Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Inspired by: Nerdy Apple Bottom (again)

I have previously blogged a response to this post by Nerdy Apple Bottom. I have followed her blog since that very famous viral post, and yet again she has me pondering big issues. This time she  posted about things she will not tolerate. I decided I should make a list of my own. While many of the items may be the same, or similar, I have a few others to add.


  1. Derogatory use of the following terms:
    • retard
    • faggot
    • gay
    • homo
  2. Disrespect to me, or anyone around me. 
  3. Soap Scum
  4. Mistreatment of a child, under any circumstances
  5. Stinky Leftovers
  6. Intolerance of religious differences
  7. Stray eyebrow hairs
  8. Bullying
  9. Razor burn
  10. Littering
  11. Socks with sandals
  12. Mistreatment or discrimination of individuals with mental health issues
  13. Sharing blankets with my husband - impossibly frustrating. 
  14. Being judged solely on one's past (myself, or anyone else)
  15. Showering alone (unless absolutely necessary)
  16. Domestic violence of any kind
  17. Deleting photos 
  18. Infidelity
  19. Water in my ears
  20. Unrealistic expectations
Oddly enough, John and I just watch a great movie about intolerance/tolerance last night called That's What I Am with Ed Harris playing a high school teacher. It was a really nice coming of age, feel-good flick. I might have shed a tear or two at the end, but that's not exactly tough to elicit from me. 

What's on your list? 

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Circus

This will likely be mostly a photo post. I'll include a little blurb about each photo beneath it. I don't really have the words to describe just how awesome last night was. We needed it for a lot of reasons, and it was nice to feel like all was right with the world, for those few hours at the circus!

This photo is a little dark, but if captures Lucas's spirit perfectly. The look of "wow", and John's look of peace are all I need in this world. Seriously. It's the bottom line for me. 

A little unsure about this fluffy stuff...

"Ok, well if it's Daddy's favorite then I'll give it a shot!"
(Ps, I don't wanna hear about how horrible it is to give a two year old cotton candy.
We're at the fucking circus. Leave me alone!)

These tigers were phenomenal. I was so impressed, and you could tell they were very well treated and their trainer really loved them. They were so sweet, and very talented. Lucas really liked them, and continued to "ROAR" even after they were out of sight.

Yes, that is a tiny little man up there, dangling above those onlookers. He was extremely exciting to watch, and Lucas kept saying "Oh, wow!"

These camels scared the shit out of me. They were running, at full camel-speed around the "ring". Did I mention the ring was a whopping 2 feet in front of us, separated by a PVC "fence" with a vinyl banner?? I thought for sure we'd be trampled to death. Alas, we survived, and the camels had some pretty neat tricks!

Why, yes, that is a Jack Russel riding a pony. What of it? My mother has a Jack Russel named Max, and Lucas was convinced that it was Max out there. He was so proud of Max. So proud.


The elephants were definitely the best part of the show. Such sweet gentle animals, so huge. Lucas insists on yelling "moooooooo" at them. He knows they are elephants, and says so. He'll also tell me they go "brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" (while pointing at the sky as if he had trunk), and immediately follows it with "mooo". Cracks me up.

Wow, elephants! I was amazed.

I'm so glad they saved the fire act for the end. Lucas is petrified of all things "hot". This scared the shit out of him. While he did't cry, he did shake and grasp on to me as if his very life depended on it. He was very scared, and I don't blame him. The heat from those flames was unreal, and as I said, we were VERY close.

...so much fun!

Everything I need. Everything I live for.

I should mention that Lucas was so well behaved, despite the fact that the circus started at 7:30 pm. He usually goes to bed at 8. Oh, and did I mention that it was raining? Oh it was raining. Pouring, even. And that tent was leaky! 
Lucas peed, all over John and I. Through his clothes. Onto both of us. And me being the oh-so-clever mom that I am, I swapped our diaper bag for a smaller version and never bothered to put extra pants in the small bag. Rookie mistake! 
SO... Lucas sat on my lap in just a diaper, with my sweatshirt wrapped around him like a blanket. He didn't seem to mind. We also lost our umbrella during the circus, due to a seating mishap. So we had to make a run for it when it was time to go to the car. Lucas enjoyed the "shooowwwwww" (pronounced like the first syllable of shower. Which is what he calls a shower). 
I love my boys. I'm so glad we spent this time together. I'm a lucky lady to be so loved by those guys. 

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Always fashionable

My nephew, Jackson, is 4 years old. He is quite stylish, and has an eye for fashion and design. No seriously. He's amazing. He chose these stunning glasses in the prize box @ preschool the other day as a reward for good behavior. Well Lucas tried them on, and it was all over. Jackson left them behind, or maybe there was some parent theivery involved, I'm not sure, but at some point the glasses have come into Lucas's possession. He wears them all the time. I have to say, I'm digging the Elton John look on my little dude. I may need to go to a party store and buy different shape/color combinations. Holy shit, I just turned into that Mom.
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Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Road Trip to NY


  
This weekend John & I took a mini road-trip to Harrison, NY. We'd never been, and it was a LONG overdue trip. John's cousin Morgan had an adorable baby girl, and it was time to celebrate her Christening. The church was beautiful! And Rose looked great, it was wonderful to finally meet her! The service was fairly short, to the point, just the way I like it. And then it was off to Trattoria Vivolo  for a family celebration!
There were about 45-50 people in the most adorable room, I've ever seen! And the food was out of this world. John & I have been talking about finding really good Italian food in our area, but there isn't much to speak of. There was so much food, I can't even remember it all. I do, however, remember that my little Lucas enjoyed some calamari. Yes you read that correctly. My 2 year old will eat calamari, and enjoy it!
I chose a sea-bass entrĂ©e. My sister in law chuckled when I said "Oh my god, I'm gonna finish this whole thing". We had already had a solid 4 courses, by that point. Well, I made her eat her words. I ate all but a bite of that sea-bass and I thoroughly enjoyed every bite. YUM!
Then the desserts. Holy friggin' crap, you guys. The cupcakes that Stephanie Lane made, (See Cupcakes for Charlotte) were delicious. The adults at our table were fighting the babies for bites of these treats. John talked about them the whole way home! I'm going to start baking every recipe on her site. You (if anyone but Stephanie & Morgan actually reads this) have to check her out. Seriously, unreal.
We had a blast, and were bummed that we had to skip out a little early. I had an "important" class early on Monday morning. Of course it turned out to be a completely useless class, and I was very disappointed that I hadn't been more impulsive and just stayed. Such is life.
The Romiglio's will definitely be returning to Harrison. We had to much fun, and I need to spend some Q.T. with little Miss Rose and her delectable cheeks. I can't wait to smooch those cheeks. (Rose, that little angel, slept through the WHOLE party. What a riot!)

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Trying new things

John and I have the ongoing debate about mywillingness to try new things. I often have an "I can't do that" attitude about things that I've never even tried, or haven't done since I was a child.

Yesterday, for example, I was SO proud of myself because I jumped a fence for the first time since I was fairly young. It's been at least 15 years. I strutted up to John when he came home, chest full of pride and said "Guess what I did today? I jumped the fence next door to the Verizon lot to take pictures". He was less than impressed, but I was so proud.

Well, John has recently started drawing again. He's a very talented artist, at least in my opinion. We have his very first oil painting from high school proudly displayed in our kitchen. It matches the decor perfectly. We also have various pottery/ceramic creations around the house. Music seems to have been his art form of choice lately, but he's recently been very interested in drawing traditional american tattoo flash using colored pencils. (See: Mike Malone).

He keeps encouraging me to try my hand at drawing. I've never been a great artist. I can read music, and play it on a violin, but I have zero creativity. I can't pick my violin and just play something. It's just not in me. I never really tried drawing or painting. Once the manditory art classes were over, I was done with art. I didn't feel like I was talented enough to continue my art education. Well, that and my schedule was full in high school with music classes. You see, in my high school you couldn't be a music student and an art student. There just wasn't enough time, and you were forced to make a choice.

Well today, I decided I was going to give drawing a try. I tore a piece of paper out of John's spiral-bound sketch pad (that way he'd never be able to see the horrible creation). I found his old sets of Prismacolors, because I wouldn't dare use the new set we just bought. Then he might know that I tried, and ask to see my attempt. (Sensing a pattern of insecurity here?).

Well I got my supplies, and took out some tattoo reference books. I found an owl and decided to give it a go. I'm not going to lie. I'm pretty impressed with myself. I mean, it's not perfect, and I definitely need to practice shading and blending, but I'm proud. Not only did I try something new, I wasn't terrible at it. I'm so proud that I'm even going to frame it, (using a frame I just happened to snag at a yard sale for .75 today!) and give it to John for Father's Day.

To most that sounds like a SUPER lame Father's Day gift. To John, it will certainly mean something. It will mean that he inspires me to move out of my comfort zone. It will mean that I trust him completely to share something that makes me insecure. It will mean that I love him, and everything he does for this family. Even when it's something as simple as encouraging me to try new things. That's what makes him a great Dad and husband. He doesn't have ridiculous expectations, and he doesn't push. He just encourages and supports. I love him, and I'm glad he is the father of my child(ren.... someday).


Ok so that's a crappy cell phone photo, but do you think I should leave the frame that tarnished gold? Or paint it? I was originally going to paint it black but I kinda like the tarnished look...?

Friday, June 3, 2011

Tornado watch 2001 slideshow

Well well well... it's been a crazy couple of days.

As you know, there were multiple tornado warnings for my area on Wednesday. We were VERY fortunate not to be hit by any tornadoes, as the destruction in western Massachusetts is simply devastating. I realize how lucky we are, and my heart goes out to those in western Mass. that were affected. With that being said, having a tree get struck by lightning mere feet away from you is pretty horrifying.

We had no idea just how bad it was until the next day. The photos in the slideshow below are proof that Mother Nature is one fierce lady! Holy Moly! Yesterday we were able to see the spiral of bark missing from our tree a bit more clearly. I was concerned enough to call th Tree Warden in our town and ask him to take a look. We also have an interesting situation. We are not sure if the tree actually belongs to us, or our town. It sits halfway in our driveway, and halfway on the banks of a brook that is owned by the town. It's roots actually help support the structural walls of the brook. I put in a call to the Warden at about 10am yesterday, and never heard back from him. I spent the day at my Mom's and arrived back home after dark, and everything seemed fine.

Then I woke up this morning, and upon further inspection, I can see a crack, that follows the same spiral as the tree bark. Not good. So I got nervous. I called the Warden and left him a message to call me as soon as possible. I told the neighbors (A local Verizon branch) to move their cars, just in case. I called my insurance company to see if removal would be covered. The agent says it's not, I requested another copy to be sent to my house so I can re-read my policy. I seem to have misplaced mine. I called several tree removal companies to get estimates as soon as possible.

The Warden called be back and said that he seen the tree, and it definitely needed to come down. He started dancing around the issue of whether it was the Town's tree, or our tree. I finally cut him off, and said something to the effect of "Listen. I have a two year old in this house. I need this taken care of as soon as possible. I don't want to sit around and wait two weeks for you to determine that the tree is mine or not, and risk our lives for politics". He reassured me that they were working diligently to determine whose responsibility it is. The rest of the conversation he spoke as if the town will, in fact, be taking care of the matter and it's just a matter of finding out which company they will be subcontracting the job to. He actually said "you may go out for the afternoon and return to find that the tree has been removed". He also asked me to have the neighboring business leave their gate (non-existent gate!) open for the weekend so they can access the property. 

I'm praying this is a quick & fairly pain free process. 

I did go out and tear down the 6 foot flap of bark from the tree, and laid it out on the lawn to dry out. My husband, John, plans to paint something on it for us to hang in the house as a memento of our brush with Mother Nature. 

(you may want to watch on youtube site, to be able to read captions... i'm new to technology! haha)


Edit: It's now Saturday afternoon. I received a call yesterday afternoon saying that the tree was, in fact, town property and a crew would be out Saturday morning. Well, we all awoke to the wonderful sound of chainsaws at 8am today. (Yes, my nearly-2 year old was STILL asleep at 8am. No, I don't hold the universe's secrets. He just likes to sleep). Our tree is now gone. It took them less than an hour to cut that sucker down, pack  up and leave. Amazing.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Tornadoes in MA??

So... tornado warnings in MA today. I felt completely unprepared. I mean, who is honestly prepared for tornadoes in Massachusetts? I watched the weather, and when they told me to head to the basement, I did. I packed a little bag for Lucas with toys, snacks, etc and some essentials for me too. You know, important stuff, like the laptop and my book. Yes, I brought the laptop.

Then John came home, just before the really bad part of the storm, 6 pm or so. We stayed in the basement for a bit, and when the storm died down we came back upstairs. We were alerted of a 2nd (actually 3rd) cell of storm that was on it's way. It was schedule to hit around 8pm. Well, 8 pm came & went with nothing. So we put Lucas to bed at 8:20.

At 9:20, this happened:


That is the pine tree, located approximately 25-30 ft to the right of my house. With a spiral of LIGHTENING STRIKE!!! Holy shit. I can't even put the sound into words. Lucas slept through it. I thought my heart stopped. It took us about 5 minutes to even figure out exactly what was struck, since it was dark out. I could smell burning, but I knew it wasn't the house on fire. I had a house fire as a kid, and you don't forget that smell. It was the tree bark. There is tree bark all over my driveway, all over my deck. It flew as far as the middle of the road. There is a perfect spiral of bark missing from the tree. 

We have called the fire department to inspect the tree, because I think the structural integrity of the tree has been compromised a bit. Since the tree is taller than my house, I'd like to know that it's not going to fall down. 

What a wild & crazy day!