Laughter Really Is The Best Medicine

Friday night while Eric was working late, I had the opportunity to watch on PBS a documentary on Carol Burnett.

I always loved her. I remember my mother watching her and her just cracking up and myself only being eleven at the time The Carol Burnett show ended on CBS.

I remember watching re-runs though and maybe even with my mother at the time they were on and just loving that "dying on the floor humor". Very similar to how I feel about Lucile Ball, but we didn't seem to watch I Love Lucy as much as I remember Carol Burnett. It wasn't until I was older and moved out of the house with cable that I saw I love Lucy and really appreciated her.

Carol Burnett was classic and it goes without saying that, they don't make them like that anymore. She was a pioneer for women's comedy and slapstick humor and so much of it was just pure and simple chemistry between her and her fellow comics on the show. The documentary mentioned that there were very few takes and that because the comedy just flowed, only one take was necessary most of the time.

She revealed how her ear tugging was for her Nanny (aka Granny) and that was her way of saying hello to her. She also went on to reveal that the famous nail biting shown on the show was her way of holding back from laughing. She did that alot.

Watching her on Friday night got me in a comedic mood. My good friend N had asked me to see a comedy show next weekend but we are going to PA to visit Grandpa so I had to take a rain check. I haven't been to a comedy show since before Matthew was born. I used to plan once a month a girl's night out and we had seen comedians in Providence, RI and it was so much fun.

I forgot how much comedy is a necessity for my soul as much as music.

I live for the words that come out of Matthew's mouth every day and wish I could just tape record them or remember to write them down more. He has me in hysterics most of the time.

Last night after Matthew fell asleep, I went crazy on YouTube.

I brought up old comics like Steven Sweeney (known Boston comedian) who I had seen back in 1990 when I first moved to MA. He was playing at a comedy club called Stitches, which at that time was on Beacon Street in Brookline but has since moved. We went there with Eric's sisters and brothers and friends. There was about 9 or 10 of us and we had sat in the front row. Since this was my first comedy club in a big city or ever for that matter, I didn't know any better.

I was wearing a black and white zebra Lycra mini dress that was in style at the time and was my personality at the time. Very body hugging and worn for Eric's eyes.

There came a time when Steve Sweeney was talking when I had to get up to go to the bathroom. I whispered in my now sister-in-law's ear that I would be right back. I was a little nervous about standing up and walking out of the room, but I had no idea that it would be as bad as it was.

I just entered the bathroom, when I hear on the microphone "WHERE DID YOUR FRIEND GO?" then I heard "TO THE BATHROOM?" "TO TAKE A POOP!!!"

I'm in there dying listening to the crowd in hysterics. I wanted to find a back window and just climb out, but I braved my way back out and through the crowd to the front tables along the stage. The whole time I was walking through the crowded quiet room, Steve Sweeney was staring at me (like I was holding him up) with a smirk on his face and he said "SO, DID YOU TAKE A POOP?"

The whole place went nuts again and I was almost in tears from laughing and embarrassment. Then he said "THAT'S A REALLY NICE DRESS".

And got on with the show.

Last night I watched 3 hours worth of Steve Sweeney, Steven Wright, Geoge Carlin, Howie Mandell for about 2 minutes (the quality wasn't good), Eddie Murphy's Raw and Delirious from the 80's impersonations of Italians, White Family, Michael Jackson, Bill Cosby, Stevie Wonder and others, Steve Martin, Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, Robin Williams, Larry The Cable Guy and 5 minutes of Bobcat.

IT WAS THE BEST THREE HOURS I'VE HAD IN A LONG TIME.

Next weekend I am going to PA and one thing I miss about being around my brothers, is laughter.

They always have been able to keep me laughing and I know that they will get a kick out of Matthew's growing sense of humor, but also now he might beat Uncle P at Super Mario Brothers. It should be a fun time.

Happy Birthday Mom & Thankful Thursday

Once Again, Mom....HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

This morning was an interesting one, to say the least. In less than an hour I felt like Erma Bombeck who I used to love. My English teacher in high school introduced me to her writings and I've loved them since.

The morning began at 6:45 and we needed to get up for school. Matthew immediately started out the morning by saying he was still tired. I thought, OK...15 more minutes under the covers and then that's it.

At 7 AM he started saying how he didn't want to go to school today. When I asked him why he mentioned that he was comfy and cozy and just didn't want to get up and go. I let him know that if we could get through today, he would have almost a full week vacation off due to Veteran's Day on Monday.

He didn't want any part of it and me being the cozy loving, cuddling, sleep loving, bed loving under the covers mom that I am, I forced myself up to get dressed, turn on his shows on the TV downstairs, make coffee and get him something to eat.

Twenty minutes later, him and Daddy were snuggling on the couch. I said "This isn't helping me." Daddy made him a deal that if he went to school, I would let him play Super Mario games on the computer when he comes home.

He really is getting carried away and it is amazing to me to see how at four years old, he is not spoiled, but he needs to stop expecting things such as toys, games - computer related or otherwise. I need to put my foot down. I will let him play his games today and luckily tomorrow we have a play date to get out of the house. We also had one yesterday so at least his time is being spent more socializing with his friends than in the house on the computer. He is Daddy's little boy and he will tell me to just type in "the network"!!

The other day I found out that network isn't the same as Daddy's but The CARTOON NETWORK site.

He is really good and plays more than batman & spiderman and superhero games. He is really good at educational games as well and loves just as much to be online playing WORD WORLD games on PBSkids.com

I don't want to hold him back from learning but somehow I need to let him know that life wasn't always this technical or this easy. I hate to sound like my parents, but I find myself starting now to say "Back when I was a kid" and I know that isn't the answer but I need to give him a view of life without computers or toys constantly being shown on the commercials. In two minutes he will ask me for five toys one after another. I keep saying add it to your list for Santa and I keep making him aware of how many times he is asking for something. We'll say "Where are we going to put all of these toys?"

He'll just say "Upstairs, down the basement" (because that is where all of his toys are)

And he is only almost 5.

Anyway, back to this morning. He finally ate two bites of an oatmeal raisin cereal bar (not enough) and then as we were getting ready to put on his sneakers (8:05- school starts at 8:30), he started telling me that he had a bump on the back of his head.

I found it under the hair and immediately feared what it was. He has never had one up to this point and now in hindsight I feel like a horrible mom because he was the one to find it and not me.

It was a tick!!!!

Eric naked in the shower trying to get ready for work, peeked out and confirmed my fears. He told Matthew that he would take it out. While we were waiting for Daddy to throw on a towel, Matthew went into panic mode and hid out in the closet. I assured him that Daddy is a professional and that he used to do this with Ringo and Pooker all of the time. I assured him that Daddy taking it out would be alot easier than not taking it out and that it could make him sick.

At 8:15 Daddy got that damn live tick out of my angel's head.

At 8:18 Matthew squished him with his magnifying glass after thinking he was cool.

At 8:25 we were in the car and Matthew said "What kind of bug was that again?" I told him and he repeated it and said he would have to tell his teacher and his friends.

I immediately am panicking about the horribleness of kids being cruel said "Don't tell the kids about it honey. You can tell your teacher. I'm telling your teacher."

Thank you God today wasn't show and tell and he would want to bring it in.

So now it is time for me to go pick him up.

I am going to have to cut my Thankful things list down today due to timing.

1. I'm Thankful Daddy was home so that he could get that thing out of his hair.
2. I'm Thankful Matthew eventually made it to school today.
3. I'm Thankful for my coffee.
4. I'm Thankful for my life that I can find the humor in this due to my experience with Erma Bombeck. I know my English teacher passed away years ago, but thank you Mrs. B.

Have a pint with my mom today and give her a hug for me.

Remember When Wednesday - My Mom's Birthday Tomorrow

Dear Mom,

I know that I am typing you this letter a little early and a little late. Tomorrow is Thankful Thursday so I will be busy listing more items in which I'm Thankful to God for tomorrow. And of course you are one of them again.

Tomorrow you would have been 64 years old. It is amazing to me that with all you went through in life, that you never aged. So I will always remember you as that beautiful mom that you were when you gave birth to me. That was the mom that I loved. The healthy mom with the beautiful smile and such wonderful taste in fashion with yourself and your children but also such a wonderful homemaker and wife. The healthy mom that you were is what I like to force myself to go back and remember.

It was hard for me to do for a long time, because your illness started corroding our lives at such a young age for you and after only 11 years married to Daddy at the time. Eleven years seems like such a short time to have your dreams interrupted. Your dream of being that homemaker and wife. It amazes me now as a grown woman struggling with balancing staying home with raising one son, let alone 3 children. I don't know how you did it.

I know that in hindsight I can look back at a lot of things that I never understood growing up. I was a troubled child due to your illness that we never found out about until 1991. So from the time the mental onset began when I was 7 or 8 years old, until 1991, I had no name for it.

All I knew was that my home was suddenly becoming this place where I had to be the one to be there for Daddy, J and P who was only less than 5 at the time when the illness was hitting the hardest. We suffered through many atrocities with him being the sole provider including losing heat, hot water, electricity and eventually our home to Daddy eventually losing another home, all because of ignorance. Ignorance on the part of every adult who witnessed what was going on and who didn't step in or didn't help or who eventually found out years later about the illness and still didn't help.

The child in me is angry now, as the mom and woman in me remembers each heartbreak that you and we suffered due to "an illness". I'm angry at the counselors in school, the friends and family that turned their back, due to Daddy's lack of housecleaning instead of looking at what he was struggling with. I'm angry at the people who witnessed us every day deteriorate and did not step in. I don't know if it would have helped anyway because their still is no cure for what you suffered with, but regarding maybe some help for Daddy going through what he did.

I've been through counseling and I know that the child within me is allowed to "hate" that part of my life. I'm allowed to hate that part of what I went through as a child with you deteriorating. I'm also allowed to "love" that part of you due to you had no control over what was happening. I'm allowed to love you as my mother.

Now though as a mom, it is hard. I look in the mirror and there you are. Today I grabbed some old bobby pins that I never use to pull the strands of my hair back by my ponytail and they were your bobby pins that used to hold in your hair around your bun. Matthew asked me what they were because I never where them.

The other day I remembered how you used to where your hair in rollers taking us to McCrory's and I remembered being the teenager I was, how embarrassed and how much I used to let you know how much you embarrassed me.

I know once I found out about your illness and many years of counseling that normal teenage years were going to happen regardless, but I know that if I knew what you were facing I would have been the better daughter and your friend.



I know that when you were in the nursing home I told you how sorry I was for everything I ever did, the arguments we had that really escalated as you got worse and before I moved to MA. I later apologized for being so far away and that was and still is the most torturous for me to think that when you were there every day in that room, I wasn't holding your hand.

It almost caused me to leave MA for good when I couldn't leave the state one time, returning home from visiting you. I know God was with me though when I did, it was only a few months later that I was pregnant with Matthew and that the road I had chosen was the right one.

I'm sorry I'm writing you this letter now when tomorrow would have been a celebratory day for you. It just seems to pour out and I know you know, how I feel regardless. I know you are here with me and that you see your Grandson and that you would run to him and squeeze him all of the time if you could. I hope you saw him the other day planning out different ingredients for an idea he had to bake. I know you would get a kick out of that. I'm always telling him how much Grandma was always coming up with new things to make by using her creativity with what little she had. I know you would get a kick out of him when he gets filthy from playing and I tell him he is a little "coalminers grandson".

Well, my hands are frozen now and I can't keep typing so I will let you know more in my prayers.



I love you and I hope you have a pint of Genesee with Uncle M and Grandma & Grandpa tomorrow celebrating the day they gave you life.

Without your life, Matthew's life wouldn't be.

I love you Mom. Happy Birthday.

Love
TM

Rainy Day Tuesday

I've lost my knack for my titles to my blog. Some days are better than others. My brain is in coordination with the weather today....foggy, gray and a little damp.

Last night at dinner, Matthew wanted to bring out my cookbooks for things we can make and HAVE A PARTY MOMMY!!!!

Before I knew it, he was sitting on my lap and was getting so excited over each picture in the book, but as soon as I told them the ingredients he would say "No, never mind."

Until we got to the desert section where suddenly every page was a must for this party.

I told him we couldn't make the Cappuccino cake because it has coffee in it. He said that it would be OK and that he wouldn't drink it, just eat it in the cake.

I mentioned that Tiramasu wouldn't be good either because that too has something for grownups in it. He said "That's OTAY...mommy! I can eat it, That's OTAY!"

Daddy came home at that moment, so all dreams of sugarplums danced away for me at that moment and it was a good thing because I have limited ingredients in the house right now.

This morning though, first thing before Good Morning Mommy was "Mommy, You have to call all my friends". I'm having a panic attack over this because he doesn't understand that you can't call friends and invite them to a party that same day. I was trying to ease his disappointment by letting him know that if he is serious about this, that we need to pick a date on the calender and plan it and make invitations to put in the mail.

I'm thinking maybe a hot chocolate and desert party sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas because that is the time that will work for us, but I also realize that time is also hard to get people to come due to the busy month of December.

The people he wants to invite are all of his cousins and family in PA and MA along with friends from school and our neighbor Grammy R. I'm sure if he really thought more about it, the list will include a few other neighbors as well.

He was still not understanding that this party can't be held today. I tried to talk him into another party with his stuffed animals, but he isn't having any part of that. It is heartbreaking to me to see that I can't fulfill his need.

It is beyond my control that all of his family lives far away, I can't force anyone to come. I'd offer to pick each and every one up from PA and MA though if I thought for his sake, we could make it happen.

Today we are going to make handwritten invitations on construction paper to get through this rainy day, to get this started. At least if we try maybe we can get back into the swing of things with having family and friends over and even if only a few show, it will make his day.

It will be just a desert and hot chocolate party with some coffee for the grownups and the kids can just play while the grownups just talk. He really loves having friends here in his own environment with his own toys and it gives him a chance to feel special by sharing them.

I haven't had a party since my Pampered Chef party a few years ago when we moved back into the house.

I wasn't looking for people to come and spend money, but to keep the continuum going of having friends over and that was a good way to do it.

This will be a party about just friends and family over cookies and hot chocolate. No money needed, just bring hugs.

Alright, I think I just talked myself into it. He really is a great host. He loves to entertain and make sure everyone feels welcome and that you are all having a good time.

Now we just have to pick a date. Maybe the weekend of Thanksgiving.

Mama's Legend Of The Fall and Papa Swan Memories

This morning, I don't know if it is because we lost an hour but I'm in a funky mood.

It all started last night when I watched "Legends Of The Fall" with Brad Pitt. I have loved him since Thelma & Louise and I watched this movie when it first came out ten years ago, but haven't since.

I thought I was getting into a nice romantic movie and then I wound up crying my eyes out for the last hour.

It was an unbelievable movie, but I wasn't prepared for the tearjerker aspect and it proved to me that sometimes when I think I've lost feelings in certain areas, there they are. I'm alive. I feel. I don't like to see unhappy endings in a movie because it is my escape and I like to live in a fairy tale sometimes to escape. Not a fairytale life where I'm pretending to be Cinderella every day of my life (although I wish I had the mice to help me clean), I just try and make the most in my mind to get through the days. Having a child has brought out the child within, although being the little boy he is, my little girl in me has had to step aside sometimes.

I miss being that girl , the girl who dreamed of the castle and Prince Charming. Not just to have a cute guy on the white horse in a nice house, but more the rescuer of Prince Charming's nature. The guy to save you from the sleep induced spell of a witch, to save you and protect you and respect you in life along with being your best friend. The fairy tales on the screen only get you so far, it is real life that you need more than that "happy ending". You need work to make it work.

When is Disney going to make a fairy tale that shows that aspect. It is time for them to catch up with the rest of the world to show little girls that the Prince isn't always the answer. You need to find the Happy Ending within yourself first and then if he loves you, wonderful. You'll have the best of both worlds. If he doesn't, it won't crush you as much because you are already a whole person without him.

I watched too many fairy tales, romantic movies and musicals growing up. I'm not complaining because with the life I was living with my mother deteriorating year after year from a neurological illness, that is the only thing along with singing that provided that escape. Thank You God for that escape or God knows where I would be now.

When I first moved to MA in 1990, Eric was my Prince Charming. He saw this little girl who was desperately trying to get out of her environment and we had an instant connection because he immediately took the role of someone who cared for me, loved me and wanted to protect me. My father was worried about me moving 350 miles away and Eric told him "I promise, I'll take good care of her and won't let anything happen to her". I was impressed with his concern for my father's feelings and for the way he loved being in that role. It wasn't a financial role because at the time, I had a 2K loan from a bank and that is how we started our relationship. We didn't learn how to save money until we were getting married and I worked and we put my money in the savings account and learned to live on his income and that is when he saw "Wow...look at we could do together when working toward our dreams".

That first year we were together being the young, unmarried and childless couple we were, we partied and he showed me every tourist spot in Boston, Cape Cod, NH, VT and Rhode Island. We must have went to 50 concerts that first year from small venues like The Orpheum to see Warren Zevon in Boston, The Paradise to see The Waterboys in Brighton to larger ones like Great Woods to see Eric Clapton, Robert Plant, Scorpions, Bonnie Raitt, U2 at the Boston Garden and later at the old Foxboro Stadium to see Pink Floyd's Division Bell Concert.

Our life was filled with dinners out on Friday nights, playing pool together where after 10 years I actually was getting good, going to karaoke with friends, going to Key West with friends and our best friend M's 40th birthday.

That was the life before Matthew. Eric calls it BM.

We don't miss it at all.

What I miss though is our friends who we have lost touch with, our family that we used to see 10 times or more a year. And I miss the part of our relationship where we had the "want" to do everything together, the passion of it. I miss the interests in both of our lives (that we loved before having a child) other than the house, bills and Matthew. Not necessarily the drinking part, but the part where we both loved to protect each other, put each other on that pedestal and that we could stay there for a while. I also miss the nights in Foxboro in our little apartment when he would come into our room to wake me up from sleeping, but this is a g rated blog, so I'll leave it at that.

No more watching romantic movies for me before bed...

Friday Recap

Well, this week definitely was better than last.

Matthew made it to school and is over his cold, for the most part. With the Red Sox winning the World Series to start the week off, we knew we were going to have a good week.

Halloween in the middle of the week to add to the excitement was like icing on the cake.

Today we got to finish off the yummy week with some warm and wonderful friends to play at our house.

Matthew and R have more than one thing in common. They are both boys and only 4 months apart and both are used to being the only "boy" in their household other than Daddy, so at times they have to be reminded (mostly Matthew today) that they both have to share.

R's little sister is heaven. She is the most cutest, quietest, sweetest little angel of a little girl. She is so little girl. She also loves to play with her brother though and get into dirt and play with sticks and rocks, but she does it in a dainty way.

It was nice for me to drag out Matthew's kitchen set again. I thought for sure that was going to be sold by now, but as soon as he heard that N was coming over, he immediately pulled out the buffet and made her soup.

We had a nice lunch while picking out toys we would like from Santa and Matthew explained how he wants to sell his baby toys to go to Disneyworld.

We wound up playing outside today. It was a little nippy. 50 degrees in the sun. I don't know about the shade near the water.

They really played OK though overall.

For the brief moments when they used teamwork and looked like the best of buddies, I just sighed and took pictures to make the moment last longer.

Thankful Thursday

Today is the first day of November. The first day of the month that celebrates being Thankful for your blessings. Every day of every year, I'm thankful but I thought it would be nice to make a special list on every Thursday during this month to really put them out there for the world to see.

My Top Ten What I'm Thankful For:

1. I'm Thankful for my health even though it seems to let me down at times. At this point in my life, I'm here for my son and that is my most prized blessing. (I just have to quit smoking) -maybe tomorrow I'll do a list for what I need to stop doing.
2. 
   
   I'm Thankful for God's blessing of my son. No other explanation needed, my blog speaks volumes of my love for him.
3. 
   
   I'm Thankful for Eric. Without him, my son wouldn't be here ( I would have given in after years of infertility to adoption and missed out on our most wonderful blessing), I wouldn't have the most beautiful house and possibly the financially challenging ability to be a stay at home mom. I wouldn't have 17 years of memories, some good and some bad but when we hold and look at our son, that love is the strength that keeps us going when times are tough.
4. 
   
   I'm Thankful for my mother and father. I know it sounds like I'm repeating myself, but without them, I wouldn't be here. Matthew wouldn't be here. Without them I wouldn't be the person I am, the person who cherishes family as life's most prized possession and to make the most out of every day, by enjoying our health while we have it and creating the memories for our son, while we are still on this earth.
5. 
   
   I'm Thankful for my brothers. I wouldn't be used to living with men, without them. haha... They gave me the strength I needed in my life by giving me love, hugs and humor, songs in my heart and soul with some tearful moments in between but a bond that will never be broken.
6. 
   
   I'm Thankful that God gave me one more November of being in my 30's..last one!! I'm really not looking forward to it, but hey! I'm enjoying my last November!


7. I'm Thankful for music. I know it sounds trite but it's not. It's in my soul. I need it in me to get through every day. The days I don't get to have those moments to feel my soul, everyone around me knows it.
8. 
   
   I'm Thankful for my blessing from God of my singing. I know I don't sing in church like I should or in a choir or a band, but I still know what a blessing I've been given and appreciate that part of me.
9. 
   
   I'm Thankful for God's beautiful world. I have been blessed to see Alaska, California, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Maryland, Florida, Ireland and Cancun. I wish I had time in my life to take Matthew on a road trip of the whole country to really see all of God's beautiful landscaping scenery of the mountains, lakes and everything in between.
10. 
    
    I'm Thankful for my time to blog, because God knows I need an outlet for my soul and this is it.

I will be leaving you today with one last picture of my little guy on Halloween night.

Thankful for Daddy who gave me my Spiderman:

Happy Halloween

I can't believe that today is Matthew's official 5th Halloween.

The first year being a new and thrilled mom that had finally been given the gift of a child to celebrate the holiday spirit in me and with me, I bought him two costumes. And this year is the first year since then that I only bought one. I get a little excited with him.

This morning, he was so excited when he woke up. You would think it was Christmas instead of Halloween. I wished him a Happy Halloween and he whispered and squeezed it back to me, like Christmas Morning wishing you love. He was an extra special cuddlebug this morning, making it hard for Mommy to get motivated and him ready for school. He said "Just 5 more minutes and 5 more cuddles."

He thought maybe at his Halloween party at school today that there might be skeleton cookies with sprinkles on top!!!! Extra pronunciation on the SPRINKLES ON TOP.

I will be heading early today to his school, where they will have him dressed in his Black Spiderman outfit and they will have made pumpkins with vegetable faces. It is going to be alot of fun.

Here are a few more for memories sake:

MANIC MONDAY - BUT A GOOD MANIA...FOR ONCE

IT'S JUST ANOTHER MANIC MONDAY...LA, LA, LA....WISH IT WERE SUNDAY...

CAUSE THAT'S MY FUN DAY...LA LA LA

RED SOX AND THE PATRIOTS (THAT i AGAIN DIDN'T WATCH) LA, LA, LA, LA, LA...

WORLD SERIES WIN AND SMASHING THE REDSKINS 52-SOMETHIN...LA, LA, LA, LA, LA

sorry....actually yesterday I wasn't feeling good so I was thrilled to find myself up at midnight last night watching the wonderful game with the red sox winning. I clapped to loud though and woke up Matthew, but not before actually watching the whole game.

I love them all. Jacoby is my favorite though. What an experience for someone with that Little League little boyish grin and what a talent he is!! Thank you Jacoby!!! Thank you Mike Lowell for your Home Run last night:-) Thank you for giving us that fourth run. Talk about a finger biting, glued to my seat last inning. I could go on and on but this is going to be short. I have to pick up Matthew from school because he actually made it today.

Here is a picture of my little guy modeling his Halloween attire this morning. Front and Back for Mommy.

What Do You Get When You Take One Housebound little boy who has been sick and AND add in a few toys around the house and some chocolate chips?

Answer:

ALA Chocolate Chip cookies crumbled with peanut butter and Candy Corn AND A HALLOWEEN PARTY

He was insistent on making cheese and milk with oil to make cookies but when he started pulling out my pans to bake the concoction....

I hurriedly picked other ingredients that were available RIGHT THEN AND NOW & didn't have to be baked.

They are now in a covered container awaiting Daddy's taste test when he gets home from work.

Today for one child, he has played with every toy he owns, a little baking and creating and all with Mommy running around trying to play with him and keep up after every mess. He's worth it...

Although, we could have done without the orange juice spilled on Daddy's rug and couch pillows, applesauce spilled on the floor and Mommy's second degree burns on my left toes as scolding hot pizza fell out of the toaster oven and on my foot instead of the plate.

That's ok...It's my fault for trying to make lunch while changing the channel on the remote and insisting he wash his hands and cleaning up the latest toy in the kitchen that wasn't there two seconds earlier.

I am looking forward to tomorrow night. I am going with some moms from the meet up group I belong to on a Coach Bus to Mohegan Sun...yeah!!! I don't gamble, but from 6PM until 2 am (if I'm not sleeping), I will be forgetting all about the spills on the floor and the pizza burn on my toes.

Colorado Forced to Bleed The Fifth.. by Boston Globe reporter (this was the most hysterical part of the game for me)

Colorado forced to bleed the fifth
By Kevin Paul Dupont, Globe Staff October 25, 2007

The Rockies were already in a fine pickle well before the Red Sox came to the plate in the fifth inning of last night's World Series opener.

But they quickly went from pickled to jarred.

The Red Sox, their lead up to 6-1 after Jason Varitek's two-run double in the fourth, poured it on in the fifth with seven runs, three of those courtesy of consecutive walks issued by Colorado reliever Ryan Speier. The free passes, issued to Julio Lugo, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Dustin Pedroia, painfully and inexorably boosted the Boston lead to 13-1.

"It gives us a lot of confidence," said Lugo, knowing the psychological benefit inherent in a 17-hit barrage. "We know we can beat anybody. We just have a lot of good players and good hitters.

When you have them contributing like this, I'm never surprised."

"We can score in bunches," added Pedroia, who opened the night's offense with a leadoff homer. "It doesn't matter who's up [at the plate]."

Speier, who entered the fifth with two outs and the bases loaded, left after Pedroia's free ticket brought in J.D. Drew for the unlucky, if not cruel, No. 13. Matt Herges entered as the frame's third hurler.

When the fifth was complete, mercifully brought to an end by Kevin Youkilis's routine fly to right, all that remained for the Fenway Faithful was to sit patiently and see the night through to its inevitable conclusion.

Lugo, long before he accepted the first of Speier's free passes, began the inning with a single up the middle off lefthanded reliever Franklin Morales. Jeff Francis started for the Rockies, but the pride of Vancouver, British Columbia, exited after four innings, hammered for a half-dozen runs on 10 hits.

Morales appeared to be in half-decent shape after the single, getting Ellsbury to force Lugo at second and then retiring Pedroia on a pop to shortstop.

But soon after he was charged with a balk - caught cheating his motion toward home before firing to first in an attempt to pick off Ellsbury - the roof came crashing down on Morales.

"It doesn't get called too often," said the fleet Ellsbury, reflecting on the balk. "I thought he did [commit the balk], but . . . I wasn't going to argue it. When it was called, I was obviously pleased."

Youkilis capitalized with a sharp double to left that plated Ellsbury (7-1). Next, David Ortiz hammered a double to center, bringing the hard-charging Youkilis all the way around from first (8-1). Manny Ramírez followed with a sharp single to left, driving in Ortiz (9-1) for his second RBI of the night.

Had a late arrival just wandered through Fenway's gates, it might have looked as if the Sox were taking an extended batting practice session. Morales kept bringing it, and the Sox kept slapping him around.

Mike Lowell, No. 5 in the order, followed and drilled a double to left, putting runners at second and third.

Varitek then drew a walk, juicing the bases for the revived Drew, who promptly delivered a single to center that allowed Ramírez to trot in from third (10-1).

Drew's hit was the end of the night for Morales. The big lefty went from early promise (two outs, man on first) to a final line that read right out of a hardball horror flick: 2/3 IP, 6 H, 7 ER, 1 BB, and 1 balk.

Enter Speier. More horror.

Lugo, who led off the inning, drew the first bases-loaded walk, bringing in Lowell (11-1). Next came Ellsbury for walk No. 2, forcing home Varitek (12-1). And then came Pedroia. The pint-sized second baseman accepted walk No. 3 and the lead was up to a dozen.

It all looked almost too easy.

"No, definitely not," said Pedroia. "This game today, a lot of our guys got good at-bats . . . with a lot of hits and a lot of walks. And with that combination, you're going to score some runs."

Short But Sweet Wednesday

Matthew's cold is in high gear and I thought he would be going to school today. Instead we stayed home and brought out the nebulizer. Every year around this time it's needed and then knock on wood, we will be good for the rest of the year...

Good News today though is last night I finally got my pics uploaded to the computer. There were pictures as far back as August. I haven't been that bad since we lived in the apartment when our addition was being done and sometimes didn't have adequate computer access.

If you scroll down my blog to the first few days of October, you'll see my first picture of my punkin' in the punkin patch in 2003.

Here is the one from a few weeks ago, same pathetic punkin patch.

BUT WHAT A CUTE PUNKIN!!

What Is This World Coming To?

Alright, I know I have been warned from staying away from watching the news in the past, but I'm sorry, when disaster happens, I feel it for every person that is suffering. I always think of those moms, those families, those babies, those dads...just like us -they are all human with the same dreams.

Yesterday I was horrified as I watched CNN update on the wildfires in San Diego. I quickly went to my friend Debbie at A Charmed Life who lives in that area and Thank You God she is right now in Florida, struggling with other horrible life challenges while juggling a little girl and her father with Alzheimer's returning from Sicily. I am always checking out her blog and updating myself on how things are going in her life but am always in a rush to comment or Matthew will be screaming in the background for something and so I'll say - later ...I'll get back to her. I do that alot and then I don't get back but not because I don't want to let them know I'm listening..because I'm always so distracted.

Debbie here is a big hug..put those Italian arms around yourself and squeeze. I hope you survive everything you are facing with the strength that I know you have.

I am praying for all of those families in CA, along with the families across the country that face devastation every day either man made or Mother Nature related.

Just to keep you all posted. I'm a nervous mom and Matthew after visiting his pediatrician yesterday is ok..just a coincidence of a cold and fever at the same time MRSA was hitting his school. The bite is still unknown but at this time nothing to be concerned about.

Ugh.....MRSA bug and other Ugh! issues

That's all I can come up with for my title today.

Guess I'll have times like this when my mind is a blank to describe what I want to say.

Ugh! Says it all this morning.

It all started the other day when we witnessed that accident on the way home from school. The following day we learned that the 90 year old woman driving the car that smashed into the tree had passed away. The driver of the accident survived but was injured.

Passing through the area the following day, there was no sign, no marks left on that huge tree or even tire marks in the grass, that a life had passed away there. She later died at the hospital, but the fact that it seemed so calm, so serene again being the quaint little New England common that it is, was deceiving now to me.

She is now with my mom and the angels.

On Thursday afternoon, we had a call from the Superintendent of our school's mentioning that the horrific MRSA bug killing children throughout the country, had been found in our school and that they would clean the school that night and to await a letter they would put in the mail to parents.

Freaking out and frantic, I wasn't going to wait for that letter to come in the mail and eventually found it the next morning on the school's website.

The letter mentioned that it is important to realize that it is not an airborne virus. It is also important to know that in most cases, direct skin to skin contact or direct contact to skin drainage the wound of someone who is infected with the bacteria.

Not much help to me at the time, since I had no idea if this was someone in Matthew's classroom. Within 24 hours I found out that it was a little girl in second grade and after frantically reading up on this bug, I found that the playground equipment or the halls in the school, might be the only contact Matthew might make. Although who knows. She could have a sibling and he could be a playmate of Matthew's in school. I still don't know. I know she is now in a hospital in Boston and we are all praying for her and her family.

A four year old little girl in Concord NH, passed away due to this bug just last week and now with Matthew's school, there is four schools in MA where it has shown up in the last few weeks.

I've always been a nervous mom, this isn't helping me.

The symptoms they mention to look for are:

• If your child develops a sore or infection that seems to get worse rather than heal, contact your physician.
• They usually appear as pimples, boils or abscesses' and may be taken for spider bites. (again living on a lake, this isn't helping in the nervous dept for me)

The best and only defense for us as moms is to strongly encourage personal hygiene. Even more than we already do. Matthew I know has a habit of turning on the cold water and soap and out in 5 seconds, so I'm really getting on him now. I mentioned that a little girl got sick and that it is so important and hopefully when he gets back to school tomorrow the teachers will also be watching every move they make. My biggest problem with Matthew is - he is all boy. Hands are always going, from the nose, to other areas we won't discuss on my blog. He is always being a boy and when I tell him not to, he smiles and does it again because he is loving gross things right now at his age. And not to mention he developed a small fever on Friday and yesterday a pimple/spider bite thingy on his arm.......if it is not gone by tomorrow afternoon, I'm calling the pediatrician just to have her erase hopefully my fears of what could be a normal bite.

Ugh!

To distract me a little, I was re posting some items for sale on Craigslist. I really am trying to make a little Disney Fund Cash right now and we have some larger items that we are ready to get rid of.

One of them has been my beautiful hutch that Eric got me a few years ago when we moved back into our house, after the addition was done. Unfortunately, because the width of our dining area isn't as large with the hutch there and the table, we have it in the living room. It just doesn't work there and with all our other paraphernalia and Matthew's toys it is looking really cramped.

I had a girl call me on Friday and she was so excited. Because I posted not only a picture of the hutch, but also dimensions I thought I was good in providing everything necessary to make the sale.

I asked her if she was interested in it when she came would she be prepared to take it with her that same day. She said she would and she would bring cash and her boyfriend and his big F250 truck. I said then I would empty all of my stuff out of it then.

Last night I watched the Red Sox game, having an awesome time watching that 3rd inning and feeling that my staying awake had alot to do with it. I lasted until the 8th inning and decided because she was coming this morning, I would clean early in the morning.

She called this morning at 8 am all bright eyed and bushy tailed, my mother (I know) had to nudge me out of my sleep to faintly hear the phone downstairs in the distance. I got up and she was excited and would have a 45 minute drive and so we all got up and cleaned the house. Well Eric and I did, while Matthew lied on the couch. Eric did an awesome job cleaning the counters, the back deck while I cleaned the hutch and vacuumed, moved our trucks to the top of the street for this big F250 that would come down our drive.

I should have known by the way they parked up on the street, that something was amiss.

They came in smiling but so quiet. I didn't think it was the same bubbly anxious girl that I talked to on the phone. I felt awkward at there quietness. Eric did too and eventually went out to take pictures of the lake foliage to give them some room.

Then they smiled and she said Ok..we have a few more today to look at. I'm not sure it is going to fit in the space we need...Thanks though.

UGH!!!!

When they left, Matthew said "Mommy, Did They Give You The Money??" (He knows this is his Disney Fund).

Talk about UGH and disappointment. I just can't believe my luck sometimes.

Well, hopefully this week at school will be a safe one.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DO THIS FOR MY FRIENDS & FAMILY THAT HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY BREAST CANCER

One of my dearest and most sweetest, childhood, bestest most loved friends in the world asked me to send this in an email...email's don't do justice like a blog does:-)

PLEASE DO THIS!

A favor to ask, it only takes a minute....

Please tell ten friends to tell ten today!

The BreastCancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their sitedaily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to anunderprivileged woman.

It takes less than a minute to go to their site and clickon ' donating a mammogram' for free (pink window in the middle).

This doesn't cost you a thing.

Their corporatesponsors /advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate mammogram in exchangefor advertising.

Here's the web site!

Pass it along to people you know.

http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/

I FIGURED I ONLY HAVE LESS THAN 10 FRIENDS, SO THIS WOULD BE MY WAY OF CONTRIBUTING TO THIS CAUSE, MORE PEOPLE VIEW MY SITE.

ICE campaign - In Case of Emergency - IRONY OF TODAY

Well, the irony of this is I am shaking right now as I type this. I just got back from picking Matthew up from school, and I got this email from my brother on the ICE campaign.

The other day while I was foolishly blogging about Tom Brady, I wound up being two minutes late for Matthew's school. I am a horrible mom and have felt the guilt of it since the moment I realized I have to get off the computer and go pick him up. I rushed through town (only a 3 minute drive) and almost got into an accident with a lady in my blind spot.

I made it there in time to have all of the other moms gone and Matthew waiting patiently looking through the glass doors at me as I drove up to the school. His teacher wasn't concerned as I apologized but I was astonished because usually there are still moms lurking around for 10 minutes and this morning, there wasn't. I have never felt so guilty in my life.

This morning, miracles happen for some strange reason and it is something the way things go. All it takes is one second, one minute and it can all come to an end.

I was talking to my best friend K in PA who I hadn't talked to in 3 months. I was determined not to be late so I casually and slowly got to his school 10 minutes early (like every other time) and talked to her on my cell phone in the car. I told her I love her and that I'm always thinking of her and wish I could be there to give her a hug.

I got out of the car at 10:58 when other moms started to show up and hung out right in front for Matthew to see me. A teacher peeked her head out of the door mentioning that school picture day is taking a little longer and that it would probably be another 10 minutes for them to come out. I joked with a few moms about being late the other day and now I'm early and he will be late. We joked about going to the dentist office and being late and being early and then waiting a long time.

Matthew ran out of the door ten minutes later and we headed slowly towards the car. He wanted to go play in the playground and I was trying to convince him first of going home to change his school picture day clothes first. He had on a nice pair of tan pants that I didn't want getting ruined. I told him we'll have lunch, get into play clothes and then head back out to a playground. He was sad because he saw his little friend there and wanted to stay and play.

I bumped into his other little friend L and his mom who was scurrying around like a mad hatter trying to get to her car, she had an important date and said she was having one of those mornings as she passed by smiling.

As I pulled out of the parking lot, taking a left onto the street and began to drive, out of nowhere a police cruiser stormed past me lights blaring and immediately speeding to somewhere.

As I got to the end of the road, where I would normally go through our quaint little common, it had 3 police cars and lights glaring so I took a quick right to avoid what looked like an accident that had just happened. It didn't look like much at first so I turned around a few blocks down to head back in that direction because that was the way I needed to go.

I got closer and witnessed a minivan with RI plates that had been hit horribly in the drivers side front end. The woman driving seemed to be already out of her car and on her cell phone. Matthew was watching so I was trying to keep my emotions down as I was witnessing this. I then saw another car. A four door later model blue car. It was completely smashed head on into a 300 year old oak tree. Policemen were inside the car trying to help but that was all I saw.

My husband told me once that once a tree is hit, that's it. It doesn't move or sway the way another car or another object might. The damage I saw and that I hope Matthew didn't comprehend, was devastating. There was debris everywhere and I drove slowly through glass and headed home.

I'm sick to my stomach, thanking God that I do Thank Him every night for my son, Thanking him that I told K how much I loved her, thanking Him for not having me be in that spot at that time this morning, thanking Him for Eric's calm and understanding voice on the phone.

Hug the ones you love, tell the ones you love that you're sorry or whatever you need, because in just one breath that's it.

When I witnessed my mom passing I had 25 years to prepare and knew it was coming. It was the most horrible thing anyone could ever witness.

To see someone possibly pass away right before my eyes as I drove by, it's so unfair and so devastating to me. Did that person tell their family they loved them? Were they going to school also to pick up their preschool or school age child or did they pick them up and were they in the car? Did they have anyone in their life that will notice that they are gone?

I am praying for the people this morning affected in this accident and their families and other tragedies that happen every day that because we don't see them, we forget that they happen.

Here is the ironic email I got from my brother when I got home:

ICE campaign - 'In Case of Emergency'

We all carry our mobile phones with names & numbers stored in its memory but nobody, other than ourselves, knows which of these numbers belong to our closest family or friends.

If we were to be involved in an accident or were taken ill, the people attending us would have our mobile phone but wouldn't know who to call.

Yes, there are hundreds of numbers stored but which one is the contact person in case of an emergency? Hence this ' ICE' (In Case of Emergency) Campaign

The concept of 'ICE' is catching on quickly.

It is a method of contact during emergency situations.

As cell phones are carried by the majority of the population, all you need to do is store the number of a contact person or persons who should be contacted during emergency under the name 'ICE' ( In Case Of Emergency).

The idea was thought up by a paramedic who found that when he went to the scenes of accidents, there were always mobile phones with patients, but they didn't know which number to call.

He therefore thought that it would be a good idea if there was a nationally recognized name for this purpose.

In an emergency situation, Emergency Service personnel and hospital Staff would be able to quickly contact the right person by simply dialing the number you have stored as 'ICE'.

Please forward this. It won't take too many 'forwards' before everybody will know about this. It really could save your life, or put a loved one's mind at rest.

What you see AND What you don't see

This is as good as it gets these days for a picture of Mommy & Matthew. Taken by the moms Meetup group that I am part of.

We went to an unbelievable (thank God we had a group discount or I would have been disappointed) farm with our wonderful new friend N and her son R and other moms that are also apart of this same group.

Tougas Farm was actually beautiful with some animals and a really cool playground with an upper boardwalk type ramp for the goats to climb over (really cool), a tractor ride into a pumpkin patch, some apple cider and apple donuts.

My favorite part of the whole moment was entering this town, I was in PA. The beautiful leaves on the trees with the beautiful hills (not mountains) surrounding little valleys and it was a sunny day, to boot!

As you can see by my attire, I am sporting Eric's Patriots hat these days. I need more hats but right now, I don't have that luxury. I only have maybe one more month and my hair should be all one length again and I can stop wearing my hats all together.

I can't win, today I overdressed us. Home was nippy and the weatherman called for 58 degrees in Northboro, MA so I thought I was all set, sporting a nice turtleneck and fleece jacket and Matthew in his sweater and turtleneck with a jean jacket on. He later threw that at me.

After leaving the farm, we headed toward home and decided to have a "Friendly" lunch with coupon and to buy some much needed long sleeve shirts and sweaters for Matthew. Tomorrow is school picture day so we are now all set.

He went on some Spiderman and Batman rides also today so he is now satisfied and watching Frosty the Snowman as he anticipates Christmas.

He was awesome in traffic on the way to the farm today. He didn't care. He was mentioning what a beautiful day it was, what a beautiful truck that was, what a beautiful car that was. I mentioned that was nice and that he was my beautiful little boy. He said Thanks Mom. Your my beautiful Big Girl.

The other day he told me I was beautiful and I almost broke down and cried because I was the farthest thing from it.

After we left Friendly's and clothes shopping, he mentioned how beautiful today was, how it was such a great day to go to the farm, on the tractor, pick a pumpkin, have lunch at Friendly's with Monster Mash ice cream, go on Spiderman, go on Batman, go on Dump Truck rides and then buy some shirts....what a beautiful day...sigh...

He is so funny.

We are comparing his little life to ours growing up. We mention how, No,Our Moms didn't have us in playgroups, playdates, this park and that zoo.

But we also agree that the difference is, the moms now all work or most of them do. There are no family's hanging out on the block playing kickball. At least not in my neighborhood. And most moms agree with me that when you have large family in the area, that forms your child's family network, it is totally different and you are not spending every waking moment trying to fill that void.

Many children today (Unfortunately) don't have "that" family network, that social network and if they are an only child (chosen or not to be) they need rewarding and fulfilling moments to help add opportunities for them to be the most special person that they can be. By just sitting by and not creating positive moments in their lives, it's like you just want to leave it up to the world to create who your child is going to be.

I'm having too much fun, tears, rewards, crying, laughing, loving, proud mom moments now to give it up.

This has been my reward for being that stay at home mom.

I can't not post this today (after explaining to Matthew that Mommy loves Daddy but has a crush on Tom Brady-like him a cinderella in the movie)

From SI:

Overdue accolade for Brady

Patriots QB well on his way to winning first NFL MVP

Posted: Sunday October 14, 2007 10:15PM; Updated: Sunday October 14, 2007 10:35PM

Tom Brady threw a career-high five touchdowns to lead the Patriots to a 48-27 win over the Cowboys.
Ronald Martinez /Getty Images

IRVING, Texas -- He'd never admit it in a thousand NFL Sundays, but for more than a few years now Tom Brady has chafed at the only slight he feels he's endured throughout his illustrious eight-year career.

The popular perception is that Brady has won it all, and done it all. And that's close to the truth. But never has the New England Patriots all-world quarterback won the NFL's Most Valuable Player award.

To be sure, Brady has earned a little satisfaction by beating a slew of league MVPs after they bagged the award. Just ask San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson, Indy's Peyton Manning, St. Louis's Kurt Warner and Tennessee's Steve McNair. But with the emphasis in New England always, always, always on winning within the framework of the team concept, Brady hasn't amassed the kind of gaudy statistics that earn check marks on MVP voters' ballot.

Before now, that is. Before this season of domination being turned in by both Brady and an offense that looks as close to unstoppable as we've ever seen it.

No more calls, please. We have a winner. Your 2007 NFL MVP winner is wearing No. 12 for New England, and wearing out the rest of the league on a week-by-week basis. The latest round of results are in, and they echo what started becoming apparent from day one of this season. Brady is a man on a mission, and he's taking his Patriots along for the very memorable ride.

"It's truly amazing what he's doing, but the numbers don't lie,'' Patriots veteran safety Rodney Harrison said of Brady's day in New England's 48-27 showdown win against Dallas, the much-hyped duel of unbeatens in Texas Stadium. "I've had a chance to play with Ryan Leaf, and I've had the chance to play with Tom Brady, and every time I see him I want to give him a hug.''
What Harrison is really trying to wrap his arms around are the almost absurd numbers that Brady is rolling up this season. On Sunday against the NFC's last remaining undefeated team, he strafed the Cowboys for a career-best five touchdown passes -- a sixth was called back by penalty -- completing 31 of 46 passes for 388 yards, with no interceptions and a 129.6 passer rating.


With the receiving corps of his dreams on full display -- a feast after last season's Reche Caldwell and Doug Gabriel populated famine -- Brady found four teammates for touchdowns against the Cowboys. Slot receiver Wes Welker caught a career-high two touchdowns and notched his first 100-yard receiving game as a pro. Brady also connected on scoring throws once each with Randy Moss, DonteStallworth and Kyle Brady.

That onslaught gives Brady a staggering 21 touchdown passes in just six games this season (3.5 per game). On that pace, he'll finish with 56 scoring passes, obliterating Manning's NFL record of 49, set in 2004. Brady ducked any thought of chasing Manning's mark when asked about it in the post-game, but it would be sweet revenge for a quarterback who has always wondered what it would be like to have Manning's receivers and Manning's good fortune of having the same offense and the same offensive coordinator throughout his entire NFL career.

"I've always said, 'Peyton Manning has his receivers, why can't Tom Brady have his?' '' said Moss, who finished with six catches for 59 yards against the Cowboys, with a 6-yard first-drive scoring catch that got the Patriots started toward victory. "The only thing we're happy about is we're 6-0 and we came to Dallas and made it happen. There was a lot of hype coming into this week.''

That there was, but it's almost impossible at this point to over-hype the performance level of Brady and the Patriots passing game. Has an offseason shopping spree -- Moss, Welker and Stallworth were all new acquisitions -- ever had these kind of early returns? Brady is playing machine-like, making every throw a quarterback can be expected to make, and his confidence level appears at an all-time high. Even his teammates have run out of superlatives to describe the zone he seems locked into.

"Obviously it's going pretty well so far,'' Patriots offensive left tackle Matt Light said. "He's doing the things he's always done, but you just don't see many guys doing what he does on game days.''
Brady actually did his best work after he and the Patriots were forced to deal with some rare adversity this season. After surging to leads of 14-0 at the end of the first quarter and 21-10 late in the first half, New England actually trailed the comeback-minded Cowboys 24-20 almost five minutes into the third quarter. But there was no flinching by Brady and the Pats, who went on to score 27 of the game's final 30 points, burying Dallas's upset dreams.

New England's final five drives went touchdown, field goal, touchdown, field goal, touchdown. The exclamation point was the 1-yard touchdown plunge by rookie fullback Kyle Eckel with 19 seconds remaining, a score met with an unusual amount of emotion by the generally business-like Brady. No doubt it was a message sent that the Patriots would show no mercy this season, especially when facing a team that some deemed ready to play on a level field with the three-time Super Bowl champions.

"This team, we're not going to panic when we get behind,'' Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi said. "It's Game 6 of the season. It was a good opponent, but we've won some big games around here. We know how to play in big games.''

The Cowboys sacked Brady three times, as many sacks as he had absorbed all season coming into Sunday. But even though the Patriots had no rushing game to speak of -- they gained 75 yards on 29 carries, a 2.6 average -- Brady and the passing game still did anything it wanted to.
"We work hard,'' Moss said. "Tom Brady does not let us lollygag in practice every day. I'm not saying we're unstoppable, but.....''

But nothing. Brady's five touchdown passes was his sixth consecutive game with three or more to start this season, breaking SteveYoung's 1998 record. New England also has scored at least 34 points in all six games this season, and with 230 points thus far, it's averaging a mind-boggling 38.3 per game. If the Patriots keep that pace up, they'll finish with 613 points, which would beat the 1998 Minnesota Vikings' NFL one-season scoring record of 556 points by 57.

For Brady, the history that he's helping write doesn't stop there. Sunday marked his 100th career regular season start, and he's now 76-24 in those games. That tied RogerStaubach's NFL record for the best 100-game start to a career, and Brady did it on the same field that Roger the Dodger made his name.

"It's really early in the season,'' said Brady, deflecting all talk of records and making history. "The reality is that it's a win on the road and we're 6-0. Any time we're wining, I'm doing just fine.''

Brady's doing more than fine. He's the NFL's MVP so far this season, and showing absolutely no signs of letting any one catch up to him or his high-flying Patriots. He's always had the victories. But this year, he has the receivers, and the kind of overwhelming statistics that win MVP awards.

I'd say let's just give it to him right now, but of course Brady won't go for that. He's having entirely too much fun earning it his way.


(Now if Mommy could just sit down with Daddy and actually watch the game)

Anyone have any tips on keeping warm for the mama over here on the lake?

Alright I know I am a daily wimp but there has to be an answer out there somewhere, without keeping the heat on 24/7.

I'm not complaining. I'm not complaining. I'm not complaining. I love my house that my husband built. I'm not complaining. I'm not complaining. It's kind of like I think I can, I think I can...maybe if I say it often enough somehow I'll just make myself warm. I'm in Hawaii, I'm in Hawaii, I'm in Hawaii.

This is a picture of our little house, a million years ago before we did the addition:

As you can see the lake is 100 feet behind the house, and with old windows it was unbearable in the winter. We have a nice wood stove in the basement but unless we keep it always on it is still crazy down there. That is one of our next projects. Right up there with the garage. We would like to have like a family/game/hobby room down there with a nice big screen projector for movies for Mommy and Daddy to watch after Matthew goes to sleep, but not yet.

Now here are the pictures before the final painting was done. It is now all yellow and so beautiful, but for some reason with the lake being close and the amount of windows we put in, I am always cold. The temperature here is always 10 degrees colder than up the street and sometimes more shadier, so it is deceiving until you get off of our road and then it's like your in another world.

So like I said, due to how beautiful my house turned out, who am I to complain? I'm not complaining about the house. I'm complaining about my skinny body that has the incapacity to be warm. Eric will tell me to just put layers on or get under the covers. But then I don't get out of the covers and if I put anymore layers on, I'm going to start looking like an onion.

And it's only October 15Th:-) If you don't hear from me in a few months, send the people to peel the onion.

To get off of the subject, this morning Matthew was again so wonderful getting ready for school. He actually is reminding me now of stuff that I need to do for him, which is awesome. This morning, he was pointing to my kitchen window saying he needed the spiderman things!! I'm looking with a blank face at the window clueless as to what he was talking about because Spiderman isn't there and there is no Halloween spider webs. Finally he started pointing like a madman, claiming Mommy!!! My Spiderman things!!! I need them!!! And then the fog cleared and I saw that he had been pointing to his vitamins!! Yeah!!!! He asked me for his vitamins!!

Little things make me happy.

On the way to school he announced something funny. The other night when he wasn't around I mentioned to Eric that I wanted to go to PA for at least my mother's birthday to go to her grave. I haven't been there since August and I thought even if I just disappear and go myself for two days, it's OK. Matthew mentioned to me as were driving to school "Mommy, Maybe we can go see Grandpa and R in Pennsylvania sometime?" I told him how sweet that was but to remember that R lives in NJ and she would have to be visiting Grandpa and we would have to talk to her and plan it. I then mentioned that Mommy was thinking of going soon and that I was going to go by myself, but if he wanted to join me because he missed Pennsylvania that he could come too. He then said "I do miss Pennsylvania Mommy, I go with you."

So I guess that is planned.

Well my fingers have gotten a little warmer by typing, but now I have to go get him from school.