Noo

We went back to the farm for cukes & peaches. Apparently, telling Oliver that cows say "Moo" and actually hearing a cow say "Moo" are two totally and emotionally different things.

He was not pleased to hear the live version.

Alice Acres Farm

Turns out there's a farm nearby. Alice Acres Farm, home of Cows and Cones, their new icecream shop. Tommy, Oliver and I walked there last Friday for a cone. It's a nice-sized, gorgeous farm complete with cows, chickens, pigs, and produce. We told Annie we'd come see her this week and that's just what Oliver and I did. She was there along with Pete, the owner. Turns out, Pete's from Washington so we reminisced about you ask for "sockeye," "coho," and other yummy types of salmon there and here you just ask for "salmon." O & I picked up some tomatoes, cukes, and peaches and when I asked if she had any eggs today (I saw a sign), Annie said, "Let me see what the girls have," went off to the coop, and came back with 6 fresh eggs.

Connecticut isn't looking so bad today.

41

Today is my birthday. It's been ridiculously hot so we broke down and put a window unit in our bedroom window and set up the Pack & Play for O to sleep in. This worked out great for said birthday because I was able to watch how Oliver wakes up. Normally we only get to hear him babble but this morning I saw how he talked with his bottle, his rattle bunny, the ceiling, etc. Then when I got up I got THE GREATEST smile from him and I teared up at how great of a birthday it was....and I hadn't even noticed yet the strategic placement of Lindt truffle hearts throughout the house (on the toilet paper roll, on the toothbrush holder, on this laptop, on the changing table, on the tray of Oliver's highchair - wherever I was going to be, there one was!). It was a leisurely day and after Tommy got off work, I was able to go to the gym then come home and take a long shower before going to dinner. We went to Paul's Pasta - this cute little place on the water. They make everything including the pasta on the premises. While waiting on our food, a woman came up to us and asked if we were O's parents and commented how adorable he was. We talked for a minute and she went back to her table and meal (he's cute enough to interrupt a meal!). The table next to us was equally enamoured but I think O was a bit too intimidated by the volume of the NY accent to really dazzle them with a smile. The food was great, the waitress was darling, and at the end of the meal she said something like, "There's this club where anonymous people by dinner for people and ask only that one day you do the same. Someone here who wants to remain anonymous thought you looked nice and happy and are buying your dinner and ask that you do the same for someone in the future." How cool is that?!? AND we came home to Cold Stone icecream cake.

SUCH a happy birthday it was.

I am so, so thankful.

Attempting to be unapologetic and yet....

I know it's been ages, I know this is a scattered bit of prose, but it will have to do for now so I hope you enjoy.

July 21, 2007

Mom and I sat talking in her living room this morning before Oliver woke up. Dredging up not-so-pleasant and oh-so-pleasant memories along with the quest to be able to always remember said memories (the oh-so-pleasant ones to be more specific, if you hadn’t noticed: it ain’t hard to remember the not-so-pleasant ones). I brought up my blog (not that she has internet but enough of the rest of my family does so you won’t see much venting on this thing) as a way of documenting the memories but I also noted that I don’t write on it enough though my older brother commented not too long ago, “You know how to write!” so because a good memory came out of the visit to TX Oliver and I are flying back from, for example, one with said brother, I will document a bit. I don’t think I need to remind you, I digress and this tome is no exception.

There are examples of true motherhood that my mother has shared with me that I always want to remember and live up to: After my parents divorced, we moved to Corpus Christi, TX and my mom worked full-time then went to school at night for her Master’s. As I remember, she took 9 to 12 hours per semester. This had to KILL her and she admitted that there was many a night that she drove to school crying because she was cold and tired and school was the last place she wanted to go to after working full time for the Department of Human Resources counseling 17 year olds pregnant with their 5th child and they “just don’t know why.” And yet she drove on solely for her kids.

My mom had polio when she was five. The doctors apparently told my grandmother that she would be “a cripple” (apparently the p.c. term for the time) to which my grandmother basically said, “Not on my watch.” And every morning she drove my mom from the tiny little town of Benavides, TX (“blink and you’ll miss it”) to Corpus so mom could have some sort of 1936 physical therapy (I shudder to think what that consisted of) til my mom was able to walk. But that’s not all – my tiny, little grandmother CARRIED my five-year-old mother from the parking lot to the hospital each and every day. This makes this morning’s flight from San Antonio to Cincinnati sitting next to a HUGE bowhunter* (judging by his periodical of choice) with my 26+ pound nine-month old sitting in what little, cramped lap I had seem like a walk in the park eating icecream.

So to lighten things up a bit, Tommy, Oliver and I flew to TX for a week followed by Oliver and I continuing our journey onto San Antonio by a really great, really long Texas Backroads drive by the hand of my older brother (mentioned above).


*Okay, this morning’s flight was comical enough worthy of documentation. As I said, Oliver is 26+ pounds. The flight to TX, we lucked out and he got his own seat (apparently on most all airlines except Continental, if the seat next to you is vacant, your baby can sit there in his carseat). I figured since I was returning on another Saturday (the slowest travel day, FYI), I’d have reasonable good luck. My afternoon flight through that logic off and Mr. Bowhunter, Oliver and I were rowmates. Mr. Bowhunter’s wife and son sat in the row next to us and I was thisclose to asking if the son would be willing to sit next to us rather than Mr. B but I felt that Mr. B’s son was a little too young to comply so I refrained. Well, Mr. B wore a camoflaged hat that had orange trim and some sort of orange, pro-bow logo on it. Red is too bulls as orange is to Oliver. PLUS Mr. B was not in awe of the preciousness that is Oliver so that made O that much more cute and, shall we say, assertive. His precious, biscuit hand often grazed Mr. B’s army green t-shirt to no avail and no response. None. Mrs. Bowhunter fell victim to Oliver’s charms many-a-time through the flight and she was sitting across the aisle but Mr. B? Nope. And I don’t think he did it out of anger for sitting next to big ol’ me and big ol’ baby, I kind of got a weird “out of respect I’ll ignore them”/shy, gentle giant vibe. But still, EVERY PART of me was cramping up trying to contain the force that is Oliver Who Needs a Nap Very, Very Badly in my own personal Seat 8D space [please know, I realized before this fateful trip that this was the last time that Oliver wasn’t going to have his own ticket – it was the whole Saturday flight thing that made me risk it and to confirm that gamble, I sit here typing this in my own seat with precious, sleeping Oliver sitting next to me on the flight from Cincinnati to Hartford. (Soon I get to see my husband! Soon Oliver gets to see his Daddy! Joy, joy, JOY!!!)] And yet I digress in my own “whatever this ‘*’ thing is. called” At one point in my cramping while chanting, “This too shall pass/My Grandmother carried my mother to the hospital ever yday” over and over and over, the flight attendant came up and asked if Mr. Bowhunter and I were together, he said we weren’t and she then said there was an exit row, aisle seat (my pre-motherhood favorite seat of all time second only to First Class, of course) available and he said, “No thanks, I’m with them” and pointed to Mrs. & Jr. Bowhunter. I turned and looked out the window and forced myself not to cry. The flight attendant then proceeded to ask how old Oliver was, her son was only 11 days older and approximately half his size – at least Mr. B got to discover that O was still a card-carrying baby while feeling ever so slight kharmic ramifications while being sandwiched between two first time mothers both over 35. And the flight eventually ended, and I eventually was able to stretch and walk, and all is well. God has a funny sense of humor sometimes and I knew this was one of them.

Six Months Old

Sorry it's been so long since I've written. A lot has happened between then and now. Oliver and I went to Texas for a week. I was SO nervous about flying alone with him. ("But what if I'm this upset because some part of me knows something bad is going to happen?!?" I said between sleep-deprived sobs to Tommy the night before.) But it turns out he did great (seriously, why would I even doubt he would - he's great everywhere [knock wood] so OF COURSE that would include the friendly skies). I'd like to thank EVERYONE at the Atlanta airport for being flawlessly nice and beam-y to my beautiful son AND they have a Chik-fi-la there, what's not to love! If it wasn't so hot there, I'd consider that a place to move to in 12/09. And thanks to everyone on all our flights for tolerating the precious little goblin when he wasn't so precious.

Oliver is now sitting up if you place him in a full and upright position (got flying on the brain). Granted, he doesn't stay upright forever but long enough to take some really cute Easter pics.

And the beast is now eating. We started him on rice cereal then three days later he had bananas then tomorrow he may try carrots. The first taste of each met with an unpleasant facial expression but by the second serving he was scarfing it up like a loud, grunting, big baby bird.

The house is coming along very slowly but surely. We now face new countertops and a building permit for our rockin' new shed for Tommy's dirtbikes and such (our garage is just too small to handle them) and every now and then I have time to unpack one of the many boxes that still decorate various corners of our house. And since O just fell asleep, maybe I better address another box....

Happy Valentine's Day! XOXO, Cupid

A picture says a thousand words...click here for 10K more.

4 months old

Oliver turned 4 months old today. He also had his 4-month Well-Baby check up so he's a bit moody since he's sporting 4, count 'em 4, bandaids on his juicy, delicious thighs.

What did his check up reveal? Well, not surprisingly, he's off the charts in height and in the 98% of weight. The boy is 28 1/2 inches long and 19 1/2 pounds! And I worried he was going to be scrawny!

He is so, so great.

[a la Holly Hunter in Raising Arizona]: Ah luhv him so mu-u--u-u-uch!!!

Blahg

My new friend Natalie had never read a blog before this one.

My real estate agent has never shopped on amazon. "Is it like ebay?" she asked (?!?).

What the hell kinda town have we moved to?!?

And yet, I can't say much about the blog since I haven't had much to say in the blog...mainly out of fear of boring you to tears.

This SAHM-ing does not a riveting girl make. And yet, the fact that I'm present for just about every "ooh" and cackle O makes does tend to warm the cockles of my heart.

We just bought a lovely house and are paying far more than I would have liked especially with the current Stay At Home Mom title but said house has an addition that would be just perfect for an in-home daycare and after-school environment and if I could find one precious little, well-balanced toddler for the former and one or two myspace-illiterate, relatively stable tweens for the latter, Life would be financially peachy.

I just wonder if it's Enough. I want to be The Greatest Mother to help O become The Greatest Kid so what can I do to be the best I can be and not succumb to boredom during naptime?

I used to want to be this bigtime photographer, til I realized I did not have the drive to schmooze my work (or was I just plain scared and/or lazy?). I have (had?) a good eye so I now feel it best to at least shoot something/anything as a hobby and as a way to prevent the right side of my brain from turning to Betty Crocker spud. And so a goal is set. I'm not sure I can dooce it, and that was probably a bad, non-motivating thing to type, but at least I'm typing that I WILL be shooting more. (And to those friends that are reading this and probably once again thinking, "Finally!", I will gladly allow you to keep prodding and encouraging.)

I have a great opportunity to stay at home with a most captivating individual who cuts a mean look in dino jammies and I plan to do my best at making this job interesting for both parties, the rest is cake. (Mmmm, cake.*)

To help keep me interesting, I WILL BE SHOOTING MORE.

So I hope you enjoy this here jellyfish that I shot at the oh-so fun Mystic Aquarium. They have a ton of hand-on things there - I got to touch several aptly-named cownose rays, a baby alligator (croc?), a starfish, etc. and for a small (large?) fee during a future visit, I could touch one of the three beluga whales which would be awesome but until then, I was oh-so happy to just look at them. Oh, and I got to see a flounder - which doesn't sound all that exciting but for some reason, I couldn't figure out how they swam and survived with both eyes on one side of their head.

More Connecticut adventures to come.

*Next step is to work on these cravings that I associate with housewifery that are far from beneficial for the spreading midsection.

3 Months

Oliver turned 3 months old today. Three months!!! I can honestly say it's been great. Sure, there have been moments, but overall, he's a really great kid. HOPEFULLY gushing about my son won't be like gushing about my husband where that night we invariably have a tiff or disagreement though something tells me, I'll get one of O's newfound headbutts so whatever, bring it on. Oliver ROCKS! Right now he's laying on the couch beside me gnawing on his thumb and kicking me every now and then and ever so often you can hear him say, "Oh." O says "Oh." Already he's a prodigy. Granted, it's 10:53 in the p.m. but he's yawning every now and then so hopefully we'll be asleep in the next hour or two [fingers crossed].

Do you recognize this little shirt our brilliant son is wearing? It's featured in my 5/2/06 entry and is what Karry gave us when we first found out "it" was a "he" that would soon become an "Oliver."

Oliver is pretty laid back (he's now propped against my left arm staring off as his little fingers appear to be working on some sort of chisenbop calculation). He has a smile that makes me melt and his laugh, albeit only two-syllables, is infectious. Sure, he can have a full-tilt MELTDOWN where he turns beet red and reaches a shocking volume level for such a little guy, but eventually the smiles come back and all becomes right in the world.

Tommy is (of course) great with him. Lately he serenades O with a composition he calls The Mullet Song because he's at a rather....awkward stage of hairstyle. The song is set to the Mickey Mouse Club theme and goes something like this:

S-U-P
E-R-M
U-L-L-E-T!
Super Mullet!
Super Mullet!
It comes with it's own cape!

And he also does an Steve Erwin-style Aussie accent as he becomes the Smile Hunter but the accent is too hard to type, just know it's REALLY cute and makes me beam with delight that I get to live with these two guys.

And now he's dozing in my lap so I'm going to try to put him to bed.

Happy Quarter of a Birthday Oliver!!!


And he somehow just spit up on the BACK of his neck

Happy Holidays!

This is a closeup pic of our tree...though it doesn't quite look like this since it's in a box somewhere in some storage unit...but next year, just you wait! It will be set up in the living room of our future home...wherever that may be (please let us get a good home...and soon!).

This Christmas revealed that I may be growing up. We've been staying at our friends' house in Jersey and this morning we woke up, pulled O into the bed, and proceeded to watch him kick and coo and do his wookie impression and that was our present and I was happy. Me, happy to unwrap nothing. Crazy.

(Of course I do know that there is a package waiting for us at the post office from Tommy's folks and any present for O is a present for me plus Valentine's Day is just around the corner and I think I already know what I'm going to ask for so I can't be THAT practical of an adult...phew!)

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Holidays to you and yours and may the God of your choice bless you!

(And as a fitting end to this post, I just looked out the window and there was the cutest little Christmas-red cardinal perched on the stoop.)

Santa and the Angry Elf

Things have been going pretty good.

When we first hit the East Coast, we had a great weekend in Jersey then came to Groton. Stayed at the hotel on base for a couple of nights then upgraded…UPGRADED to the local Super 8. They had the nerve to charge for the lobby coffee where my trusty Super 8 GIVES theirs away all day long and they have free wi-fi and a free continental breakfast that includes yummy make-your-own Belgian waffles.

But I digress (though they are truly amazing waffles)…we've been looking at houses this week and last. Shocking range of crap to fab options and I think we are going to make an offer on a really cute one…now our WA house needs to sell because contingency offers don’t hold too much water.

Oliver had a sore throat last week (Tommy and I had one earlier and you could tell by O’s hoarse voice he caught it). Nothing was more heartbreaking than hearing his precious croaking pterodactyl voice and knowing there was little we could do aside from give him the tiniest of drops of Children’s Tylenol – can you imagine living off boob and formula then getting that crap introduced into the mix? Ick E.

And tonight he met Santa for the first time. He was asleep when we did the pass-off and awoke to His Jolliness but didn’t share in the jolly. Since the trusty Super 8 doesn’t include an in-room scanner, I took this picture of the picture we bought and more actual pictures are on my flickr page...as you can see, he's also learned to smile...A LOT and he has a violently precious two-syllable laugh that should hopefully grow. This is a good age.

NOW I’m getting in the Christmas spirit!!!

Fog

December 7, 2006

Oliver turned two months old yesterday…and yet, it feels like he’s been around longer than that.

The other night during That Special Time that he and I share that usually falls in the 3:00 or 4:00a.m. timeframe and lasts for an hour or two, it dawned on me that I average about four hours of sleep a night compared to the desired eight. So basically, I’ve GAINED an additional four hours a day. Multiply that times the sixty or so days he’s been dazzling my life and you’ve got 240 hours or approximately ten days. So maybe that’s why I feel like he’s been around longer or perhaps it’s just because of this weird fog I’ve been in probably due to the lack of sleep. I say “weird” because I don’t feel like I’m in it til I look back on it. Seeing Kathi the other night, I remember thinking, “She looks really great” then because I think it, I get this weird assumptive feeling that I also tell her and it’s not til I download the pictures and see her that I realize I only thought it. You may think this is just average dinginess but it can get worse to some degree.

Before we began The Road Trip, I was talking to my brother Matt about our path and I told him how it would be great to just swing down and see him but him being in Boca Raton is “just a little” out of the way. He told me about Amtrak’s auto train, the only path it’s available is basically from Orlando, FL to Washington, D.C. (Sanford, FL to a little town in VA near D.C.). You literally drive onto the train (well, an Amtrak employee takes care of that part) and you pick what kind of “quarters” you want (family room for us, please) and you leave the rest to them. Suddenly seeing him & his lovely wife Theresa became feasible so I told him I’d look into it and off I ran with it….except I never actually told him I had ran with it so when I called him from the road to give him a general ETA, he responded, “You’re coming to Florida?” to which I heard a scream from Theresa in the background. Fortunately for my fog, their schedules allowed for it and we spent a blissful albeit ridiculously hot few days with them. Unfortunately for my fog, I didn’t take a single picture of either one of them holding Oliver. What the hell was I thinking?!? And now I regret that part immensely to the point that I’m thinking about printing a life-size pic of O and sending it to them so they can take pics of themselves with O’s representative.

If this trip has posed any questions it’s: Is the heat really a good reason to keep us from living anywhere? It hurt SO much to leave mine and Tommy’s families when we left TX and FL. These people NEED to be a part of O’s life but they all live in such hot places. Granted, we’re committed to CT for the next 3 years but after that we are going to have to do some figuring about where we should end up.

But I digress. Florida was wonderful even through the fog. Fortunately, Matt is still one of my best friends (and as an added bonus, he’s my brother thus making family holidays that much more pleasant) and he’s seen me at my worst (see Puberty – The Prince & Stevie Nicks years) so any sort of foggy demeanor rolls off his back (please oh please oh please let me be right about this). He and Theresa have a great house that is great mainly because of their own sweat and labor they’ve put into it. It was nice to just hang out there and was equally nice to take the water taxi around Lauderdale with them.

But as we left, I felt I didn’t spend near enough time with them…as I kind of do about all our stops along the way. Like we didn’t see any of Nashville aside from the Loveless Café & my cousin’s (though if and when I head back, the Loveless would still be my first stop) and we didn’t see more of Memphis aside from Graceland and the Cozy Corner (still two justifiably proper things to see, but still…hello? Sun Studios? The Peabody? The Grand Old Opry?). This speedy stop and go visits continued when we got to D.C. We went to the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural Hist

ory and Air & Space museums and saw the Washington Memorial from afar but that was it.

And yet, I don’t have many regrets. We’ve seen a lot and we’ve come to the last days of The Road Trip. As I type this, we’re headed to Teaneck, NJ to visit our friends Susan and Chris and finally get to meet their baby Dylan (and they can meet ours). As luck would have it, it’s Chris’s birthday and we hit a doozy of a $1.29 section at a truck stop so we were able to get a variety of delightfully crappy gifts.

So maybe the fog isn’t so foggy afterall.

Loveless Cafe

Dear Mike,

You have competition.

Mind you, you still reign supreme in the Biscuits & Gravy category but we have found a competitor that is hot on your heels.

Thursday night we pulled into Nashville and stayed with my cousins Ann & Mark. They have a gorgeous house (GORGEOUS – like, This Is The Kind Of House I Could See Myself In With The Proper Income gorgeous) that’s still very comfortable and home-y. We visited over a delicious dinner of mahi-mahi, potatoes, and salad with a cherry pie that we picked up on the way into town from Loretta Lynn’s Country Kitchen. (Did she and Elvis have some sort of affair or something? Because there was A LOT of paraphenalia re both.)

In my travel notes, I had the Loveless Café highlighted since I heard wonderous things about it, specifically about its biscuits and gravy. Because of this, I wanted that one last brunch of your (& Alton’s) version that you so willingly/thankfully made for us…okay, maybe not because of the café but using research as an excuse to dine upon such artery clogging bliss makes me feel a little less guilty.

While heading to my cousins’ place, it dawned on me that their place was off of Hwy 100 - just like the Loveless Café, so I asked about it over our healthy dinner. Turns out, they go rather frequently and were up for going for breakfast on Friday.

The place is darling – warm and friendly with a strong country vibe that doesn’t feel too hokey (not that that’s a bad thing). We sat down, ordered the Family Breakfast #1, and awaited the delivery of four small but powerful biscuits and that came with three types of homemade jelly/preserves…and butter, of course.

Then the rest of our food came quickly and deliciously.

So basically your gravy trumps theirs hands down, I mean, theirs is good and all, really good if I hadn’t had yours, but you know I like a little gravy with my sausage whereas their gravy to sausage ratio is heavier on the former. The biscuits on the otherhand give yours a run for their money. They’re not as flaky and not as large, two big drawbacks, but the salted-buttered-tops are a very nice touch.

Still though, yours still win…though maybe you & Stef need to head east to make some in our future kitchen just to maintain your title.

Just a thought.

Much love,
Kay

Land of Grace

After a leisurely morning at Dad’s and a yum drive-thru lunch at Chick-fi-la, we booked it to Memphis. Today we toured Graceland. I probably didn’t enjoy it as much as I could have since I was watching the clock making sure we saw all we could see there and still have time to stop at Cozy Corner for some AWESOME ribs. Graceland had its moments, seeing E’s Lincoln Continental, white fur bed, and platinum cassette (who woulda thought they gave out more than just platinum albums?) was really great. After, like I said, we headed for Cozy Corner for some crazy-delicious ribs and wonderful hospitality.

May the God of your choice Bless You

After a huge Thanksgiving dinner and before the dessert spread, Father Stegman, a neighbor of my mom’s, came over to bless Oliver. I grew up Catholic but don’t currently practice it. I feel there’s a religion out there for me, I just haven’t found the exact one and until I do, I am happy to accept any prayers, blessings, and well wishes from any one that wants to pass them along to my family or myself. Recently I’ve heard the expression (the second time was by Kinky Friedman on David Letterman, I can’t remember who said it the first time), “May the God of your choice bless you” and I really like that – kind of sums my take on things. I think as long as you’re not hurting anyone and are positive and good, then your God is the right God. People may follow different paths but it’s still the same God in my eyes.

Father Stegman was very sweet and I felt a good positive energy coming from the whole experience – it helped that we had heaps of family beaming at us as well. And now I bounce that energy back to Father S, poor dear just got diagnosed with bladder cancer. And for everyone else:

May the God of your choice bless you.

The rest of the trip sped by and we headed to Dallas stopping in Waco to have a great visit with Tommy's extended family. His 2nd cousin Matthew was there and is insanely adorable and a vision into my future since I have a feeling Oliver will be cut from the same cloth. It was so, so great to see Tommy's grandparents with Oliver much less with all his other relatives. As an added bonus, his cousin Brian even gave O a West Point t-shirt! Thanks to all for their wonderful company and hospitality!

Onto Dallas....

Dad has had a time health-wise as of late. Since I was at the tail end of the pregnancy and the beginning of the birth, I was a bit sheltered from his condition but have since caught up. I am so, so thankful he is bouncing back but I still catch glimpses of what could have been but I think holding Oliver will give him further motivation to get healthy and stay well for years to come.

We got to see Jeff, too and take pics of Oliver in his Nascar truck. As an added bonus, we got to see his rockin’ dad. Man, I love those guys!

Speaking of true, deep sisterly love, I would also like to thank Kathi, Stacey and Phillip for throwing a damn fine “Sip and See” shower so friends could get together and ogle at Oliver – pictures of the shindig and the rest of the TX trip are on my flickr page.

Something I learned: Costco hummus is tahini-licious!

The stars@ night are big & bright...

We hit Texas but not before stopping in Deming, NM for a scorpion in lucite, a belt buckle with two rattle snake heads in profile (so maybe one head?) in lucite, a cactus egg (a little egg with a cactus seed in it that you water and hopefully get a cactus) for my sister, and a giant dice (di?) piggy bank for Oliver’s future nursery. Since everything is bigger in TX, we weren’t able to drive the whole way to San Antonio so we first stopped in Fort Stockton for dinner at Pizza Hut since everything else seemed even unhealthier.
Ever have one of those surreal “And then…and then…and then” experiences? Here’s my letter to Pizza Hut, I think it sums it up:

November 21, 2006

Pizza Hut
Fort Stockton, TX

To Whom It May Concern:

This evening my husband and I were driving through Ft. Stockton, TX on our way to San Antonio and chose to eat at Pizza Hut over other options. I thought it best to report to you the condition of this establishment.

When we walked in, all 22+ tables were dirty and only 5 still had customers at them. After a brief wait, a waitress cleaned off a table and we placed our order. I was disappointed to discover that the salad bar was also quite dirty – several containers were empty, the carrots were overly dry, and there was barely enough Ranch dressing to accommodate my salad.

We were pleasantly surprised with the quality and flavor of our pizza and how quickly we received it, but were shocked at the NINE napkins we received for the two of us. Then when my husband asked for silverware, we received SIX more napkins – a total of FIFTEEN large napkins for the two of us. Upon looking around at the dirty tables, all of which had yet to get bussed, I noticed that just about all of them also had an excessively wasteful number of napkins left unused.

By the end of our meal, only one table had been bussed and I noticed that its rather large stack of unused napkins went into the trash.

To add to this, my husband and I counted TEN employees working at this time. Only three were on the floor but none attempted to clean off a table unless someone came in to sit at one, preferring to sit and chat with customers or other staff members. The others seemed milled about behind the counter doing some work but overall just chatting with one another or yelling at the waiters on the floor to come back to the kitchen.

Pizza Hut seemed like the safest bet for our dinner on this road trip. As I said, we were pleased with the flavor and speed of our order but the lack of cleanliness worried us to some degree. I could only imagine how disgusting the restrooms were so neither of us approached that general direction.

Even though the pizza was good, I thought you should know that we are less likely to have a sit-down dinner at another Pizza Hut for quite some time due to the condition of this branch.

And now back to my blog, already in progress…..

After our dining experience (boy, was it!), we drove to Ozona, TX. I highly recommend the Super 8 Motel there even though there rates were higher than those posted in the Super 8 International Guide* and on the back of our room door. The room was the nicest we’ve been in of the chain and I’d even have a party in their indoor pool area because it’s so cool and jungle-like…if my travels ever took me (and a necessary quantity of friends for a party) back there. Not that it ever would, but I’m just sayin’…

*I hope I don’t sound too white trash or un-sophisticated with my name dropping of the Super 8 franchise but money is tight right now and I signed up for their Trip Rewards and they are everywhere hence the INTERNATIONAL Guide. So hopefully you know I’ve stayed at fancier or cooler places in the past and will do so in the future, too.

Anyhoo, that night we called Mom with an estimated ETA to San Antone (that’s what they call it) and asked her at what age do babies start smiling on there own – she thought it was older than Oliver is. Well, I’m here to tell you, it’s around 7 weeks when you’re about to meet Grandma. We pulled into her driveway, I unbuckled Oliver and handed him off and it was like a firework display of smiles directed at Mom. Not prior or since have I seen so much beaming…and I’m his mother!!!

Now, my mother and I have had our moments…in fact I feel we have about a 4-day visitation rule (my wise grandmother said, “Company is like fish, after a few days, it starts to stink”) but I’m hear to tell you that I started crying the day before we left about leaving and needless to say, I was a mess the day of. I remember thinking decades ago (seriously, decades) that I looked forward to bringing my child to show my mother mainly to show that I’m competent I guess but also to make her oh-so happy and let me just say, my mother was oh-so happy til the day we left, Oliver is just that wonderful… but I digress.

When we first got there, we hung out at her house and had H.E.B. brisket (yum!!!) sandwiches while she gushed over Oliver. Later we went to my cousin Anna’s house for my Aunt Tella’s DELICIOUS caldo (that’s “soup” to non-Spanish speakers) then apple pie and this shockingly good dessert my mom made that was basically like a really moist date bar called Dessert of the Gods or something like that. After that we played Texas Hold ‘Em (woo-hoo!).

The next day was Thanksgiving and I awoke to my older brother and family arriving at my mom’s. Anna, Aunt Tella, and Joey came over for The Feast of H.E.B. ham (yum!!!) and turkey (little too overly marinated/dry but still good), mashed potatoes, my Aunt’s rockin’ dressing, green beans, sweet potatoes…you get the drift. And since I haven’t blogged in the last couple of days, my fingers are tired from typing so this shall continue later.

AZ & NM

Monday was spent mostly just driving. We did stop at a huge indoor outlet mall in Tempe, AZ. Note about outlet malls: if they are indoors, the bargains are not as abundant. Still though, Tommy bought some jeans & I bought a pleather purse that has a really cool sacred heart stitched onto it...not that I have much use for purses that are too small to hold the Diapees & Wipees pack, a changing pad, and a bottle (not to mention the formula, change of clothes, extra pair of socks, a small blanket and whatever else goes into our unisex Gap messenger bag that we use as a diaper bag that somehow ends up weighing 30+ pounds), but we're headed towards grandparents and the chance of possibly slipping off to a movie at an actual movie theatre as an actual couple so I may actually get to use my rockin' new purse that I only spent $17!!! on.

So far, the drive has been great. Tommy & I have "only" had one little blowout. I quote "only" because ANY size tiff tends to level me and since this one was mostly due to my frayed nerves due to the sleep deprivation mixed with my bossiness that I need to curb, a long discussion was had and this too did pass. The restaurant playing Love Hurts followed by I Can't Live (If Living is Without You) in the middle of said discussion was a nice touch though. Overall, I can't believe how hard marriage can turn over something little then it thankfully turns back to sweet wonderfulness where you appreciate each other even more...still though, tiffs suck. I don't see how so many couples have so many (we see a lot being in the Navy) and stay together.

Oliver too is a great travel companion. There were those that said there is no way we can drive cross-country with a baby but so far, we've proven them wrong. He is at his peak of portability and we are taking full advantage. As an added bonus, he's sleeping for longer stretches at night (and waking up seemingly a pound bigger and a couple inches longer - they're puppies, I tell ya!). Oh sure, it's 4:30 in the a.m. as I type this, but you just need to trust me on this.

And now I must go to the car and get a bottle of water that I forgot to restock in the previously mentioned corpulent diaper bag. Normally I'm not such a stickler but the tap water here tastes HORRIBLE.

Tomorrow we head to Texas after a brief stop at this nearby ghost town and any snake farm, tacky gift shop, and possible outlet mall along the way.

Truly Grand

We saw the Grand Canyon today. It was truly amazing. I wish my pics captured it in all its red glory but at least you get the general idea.

I think I may be a bit scared of heights...or the infinite drops you can stand right next to are just plain mortalizing because when I would join Tommy "out there," my visits wouldn't last too long before my legs leaned towards safety. I'm telling myself it's because I have a baby not because I AM a baby.

San Francisco

We left the Bay Area this morning after having a lovely, if not rather rushed time. After more crappy weather, we arrived in Berkeley Thursday night and were able to have a decent Indian meal with my nephew John. The next day we started the day at the Bread Workshop with a damn fine pumkin muffin for me, cream cheese apricot danish for Tommy, and fruit-yogurt-granola and delightfully strong Uncommon Grounds coffee for both. After bumming around Berkeley for a bit, John and Mike, the guy he works for, joined us and we went to the Golden Gate Bridge & Fisherman’s Wharf to go to Musee Mechanique.

Now, I would give out government secrets at the slightest threat of foot pain and the morning hinted in that general direction. So a visit to Walgreens for Cars tattoo bandaids (it’s the little things that get you by) and socks (that threw my outfit off making me look REALLY touristy but I thought would prevent further pain.

I thought wrong. The socks, though thin, pushed my feet into a different “level” of my so-called comfy pleather Mary Janes. What I learned: Sorry PETA but pleather makes for an uncomfortable walking shoe because if your foot disagrees with it, your foot suffers and the shoe continues on. And yet, it was too late and I hobbled around the Golden Gate Bridge chanting in my head the mantra my friend Brooke (RIP) taught me decades ago when he sold me a pair of really great black patent cowboy boots (cut me a break, it was the 80’s!): “Beauty knows no pain. Beauty knows no pain. Beauty knows no pain.”

The cowboy boots back then and the Mary Janes now were in cahoots and by the time we left Musee Mechanique, my dogs were barking, if not howling, and I practically cried with thanks as I snapped at my companions, “I’m going to that Payless and see if I can get some shoes! I’ll meet you at the restaurant!”

What I didn’t think about is I had a cranky-getting-crankier Oliver strapped onto me and only about a quarter of a bottle of formula on me…and yet, the dogs barked.

Now, I have a big foot. BIG. As in a size 12. Payless Shoes can be a benefit for the disposably trendy shoes but not all stores have a selection catering to My People. Fortunately, the shoe gods cut me a break and even though this store only offered a row of options, a pair of black Basic spin-offs and $20 would buy me some time to enjoy the rest of the evening.

It’s important to note that I was enjoying myself prior to this. The Bridge was gorgeous as usual and Musee Mechanique is always a great place to take people who’ve never been, but every now and then, the pain got to me and I was a little snappy in turn making Tommy snappy but I think we apologized enough to each other, understood and forgave. Praise little baby Jesus.

What makes this rambling story even worse was the condition of Mike who was born with cerebral palsy. Here I was practically leveled by probably an inch square total of skin and then there’s Mike putzing around hill and dale with a smile on his face with John taking care of him with the same smile like the superior human he has become. (“If John doesn’t get into Heaven for doing what he’s doing, then that’s a god I don’t want ti be a part of.” – weird all the religious references in this entry and yet, not so much.)

But once I got the new pair of shoes while doing my best to tame sporadic O fussing, the skies parted and I too perked up. They threatened to cloud over when I went to pay for the shoes and the guy at the register said he had to take the sensor off the left shoe before I could walk out with them – “How in the hell was I going to put it back on with O now full-tilt cranked and a bottle now empty?” I worried but the clouds stayed clear if not stellar and the register guy came around on his invisible white horse and got on his knee putting the shoe back on like a modern Prince Charming.

This friendliness and going the extra step was felt all day, when on the subway or bus, MANY people offered to let me sit because of the baby and bus drivers quickly jumped up to help Mike and his chair onto the many buses we took.

Even though I was beat from walking so much, I felt good from what we saw and the company we kept. “We made a day trip in half a day” Mike typed on the computer lap-thing he uses to communicate. Amen to that!

Power

Remember when car lighters just lit cigarettes? Okay, so I never smoked much but I knew people...

Anyhoo, now cars don't even come with lighters but the adapters remain and my, how I have taken advantage! In the front seat adapter, we have the iPod and it's HUGE library mocking the lack of radio stations on the road. In the backseat, which I have deemed "my office," if my cell phone isn't charging, I've got the inverter (thanks for the suggestion Mike!) plugged in and the laptop plugged into that. I even pumped yesterday and Oliver was quite pleased with the hooch that was in that bottle!

Speaking of O, he's doing great. He's been sleeping a lot and wakes up alert and relatively pleasant.

We're in Berkeley now. About to go to Bread Workshop for breakfast then head to San Francisco with my nephew John. I'll update more later.

YESTERDAY'S LITTLE PERK: Homemade patty sausage at the Black Bear Diner in Mt. Shasta, CA.