…… it’s not even winter yet.

Yet I give you exhibit A:

Yesterday I didn’t think to take a picture of the CNN sign, but it was 22, at its lowest point.
I KNOW!!!

Here are a few more more exhibits:

This shows the snow in the window frame:

This is at Columbus Circle (pretty, isn’t it?)

This is the play I saw last week.  It wasn’t all that great.
But I got to look at Daniel Craig for a couple of hours. And while he’s no George, he’s not half bad.
🙂

This is one of the window displays at Bergdorf’s.  Santa’s arm goes up and down as he drinks his hot chocolate. It’s pretty cool. 🙂

This a piece from a nearby museum that currently has an exhibit of ceramic art. The artist is from Finland. He made this piece not long after several children were shot there one afternoon, while on a school outing. (I am neither advocating, or against gun control here …… I’m just showing/explaining a very haunting/interesting piece). All three children are wearing school uniforms. A boy and a girl are on their knees, begging the girl who stands before them. The kneeling children have real eyes (deer eyes put in by a taxidermist). The standing child has no eyes. But she does have something they don’t have. She’s holding a gun …… a pistol …… behind her back.  Eyes are the windows to the soul …… and she has no soul.
It took my breath away when I saw the gun. I stood looking at the piece for quite a few minutes, smiling and thinking they were maybe asking her to choose them to be on her team. And then I moved to the right …… and saw the gun.
This artist often uses children and/or animals and places them in “adult” situations in order to shock the viewer.
He did a good job with me.

Daughter #3 has a friend here who came in Friday night. They’ve been busy hitting the city ever since. I’ve seen very little of her, which means that she’s having a good time. In spite of the cold. She’s a huge wimp when it comes to cold weather. Kind of how I used to be …… only a year ago.
Sigh …..

So last night was our comedy gig. And while I was very nervous from the very first night of class, I wasn’t nervous last night.
Yesterday I was hit by a wave of grief, that kind of came out of nowhere. If you can consider 3 days before the “death day” out of nowhere.
I had to be at the club at 7:00. At 6:00 I was still crying, and praying that I could stop.
Thankfully, I did. Though tears prickled my eyes during the subway ride to the club. But as soon as we got there my mind was on everyone else and on hoping that I wouldn’t forget any of my routine.

We all met upstairs and got a little pep talk and received the order we were going to perform. Daughter #3 and I were the last two. She was after me.
I couldn’t believe I wasn’t nervous at all. I watched my friends go up and do their routines, after the hostess did her gig, and our teacher/my friend Kelly did her gig, and after one of the headliners, Judah Friedlander, did his gig. Yeah, he’s a little famous.
🙂

When it came my turn to get up on the stage I just walked right up and felt instantly right at home. The crowd was great. It didn’t hurt that I had two sorority sisters and their husbands there, plus Beth, and another friend. And then Daughter #3 had several friends who also know me, so at least there were several people who were going to either love me, or act like they loved me. 🙂

But I seemed to click with mostly everybody. It was impossible to see anyone’s face because the light was incredibly bright in my eyes, but one of the tables right in front of me was full of wonderful people who laughed a lout. Like huge, guffaw belly laughs. Right from the start.
I felt like I owned the stage for those 6 minutes.
And that felt wonderful.
I know that Jim was watching and was/is very proud of me.
And of Daughter #3, who did a fabulous job.
She’s hilarious!
Hopefully she’ll let me post her video, too. I just haven’t seen her long enough to ask. 🙂

Tomorrow I start my volunteer job in Harlem at a Head Start school. I’m really looking forward to that.
Son #1 and Daughter #2 will be arriving this weekend. What’s more, Daughter #2 will be looking at prospective jobs while she’s here.
I KNOW AGAIN!!

Daughter #3 finished her internship at the school on Friday, so she’s now on the job hunt. She is now the proud owner of a Masters degree (those degrees have 1 and 2 record with me, so I’m not that thrilled …… yet).
But she has decided to stay up here, too, which I am THRILLED about.
Who knew that I’d be up here, let alone have possibly half of my kids up here?!!

Sons #2 and #3 are staying in Texas for Christmas. Son #2 has school through the holidays and Son #3 wants to make money. I tried to get both of them up here, but their minds are made up. Besides, Son #2 doesn’t really like to travel all that much. He’s a homebody. Which I totally get.

I have no plans for the 18th. I may walk to Rockefeller Center and stare at the tree for a while …… and remember.
And remember and remember and remember.

And I’ll also wish my sister, brother and stepdad a very happy birthday.

Happy Monday/Tuesday, Peeps.

From me and my tree.
🙂

…… (and only?) …… stand up comedy gig.
In a week or so I’ll have a better recording, but this is it for now.

Merry Christmas.
(gulp!)

……

…… two items with you today.

This one goes out to my widowed Peeps …… and everyone else who’s met Grief.

And this one is for everyone, to help give hope …… in memory of a very good man.

Hope Matters

Happy Thursday!
🙂

Fun!

It’s been a busy few days.
Wednesday I had book club at a restaurant on the east side, called Alice’s Tea Cup.
It’s a very cute, and quaint, British tea shop with a pretty full menu. There were 9 of us and we squeezed in upstairs, ready to enjoy brunch and discus our latest read. We were about 20 minutes in to our discussion, when what to our wandering eyes should appear, but several mommies and nannies with 25 three year olds.
Holy.
Cow.
Visions of screaming kids danced through my head.
And through the dining room.
Because, really?! Twenty five 3 year olds in one place?! Who saw that ship sinking before hand, aside from me?!

Anyway, our waitress was wonderful, if not completely worn out by the time we were done. She had the 9 of us, plus 4 other tables, plus the birthday party.
She needs a very large raise.
And a month off.

After book club I walked around Bloomingdales and that area for a bit. Then I walked back to the apartment. I didn’t get home until almost 5, I think.
Then spent a quiet night at home with the cats while the daughters were out.
It was nice.

Yesterday I got up and started cleaning the apartment. Mom was supposed to be arriving around 5:30 or so, and I had a backstage tour of Radio City Music Hall at 3.
That was pretty cool.
I walked down and took pictures of the tree, as well as pictures during the tour.
Here they are:

This is a chandelier that hangs in the main lobby inside the grand foyer of Radio City. It’s absolutely breath taking. And takes about 8 hours to hang. Ugh.
But worth it, IMHO.
🙂

This is me (duh) standing in front of a model of the stage (“It’s only a model!”….. what’s that from??! Hint: It’s said with a British accent>)
Supposedly, if you take a picture of yourself there, you look like you’re on the actual stage.
Hmmmmm, I think I look like I’m standing in front of a model.

I know I don’t have to tell you who this is. But I do have to tell you that this was highly illegal picture. I’m not sure why. She wasn’t my kid, so I wasn’t going to buy a picture of her with the main man. Whatever.

Another view of the lobby and the beautiful chandelier.
You’re welcome.

This is a picture of my favorite tree in all the world (as are the next few pics).
Though it makes me feel like I should’ve bought about 50 more strings of light for my tree.
This one has 6 miles of lights on it.
Six splendid miles.

This one is self-explanatory.  Unless you really think it says “Adio City”.  If you do, I find that terribly sad.

I walked back home after the tour, wrapped presents so that I could get them out of my closet. Space is at a premium around here, you know. Most of you know that I abhor the act of gift wrapping. Now I don’t begrudge anyone else enjoying it, but I do not.
I loathe it. Despise it. Do you know what I despise more than gift wrapping?
Gift wrapping with ultra cheap paper, that rips when you fold it around a corner.
Yes, I did buy that kind of paper, why?!
How is one supposed to know that one is buying ultra cheap wrapping paper, I ask you. It’s all wrapped up in cellophane and there’s no indication that it’s going to fall apart as soon as you touch it.
Damn!!!
So yes, that added to the joy of my evening.
Can you say, “First world problems”?

My mom landed an hour late, since there was much fog in New Jersey. And then she didn’t arrive at my home until almost 8:00. Daughter #3 and I had already ordered dinner for the three of us, thinking Mom would be here long before the Thai food. Not so much.
But thankfully, she arrived about 10 minutes before the event that will now be known henceforth as,
“The Live Tragedy on NBC”.
Epic fail.
So sad.
But it was fun to sit and compare notes on FB, where my thread grew to over 370 comments. In three hours.
I do know me some funny people.
🙂

This morning Mom and I went to meet Beth and her daughter, Emily, at the Christmas Tree …. again. There we surprised Emily with the news that we were going to see the Rockettes. This day was a late birthday celebration for her.
We had a lot of fun.
And the show was good.
Here are some pics:

After the show we walked around the city, in the rain, looking at store windows and lights.
Here are some pics:

These two pictures are from Saks 5th Ave.  I don’t really understand why they picked the theme, “Yetis”, but they did.
Ho, Ho, Ho.

The Empire State Building is always lit up in an array of colors this time of year.

After walking until my feet were screaming at me and I was ready to cry, or buy some Uggs at the first place I found some, it was finally time for dinner. We had reservations here:

I ate at this restaurant this time last year with all of my lovely sorority sisters. And tonight the four of us enjoyed it. It really is a cool restaurant, with very nice wait staff and mostly good food.
After dinner we walked over to a theatre to see “Little Miss Sunshine”.
It was very good. And very hilarious!
And we got to meet some of the actors, which was pretty cool. Especially for Emily, who loves, and had previously met, Stephanie J. Block. , whom I had seen several years ago in the Broadway show, “The Boy From Oz”, starring hubba-hubba Hugh Jackman (the hubba-hubbas are mine).
She’s a very good and very well known Broadway actress.
This is her, with Emily.

This is the little girl who played Olive, and played her very, very well.

This guy, who did a fabulously funny job, is Wesley Taylor, whom those of you with discriminating taste will recognize from the now oh-so-unfairly-defunct TV series, “Smash”.  He’s very nice.  And very cute.

And now it is way WAY past my bed time so I’m going to upload this and fall fast asleep.
Night, Peeps.

Happy Friday/Saturday.
🙂

…… a lot like Christmas!
And who would believe, 1-5 years ago, that I would be joyful about that?! Certainly not me. Nor anyone who knew/knows me.
But today I was walking around the city, listening to Christmas music via my cell phone, and seeing the sights …… which included these on every other corner:

I can’t begin to tell you how awesome, and almost surreal, it felt to be walking, listening, and seeing everything.
So much joy!
🙂

Today I felt that I was channeling my mother-in-law, which should make my sister-in-law, and my own mother, very proud:

I took crochet lessons at a local knitting store
I had a lot of fun, just sitting there, making chain stitches. And listening to the other women who were crocheting and knitting.
That’s my next step …… knitting.
Right now I’m working on a scarf. We shall see how it turns out.
If I can stop dropping stitches.
Dang!

I found a new grocery store on the way home and boy, was I excited!! It was huge and had such a large variety of things. If you’ve never tried to grocery shop here in NYC then you really can’t appreciate how big this was.
There’s a Whole Foods only a couple of blocks from my apartment, but it’s not only hugely crowded …… always, but it’s also hugely expensive …… always.
Daughter #3 likes to shop at Trader Joe’s, which is about a mile from home. It’s not expensive (all Trader Joe’s all over the country sell things at one price, the same price, no matter where the stores are. Which is pretty dang nice of them.), but it is hugely crowded …… ALL of the time. And it doesn’t have much variety. Which is fine, most days.
But variety can be nice. So I loved finding it today, though I managed to control myself …… mostly because I didn’t have my shopping cart with me (those stroller things you see people lugging behind them on the streets in Europe, and here) and it was still about a mile or so from home.
But next time …… the cart will be with me.

When I got back to my apartment, I found this waiting for me:

In case you can’t figure out what that is ….. after I stood it up, it looked like this:

Then I unwrapped it, and it looked like this:

I had to put the plastic underneath it because of this:

Yep, there was snow/ice all over it.  And it was dripping like crazy.  So I put towels and the plastic underneath it and waited for it to dry.

And then I made some hot chocolate and did this:

It has fewer ornaments that we usually do, but all of our ornaments are back in Texas.  As are our stockings and all of our decorations.
But I’m pretty happy with it. And I’m mentally making notes of all of the things I need to pack up the next time I go to Texas. I need to pack things for storage, pack things to send up here, and pack things to get rid of.
Thinking about that makes me tired.
So let’s move on.

Yesterday I had a few loads of laundry to do (because of all of our Thanksgiving guests …. I usually only have to do one load about every other week). There are 2 washers and 2 dryers on our floor, just down the hall a bit from my apartment. But one of the dryers has been on the fritz for a couple of weeks. So I decided to take all of the laundry down to the basement laundry room.
It’s quite a trek.
It involves quite a few empty hallways …..

Finally, after about 4 hallways, you find it:

It’s a pretty decent laundry room.  It took me less time to do it all at once, than to do 2 loads on my floor.  So I just read while my laundry was going.
Because it was easier to stay down there and get the three loads done …… but mostly because I have book club tomorrow and I haven’t finished reading the book.
sigh ……

In other NY happenings, last weekend Daughters #2 and #3 and two friends and I went here for brunch:

Do you recognize it?
If not, it’s the restaurant where Meg Ryan waited for Tom Hanks in “You’ve Got Mail”, only she didn’t know it was Tom Hanks, who was a complete ass to her. For a while.
He got better.

It’s a very cute place and it was neat to see it, and to sit where Meg sat. We totally touched everything we could, saying, “Tom touched this door knob/whatever!”.
Yes, we were THOSE people.
And we didn’t care.
Plus the food was pretty dang good.

Daughter #3 and I went to our stand up class last night. We only have one more class …… before we actually do our stand up routines in a comedy club.
Oh.
My.
Word.
I try to not think about that very much.
🙂

So tomorrow I go to the book club meeting, even though I most likely will not have finished the book.
And then I’m going to a Tea that’s being given by the Central Park Conservancy.
Thank you, Barbara.
🙂

Then on Thursday I’m going to Radio City Music Hall for a back stage tour of the Rockettes Christmas show. I won’t be staying for the show because my mom will be arriving around that same time.
Then I plan to order in and be in comfy pjs to watch “The Sound of Music” …… even though I’m totally against any kind of re-make of that movie.
Because, REALLY?!!!!! Julie Andrews?????
But the whole “live” thing has me intrigued.
So I’ll watch.

And then have a busy, fun day on Friday.
But I’m not going to tell you about that.
Yet.
I don’t want to spoil the surprise.

Night, Peeps.
And Happy Tuesday/Wednesday.
🙂

…… of my life that I will never, ever get back.

That’s what I think of “Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark”.

What a great title. Dark pretty much describes it. Dark, as in completely boring story, non-interesting songs, stupid dialogue and the ability to make time seem to last forever. I wanted to leave at intermission. I should have left at intermission.
I even had what one would think would be a terrific seat: second row balcony, on the aisle. Now, that’s not usually the best seat, but in this show you really don’t want to sit in the orchestra. Hell, you don’t really want to sit anywhere IN the theatre, but who knew?

OK, I knew that I wasn’t going to see Tennessee Williams. I’m not an idiot.
But I figured that it would be entertaining, visually.
Not so much.

Spiderman does fly all over the place, as does the Green Gremlin. So if you’re in the orchestra area you’re mostly looking up.
There was a landing only a few feet from me, where they flew up to and landed upon.
Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?
Not in this show. By the time Spidey landed there the first time, it was too late to win me over.

Not only was this show horrible, but so was the 4 or 5 year old boy who sat next to me with his mother. Really?!!!!! I don’t care what cartoon character is in the show! Who takes a toddler to the theatre?!! Who pays that much for a ticket for a child who’s not going to want to sit still for 2 1/2 hours????!
Granted, I paid only 50% of the regular price, but even that is way too much to pay for a child.
It’s too bad it was dark in there …… I think that kid missed quite a few of my “looks that can kill” …… you know, the looks only we mothers can give.
What a waste of a great look.

So anywhooooo, give this show a cold shoulder if you come to NY. It’s leaving soon and heading to Las Vegas, but I don’t think that will make it any easier to watch. Don’t get sucked in.
If you decide to go see it anyway, completely ignoring my advice, I hope you hear my voice in your head for at least 48 hours, repeating, “I told you so!”, over and over.
Because I did.

Other than that, it’s been a quiet couple of days since everyone left. The Son and Daughter made it home safely, always a relief for me.
Son #3 made it back to college today. He worked over the holiday, in an effort to get more spending money for life at college.
Son #2 went to class on Thanksgiving.
Yes, you read that correctly.
ON.
THANKSGIVING.

Not only that, but he’ll be attending class on Christmas Day.
I know.
It seems that the guy who runs this place asked the students if they have any plans for the 25th. Those who didn’t agreed to show up.
W.
T.
H?

I asked Son #2 about this guy’s family …… and whether he had any, to which he replied, “Yes. In Africa.”
So there you go.
Son #3 is really a homebody and doesn’t enjoy traveling all that much, so I think he’s glad for the excuse to stay home.
And Son #3 wants to make more money over the Christmas break.
They should have a grand old time.

In other news, I was accepted as a volunteer for the JumpStart program here in NY. I get to go to a preschool every week and read to the kids. Well, I get to go if I pass the background check. 🙂
I passed the TB skin test, so that’s one step forward.
I’ll either start this week or next.

Daughter #3 and I are almost done with our stand up comedy class. We only have two more weeks before we’re supposed to perform. In an actual comedy club.
Excuse me while I go hurl.

Daughter #3 has already performed twice …… at two open mic nights.
I’m keeping my act under wraps.
Until I’m forced to stand up in front of an audience.
sigh …..

I’m starting a crochet class on Tuesday.
And attending book club and a formal “tea” on Wednesday.
Oh, and my mom is coming in on Thursday!
We’ll have fun.
As usual.

OK, that’s it from NY …… for now.
I’m managing to walk anywhere from 2 to 6 miles a day here, on average.
So I’m pooped.
🙂

Later, Peeps.
Happy Sunday.
🙂

…… grateful.

We had a full apartment yesterday. More than full. But even though we were full, I was missing two very important people.
My two Texans.
Son #2 and Son #3 were both back in Texas, working/attending class.
And I missed them.

But in spite of that, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Four of my children were here. Plus 2 friends for the week. And 3 friends for Thanksgiving day.
And, here’s the great part …… Daughter #3 did ALL of the cooking.
All.

A couple of months ago I made a pasta dinner for the three of us (Daughter #1, Daughter #3 and me).
From scratch.
It took 3 hours.
No kidding.
And my kitchen is the size of my closet back in Texas.
With almost no counter space.
Which is hugely aggravating and highly exasperating.
To say the least.
The day that I made that dish …… I decided that I would not be cooking ANYTHING for Thanksgiving. I made an announcement to the two daughters. Daughter #1 seemed fine with that decision. Daughter #3 …… not so much.
She said that she wanted to make Thanksgiving dinner.
All of it.
Yes, she is insane.
I told her that we would be ordering the turkey …… and the rest of the meal. But she objected. Strongly.
So I gave in …… and told her that she could make whatever she wanted …… as long as she knew that I would have no part of it in that tiny kitchen.
And she was ok with that.
But I told her that we would be ordering the turkey.
And we did.
Kind of.

We purchased 2 fully cooked turkeys from Trader Joe’s (they were on the small side and we weren’t sure how many one would feed …… though in retrospect one would’ve been enough) so all we had to do was heat them up for a couple of hours.
But she, being the trooper that she is, made everything else.
Everything else was …… salad, mashed potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, mac and cheese, asparagus, rolls, stuffing …… and two pumpkin pies.
I don’t know where she came from.
But my mother should be very proud.

The dinner was amazing.
It was a good day.
We ate. And ate. And ate.
And then we played some video dance game, which was hilarious.
And then we played “Heads Up”, which was even more hilarious.
And competitive.

After that our company left. And Son #1 and Daughter #1 and I went to see the latest Hunger Games movie, Catching Fire.
It was one of her birthday gifts. Her birthday was Wednesday.
In case you haven’t kept up.
The movie was pretty good.
I read all of the books …… so that’s high praise.
🙂

Today Daughters # 2 & 3 and a friend and I went to have brunch at the cafe where Meg Ryan went to meet Tom Hanks in “You’ve Got Mail”, only she didn’t know it was Tom Hanks. And he was a total ass.
But it’s called Cafe Lalo and it’s a cute place and the food was very good.
After that we went downtown. THe girls hung out at the library while I went back to the dr. I had seen on Tuesday for a TB test. I had to have the test read. And I passed …… with flying colors.
I met back up with them outside the library, which is at Bryant Park, which I posted pictures of a few days ago. You know, the place with the ice skating rink.
Then we walked a bit and did something I have never done before: we shopped on Black Friday.
I know.
We went into a Gap, where everything …… and I mean EVERYTHING …… was 50% off.
SCORE!!
Then the girls wanted to hit the nearby H&M, so we went in there. I sat near the exit and read a book on my cell phone while they shopped.
They scored.
Again.
And then we went home.
And decided to watch “You’ve Got Mail”.
Another friend came over and we ordered dinner and finished the movie. And “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”.
It was very exciting.
To say the least.
Oh, and we ordered Mexican food.
Which was pretty dang good.

Tomorrow morning …… at the ungodly hour of 4:00 and 5:45 A.M. …… Daughter #2, Son #1 and a friend (more commonly known as Daughter #4) leave. And that makes me sad.
But Daughter #2 and Son #1 will be back on December 22nd.
Unfortunately …… Sons #2 and #3 were not here for Thanksgiving …… and will not be here for Christmas.
And that sucks.
A lot.

It will be the first Christmas that we haven’t been together since …… forever.
I hate that they won’t be here.
But Son #2 is in school …… and for some insane reason he’ll be in class on Christmas day (as he was on Thanksgiving) and Son #3 is working as much as he can over the Christmas break …… so they will remain in Texas.
Neither one of them has a love for Christmas. Which is totally understandable …… given the fact that their father died the week before Christmas 6 years ago.
That kind of puts a cloud on Christmas.

But I have to admit …… that for the first time in these 6 years …… I was looking forward to Thanksgiving …… and am looking forward to Christmas.
No kidding.
The first time.
Since 2007.
And I think that’s huge.

I’ve ordered a real Christmas tree (thank you Groupon).
And I’ve ordered all of the ornaments, lights and stockings.
And I’m …… for the first time in six years …… looking forward to Christmas. Just as I did to Thanksgiving.
And that is huger than huge.

I know that it mostly has to do with being here …… in NY. And I’m ok with that.
In fact, I’m great with that.
As most of you know …… and many of you have commented …… I love it here.
I beyond love it here.
This is home.
This is where I want to be.
And where I want to be …… full time.

Jim would approve.
Jim would be happy for me.
And proud of me.
If he were here.

But he’s not.
And so I move forward …… deciding what is best for me now.
Our children are grown. And are making their own decisions.
So now it’s time for me …… to decide for me.
It’s been a very long time since I’ve thought of just me.
But it’s time.
And thought it’s taken a while …… I’m good with that …… now.

It’s time.
And for that, I’m grateful.

I hope that each of you had a peaceful Thanksgiving.
And that each of you had at least one thing that you were grateful for.
Just one.
Sometimes …… one is all we can ask for.

Happy Friday, Peeps.
🙂