Isn't it Grand? (Opening)

Here's a pic of me at the Harris Teeter Williamsburg Grand Opening. (For those of you not from around here, it's a higher end grocery store). I poured 4 different wines that night, totaling about 400 samples. I can now say "Clos du Bois" correctly without hesitation.

Which side are you on?
Funny how the perspective on an activity can change when you're on the other side of the counter (or desk).....

Yesterday Eric was watching some episodes of Frasier to find a clip to show about argumentation in his Critical Thinking class. I sat beside him and watched the episode for awhile, then realized I was slacking. Funny thing is, HE was doing the same thing, but HE wasn't slacking. It was part of his work.

I guess it's the same for me...when others drink wine they are relaxing. When I do it, I'm working. (ok, only sometimes.)

Wordless Wednesday

Lunch with Allison at School




Julia at School





Julia writes her name

Would you like a Sample?

I can't believe it's really been since JULY that I wrote my last blog entry. I guess I could apologize over and over, or just get to it and try to write something new.

A Sample of Work

I've started working part-time for a wine distributor. My job is to pour wine samples. Yes, I get to try them too. After all, it is my job to know about the nose, palate, and finish of each one.

A Sample of what I'm reading

Oh, did you notice that I've been reading "Wine for Dummies?" It's one of the best books out there to help me do what I do. I have to admit I got overwhelmed in the chapter about French wine. It's very complicated....but I can now have an intelligent conversation about the second fermentation process of Champagne and sparkling whites: tank vs. bottle.

A Sample of traffic

I drive carpool. Yes, it's official. I'm a grown-up. Every afternoon, my phone alarm reminds me to drop what I'm doing and go get some kids. It wouldn't be such a tricky ride if the main road outside our neighborhood weren't perpetually under construction. They seem to synchronize the lane closures to the exact time that I need to pick up the kids. I've enjoyed the time with Allison, Julia, and our friend Hannah. We have "Joke-day Fridays" where we tell knock-knock jokes for the ride home. (Don't spill my strategy on being joketastic: I print out knock knock jokes from websites and keep them stashed in the glove box to refer to before the kids get in the car on Fridays).

A Heap of Wedding

My cousin Shawn is getting married this weekend. On Halloween. His fiancee', Kara asked our girls to be in the wedding. And she asked me to be one of her bridesmaids. And she asked me to ask my husband if he wouldn't mind being a groomsman for my cousin. She has the whole Cherry-Silverman clan in her wedding, each of whom will be fabulously dressed. Allison's gown is my fave: it has a train and a bustle.



I visited Baltimore (the location of the wedding) a few weeks ago to do the bachelorette party/bridal shower tour. We went to the MD Renaissance Festival as part of the bachelorette party. (see here for another post on the MD Renaissance Festival)

As you might have guessed, I was in charge of games for the bridal shower. Since the wedding is in the fall, and on Halloween, and because the bride-to-be isn't a "toilet-paper-wedding-dress-game" kinda girl, I decided to have a pumpkin carving contest. You can see the fabulous pumpkin brides below. My mom's team won. (Pumpkin on the right) Bridalicious!

My mouth is like the attic....

Julia was eating a snack of fruit Cheerios before bed and said "My mouth is like the attic" Perplexed, I asked her to explain.

"My tongue is the stairs (we have pull-down attic stairs)
The Cheerio is like the box
My mouth is the attic."

I think perhaps we have put too many boxes in the attic. She's getting ideas in her head.

Check out your friends T-Mobile pictures

 

Hello

17329105086@tmomail.net wanted to share these great T-Mobile camera phone photos with you!

Sisters playing on a spontaneous trip to VaBeach.

 

Insert Space

I'm finally doing it. I'm writing another post. I've been negelecting my blog, but this neglect is a sign that I've been ignoring the computer more and my kids less. So it's positive, even if my reader(s) have suffered. I made certain "rules" for myself about what my next post needed to be and since I never got to it, I've been ignoring my blog. Well, no more. I'm inserting a space between the last post and today. Start fresh from here.

...And Mary Brought Me Daffodils. (Silverman Wedding Anniversary #1 of 3)

Today marks 11 years since Eric and I were legally married.

Our story begins in the spring of 1998. During our engagement, just 2 months before the wedding we had been planning, (and on my 24th birthday) Eric was told that he may have cancer. He had been having some back pain, and thought it may be a pulled muscle so he went to the doctor. The doctor found some enlarged lymph nodes on his neck and told him it might be lymphoma, a type of cancer.

After surgery for a biopsy, it was confirmed. Eric had cancer.

We decided to get legally married so that I would be Eric's "next of kin" (for medical/legal purposes) and so that he could be covered under my health insurance.

On Monday, March 23, 1998 Eric called the courthouse to find out when we could go to be married. At the time, I was working until about 3:30 every afternoon. We figured the courthouse would be open until 5 and I could meet him there after work. Eric discovered that they only performed weddings until 3:30 so I had to go ask my boss if I could leave work a little early. The conversation went something like this:

Me: I was wondering if I could leave a little early today.

Boss: Sure, what's going on?

Me: I'm going to get married this afternoon and they close at 3:30.

Boss: {Shrieking} You're getting married! You need to leave now (it was 10am). You'll have to get your nails done, you hair done....Will you need the next few days off for a honeymoon?

Me: No, it's just a legal ceremony. It doesn't "count" as our wedding. It's a legal document.

Boss: {puzzled} Ok, go when you need to.

(Did I mention I had a great boss? Thanks, Nina!)



So I met Eric at the courthouse that afternoon. We were ushered into a room made just for weddings. It had AstroTurf on the floor, mirrors on the wall, a park bench, a white trellis with fake flowers, and I think a cherub shaped statue or fountain. Yes,it was cheesy.

We hadn't invited anyone to attend, since this wasn't our "real" wedding. Our friend, Mary, was a school teacher and was home by that time in the afternoon. We must have left a message saying we were getting married, and she called to ask if she could come. She brought daffodils from her yard and I used them as my bouquet. I wore the flower crown I had gotten from our trip to the Renaissance Festival (read about this here).

I also wore a black shirt and blue jeans. On my wedding day. (Eric wore the shirt in the picture yesterday...yes he still has it and it's in the "normal" rotation. Mine's long gone.)

The court clerk said we were the most in love couple she'd seen.

Afterward, we wanted to celebrate by going to eat in Downtown Baltimore in a restaurant at the top of a tall building but when we got there, we discovered the restaurant was closed. Only on Monday.

So....we went to TGIFriday's instead. I had the "Steak On a Stick Platter". I don't remember what Eric ordered. For almost all of the past 11 years, we have celebrated this anniversary by going to TGIFriday's (in MD, TX, MO, and now we need to add VA) and I always get a Steak On a Stick Platter. It's the pineapple that makes it.






Stay tuned for Silverman Wedding Anniversary #2 and #3. (coming April 3, May 23)

What is "OBX" and why am I here?

Greetings from the Outer Banks (OBX)of North Carolina! I'm in Nags Head, North Carolina which is south of Kitty Hawk, north of Cape Hattaras. I'm here for a scrapbooking weekend with 14 other women in a big beach house that even has an elevator. I enjoyed some seafood last night at the Black Pelican, and this morning I woke up to a beautiful sunrise. I took a stroll on the beach early this morning and saw only one person out for a walk, and one truck driving on the beach (this was a little weird to me). I found some shells, including a really cool spider crab shell.

A Room with a View(Finder)

We gave Allison & Julia a wooden dollhouse this past Christmas. We purchased an extra set of dolls so that there would be a family for each to play with.


One day recently I found Julia had lined the families up for a nap, each on his own ViewFinder slide bed.

Julia agreed to pose with the family for a nap picture. Nighty Night Family!

The Beach in February and A Party in the Penthouse

Wacky Countdown...days 6 & 7. (Don't know what am I counting down toward? Click here.)

I've actually taken one of your Birthday idea comments and taken action! (thanks, Wendy) I have to admit I thought her idea of building a sandcastle in February sounded too cold to bear, but when the temperature reached 80 degrees today, I couldn't keep away from the beach. We didn't really build a castle, but we searched for shells, played with sand and did it all smack in the dead of winter. The water was COLD, but of course we had to at least dip our toes in just to say we did.



















The weekend we also celebrated at "Tenure Party" with one of Eric's office neighbors in the Sociology department. The professor lives in a condo on the Penthouse level overlooking the James River. The weather was pleasant, and the party was timed so that we could enjoy the balcony and the sunset. We toasted her success, and I secretly hoped that when Eric gets tenure that we'll have a party just as snazzy. My favorite gift she received was a clock with an engraving "your tenure clock is no longer ticking, but your lectures are timeless".

Wacky Countdown Day #3

Ok friends, you may remember my plan to celebrate the 35 days leading up to my 35th Birthday by doing something celebratory, wacky, or plain fun each day. I've been soliciting ideas from my friends on how I might celebrate. Read more about this here.

So how's the plan going?

Day 1 (Groundhog's Day): Seriously considered going to Punxsutawney Pennsylvania to see the official Groundhog "Punxsutawney Phil" prognosticate. Consulted the Official Punxsutawney Phil website the day before where it states "the viewing area gates open at 3:00am. Young children not recommended." Ruled that out. Spent the afternoon without kids, (mostly doing errands). Better luck tomorrow.

Day 2: Woke up at 5:00am (not by choice) but got to catch up with an old camp friend via Facebook chat for almost 2 hours before anyone woke up. Not planned fun, but so good for my soul. (Click on the 1993 camp staff picture below: I'm in the middle row, far left. Yes, that's me. I WAS that fabulous back then. People called me Chief.)
Considered donating 10 inches of my hair to "Locks of Love" (I did it once before) but got the girls haircuts instead. Perhaps I'm not up for anything daring after all.



















Day 3: (today) Tried to tap into my inner superhero while visiting the Virginia Living Museum (see pic). Somehow my version of "BatGirl" doesn't seem very heroic. What am I doing wrong?














Here's my wackiest thing for the day... I pet a Sea star.

35 Days 'til 35

On Groundhog Day (FEB 2) there will be 35 days until I turn 35.


I want to celebrate with so many of you, but, dear friends, you are scattered all over the place! Will you celebrate with me from afar?

I want to try to do something new, quirky, wacky, or celebratory for the 35 days leading up to my birthday. That's where you come in....

Send me your ideas on how I might celebrate for a day, keeping in mind that I want it to be attainable (not skydiving) in an everyday schedule. I will post pics or stories as I partake in each of your brilliant schemes.

If you don't already know this about our family, I'll tell you this:

"We're the Silvermans. We celebrate everything more than once." Hence the 35 days of planned birthday merriment.


Help me celebrate by adding to my list!


How do I feel about turning 35?

I didn't think this age thing would phase me, but I think because so much transition has happenened in my life in the last year I find myself.....phased. I'm struggling even to describe how it's affecting me. I don't want to make it sound all negative. I just find myself noticing the number, and not sure what it means. Am I too old to start something new? Am I too young to have made something of myself? Will I EVER be a responsible grownup?

It's 3 am....again

I find myself awake at 3:00am pretty often. It's been like that on and off since my 2nd pregnancy. Probably once every week or so, I'm not sleeping when I should be. Either I had too much caffeine, or woke up from one of the kids' crying (woke up, not GOT UP, Eric does that) and can't get back to sleep. I get my red blanky, with the fuzzy side towards me, and sit on my red couch and power up the computer.

It's one of the only times I keep up on the blogs I read, and find friends on Facebook. You know, important stuff.

I think I'm actually pretty witty and delightful at 3am. I write e-mails full of warm and fond memories to old highschool friends and camp buds. Most of my blog posts have been written in the 3am hour. Perhaps it's just the lack of sleep talking.

So, why am I such a mess between 4 and 6pm? (For those of you who don't know...this is a rhetorical question. Please don't tell me that if I hadn't been awake at 3am, I might be more sane in the afternoon. I don't want to hear your logic.)

I dread the afternoon because I'm not a likable person then. I don't even respect me as a mommy between 4 and 6pm.

Where's Supermom then?

Where are the spontaneous games I'm supposed to play to keep the kids off the TV?

How about all those songs with funny motions that I know and teach to other people's kids?

Where is that huge pile of new toys the kids got for Christmas?

Nowhere. Nowhere. Nowhere. It's just Meanmommy, exasperated for the millionth time wondering "What the HECK am I supposed to make for dinner?" I look in the cabinet. I see boxes of food, but I can't visualize dinner. I can't decide.

It's 3am but I'm still stuck at 5:00pm. Am I insane? I keep doing the same thing, expecting different results.

But change is hard. Change requires that, in a moment of intense weakness, I make a willful, strong, decisive, positive action.
Change requires me to go back to bed and try to fall asleep even though this is the most peace and quiet I've had in 2 weeks.

Change requires me to forgo the sweet tea (with caffeine) in the afternoon, or skip the chocolate ice cream (again with the caffeine) before bed.

Change requires me to think ahead, plan a week of meals and then (this is the hardest part) to execute the plan I made.

Stephen Covey describes it as "exercising integrity in the moment of decision" Wow do I fall short. Do I have Integrity? Can I make a Decision? Do I have to talk about Exercise? Ugh. Stephen, how do you make it look so easy?

Change requires that I admit I'm wrong. It requires me to step beyond the tantrum of "Idon'twanna" and be a grownup. It requires me to go back to bed.

A Recipe I Don't Recommend

Ingredients:
Enough chicken for 3 meals
short attention span


Step 1: get the idea whilst cooking dinner that you'll cook a completely different set of chicken to be used later in the week.

Step 2: get distracted, eat the "other" dinner for the evening, leave the house to go to Bible Study and return at 9:30pm

Step 3: Eat Crow. Swallow your pride.

Tip:
Many meals are enhanced by ambiance. One thing that helps is being able to hear your husband instruct your children during bedtime prayers to thank God that the house didn't burn down.

I thought about keeping this recipe a "family secret" but thought about all the people who would derive so much enjoyment from it and decided to share.