we haven't seen them in a while. Santa came that night, and brought not only presents for Ali, her daddy and I, but also for Lily and Mia and Julie and Pete. They all came over and we opened presents and ate yummy breads made by Nana.

Next was Chinese food at one with Papa. We had a great time, ate yummy food and saw lots of family. When we were done, I headed over to work to say Merry Christmas to my boys. My church sponsered them for Christmas, I set up a tree with their names and sizes and they all bought stuff. It was a huge success, although lots of work. The kids were thrilled with all of the fantastic stuff they got. One of the girls at the church who is 8 made cards for each of them, and I think they may have liked them the most of all!

After that we went to Nana's house to visit and relax. W plugged in Ali's digi-makover thing and found out that the adults had way more fun with it than the kids did. We made each other over again and again. To see my sister with an afro and purple eyes was fantastic.

Julie & her family went home the next day, Ali's daddy headed back that night and we have been on vacation since. It has been a fantastic vacation full of mostly relaxing and spending time together. Fantastic!

This and That

So much has happened, and I have been too busy to blog. Argh! My nieces Lily and Mia turned 1 on december 1st. We drive to NY for their party and had a blast. Below are some pictures of the princesses:

Princess Mia

Princess Lily:

Cakey Mia:

Not so cakey Lily:

Mommy and Daddy with the big girls:

Auntie Katie and Ali with the birthday girls:

What a fantastic year it has been.

100 things about Ali

I got this idea from my sister. She had seen the "100 Things" blog I did, and she did one about her girls, my amazing nieces Lily and Mia. You can check it out here: Lily & Mia 100 things. So I am stealing that idea. Here is 100 things about my amazing daughter Alison:

1. Her nickname is Ali

2. Her middle name is Donna, after my aunt

3. She shares her birthday with Elvis

4. She was very small at birth for a full term baby; 5lbs, 14 ounces, 18 inches

5. She was breast fed

6. She started walking just before she turned 1

7. She started walking the day we got her shoes

8. She started talking very young and has never stopped

9. She didn't crawl until she was 7 months old

10. She didn't get her first tooth until she was 10 months old

11. She didn't have much hair until she was over a year old

12. Alison is a perfectionist

13. She won't do anything until she knows she can do it right

14. That goes for vocabulary as well

15. Ali is a riot

16. She started saying "yankees suck" around 18 months old

17. She loves Big Papi

18. She tans incredibly well

19. Her hair lightens up in the summer

20. Ali is incredibly brave

21. Ali is a drama queen

22. Ali is a girlie-girl

23. Ali is a tomboy

24. think playing in dirt in a dress and make-up

25. Ali tries to sneak putting on make-up before school

26. She is kindergarten

27. Ali HATES mint

28. She loves strawberry milk

29. She plays with her ears when she is tires

30. She got her ears pierced for her 3rd birthday

31. She had been asking to get her ears pierced since she started talking

32. Ali loves science

33. Ali is showing strong early math skills

34. Ali will need a math tutor by third grade

35. Ali colors very well

36. Ali likes to make crafts

37. She is very creative

38. Ali likes raw vegetables

39. She loves peas in the pod off of the vine

40. She LOVES fruit

41. She would rather eat fruit than candy

42. She loves to be read to

43. She is close to reading herself now

44. She loves kindergarten

45. She loves High School Musical

46. She loves Hannah Montana

47. She loves the Naked Brothers Band

48. She used to say Pipa for Pizza

49. She said Pack kack for back pack

50. She called "the Hundred Acre Woods" "The Hungry Naked Woods"

51. She loves church

52. She asks fantastic questions about God

53. She once said (in the middle of Walmart) that "God and Jesus must have the best bike"

54. She used to use "God told me to" as an excuse for things

55. She was hospitalized once when she was dehydrated from a stomach bug

56. She knows a little bit of German

57. She learned more Spanish from Dora than German from me

58. She was born in Florida

59. Right now, "Anfony (Anthony) Caroline and Austin are, like, my BFFs"

60. Anthony is her "boyfriend"

61. Austin is his twin brother

62. Caroline was her first friend in kindergarten

63. They have the same Tinkerbell backpack

64. They look alike

65. They are adorable together

66. Ali is a Daisy

67. She LOVES her afterschool program

68. One of the staff members reminds her of her dad (he wears the same kind of pants)

69. He handles it very well considering he is like 22 and has Ali following him around

70. She loves to take pictures, usually with my camera

71. She is very caring

72. She is an absolute sweetheart

73. She can be a devil

74. Especially when she is tired

75. She thinks her uncle Pete is one of the coolest people in the whole world

76. She thinks she is my image consultant and tries to tell me what to wear

77. Her bottom 2 front teeth are starting to get loose

78. She loves to go to the Doctor

79. She loves police and waves at every police car she sees

80. Same with fire-fighters

81. She loves tattoos

82. She used to give herself sharpie tattoos

83. She is the coolest kid I have ever met

84. She likes the movie Tank Girl

85. Which she tricked her grandmother into letting her watch

86. She likes the Ramones

87. She gave Uncle Douglas the finger

88. She loves her cousins

89. She makes friends wherever she goes

90. She brings happiness to everone

91. She has allergies

92. She loves soup

93. She loves to swim

94. She loves the beach

95. She loves to swim

96. She has green eyes

97. She had roseolla when she was younger

98. She stepped on a fire ant nest when she was little and was stung on her feet and legs

99. She has 3 great-grand parents

100. Ali is amazing

100 things

I saw this on a blog when I was sick, and I thought it was neat. Here are 100 things about me.

1. I have crappy lungs
2. So I get bronchitis easily
3. I get hives sometimes
4. I have very straight hair
5. My hair is dark brown
6. My hair has been green
7. and blue
8. and purple
9. I have 6 piercings
10. I had a few more, but they closed
11. I have 5 tattoos
12. I may get more tattoos
13. I like to knit
14. I can sew
15. I can not crochet
16. I like crafts
17. I love photogtaphy
18. I can not draw
19. or paint
20. or sing
21. but I love to sing
22. I am tone deaf
23. I think best when I am walking
24. I like to bike ride
25. I like to rollerblade
26. I like to canoe
27. I have canoed the Saco twice
28. I lke to sail
29. I love to swim
30. I was the captain for the swim team my Sr Year of High School
31. I was in colorgruard in high school
32. I learned to fence in college
33. I was a Dj in college
34. I was in a sorority
25. I was a little sister for a fraternity
26. I usd to give blood all of the time
27. I have low Iron and have not been able to give in years
28. I have lived in 5 states
29. I have been in 4 countries
30. I can be messy
31. But I want to be neat
32. I have ADD
33. I am impulsive
34. I am creative
35. I take meds to help me focus
36. I am very clumsy
37. I have a cat
38. She doesn't like anyone but me
39. I like cheap towels
40. They absorb better
41. I like plants
42. I have a lot of plants in my house
43. I am allergic to beef
44. And pork
45. And lamb
46. and I don't like shellfish
47. But I love fish
48. I love to read
49. I get the local newspaper at home
50. I love to bake
51. I can cook too
52. I worked at the Middle East downstairs in Boston
53. I have been a waitress
54. I have been a Nurses Aide
55. I have worked in customer service
56. I have worked at a music store
57. I have worked at a bookstore
58. I was a lifeguard
59. I taught swim lessons
60. I worked at a gas station
61. I can do my own brakes
62. I like to get dirty
62. I like yoga
63. It has been years since I have been to a yoga class
64. I think my daughter is the coolest kid in the world
65. I love the movie Tank Girl
66. I love the movie Princess Bride
67. I love all kinds of music
68. I have seen the Mighty Mighty Bosstones more times than I can count
69. I was at Mike's last show with the Dropkick Murphys
70. I have a ton of allergies
71. I like brussel sprouts
72. I love baked potatos
73. I love cheese
74. I am a suprisingly poor speller for an English teacher
75. And I hate grammar
76. I love the Red Sox
77. I can't really trace my family history back, we are mutts
78. I have a cousin in Canada who traced one part of my family back to Germany
79. We used to have corned beef and cabbage for Sunday dinner, so I must be Irish
80. I don't like domestic beers
81. I have a very low tolerance for Alcohol
82. I like Guinness
83. I have a Guinness every St Patrick's day
84. I LOVE Halloween
85. I love shoveling
86. I like gardening
87. I like science, but only when I can do experiments
88. I am very bad at math
89. Math is my enemy
90. Gravity is my nemesis
91. I go to church
92. I like to dance
93. I like people
94. I tend to have a short temper
95. I took kickboxing before
96. I took dancing lessons
97. I love to tango
98. Cha cha was my second favorite
99. I like adventures
100. I love being a mom

Halloween

I am so far behind on blogging, I have had bronchitis for 6 weeks! I am getting better, but now I am bhind on EVERYTHING! The house is a mess, I have papers to grade and blogs to do. Argh! I will try to do an update blog sometime this weekend. However, here are the Halloween pictures!

Here is Ali the black cat with Auntie the witch:

And here I am, DJ AB, Kool Ade (so named by my boss)

My boys loved it. The taught me how to tie the bottom of my pants into my laces so my pants don't drag when I walk. Although you can't see it, I had a gold tooth. Plus all kinds of bling!

Sick

This cold is kicking my butt. It appears I have viral bronchitis, and am allergic to the virus as well. I was on steroids for the hives which worked short term, but te hives have returned. Oddly enough, I get them every morning around 7 am, they get progressively worse until about 9, then are gone by 10. Since the coughing was not getting better, I went back to the doctor and was put on antibiotics so I don't end up with pneumonia. The antibiotics have done nothing for me. I still have this awful cough, but I am a little better. I need to sleep. I slept as much as I could over the weekend and was feeling a little better. I am not that tired, but the more sleep I get the better I feel. I have been getting tired at school, the constant coughing just wipes me out. Unfortunately, everything else has been falling behind. The house is messy, I just finally cleaned my classroom yesterday and I have been behind on e-mails, blogs and grading. Hopefully I will feel better soon, then I can be back on top of everything.

Argh

This cold is really kicking my butt. My hives did return once, but then left for good. However, the cough is a whole different story. It has stuck with me. I think Sunday was the worst, I could not even speak a full sentence without breaking down in a coughing fit. I couldn't walk without getting winded and coughing. I woke up this morning feeling a little better, I could definately breathe better, actually take a whole breath. Unfortunately but the middle of the day, my ear and throat hurt. It is actually my left side, my whole ear/throat/neck hurts. It feels like I have a lump the size of a golf ball stuck in there hurting everything. Tylenol did not help. I took Sudafed and I am going to bed. If I don't feel better tomorrow I am going back to the doctor. Luckily we have a guest speaker in the afternoon so I can leave early to see the Dr and not mess up the classes.

Papa is doing well, he is hopefully heading to rehab this week. Once I get rid of this nastiness I can visit him every night. I am so looking forward to that!