The difference between girls and boys...

Our bedtime ritual consists of everyone piling into Mackenzie's bed, reading a book, saying prayers, reading another book, singing a couple of songs, and then goodnight kisses. This was the input from our children tonight. Wow! What a big difference between boys and girls.

~~~~~~~

As I’m turning out Mackenzie’s bedroom light:
Me: Goodnight Mackenzie. I love you more than pickles.
Mackenzie: I love you more than yogurt.


~~~~~~~~
Jackson (after just having his diaper changed): “I need to go potty!”
Brian: No, you just went!
Jackson: Then I toot!
Brian: Let’s hear it!
***silence***
Jackson: You heard that?!?!?

I haven't lost my touch...

I got into couponing a couple of years ago when we moved to Tampa. The closing on our home we were selling fell through, and we were stuck with a mortgage payment, an even higher rent payment, and I was nine months pregnant with our second child.

My favorite site for coupon info is www.southernsavers.com. If you don't use it, you should!!! In Florida, land of the Publix, I would usually spend $80 and save around $150 each week. It was fun... especially when I had those great weeks of spending $80 and saving $268. When we moved to NYC, I thought my couponing had to end. :( Luckily, I was wrong.

I haven't mastered the grocery stores here yet.  I'm not doing too bad for a newbie, but I'll get the hang of their sales soon enough. Today I managed to hit Walgreens with all the necessary coups for a successful takeover. I walked home with:

1 50oz Tide
1 50oz Gain
2 Cucumber melon hand soaps
2 Gillette deodorants
2 Secret deodorants
1 Old Spice body spray
1 Olay Regenerist Facial Cleanser
1 Olay Ribbons body wash
1 Olay Total Effects body wash
1 16oz box Domino Brown sugar
2 20-count pkgs Vick's Day-Quil gel tabs
2 bags Ricola cough drops
1 34.5oz Maxwell House coffee

Total spent: $46
Total saved: $65

I'm baaaaaaaa-aaaaaaaack! :)

Fauxfredo sauce

In an effort to get the kiddos to eat more veggies, I started hiding them in things. Now that they've had a taste of veggies *hidden* in things they actually enjoy, I just put the good stuff on the plate for them to see. They like white and green trees (broccoli & cauliflower), princess wands/swords (asparagus), eggplant, corn, and carrots. Of course, they like french fries and ketchup too, which are two of my own personal favorite veggies.

Anywho, in an effort to add more veggies to their diet and remove calories from mine, I came up with Fauxfredo sauce. It's like Alfredo sauce, but SO much healthier! The first time I made it (I didn't tell anyone what was in it), Brian was wowed and told me that it was just like the Alfredo dipping sauce at the Olive Garden. It is pretty darn tasty, either served over whole-wheat pasta, spaghetti squash, or just used as a dipping sauce. I'm not big on actual recipes or measurements. I'm more of a "pinch of this, dash of that" kind of cook, but here goes.

Fauxfredo Sauce
Prep: 5 mins
Cook time: 10 mins (depending on your microwave)

Ingredients

• 1 head cauliflower, chopped
• 1 cup milk, or maybe a little more depending on the thickness you want
• sea salt (it tastes SO much better)
• Italian seasoning (I use that McCormick grinder Italian seasoning... on everything)
• 1/3 cup of parmesan (you don't need to get all fancy, the stuff in the green can is fine)
• Garlic or garlic powder. The powder (or a granulated garlic) works a little better for this quick recipe.

1. Put the chopped cauliflower and milk into a glass bowl and microwave for 7-10 minutes, depending on the wattage of your microwave. You're basically just cooking the milk and using it to steam the cauliflower. You could steam it over water, but that's a few extra steps and a few extra dishes. It's done when the cauliflower is soft.
2. Put the milk/cauliflower in the blender along with the Italian seasoning and the parmesan cheese. I always just use the highest setting and assume the others are just for decoration. It should only take a few seconds in the blender to turn it into a hot liquid.
3. Add more milk if you want it thinner and blend a little more.
4. Add sea salt/garlic/more cheese to taste.
5. Toss with pasta.

This makes enough to toss with a box of pasta and have PLENTY left over for breadstick dipping or another meal.

Nutritional Info (calculated by www.thedailyplate.com)

Just for the sake of comparison, Ragu Alfredo sauce (which isn't nearly as yummy) has a whopping 110 calories per 1/4 cup. Too much of that and I won't look so hot in my skinny jeans, you know, when I get some skinny jeans. If you eat 1/4 cup of this over 2 cups of spaghetti squash it's only 100 calories for the whole thing and you are FULL! Enjoy!

WTH is up with the weather?

It's the last week in October. By now, I thought I'd be freezing my @$$ off until the 4th of July. We've had a few cold days, but today and tomorrow, it's supposed to 75 degrees. Huh? What? Um... excuse me... Mother Nature??? Yeah, I've already given away all my kids' shorts and packed up mine. I'm loving the warmth, don't get me wrong, but I no longer have the wardrobe for this weather. Plus, I was rockin' my hot MILF boots last week and enjoying the hell out of it. I'm ready for soups, stews, hot chocolate, and hayrides...

PS- I know I'm gonna freeze soon and pray that my fingers don't turn into icicles and break off my body, but those boots, yeah, they're really cute and I wanna wear 'em.

We'll never run out of things to do!

I subscribe to a website for local (NYC) moms, www.mommypoppins.com, and they always have a listing of that day's happenings in the area and fun things to do with your kids. A few months ago, they published the list of "100 things to do with your kids in NYC before they grow up." It's an impressive, but certainly do-able list, and we can already cross off numbers 1 & 41. My sister and I did #26 (HOLY COW!!!! But, that's a story for another blog), of course I'll have to do it again when the kids are tall enough. Number 98 is planned for a few weeks from now, and number 96 is only 10 blocks away, so we'll be doing that one soon as well. I'm sure the longer we live here, the more I'll add to the list. I'm lovin' it!

1. Visit the NY Hall of Science
2. Go on an audition just for the heck of it
3. Wave to the cameras on The Today Show
4. Have tea at the Plaza
5. Ride the Shark Boat
6. Climb the Statue of Liberty
7. Ride the row boats in Central Park
8. Go to Dylan's Candy Bar
9. Go to Economy Candy
10. Get locked up at the Police Museum
11. Go kayaking on the hudson
12. Take the ferry to Sandy Hook beach
13. Ride a horse-drawn carriage in Central Park
14. Have dim sum in Brooklyn's Chinatown
15. Go hiking in the Staten Island Greenbelt
16. See the new Liberty Science Center
17. Go fishing in the East River
18. Go on a fishing boat from Sheepshead Bay
19. See the money train at the Transit Museum
20. Go to the Brooklyn Children's Museum
21. Get a taste of country life at the Queens Farm Museum
22. Ride on a tug boat
23. Sail on the historic schooner Pioneer
24. Sail in the hudson
25. Take a helicopter ride
26. ride the Cyclone before it's gone
27. Grab the ring at the Coney Island carousel
28. Spend my wad at Dave and Buster's Arcade
29. march in the Mermaid Parade
30. Go to a Brooklyn Cyclone's game
31. Fulfill a child's wish through operation santa claus
32. See the ballet
33. Watch a dress rehearsal of an opera at the Met
34. Sleep over at the Bronx Zoo
35. See the unicorns at the Cloisters
36. Go horseback riding
37. Go sledding in Central Park
38. Cross-country ski down a city street
39. Bike across the Brooklyn Bridge and get ice cream at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory
40. Take the Roosevelt Island Tram
41. See the piano dancers at FAO
42. Visit the Sony Wonder Technology Lab
43. Children's Museum of Manhattan
44. Children's Museum of the Arts
45. Sketch at Metropolitan Museum of Art
46. Stargaze at the Hayden Planetarium
47. See the rest of the AMNH after the dinosaurs and mammals
48. Visit the top of the Empire State Building
49. Take an art class at the MoMA
50. Chinese Scholar's Garden in Staten Island
51. Cherry Blossom Festival at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
52. Holiday Train Show at NY Botanical Garden
53. Check out the Queens Zoo
54. See the wandering wallabies at the Prospect Park Zoo
55. Watch a movie under the stars
56. Madame Tussauds
57. Try all the flavors at the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory
58. Look up relatives in Ellis Island
59. Visit new waterside playground in Chelsea
60. Get colonial at the Fraunces Tavern Museum
61. Do a medieval workshop at Cathedral of St John the Divine
62. The Lower East Side Tenement Museum
63. See the rollerbladers perform in Central Park (just West of the Sheep's Meadow)
64. Fly a kite on the Sheep Meadow
65. See Shakespeare in the Park
66. Going biking on Governor's Island
67. Find the secret Downing Street Playground in the Village
68. Explore Battery Park City Parks from the South Cove to Penny Park
69. Ride the Staten Island Ferry
70. Have knishes and egg creams at Yonah Schimmel's
71. See the giant buddha in the Mahayana temple
72. The Skyscraper Museum
73. Play vintage video games at The Museum of Moving Image
74. The Museum of the American Indian
75. Buy comic books at Forbidden Planet
76. Free concert in Madison Square Park and Get lunch at the Shake Shack
77. Buy flowers from the flower district
78. Buy wholesale toys in the wholesale district (27th and 6th)
79. Swing Clubs at the Chelsea Piers Driving Range
80. Climb the rock wall on Broadway
81. Visit the Science Barge
82. Visit the Intrepid
83. Test out the Whispering Gallery at Grand Central
84. Coney Island Arcade
85. Cook our own food in a Korean restaurant
86. Sail boats on the boat pond in Central park
87. Billy Johnson Rustic Playground in Central Park
88. Explore Belvedere Castle
89. Medieval Festival in Fort Tryon Park
90. Ride the carousel in Bryant park
91. See the to scale panorama of the City of New York at the Queens Museum of Art
92. Get Egyptian at the Brooklyn Museum of Art
93. See the new Greeks and Romans at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
94. Go ice skating in Prospect Park
95. Riverbank State Park carousel
96. See the holiday lights in Dyker Heights
97. Take a trapeze lesson
98. See the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade balloons get inflated
99. Watch the circus elephants march into town
100. Swim in the floating barge pool

Success!

We went into the city last night to do some shopping. Brian needed new cufflinks and had gift cards the holy-crap-did-you-really-just-pay-that-much-for-a-tie men's store. Our stroller is huge and weighs 50 pounds... without the kids in it. We've almost never left home without it, but since it's such a pain to lug down the steps to the train and maneuver down crowded streets, we thought we'd give it a try. We were less than a block from the house when we slowed to a crawl so that Mackenzie could pick up every stick and leaf and Jackson could put on impromptu (music-less) dance shows for the passersby.

Brian: "Do you want me to go back and get the stroller."
Me: "Mackenzie, if you don't hurry up, you'll have to ride in the stroller."
Mackenzie: Walks a bit faster.
Me: "Nah, I think we'll be okay."
Brian: "Jackson, c'mon! Mackenzie, stop licking that!"
Mackenzie: "Mommy carry me."
Me: "I won't carry you, but you can ride in the stroller. Daddy, please go home and get the stroller."
Mackenzie: "Noooooooo! I walk." Starts running toward the train station.
Jackson: "Daddy carry."
Brian: Gives in.

Made it to the station, down the stairs, through the turnstiles, and onto the platform. The train took awhile to show up (the R&N lines are fondly referred to as "Rarely" & "Never"), so Brian stayed busy by pointing out all of the rats coming out of hiding on the tracks. [Insert full body shiver here.] Luckily, our stop is the 2nd one on the line, so it was easy to get 4 seats together. Jackson quickly decided Brian's lap would be more comfortable, so he climbed on up. The train rocked him to sleep.

Brian carried Jackson the three or four blocks to the store and Jackson was awakened by the revolving door. B got his cufflinks, we made the kids walk a little further for a slice or two for dinner, through a department store to search for shoes, back to the train station, and finally the 4 blocks home.

I'm shocked that they did so well. We're still looking into a smaller, single seat stroller for trips into the city, but it's nice to know that, if push came to shove, I could do a quick trip into the city without the stroller if I absolutely had to.

The password is "pickles."

I'm a foodie. Not one of those extra special ones who gets paid to eat (Adam Richman has my dream job), just a regular gal who believes that one bite probably won't kill you and it may even taste great. I've only found a few things I don't like to eat, and I keep trying them over and over, attempting to will myself into liking them. Fried chicken livers, Lefsa, and Krebkaukers are the top three on my "no thank you" list... for now anyway.

My new favorite food is half-sour pickles. If it weren't for the water retention from the salt, and the stares and whispers from my neighbors, I'd have them delivered by the truckload. I haven't been able to find any within walking distance of our house, so I decided to go all Martha Stewart and make my own. Although, I bet she's never made pickles- she's got peeps for that. So anyway, I googled "half sour pickel recipe" (why thank you google, I did mean "half-sour pickle recipe"), and found one that looked like cheap, easy, yummy, fun.

I washed the cukes and dill, and peeled the garlic, but the kiddos did all of the assembly. It was a lot of fun for all of us. I'll let you know in three days how the pickles tasted, but the giggles, smiles, and family time was definitely some of the best I've ever had.



~~~

Handful of very very very hard cucumbers.  (1/2 a bag full for 5L)

Fresh dill. (2 bunches for 5L)

A bunch of salt. (4 tablespoons for 5L)

Garlic cloves. (4 garlic cloves for 5L)

Water.  (1/2 a pitcher full for 5L)

1.  Wash the pickles. We used the Kirby ones

2.  Bed of Dill. Take a giant handful of dill, stems and all, and line the bottom of your container.

3.  Place cucumbers. Make one layer of cucumbers, as tight as you can.

4.  Garlic. Drop one garlic clove on top of the cucumbers. (Ok, that's what the recipe says, but I heart garlic, so we did like 3-4 cloves on each layer.)

 5.  Layer. Just keep making layers of dill, cucumbers, garlic, dill, cucumbers, garlic... Top it off with any leftover dill you have. I also added about a 1/2 cup of whole peppercorns because they're in the Claussen jars and those are my favorites.

6.  Salt the water. It needs to be really, really salty. We did about 1 1/3 cups of salt to 2 quarts of water. It doesn't need to be exact, just needs to be salty.

7.  Fill pickle container w/salt water. Keep filling the container with salt water until the water level reaches the top of your container.

8.  Wait. They need to be in the jar (unopened) for 3 days.

Thanks to www.classychaos.com for the recipe. :)

It's only 10 blocks away!

So Tuesday started out kind of sucky, partly due to waking up when the first number on the clock was a six and partly because Brian spent a few days organizing all of our paperwork for the DMV so that the hell we had to go through wouldn't be quite as hot as it could be. When we got there, we realized that the DMV/nyc.gov website is either outdated, or just a bunch of phony baloney. (Yes, I know it's bologna, but every time I read "bologna" my mind says "BO-LOG-NA" and that doesn't rhyme with phony.) Instead of getting 2 drivers licenses, 2 new vehicle registrations, and 4 new license plates, we ended up getting one temporary driver's license. Not great, but I was determined to have a great day anyway.

The kids and I pretended we were animals and made funny noises and crawled around the playroom. That got boring after a while, so we headed outside with Mackenzie's big pink step2 car and Jackson's ride-on toy. The plan was to play around right in front of the house. I should know better than to plan things...

"Mommy, I go this way?" Mackenzie asked when we got downstairs. "Sure, sweetie," I replied, "let's just go around the block." Somehow, we missed the turn and ended up going the 2 blocks to the long park that runs the length of the shoreline. There is a playground (one of many in the neighborhood) at the far end of the park, about ten blocks from our house. We took our time walking, picking up sticks and pretty leaves along the way. We even crossed over a pedestrian bridge and threw our sticks into the harbor. When we got to the playground (this was our first time at this particular one), the kids immediately ditched their toys and became monkeys, climbing on everything in sight.

It had become WAY too late in the day to take a nap, so I just let them play... hard. After a couple of hours, Jackson was dozing off in the swing, in my arms, and basically anytime he wasn't on his feet. "Time to go guys!" I needed to start dinner. Roasting a chicken takes an hour or two, so I needed plenty of time. We left the playground, located at 79th street at 4:30.

4:31- Jackson decided he couldn't walk anymore. I picked up my chunky monkey and his ride-on toy.
4:32- Mackenzie refuses to "drive" her car home. "Ok," I say to myself, "I can do this." Luckily, Jackson's car fits inside of Mackenzie's car. I'm doing well. I have Mackenzie walking, Jackson in one arm, and I'm using my other arm to push the cars.
4:42- We made it to 80th street. We stopped for a second to admire a house that Mackenzie thought was a princess castle. "We gotta go, guys. I need to cook supper!"
4:44- "Mommy, carry PLEASE!" whines Mackenzie. Oh crap! What do I do now??? "Ok, Jackson, you sit in Mackenzie's car. Put your feet up, I'll push you."
4:44- (yeah, still) Jackson makes a fun (for him) game of putting his feet on the pavement so that I can't push the car.
4:45- I decided that carrying a 43lb two year old the next 9 blocks wasn't going to work for me!

I'm not going to bore you with the entire play-by-play. There were lots of switcheroos to different cars, and lots of refusing to put feet up so that I could just push them home. Mackenzie had a meltdown because we lost a red leaf and Jackson had a meltdown because I wouldn't let him play with my iPhone. Then, they both had meltdowns because I said 5 minutes of playing at water fountains was enough, and I almost had a meltdown at 5:25 when Mackenzie yelled "I need pee-pee potty!!!"

It took an hour and a half and every ounce of my patience to walk 10 blocks. We arrived home at 6:00pm and our anticipated dinner of baked chicken turned out to be grilled cheese, a story, and "the blanket show" for the kids. I called my favorite neighborhood Italian place (they deliver) and had wine, ravioli, wine, garlic knots, wine, zeppoli, zeppoli, zeppoli, zeppoli, zeppoli (Ummmmm, Brian, could you please eat the last zeppoli so I don't feel like a fat pig??? What do you mean "no"?!?!?!). Since I ate the first 5 zeppoli without help, I figured, what the hell. I gulped down the last one, poured another glass, and made a toast to my childrens' 7pm bedtime!

Some friendly advice...

Everytime I ask another mom at the playground about Bay Ridge, they all tell me the same three things:


1. "Enroll your kids in the "Music Together" classes."

2. "The story time at the library is really good, but one of the libraries in town is closed for renovations."

3. "There's a farmer's market in the Walgreen's parking lot on Saturdays."


Music Together: Basically the same classes we were doing in FL. The difference? In FL it was called "Music with Mar" and it was 82% cheaper.

Story time: Seriously? Seriously? There's a library every 10 blocks and you're complaining that one is closed?!?!? We did the storytime last week. The kids had a great time and we definitely plan on going back.

Farmer's Market: All I could think about the past 2 days was the farmer's market. Today was THE DAY. I couldn't wait to see the organic beef, freshly caught seafood, and bountiful harvest of fruits and veggies I'd heard so much about waiting for me this morning. We got the kids up, had breakfast, got dressed, and headed down the stairs to walk over to the "feastavil."

*** Ok, so I have this problem of getting something stuck in my head, and letting my brain just run wild, until there are not only mountains built from mole hills, but whole mountain ranges. ***

I was really expecting a big deal. If everyone was talking about this farmer's market, it HAD to be cool (and at least mountainous if not a whole range), right? There were five booths. Yes, five. Not 500. Not 50. Just five. There was a booth to sign up for the local food co-op, a booth for seafood (it was hidden in a cooler- the seafood, not the booth), another for beef (no meat, just order forms), and a couple larger ones with fruits and veggies.

We looked at the sunflowers and smelled the fresh eucalyptus (before today, I had only seen eucalyptus at Jo-Anne's & Micheal's). Then, we did what everybody else was doing: we ate copious amounts of free fruit samples. What?!?! You would've done it too! They don't have a Sam's Club here so we're no longer able to take part in the "free lunch if you stuff yourself full of samples" plan. When we realized that they had started monitoring our fruit intake, we decided we better put some things into bags and actually buy something with real money before we got kicked out. Peaches & Nectarines- $2.99/pound. Done. We left with two peaches, three nectarines, and our hands happily patting ourselves on the back for supporting the local Saturday morning market.

FOUR HOURS LATER...

Brian was told earlier this week about a place that's supposed to have the freshest produce and the best deals in Brooklyn. When the kids got up from their naps, we headed over there to scope things out. This place is like the Holy Grail of produce stands. As soon as we walked up, we saw the mountains of peaches... and the $0.49/pound price tag. This morning's pat on the back turned into this afternoon's smack on the forehead. I hate overpaying for things and definitely needed some retail therapy to make myself feel better. So, I filled the buggy. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


6 peaches
3 apples
3 oranges
2 limes
3 pounds of cherries
1 cucumber
2 beefstake tomatoes
2 huge onions (really, really huge)
2 heads of leafy lettuce (it looked cool, but I don't know the name)
1 giant spaghetti squash (diet pasta)
6 cloves of garlic (no vampires here!)
1 gallon of milk (we woke up to chunkiness in the fridge)
2 dozen eggs (I'm a sucker for a good deal)
2 hoagie rolls (for the homemade meatball subs I made tonight)
1 softball-sized portion of fresh mozzeralla cheese (also for the subs)
2 cups of freshly grated parmesan (for the meatballs)
4 pickles (the yummy half-sour ones that you can only get in NY)
1 bunch of celery (everybody needs celery)
1 bunch of bananas (for my monkeys... so much for that "drop the -Y and add -IES rule")
2 cartons of orange juice (from FL, of course)
1 package of mushrooms (the regular ones, but they did have portabella's the size of your head... if you have a small head)
6 "real" artichokes (ummm.... yeah I'll be googling how to prepare these)
2 red bell peppers ('cause they're pretty)
3 bunches of green onions (for swordfights)
1 box of apple cinnamon cereal bars (I've tricked the kids into thinking they're cookies)
1 ginormous bunch of basil (can you smell it in my kitchen?)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TOTAL: $54

This totally made up for getting hosed this morning. If anyone asks me about Bay Ridge, I'll tell them these three things:

1. "Enroll your kids in the "Music Together" classes."
2. "The story time at the library on 73rd is really good."
3. "There's a farmer's market in the Walgreen's parking lot on Saturdays. It's a good place to go for a free breakfast, but don't take too much or they'll give you a dirty look. Oh, and if you actually plan on buying produce, head to 3 Guys over on 65th."

The first week...

We moved from Tampa, FL to Bay Ridge (Brooklyn, NY) a week ago today. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that I have 2 toddlers? Mackenzie is 2 1/2 and Jackson is 18 months. Ok, so maybe the second floor of a two-family home wasn't the best idea, especially when my son's legs are shorter than the rise of the stairs. We're managing, though. We were able to cram most of our 2,800sqft house into our less-than 1,200sqft apartment. The couch was too large to fit through the door, but the rest made it up the stairs. We're almost completely unpacked and even have a small pile of I-don't-really-want-to-toss-it-but-we-have-nowhere-to-stick-it. Most people would call it trash, however, we opted for the more artsy approach. Brian's old surround sound stereo equipment was stacked in the corner, so I threw a tablecloth over it and a statue of the Virgin Mary on top. Nice! The rest of it is probably just waiting for one of us to walk it down with next bag of trash, but we're too busy enjoying the good things here.

Between our house and the house next door (both are two-family homes), there are eight kids under the age of three. We hear babies crying all the time and wonder if it's one of ours, one of theirs, or that whole seashell ("my house always sounds like crying babies, even when everyone is asleep") phenomenon that happens when you have kids. It's not that all the kids are loud, it's that the weather has been AMAZING this week and everyone's windows have been open.

In the first week, we've managed to:

Make it into the city...

• The kids rode the subway and bus for the first time.
• We had a picnic in Central Park.
• We realized that the horse-drawn carraige rides through CP are $50/20 minutes. That left us wondering if they give you the option of paying through the nose to get back to the starting point, or just handing you a map and a rabbit's foot and drop you off wherever you are when the time runs out.
• The kids danced on the big piano at FAO Schwarz (next time, I'm joining them).

Find out about schools/other education...

• The public elementary school that's a 1/2 a block away teaches the kindergartners how to play the violin. We keep hearing, "Don't waste your money on the private schools if you're kids are zoned for PS185." I still need to do some more research, but I like the sound of the ching-ching in my pocket better than than ching-ching falling into someone else's.
• The kids start music classes next month.
• The library gives you a free book through some federal grant for every 3rd story time you attend. We went today. A guy in a bright red shirt, skinny jeans, and black converse sang silly songs. It was good.
• Fine art classes are offered down the street for kids 3 and up.

Take lots of walks

• To the park
• To the other park
• To the other, other park
• To the other, other, other park that has a water feature during the summer. My kids were the ones in regular clothes, sneakers, and socks. "I'm from out of town, I didn't know." <--- That was typed in my new Brooklyn accent.
• To the local botanical gardens to see the butterflies and turtles. We never found the turtles, and I made the mistake of mentioning cupcakes while we were there, so Mackenzie was "over it" faster than she would have been had I kept my mouth shut
• To the cupcake shop. OH. MY. GOD. Homemade oatmeal cream pies with homemade marshmallow goopie. AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!! Can't you just hear the angels singing? Plus, they have Coke, Diet Coke, and Sprite in glass bottles. How cool.
• To the deli.
• To the deli again.
• To the library.
• Down Shore Road just to walk along the water. By the way, those signs are real.
• To the house from the car repair shop.

Get used to living in an old house... sort of.

• I've blown the fuse in the kitchen four times this week. Or, is it five? It wouldn't be that big of a deal except that the landlord lives below us and we have to ask him to go down to his basement and flip the breaker.
• I'm only allowed to run ONE of the following devices at the same time: washer, dryer, dishwasher, microwave, toaster, George Forman grill, electric skillet, coffee pot. If I fail to follow this rule, Mr. Landlord has to go visit Mr. Basement... again. Oh, and Mr. Brian gives me that look... again.
• We have no stove. Ok, not forever, just not right now. It's supposed to be here tomorrow. It was also supposed to be here on Monday, and Saturday before that. I'm not complaining. The landlord let us move in 4 days early and didn't charge us for them. So, the way I look at it, if my stove arrives 4 days after we were supposed to move in, we're even.

So far, life in the not-so-big city is good. The neighborhood seems homey, and the real big city is just a 30-minute train ride away. Plus, pushing the stroller up and down these hills for a few miles each day guarantees that I get to forgo the gym membership... for now. I'm sure that marshmallow goopie and all the Italian restaurants will even things out.