Few More Weeks to Go

Friday, 30 November, 2007 by Beachbums1

I had my three week post-surgery check-up yesterday and unfortunately, all I got was “You can walk BRISKLY” ~ dang, I’m so ready to start some real exercise! Oh, well…the down time has allowed me to complete a lot of paperwork, get photos in order and start on holiday activities such as card writing, gift wrapping, decorating, etc.

One thing about being sedentary is I really dislike TV. There’s not a whole lot of decent shows and I’ve developed “Television Attention Deficit Disorder”. The only shows I watch from start to finish without flipping channels to see “what else is on” are “Amazing Race” and, out of habit, “Survivor.”

Thank goodness for good books and Netflix.

Posted in Miscellaneous | 3 Comments »

It’s here…

Saturday, 24 November, 2007 by Beachbums1

First snowfall, 23 Nov 2007

Despite the fact that it’s still considered Autumn on the calendar, winter has officially arrived here in the North Country (Ft. Drum, NY). We’re expecting more snow, 1-3 inches, tonight with temperatures hovering in the teens.

FM and I went through the list of “warm” items we need to survive the brutal winters here and first on the list are warmer boots for him. He wore what he considers his winter boots yesterday to take FG sledding and came home with very cold toes. 😦

I ordered my “state of the art”, (click on state of the art for a peek)NASA engineered, winter boots last week which are suppose to be the warmest ever without the heaviness of the usual winter boot. I’ll give a product review update here on the blog once I wear them awhile. Just in case anyone reading this will be in need of warm winter boots.

Hey, I should be a cold weather products tester for these winter items ~ wonder if any company would pay me to do such things?! hmmm…

Posted in Fort Drum | 4 Comments »

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thursday, 22 November, 2007 by Beachbums1

I love this prayer by Robert Louis Stevenson especially on this day of Thanksgiving…

Lord, behold our family here assembled. We thank Thee for this place in which we dwell; for the love that unites us; for the peace accorded us this day; for the hope with which we expect the morrow; for the health, the work, the food and the bright skies, that make our lives delightful; for our friends in all parts of the earth.

Let peace abound in our small company. Purge out of every heart the lurking grudge. Give us grace and strength to forbear and to persevere. Offenders, give us the grace to accept and to forgive offenders. Forgetful ourselves, help us to bear cheerfully the forgetfulness of others.

Give us courage and gaiety and the quiet mind. Spare to us our friends, soften to us our enemies. Bless us, if it may be, in all our innocent endeavors. If it may not, give us the strength to encounter that which is to come, that we may be brave in peril, constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath, and in all changes of fortune, and down to the gates of death, loyal and loving one to another.

As the clay to the potter, as the windmill to the wind, as children of their sire, we beseech of Thee this help and mercy for Christ’s sake.

Wishing you and yours a WONDERFUL thanksgiving!

Posted in Travels | 2 Comments »

Happy in the Deep End of the Pool

Monday, 19 November, 2007 by Beachbums1

In early October, FG’s physical education class started swimming classes. The first class involved dividing the children into those who could swim and those who couldn’t. One of FG’s girlfriends decided to “dumb her swimming down” in order to stay in the shallow end with a boy she likes.  If you’re anything like me, you’re thinking “Isn’t it a little early for that?”

Well, after a few classes in the shallow end, being bored out of her mind and a waning interest in the boy, FG’s friend decided to request going to the deep end where the other kids were diving and learning different strokes. Thankfully, the teacher said “no” leaving the girl to endure another few weeks in the shallow, boring end. 

I can’t remember ever playing dumb for a boy and as a witness to what her friend went through, FG has learned a  great lesson ~ it’ll be a long time (hopefully never) before she’ll even consider dumbing herself down for a boy.

Posted in Favorite Girl | 6 Comments »

Nothing Like a Good Book…

Saturday, 17 November, 2007 by Beachbums1

Thanks to Books on the Brain, I had a great book to read this week while under house arrest recovering ~ The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. As soon as I read the review, I went to Borders and, thankfully, they had a copy in stock. I carried it with me to the hospital and read the first chapter as I was awaiting being wheeled into the operating room. Nothing like a good historical fiction to take your mind off the present. 😉

I noticed KBG did the Page 161 Meme which goes like this: Open the book you are currently reading to page 161 and read the 6th sentence on the page. Well, I already finished the book but I haven’t started another book so I’m going to use The Other Boleyn Girl. My Page 161 Meme is:

He gave an indulgent, lazy chuckle.

The “he” in the sentence is King Henry the VIII and his mistress, Mary Boleyn just gave birth to a girl. Ah, to be a woman back then would have been hideous ~ no rights AT ALL. As I read the book, I kept thinking ‘thank goodness I didn’t live in a time when women were so subjugated’but then I thought about all the women in the Muslim world whose laws make it so they are no better off than those back in the 1500’s.  Today, the honor killings in most of the Muslim countries are not only accepted but encouraged and they are sickening. A woman living in those conditions today is no better off than the women-subjects of Henry VIII. I’m so grateful to have been born in this age and in this country!

In any case, thanks to Books on the Brain for a wonderful recommendation to keep my mind occupied while my body rested.

Posted in Books | 1 Comment »

Update

Thursday, 15 November, 2007 by Beachbums1

It was a week ago today I had surgery to “take care” of my uterine fibroids. Once we got back from NYC, all my focus went into getting ready for my surgery ~ cleaning the house, paying all the bills, having “the talk” with FM just in case something happened, etc.

What was suppose to be a 1 hour surgery turned into more than 3 hours due to complications and there was significantly more blood loss than expected. Here we go again with those lovely iron pills 😉  Once they wheeled me into my room, FM gave me something from FG. She sent her FAVORITE stuffed animal and a hand-written get well card that brought tears to my eyes:

There’s nothing like family to get you through the rough spots, is there?!

I spent two full days in the hospital but thankfully was allowed to leave in the early evening on Friday. I was still in considerable pain, and hated to give up the good pain killers available only in the hospital, but the thought of another sleepless night was too much to contemplate. My roommate was OK but there was another woman on the ward screaming at the top of her lungs several times throughout the night. It was so nice to be home and in my own bed!

So for now, my days are spent working on getting healthy again and not a whole lot of anything else.

Posted in Miscellaneous | 10 Comments »

New York Marathon Musings: Runner’s Point of View

Thursday, 15 November, 2007 by FM

This is a post by my husband John who ran the New York City Marathon (2007):

I’m fortunate to have had the opportunity to run two very different marathons this year. I think I ran the smallest marathon (Guam) and the largest marathon (New York City) in the same year. In Guam, only about 100 people started, 46 finished and I was so proud to be in 16th place.  There were no spectators along the course except for when I saw Patti and FG as they headed by car to the finish line. I did have my share of boonie dogs attacking me but thankfully didn’t get any dog bites.

By contrast, NYC marathon was huge. Over 38,000 finished the race and I placed an impressive 18,504. From start to finish, the roads through all five boroughs were lined with what seemed like millions of people and bands playing all along the route.

While the Guam run started at 4:00 am, NYC started at 10:10 am but I got up 4 am just to get to the start on time. I had to catch a bus from Grand Central Station at 4:30 am in order to get to the start on Staten Island. I arrived at the start at 6 am and, along with thousands of others, I was doing anything possible to keep warm including stuffing the Wall Street Journal in my shirt which helped fend off the cold. Some smart people brought cheap sleeping bags which they tossed at the start.

The organization of the race was exceptional and the woman who was tasked to do the job deserves a raise. Everything ran like a Swiss watch ~ very precise. When the gun sounded at 10:10 and the elite runners took off, they started moving the mortal runners up to the start line in groups of a thousand, then a pause, then another thousand. With my bib number of just over 25,000, I started 40 minutes after the gun sounded.

The view from the start over Verrazano-Narrows bridge and the fire-boat with sprouting water was fantastic. For the three miles or so, the road was lined with discarded clothes which were being shed by the runners as they warmed up. The girl scouts volunteered to pick up the clothes, wash them and distribute them to the poor.

The entire route was very crowded and it was very difficult to run freely through the course. I remember it wasn’t until mile 17 that I could run at my own pace and not have to dodge people. It was incredible the number of people who carried and used their cell phones ~ there was a mini people-jam at the Queensboro bridge when so many people stopped to make calls. This was the first marathon that I ever saw anyone with a cell phone. Ah, America…

Overall, it was a great experience and I recommend it to anyone on the marathon circuit. Don’t plan on setting personal records but enjoy the crowds and the city.

Posted in New York, Travels, United States | Tagged , , | 2 Comments »

New York City: Marathon Musings

Sunday, 11 November, 2007 by Beachbums1

View of a marathon from a non-runner:

On the day of the New York City marathon, Logan  and I woke up at 4:30 to wish John good luck, we each gave him a hug & kiss goodbye, then it was straight back to bed until about 7:30 am.

The morning consisted of gathering breakfast from the local grocer near the hotel, watching the pre-marathon and start on TV, then out to shop at Lush, Macys, Ann Taylor and a few other small stores.

Unfortunately, we could only stay in our room until 1:00 pm so we stored our luggage with the bellstaff and walked to 2nd Avenue for a nice Italian lunch at Alfredo’s. At about 2:30 pm, we headed to the finish line at Central Park. We were able to find the “One Mile to Go” sign and decided to wait there to see FM. By this time it was a little before 3:00 and I was worried we missed him.  He’s consistent on his time at marathons but it’s so hard to know when he actually starts and we’d heard on TV that some people didn’t start until 30-40 minutes AFTER the starting sound at 10:10.

Although we never did see John run by (we must have missed him by a few minutes), Logan and I were totally entertained by the runners ~ many who had signs, lots waving their country flags, some were running in memory of loved ones, some were dressed up as well. I saw an Elvis, Banana-Man, Robin (From Batman) and Superman. Must have been all the leftover Halloween costumes.

Katie Holmes ran by looking fabulous as though she was out for a short jog.  She was wearing a NY FireDept cap and again, she was striking and certainly stood out in the crowd. I read in the newspaper later that Tom and Suri were waiting at the finish line.

Once we realized we’d missed John, Logan hailed us a cab and we headed back to the hotel to wait for him there.  It was a quick dinner at Houstons next door and off to the airport.

Too short a stay and a worrying week ahead ~ more on that in a bit.

Posted in Favorite Man, New York, United States | Tagged , , | 1 Comment »

New York City: Small Bite of the Big Apple

Monday, 5 November, 2007 by Beachbums1

30 Rock Observation Deck

We tried to cram as much into our NYC weekend as we could and I think we did a pretty good job for two days. Logan had so much fun, she asked a couple times why we can’t live there. Hmmm… after all her world travels, she may have found the city that really does have it all.

We arrived about 1pm on Friday, checked in and immediately headed over to the Javits Convention Center and John registered  for the marathon. There was a lot of excitement at the Marathon Expo and my favorite part was getting brochures for future runs which John might drag me to ~ Rio de Janiero sounded promising.

On Saturday morning, we headed to Rockefeller Plaza, went to the Observation Deck for some great views of the city, then watched the skaters on the ice rink. No Christmas tree yet.

When making plans for a Broadway show, I decided to splurge (just this once) and got front row tickets to Mama Mia at the Winter Garden Theater. And front row they were ~ our seats were so close to the stage, we could see the actors spit and one even winked at Logan. The conductor greeted us with “Welcome to the front row.” In addition to seeing the stage, we could see BELOW where the band was playing. Logan was fascinated with the musicians so she missed a little of the story line.

The show was fabulous and I highly recommend it to anyone going to the city. One word of warning: I still have those catchy Abba songs playing in my head especially the title song “Mama Mia.”

A lot of the fun of NYC is people watching and we did a whole lot of that ~ John decided there must be a uniform for women since every other woman wore the following: jeans, black shoes/boots, and a black knee-length coat.

Our hotel was located at 3rd Ave and East 53rd so we we could walk to most areas easily although Logan & I did catch a cab a couple times during our outings alone. She had fun trying to “hail a taxi” and was getting very good at it by the end of the visit.

Even for a city such as New York which has seen more than its share of world events, everyone was abuzz about the marathon. It was a big deal for all the boroughs and the excitement was palpable for runners and non-runners alike.

Since the weekend was really all about the marathon, John will be posting his take on the big event sometime soon but here are the hightlights:

Race Time: 4:21:40          Pace: 9:59             Overall Place: 18,504 (out of 38,554)

Posted in Travels, United States | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments »

“Wednesday” and “Elizabeth the Pirate”

Thursday, 1 November, 2007 by Beachbums1

The sweater weather without the cold and rain made this Halloween very pleasant. FG’s costume was a hit once people realized who she was ~ she dressed as Wednesday from the Addams Family It worked out well since Halloween was on a Wednesday this year. At one house, a visiting grandma kept asking FG why her doll had no head. I could tell the woman was getting stressed thinking some strange child decapitated her doll. I finally stepped in and explained. Once I mentioned the Addams Family, I saw visible relief on the woman’s face. What I really wanted to say was “Lighten up, it’s Halloween!”

All our neighbors, including us, set up on our porches awaiting the onslaught of children which never came. We live on a newly built street so I’m guessing a lot of parents didn’t know we were here. We had about 50-75 kids come through but I’d expected more like 300. By the end of the allotted “trick or treat” time, I was giving away large handfuls of candy so as not to have any leftovers. Last thing I need is the temptation of chocolate.

FG brought home more than enough to give a dentist nightmares…

Posted in Favorite Girl | 5 Comments »

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