Just like Christmas...Gone in a Flash.

My friend Mary said it best. "Just like Christmas. We look forward to Tony coming home for so long...then he's gone is a flash! :( "

On Wed. Forth Yeer had a show at Beat Kitchen (great food...great venue) with The Wanderers and The Blind Staggers (Damien's band). They got in at 9am in order for Tony to spend some time with family and friends. In true Tony fashion he was so excited to be coming home, that he hadn't slept in 24 hours and wasn't planning on it either. After visiting all morning, he finally took a nap so he could play that evening.

Damien's drummer Sara couldn't make the show so he had to put together musicians to play his music. It was definitely different than the CD but those guys playing and Laura singing....WOW.

I had to borrow a camcorder (something else to put on my list of need to buy) but I'm missing the cable thingy that connects from the camcorder to the computer. I will be getting one this week and then posting the best ones. They look great on the camcorder, hopefully it looks and sounds that good once I download.

Laura was recordered but the sound and quality isn't that great. But something is something.




Once his show was over, Damien called Tony up on stage to play with him.
Even though it wasn't planned and they haven't played together in awhile, it was fantastic to see them together again. It was wonderful to hear the crowd singing along but when Damien told Tony that is was the most fun he had all night....well this Mom cried buckets.

Hormones and Meltdowns

Is it that my hormones are out of whack or am I losing it??? In the past few weeks I have gone from teary eyed to downright sobbing. I mean the ugly cry. You know the ugly cry. The face, snot, wailing sounds...yeah, the ugly cry.

It started out of nowhere as me and David ordered burgers. I even had to put my sunglasses on so no one would notice, including him. Yeah..that didn't work. That started the questions, what did he do or say. Gotta love guys, they automatically think they've done something wrong. Which most of the time they have...but not this time. I couldn't even talk as I ate my burger through tears. I thought about it as we rode home on the bike with the sun shining down on us. It was such a gorgeous day.....and I'm in tears. GEEZ!!!! Though I had been crying for a few weeks, it was the first time I had cried in front of anyone and had to explain what I felt.

When we got home, Lucy had some "splaining" to do. Wow, where do I start? I feel like time is running out and I haven't explored the things I want to do. Haven't taken the time to do things I enjoy doing. The kids are grown and mostly out (well, baby girl is back) and my life is still revolving around everyone else. What they are doing and how they feel. Why? Why do I keep doing this? There are things I enjoy but I have no one to enjoy them with. I don't do things by myself. So I don't do them. I'm going to need to learn how to, otherwise I'm never going to do anything, and it will be the vicious circle.

I told David that even though I enjoy music and love watching our kids perform, it's his passion and their passion....not mine. I love art and photography. He use to paint in oils and hasn't in like 20 or more years. He says it's because he doesn't have the time. When we moved from Miami to Lancaster,Ca, he gave away everything, all his art stuff. Though he supports anything I do and gives me constructive criticism, he hasn't been interested in pursuing painting again. I would love for us to share that.

Instead of seeing myself as a blubbering idiot once again, I decided to make some changes. I want to create more, take some art classes....I want to take photography classes...I want to....I need to...do more me stuff. Ribfest was my first step. But obviously afternoon festing is not my thing unless there is beer involved. So early festing is the answer. It inspires me and gets the creative juices flowing. It just gives me that feel good high. Add booze and that's just perfection.

The big birthday is around the corner and nipping at my heels. So I want the Canon Rebel as my present. There is a photography studio that holds classes right by work. I'm going to enroll. There is an art studio on my way home from work....going to enroll in some classes there too. I'm tired of just rearranging stuff in my studio and not creating.

Here are some pictures of what I've been doing since my meltdown on poor David. I've also included a picture of how David spent Father's day.....pouring concrete in order to get ready for Tony's arrival (that's a post all on it's own....oh I cried buckets then too, but for different reasons)

Custer's Last Stand Festival - Went with my boss and had a blast. Inspiration galore!!! She is exactly like me and we went early and left as the place was getting packed.

Even though it was sweltering hot....I came home and started these....

Though they only have a few layers and they are not done, at least it's a start.

And it was so worth the sunburn.... OUCH!

We took Desi to the lake...ah to see sand and water through the eyes of a child.

He walked into the water like a man possessed. Isn't there a movie where Bill Murray does that?

And finally....Father's Day in Ritzland.

We now were ready for Tony's arrival.

Moment of Silence for Michael Jackson

It was October 1984. Damien was 4 years old and loved all that was Michael Jackson. We finally were in a good place financially and since we only had Damien and weren't planning on any more kids (HA!), we decided to indulge our only child and take him to his first concert. We didn't tell him where we were taking him, but to see that boy's eyes light up the moment Michael Jackson took the stage is still priceless to me. That's all the boy talked about for weeks.


Both David and I grew up watching the Jackson5 get famous. I loved watching Michael dance, it was truly amazing. On Thursday as we were relaxing in our hotel room celebrating the beginning of our anniversary weekend, we got a call from Tony, who had just left Chicago for the next leg of his own tour, to tell us Michael Jackson had died. Although Tony didn't grow up during MJ's rise, he was a huge fan. He considered him a musical genius.

We sat in our hotel room transfixed to the TV watching CNN and MTV. Unbelievable to think he was only 50 and now he is gone.

Another legend dies.............

Ribfest with a Toddler

Have I gotten THAT old?

Yesterday was finally a warm sunny day here in Chicago and we decided we wanted to go to one of the neighborhood festivals. We also knew Desi was being dropped off since both Emilie and Damien had to work in the afternoon. David (in all his wonderful wisdom) said we'd just take him along.

First off...As I've gotten older, I realize I don't like big crowds, extreme heat, and small children. Okay, maybe not the small children but the parents of said children. What's with this generation of parents? I have child...therefore I am...attitude? Within an hour of being there,I was ready to punch someone in the face. I should have just had a beer. Which I kept repeating to David as I passed each beer stand.

Ribfest was PACKED at 3 in the afternoon. It was a sea of people....with their kids...in strollers. Did I say strollers and packed? It was shoulder to shoulder...yet there were strollers in the street. Drunk people and strollers is just a catastrophe waiting to happen. Can you tell that we didn't bring one and that I never got my beer?

Aside from the fact that I had to deal with obnoxious parents getting pissed that the sea of people didn't part as they tried to maneuver their Cadillacs of strollers around the crowd, the thought of trying to eat ribs with your elbows tucked in so that someone wouldn't bump into you and have your ribs going flying....well, it was too much.

After we let Desi go apeshit in some type of maze contraption, I was more than ready to go home, not because of him, but because by this time, I had tripped over a gazillion damn strollers. David commented on how good Desi was and that he wasn't whining or complaining...his grandmother was. Yeah? And? Your point?

So here I have a few pointers for going to these great summer festivals for the anxious, impatient, parents get on your nerves...type of people like me.

a) Hit and Run....go early, eat, check out the vendors...listen to some tunes and get the hell out when it gets crowded to where you can't extend an arm.

b) If you have kids and you are going mid day...leave the strollers at home...or the attitude....I understand the stroller thing..but the attitude? no.

c)GET BEER!!

See, I know that if I would have had a few beers in me, I would have been a happy camper and not cared about ANYTHING. Crowds, parents, strollers... or maybe I would have really punched someone in the face. Either way...I wouldn't have been cranky and needed a nap.

But the day wasn't about me...SHOCK...I know...it was about taking Desi out. David was right, the kid was great. He couldn't complain...he had the best seat in the house. I know because I had the same seat 30 years ago and 30 pounds ago when I got tired too.



On a side note...I know I have been MIA lately. Sorry. I've been going through a thing. I will address it all soon. My anniversary is next week and Tony is coming through Chicago while touring. Will give details this week of all my fun plans and my not so fun patch I've been dealing with.

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

Literally it rained IN my house and ON my head last Friday. Needless to say, we fired the plumber.

We finally were going to build the master bathroom of our dreams. Can you say bathroom heaven??? I had visions of my own personal spa every night after work. David was installing all kinds of doodads. Things to warm the towels as well as our buttcheeks on cold winter days. Marble and granite all around me as I take my rain shower and mist or relax sore muscles in the jaccuzzi. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. We are even installing a bidet. How European of us huh?

There were a few other plumbing work we needed to have done before running the pipes up 2 flights. I didn't think much about it. I knew there would be concrete dug up in the basement. I would be minus washer and dryer for a couple of weeks, but all worth the sacrifice.

That was until I came home from an exhausting day at work to find dirt...YES DIRT paths from the basement door into my kitchen and through the dining room and up the stairs. WTF??? And the plumber? He was done for the day. The stuff under my sink thrown to the side on the floor. Dirt was everywhere!

David is an electrician and has done general construction. I know for a fact that if he has worked in a house where people are actually living while renovating.....he has cleaned up after himself each day. No dirt paths.

I was beyong angry and he came home and was not too pleased though not for the same reasons. Seems the plumbing was going in crooked. David can do plumbing but since he is not confident in it, he wanted a professional. He said, even he would have done a better job, he had a talk with the guy. When Friday rolled around and Chicago had a torrid rainfall....that was the last straw. There was water coming in from who knows where he poked through and seeping down the dining room wall. As I was inspecting the wall.....raindrops fell on my head.

That's it.... YOU'RE FIRED!!!

A friend of ours is a union plumber and his son is an apprentice and they are doing the job now after he heard waht happened. What is it costing us? An old Harley that Anjelika was riding. Though baby girl isn't too happy about it, she understands. Trade off is she wants to be able to use our bathroom once and awhile. Now I'm saying yes yes yes to anything...I just want my house back in order and calgon to take me away.

Here is the chaos that is our basement.....construction to begin again next week.

I Am The Boss of You

Last month I was promoted to supervisor of the Cardiology Lab. Eight years ago, two of the cardiologists I worked with at the hospital joined a group that was starting a Chicago branch. They recruited me to head the lab but since I had to go through the main office there were obstacles to me coming on board. One of them being money, the other my benefits. After so many years at the hospital, I really didn't want to start over. So I turned them down and I would help out on my day off and do testing. In less than a year they had gone through two techs and approached me again. This time I stated what I needed in order to come on board and also what I could offer them. Again we couldn't come to an agreement. As for the docs, they apologized since that part was out of their hands. I came to learn that this was a big group with offices in 3 of the western suburbs, board of directors, blah, blah, blah. I wasn't too upset, I had my job. But then a few incidents happened that thoroughly pissed me off and one of the docs told me I would never advance there. I took vacation time.....I was pissed and needed downtime. As my time off was coming to an end, I told David I didn't want to go back, so he told me to quit. I knew I wouldn't...couldn't do that. My last morning off, I greeted him by again saying I didn't want to go back and he sleepily answered, "So quit". That morning I got a call from the Chicago office manager offering me the job again, without thinking I answered YES. When David got up I told him what I did. I was in shock...what did I do? What about the money, the benefits? I'm going backwards... I'm going into the unknown.

Thank God she called me back. Seems I shocked her as much as I shocked myself and she wanted to make sure I had accepted. Thankfully they had agreed on the things I had asked for. Whew! Two weeks later I was reorganizing the lab.

Seven years later we have grown from 2 docs to 8 docs... from 2 receptionists to 3 with 2 M.A.'s, 3 nurses, 1 nurse practitioner, 1 research nurse, 1 asst. manager and 5 techs, including myself.

Things have been running smoothly and we finally have a full staff. As we grew, I went from tech to testing coordinator ( which to me sounded like a glorified scheduler) and now supervisor. Since I started I headed the testing lab, I ran daily operations. I seriously didn't think that what I was doing was much different than being the supervisor. HA! boy was I wrong.

The daily operations portion isn't bad, there are quite a bit of things the office manager took care of that I didn't have to do. Now I am. The sucky part of the job that I didn't anticipate....the actual supervising of others. Things do change once those same people you work with now see you as their boss and there always has to be a squeaky wheel. To say I was overwhelmed this past month is an understatement. Thankfully I have a great office manager that is not only my boss but has become a friend. She saw me sinking and offered her hand. It's now a transition, which basically means I can do what I do best and work together on the drama and BS.

I am breathing easier today...now if the drama and BS could be handed off as easily at home...I'd be all good.

Road Rage-The New Generation

Yesterday I decided to go over to Barnes and Noble to pick up Jen Lancaster's (she's hilarious, go check her out) new book Pretty in Plaid, with Desi in tow. Though I wasn't in a huge hurry, I found myself stuck behind a woman going 10..ok maybe 20 in a 35 MPH zone. OMG!!! I wanted to pull my hair out. I don't do well in traffic. Yes, I've lived in Chicago most of my life but I have zero patience. There was no way to get around her either. Just as I was ready to say something out loud, baby boy yells GO, GO GO.

I turn around and see him bent sideways looking between the seats at the car ahead of us. As I laughed, I could have sworn I heard "Oh Shit....GO GO GO" So I say "what did you say?" and he repeats it.....3 times. Ok, I did hear right.

Now I'm thinking.....hmmmm, either that boy reads minds or maybe what I was thinking, I actually may or may not have said out loud.

I'll stick to the fact that he may be psychic.....and Mima has learned that he is now repeating EVERYTHING he hears.