Ruby In Her Own Time...

Saturday, March 03, 2007

A Conversation...

Ruby: Hi Auntie Jen
Ruby's Auntie Jen: Hi Ruby
Ruby: Uh-kle Elvis?
Auntie Jen: That's your boyfriend!
Ruby: Elvis, Elvis!
Momma: Ruby can you say 'my man'?
Ruby: MY MAN!
Momma: Ruby can you say, competition?
Ruby: 'tons a chicken'
Auntie Jen: Close enough!

HAHAHAHAAHAHAAAAAAAAA

Friday, March 02, 2007

Baby Tom-Tom...

...just left my house for the last time
as he & his parents are headed home to Italy tomorrow.

It was only a temporary position, I knew this...
...but I had hoped it was going to be longer than three weeks.

Sadly, it wasn't.

I guess it's back to the old drawing board as they say.

Please keep us in your prayers,
Ruby's still fighting off a nasty cold,
(complete with fevers & faucet snot)
& I am just feeling the strain
from knowing what it means to be looking
for yet another family to nanny for.

Not impossible by any stretch of the imagination,
but certainly 'work' in & of itself...

Can I just say, out loud...

"I'm tired."

Monday, February 26, 2007

Ahh... Ahh...

...CHOOOOO!

Yep, you guessed it, this house is currently dubbed;

"THE SICK HOUSE"
since both Ruby & Myself are sick,
her more so than me, sadly.

We'll be fine, we're hanging in there & little mister Tom Tom is here today too.
He's a little under the weather himself & is happily sleeping with a full belly,
a clean diaper & Ruby's 'DOG' that he (kidnapped) snuggles with when he's here.

I am doing my best to try to keep them both happy while keeping myself sane.

Right now though, since I have two sleeping cherubs,
I do declare that it's time for one tired
MOMMA
to take a snooze while she can.

*yawn*
G'night for now...

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Glitter Girl...

Saturday, February 24, 2007

When One Door Opens...

...someone apparently smashes a window!

It's true, because one week from tonight,
baby Tom Tom & his parents will be on a plane
headed back to Italy,
back to their home.
They asked me to go with them
& sadly I had to decline.
It's not that I wouldn't love a year in Italy,
on the contrary,
I'd LOVE IT!
However, it's just not the right time to be uprooting Ruby
& going anywhere right now.

Sleeping is a nightmare.
She's not spent
ONE NIGHT IN HER CRIB
since we returned home from NC.

I can't leave her side unless I want to hear her immediately start sputtering;
"I SAD MOMMA! I SAD MOMMA! I SCARED! I SCARED!" etc...
On
&
On
&
On...

It gets to be a bit much.
So sadly, we're back to being jobless in less than a week
&
I'm back to worrying about where our groceries are going to come from.
Ahhhh... the joys of being an independent contract nanny...

NOT!

Just pray, that's all... keep us in your prayers & keep Tom Tom & his parents there too, for a safe uneventful flight back to the land of pasta & sauce...

I will miss them all.
*sigh*

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Bear Kisses...

A Girl & Her Tom-Tom...

...in nearly matching hats.

Mangia!

Monday, February 19, 2007

*Tuesdays With Uncle Steve...

...Betty's Chili!!

Ok, in all fairness this is TECHNICALLY my mother's recipe,
HOWEVER,
I chose a RED pepper instead of a green one
&
crimini mushrooms rather than button mushrooms
&
I used 4-5 cloves of fresh garlic minced!

(Always Italian even when cooking Mexican, baby!)

Ok so here's my mom's recipe before I changed things up:

Ingredients:
Olive oil about 2-3 tablespoons
1 large green pepper chopped
1 large vidalia onion chopped
1 pkg button mushrooms sliced
(I rough chop mine, I like BIG HUNKS of MUSHROOMS!)
1 lg can chopped diced tomatoes
1 lg can red kidney beans
1 lb hamburg
salt & pepper to taste
1 level teaspoon of chili powder

Directions:

Place all chopped veggies in large pot & drizzle olive oil all over till coated. Cook & stir until onions become slightly transparent.

(about 5-7 minutes on med high heat)

Then throw in hamburg & cook until fully frizzled.
(yes, she said frizzled, is that even a word? I'll have to look that one up!)

Once hamburg is cooked, add rest of ingredients,

(chili powder & all) & mix well.

Reduce heat,

& let simmer for 1 hour.

Then shut off heat & let cool a little before serving.
Best served with fresh Italian bread & salad.

Enjoy!

*since it's technically not really 'Tuesday' yet as I'm making the chili a day ahead of schedule,
(it's Monday & Ruby didn't nap & is crying, fun fun fun)
there won't be finished images of the dish until serving it tomorrow night.
For now this will have to do, a day early but trust me, this chili is way better the second day!
More tomorrow... I promise!

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Happy Year Of The Pig!!!

Well, actually as my friend Karen mentioned to me this morning,
apparently it's the year of the GOLDEN PIG!
I don't know much more about it other than
it's something that only happens ever six gazillion years,
but those of you who read gwenblog, I'm sure
will find out more as I'm sure she'll blog about her knowledge of said
GOLDEN FAT PIGGIE!!!

In the meantime... a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.

They're blurry...

Their color is 'off'...

Some are too dark...

Most all OF THEM are of her BRUSHING HER TEETH...
(albeit in a fancy dress I bought while in China)

But each one more beautiful than the next...

...well, at least I think so, not so sure about Bear's thoughts on the matter.

*no Bears were harmed during the making of this post

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Absolutely IN LOVE with...

THIS!

Recently saw a little 'sample' of it in a magazine & gave it a try &
OH
MY
GOD
does this shit ROCK MY WORLD!

Seriously, after using that silly little sample amount of it,
I was HOOKED!

So, today while out grocery shopping, I found a 5.5oz tube of it
& that puppy was MINE!

It's so amazingly fantastic,
it is non greasy,
disappears into my skin in an INSTANT,
& leaves me feeling SOFTER THAN I EVER HAVE, EVER, PERIOD!

It says it 'softens rough dry skin', which is good since my feet are in desperate need of some TLC, ya catch my drift? Tonight I sat here at the computer, catching up on bloglines & soaked my sad, rough, dry, leather feet until I felt like they had officially morphed themselves into RAISINS that California would be envious of.

~GROSS~

What I really need is a pedicure, who knows... maybe in a bit when this friggen ice disappears, I'll venture on over to my nails&co & get myself some happy feet.

Until then, THIS STUFF GETS 10 TOES UP in my book!

Oh yeah, one other thing I absolutely adore & use every day & HAVE used every day since GRADE SCHOOL is

THIS STUFF!

Talk about a 'feel clean' sensation.
MY GOD I could NOT live without it!
Plus, who doesn't like actually, literally FEELING the product WORKING?
I love knowing that my face is clean cuz even after I'm done using it, IT'S STILL WORKING & FEELING ALL TINGLIE!
Dig it.

Ok, I'm done raving about two of my fav things, one oldie & one newbie...

...both worth checking out.

What are some of YOUR favorite products that you all just couldn't live without?

Friday, February 16, 2007

My name is Amy...

...& I'm a tea addict.

To check out these & other delicious flavors, visit:

The Republic of Tea

SO GOOD!

Week One...

...nearly done!
It's the first Friday of the first week with baby Tom-Tom
& all's well in my little corner of MA.

He's a very good little boy, loves to eat & poop & sleep.
Ahhhhh babies, gotta luv em.

Ruby's pretty entertained with him as well,
constantly wanting him by her side, shouting proudly;
'Baby Tom-Tom! Baby Tom-Tom!'

It's cute.
It's actually more than cute, it's good for her socially because as she's going to be an only child, it's very important to me that she get as much time with other children as possible & since we don't see her cousin Isabella nearly as much as I'd like, this is a good way for her to learn to properly (& GENTLY) interact with babies!
Also, since two of dearest friends in the world are both having their first babies sometime this March, both boys, it's another good thing that Ruby's learning that all the baby Tom-Tom's of the world have a different cable setup than she does.
Ruby's pretty much got 'basic cable'
&
the boys have the 'holy shit premiere package'

It's a learning process that she's slowly getting... it's good.

=)

Aside from that, not much else to report other than perhaps
alot of thinking about my current personal life, or more to the point, lack thereof...
...& sadly I'm pretty sure I've decided to not sit & pine away any longer for a certain very good friend who you all know I'm in love with.
Unrequited love is not fun, ever.
It's time to move on, even though it's going to be a bit of a challenge.
I just know that sitting & waiting constantly for a 'maybe he might come to his senses' or 'maybe he'll change' or, what's come to be my favorite personal excuse for not moving on,
'he does love me, he just hasn't realized that he's 'in love' with me" etc...

Garbage.

The truth is, yes, I do love him & I never intended for that to happen, it's weird when one crosses a line with a friend & takes it to that next level... it's not the same as meeting someone new, going on a date, feeling that spark & taking things from there.

You mess with a friendship & shit tends to happen, things are weird, never in a bad way but just honestly in a genuine 'weird' way and I really love him so much that I just can't keep worrying about ruining our amazing friendship.
I have a lifetime of memories & moments with him that I cherish & I am going to just be happy with that for now.

Maybe someday things will change, and if I'm still single when they do, all the better.
But I really am not ok with sitting around anymore waiting for that change to happen...

...my life is going on without me and it's time I up &
hauled my fat ass to try & catch up to life as I knew it.

Wish me luck, my ass doesn't do much running these days...

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Because I know you're all just a wee bit curious as to who they are...

Don't ask, don't blog...

Some of you may have noticed that I no longer have 'links' to other blogs as before.
Truth is, I follow SO many & do so via 'blog lines' that,
really, there's no reason to have them all listed here.
Those of you who's blogs I read, know I'm frequenting them.
After all, what's a site meter for, right?

I just needed to get back to what this blog was originally about,
the writing.
The documenting, venting, sharing, lamenting & storytelling
that it was truly meant to be.

I love to write, always have... & somewhere along the way this blog started to become less about the writing & more about the links, pictures & books etc...

So here we are, back to the best laid plans ever...

...writing so that someday,
my daughter can go back into the archives of her mother's words
& see one of a kind moments from a period of her life long since gone.

I always sit & wonder what it would be like to have a similar resource at my fingertips...
...only this time, the words being those of my mother.
Words of how her day went, how easy/tough/fun/challenging it was
to raise myself & my brother all those years ago.
A time machine of sorts.

How much did bread cost, gas per gallon?
What was her daily life like?
Was my dad silly with us kids once arriving home from work every day?
What motivated her to put pen to paper...
...what motivated her to not?

I have thought of asking such questions from time to time,
but I'm sure I'm not alone in saying
that my mother is from the 'don't ask don't tell' generation
where much of anything worth hearing was swept under the carpet never to resurface.

I never understood why it is that I am who I am knowing that I came from where I did.

I talk about EVERYTHING, spare NOTHING,
& enjoy talking just for the simple joys of
1. hearing my own voice
&
2. sharing a story for others to enjoy.

I hope that someday, when Ruby is older,
she too will enjoy & keep regularly a journal of sorts;
whether it be in a 'blogger' form or the old fashioned way,
with paper & pen.

Someday when I'm long gone, & all that's left of me are the words & stories I've left behind,
I hope that her children's children can laugh at how crazy their great Nannie was,
and that they feel like they don't need to ask so many questions-
-because the answers, most of them anyways, are theirs for the reading.

Changes, changes, everywhere...

...& not my blog doth' spare.
Yep, it's time... I've been itchin' for quite some time now to simplify the blog,
bring it back to basics without all the business that I've included in the past.

I'm pretty sure, that less is more & I'm liking it.

Anyone? Anyone?
Bueller?

Thoughts?
*honesty is key here people, tell it like it IS!*

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Does My Sweater Count...?

After reading the post of a very good friend of mine
about how she's feeling as though she's not doing the 'red thread' justice in her house lately...
(ie: anniversaries & such, CNY etc...)
it got me to thinking, really, that the only 'red thread' visible in this house these days
is the one currently unraveling from my FAVORITE SWEATER!
Grrrrrr
We celebrate days, but more like every day, just because.
For instance; today is BLACK Wednesday, uh, I mean 'Valentine's Day' right?
At least the calender says it is...
but did I get my daughter a card?
Nope.
My mother did, however...
brought it up complete with stickers all over a very RED envelope & everything.
Did we make a card?
Not yet but the day is still young...
really, what I did was what I do every day-
hug & kiss her a hundred times,
told her I loved her to the moon & back,
and the sun & back,
and the stars & back
& to CHINA & back.
Then we played together.
A perfect morning on all accounts.
Really, in my heart, every day with Ruby is Valentine's day,
not just a day that Hallmark deems worthy.
So today, for us, it's just a SNOW DAY.
And to that I say:
HAPPY SLEDDING EVERYONE!