DANCIN' Z

It's either feast or famine in this blog I guess... there's never a video and now two in a row... yikes!
Well, with Zane's Vidster out from the weekend, I managed to catch him in one of his moments.
Sorry it's so grainy and kinda dark... that's the nature of the Vidster.

STORM TROOPERS, SAND MEN, STAR WARS GEEKS, FLIP FLOPS AND...

Zane, my six years old son brought his little Vidster to the Star Wars convention this weekend. This is what he saw at his 3 foot 11 inch point of view.

I SPENT LAST NIGHT IN A MAGIC CASTLE

Our good friend, that we often refer to as Rock Star Chad is lucky enough to know a few people in high places. Last night he got into the elite Magic Castle nestled in the Hollywood Hills right above Sunset. Now this Castle I speak of is a private clubhouse for the Academy of Magical Arts. It is for members only, unless... that is... you receive an exclusive invitation. And lucky for us Chad did and we scooted in on his coat tails. Literally. With a jacket and tie dress code, eight of us got all gussied up for a mysterious night at the Magic Castle in Hollywood.

The old Victorian house that was built in 1908 has many little nooks and crannies, secret passage ways and supposedly a ghost too. We started off the evening in the dining room for dinner and drinks overlooking the city lights. The conversation was lively and the food was good too. After our bellies were full, we meandered into a room off the dining room to watch our first show of the night. There were several magicians performing throughout the show, but the one I was most impressed with was a guy by the name of Dan Sperry from Las Vegas. He came onto stage looking like Edward Scissorhands minus the scissors. With spiked hair, make up sprawled across his face as if he just walked out of a Tim Burton movie and purple and black goth like clothes, he dazzled us with AMAZING tricks. I kept a careful eye trying to discover his 'magic', but he was really good, he had the audience saying repeatedly "How'd he do that?!" He drew a bird on a sketch book, then he brushed a pink handkerchief over his drawing which instantly rendered his newly sketched bird in the same shade of pink. He tore the page from the book and then folded his freshly drawn page. He opened it again only to show us a live pink dove that flew off the paper into the audience. He did this all with sleeves up and the paper dangling by his finger tips mid air. We were all dumbfounded.



We went to another show where a Christian Slater looking magician also from Vegas approached my sister and bet one hundred dollars that he could read her mind and guess what? He did! How he did it, we will never know?! It was pretty cool though!

After our last show, we met up in the lounge where we watched and listened to a mob of magicians mingle about at the bar. You could pick em out a mile away. They either had crazy hair, peering eyes, an awkward presence, funky clothes or a deck of cards in hand. It was so interesting to get a privileged peek into this subculture I know nothing about.

As we lounged and listened on the velvet Victorian sofas, a balding mustached man leaned over to us and whispered out of the corner of his mouth. "You should ask Irma to play you a song on the piano" "Uh ok", we chuckled, not really knowing what the heck the guy was talking about. A grand piano sat silently near us, with not a soul around to play it. The mustached man saw our hesitation and encouraged us to ask the empty chair for a song. Scott and Rock Star Chad, always up for the adventure, both smiled and leaned in to the vacant space. "Hey Irma... how's it going? Uh...could you play us a little Louis Armstrong? How bout 'Our Love Is Here to Stay'". Suddenly, without hesitation, the piano keys started to move. We all listened carefully. Was it thee song? A few notes were plunked out into shaky, but familiar tune. Louie's song was just barely there as if someone was trying to remember how to play it. Then suddenly a loud burst of noise crashed into the room and about 15 adjacent keys all went down together in unison with one huge frustrated booming chord. A silent moment permeated the room as we all looked at each other a bit spooked and bewildered. Then slowly, a soft, gentle note floated out of the piano and a new song began. To our amazement, we soon discovered that the new melody we were listening to was" Georgia on my Mind" by yes... non other than... Louie Armstrong. How does that happen? We looked for a microphone or a box or anything that would suggest the possible presence of a player piano but... nothing- we found nothing. We did however experience another uncanny happening. While we were all trying to come up with another request for Irma, right in the middle of our silent decision making the song "Piano Man" started to be played. We all looked at each other questioning the random song that filled the air . Until... that is ... a huge gasp escaped from Rock Star Chad's mouth. "THAT'S THE SONG...THAT'S THE SONG I WAS JUST THINKING OF AND WAS GOING TO REQUEST!!!!" he blurted out.

Uhhh... can I say freaky?

All in all the night was magical one. Not only was it filled with tricks and illusions, but it was filled with friends, fun and some much needed time with Scott. It was one FANTASTIC evening!

OUR SOPRANOS FAMIGLIA

For years now, every time Sopranos season rolls around, we gather up all of our mobbed up friends each Sunday night at our place for some good ole' traditional Italian eats, a little vino and a voyeuristic view into our favorite borgata that we have come to love so. There are about ten of us that have been gathering together over the years. With only two Sopranos episodes left, I think we all have a case of agita when thinking about our tradition coming to an end. We truly have become like famiglia.

Each week, we take turns making the gabagool. This week Scott and I spent Sunday locked away in our cucina making Polpettone (stuffed Meat Loaf) and Panzerotti (Neopolitan potato croquettes). mmmmmm.... delizioso! It turned out splendido, if I don't say so myself! As we ate, we watched the continuing drama unfold on tv. We all have have our theories as how the show will end. We actually got some gambling in and placed bets as to what will happen to Tony, the head of the family in the upcoming weeks. Will he get pinched and become a guest of the state or will he break the Omertá and enter the Program or will some jamook finally whack him? He may simply pop himself too, which I think is highly unlikely though. There is also the possibility that he will just continue on living the miserable existence he has created for himself and for those around him Personally I think Tony will NOT die and will either justify his going to the Feds and live with his betrayal in a witness protection program OR he will continue living as everything around him falls apart, including his family and he will be left in the path of his own destruction. If you watch the show, I would love to hear your thoughts! What do you think will happen?

Well, whatever the finale may bring, I look forward to seeing how it all ends. I have to tell you though, I do not look forward to our Sunday night tradition ending. Perhaps we'll just have to get hooked on another show, but somehow, I don't think it will be quite the same.

It's been a good run Sopranos, hate to see ya go...ciao!

ABOUT TO FALL ON MY SWORD

A verse from the song "Secret Of The Easy Yoke" by Pedro the Lion bounced around inside my head as my eyes opened this morning:

"but if all that's left is duty, I'm falling on my sword".

I woke up dreading all the daily monotonous duties that lie ahead of me today. Simple things that most would not consider taxing seemed overwhelming and daunting to me this morning. Doing these duties day after day with no end in sight and with very little sense of accomplishment because anything I do is instantly undone in a moment's time by my kids is enough to drive me mad. A friend of mine quoted Albert Einstein the other day and it rang so true to me. “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” I feel like that is what my days look like most times lately. It's not only doing the work over and over again expecting different results, but it also trying to teach the kids over and over again life lessons like respect, listening well and being kind to each other. I know teaching children is a slow process and they don't get "it" overnight, but it seems like it is SO SLOW at times that I don't see results at all. I know the results DO happen in retrospect, looking back over the years, but in the mist of the day to day grind it just feels like things will never change.

Well, after I got out of bed to begin the tasks that did not get finished yesterday like cleaning up the kitchen and the rest of the house for that matter intermingled with bathing kids, dressing kids, feeding kids, conflict resolution, wiping up pee and dressing kids again, I felt like God was urging to me to stop doing the duties for a moment and call out to him to find hope, comfort and encouragement. But I quickly ignored the prompting and pressed on in the tasks at hand. "Great", I thought "another duty to add to the list - pray". "Thanks God, thanks for reminding me of just one more thing I should do that I have been failing miserably at! "

As the morning rolled on, I passed by the kitchen table and my eyes landed on a random open book that needed to be picked up and put away. But, before I could pick it up, these words jumped off the page at me.

"Suppose prayer is not a duty, but the opportunity to experience healing and transforming love?"

STILL AT LARGE

There was another attempted abduction/sexual assault yesterday about a mile from us.

YEEESH! I am freaking out.
We now have fliers with a picture of the bastard circulating the community. I hope this guy gets caught soon.

I am keeping my kids glued to my side at all times that is for sure.

AUDREY CLAIMS OWNERSHIP

Audrey, since she has been just a wee little one has always been very possessive of her toys, her space, her family. But she has now resorted to marking her territory around town.

Let me just say cleaning up a puddle of pee off Victoria Secret's floor is not my idea of a fun.

MOTHER'S DAY TEA WITH 'Z'

I was invited to Zane's classroom for high tea to celebrate mother's day today. Zane's teacher and the kids worked so hard to put this little party together for all the moms. The festivities started off with the whole class singing three songs. Zane busted out in a chorus line dance during the last song. He went rogue as everyone else stood still and at the most swung arms. He danced with great enthusiasm kicking his legs high all the while his eyes set straight on me. Every once in a while he would shoot me a thumbs up as if to say aren't you so proud of me, look I can sing AND dance? He smiled large and shouted the words of the song proclaiming his undying love for me. Right after the performance, Zane being the gentleman that he is, sat me down at his desk and then scurried off across the room to the table lined with silver utensils and silver tea pots. He hand picked small food items he thought I would like the best. He returned with tea and little tea sandwiches made up of cream cheese and jam. While I sipped my green tea sitting in the miniature blue chair with my legs curled up to my chest, he brought me gift after gift. He wrote and illustrated four books. As, I perused through each book, a violinist dressed in a tux played "If your happy and you know it clap your hands" Well, I should have been clapping my hands all the way through that party because Zane made me feel so special and so loved. I WAS HAPPY!

I thought I would share some excerpts from the books he wrote for me:

My mother's favorite food is burritos (I did not have the heart to tell him otherwise)
My mother is good at bowling ( I have bowled once in the last 11 years, I guess I had a good game that day)
My mother likes to talk (ehm...)
My mom and I eat soup. (broth every night)
My mom and I play soccer (I've NEVER played soccer in my life) which is why he probably wrote this next entry...
My mother's favorite sport is sleeping!

A 6 YR OLD'S THOUGHTS ON AMERICAN IDOL

"That Simon.... why does he have to be so mean to the singers. He's just a rotten robbie"

TODAY IS A NEW DAY ... hopefully

...but yesterday was a crazy one, let me tell you. It began with my going to a funeral. My friend's mom died. It hurts my heart to see my friend grieve so deeply. My friend's mom was a strong, opinionated, loving, Italian lady from Brooklyn. She gave her kids a sense of strength, identity, purpose and a place to belong. Family was everything to her. I walked away yesterday from the service hoping and inspired to be even a fraction of what this woman was to her family, friends and those around her.

Meanwhile, while I was at the funeral, my sister watched my kids. My sister and the kids were nestled away indoors playing happily. But outside our place there was a flurry of activity that she was completely oblivious to. Cop cars dotted our neighborhood. A paramedic truck parked statuesque curbside for hours a block away. A fire truck held it's presence for some time as well. My sister learned from the police man at our door that there was an attempted kidnapping on our street. A school age kid was walking to class when a 17 to 20 year old man tried to kidnap the child. Luckily someone intervened and rescued the kid. Thank GOD! So the kid is safe now. Before any reports of the attempted kidnapping surfaced, my next door neighbor was on her morning walk. She saw a 19 year old guy looking suspiciously down driveways and alleyways. When he saw her, he started to follow her instantly. When she crossed streets - he followed her. When she turned a corner - he followed her. Her heart was racing. She did not know what to do, she told me. She finally saw a man walking his dog. She stayed close to the dog walker and the shady guy fitting the description of the kidnapper disappeared. The attempted kidnapping happened shortly after her walk. The whole neighborhood is in an uproar. We live in a pretty safe part of LA ( so we think anyway) so this is all a HUGE shock. The attempted kidnapper is still at large. I am keeping the kids close and we are avoiding any leisurely neighborhood walks for the time being that is for sure. I am a bit unsettle, to say the least.

Then on my sister's way home from my place, she saw columns of smoke billowing out of the middle of the city. GRIFFITH PARK WAS ON FIRE!!! She lives very close to the park. If your are not familiar with Los Angeles, Griffith Park is a beautiful park that houses the Hollywood sign, the Los Angeles Zoo, the Observatory, the Greek Theater which is an outdoor theater where we have seen Death Cab for Cutie, Radiohead and others. The Gene Autry museum also resides in Griffith Park, as well as a historic merry go round, a golf course, historic trains, pony rides, sprawling green picnic areas, playgrounds and vast hiking trails that jet you up above the city. As you can tell it is a significant and special place for many Angelenos. The park serves as a refuge for many in the city. The perlious of the park is populated with home after home after home. So to hear that this great enormous park was on fire sent me into alarm. I LOVE this place, not to mention it is smack dab in the middle of the city. If the fire is not contained it could easily spread into the city. We have many friends and family who live in those communities surrounding the park. This is all hitting just bit too close to home.

Well, as of this morning many homes have been evacuated in the area, but the fire fighters are saying that the fire is 40 % contained. It looks like all the Griffith Park attractions are safe for now. They say the neighborhoods are safe for now too. But temps are expected to soar into the high 90's again today which does not bode well for fire fighting so we will see what the day brings. The good thing is though, that the winds have died down today, which obviously helps keep the fire from spreading quickly and erratically. Let's hope and pray the winds stay calm today and that the firefighters are able to contain the fire completely.

On a much needed good note, long time friends of ours, birthed a healthy baby boy yesterday. Congratulations Goodies! Ahhhh.... brand new life.... it brings much hope!

POTTY TRAINED!

It is official... Audrey has gone a whole week not wearing diapers during the daytime! It is a whole new era for us!

No more of my running around after her with a diaper in hands as if the diaper has come alive and the opening of the diaper has become a mouth singing:

"I like lil' buts and I can not lie,
I like to keep them dry
If you do pee,
oh you will see
that you will stay real dry."

"CAN I PLAY WITH MY COCKROACHES MOM?"

Most people get dogs...cats... birds...or...even fish for pets, but NOOOO not OUR family - we get COCKROACHES!

Zane got these two lovely hideous things a while back. He wants to be an entomologist when he gets older. So when our neighbor approached us with the glorious opportunity of becoming the proud owners or should I say care givers( that's more p.c. right?) of Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches, Scott laid the final decision on me and Zane laid the heavy pressure on me. So the choice was all mine to make. That's just great! Let me be the crusher of my child's dreams. Thanks Scott!

My first reaction was absolutely NO WAY!!! For one, well... because of the obvious... they are COCKROACHES and who in their right mind voluntarily has roaches in their house AND feeds them so they'll stay alive and grow no less, but also because I had the misfortune a few years back to have a three-inch brown cockroach crawl all the way up my leg straight to my hip. When I put my hand in my pocket, I felt a crumbled up piece of paper. I searched deeper into my pocket to find the balled up paper, that's when the crunchy paper MOVED! "THERE'S A BUG IN MY PANTS!" I screamed as I ripped off my jeans in hysteria right there in the middle of the kitchen with guests over and everything. I DID NOT CARE! I hopped around pants free, bare legs flailing everywhere, screaming, at the top of my lungs which caused a chain reaction. My girl friend then started screaming, then her mom started screaming and then Scott walked in the room to find out what all the commotion was, only to find his crazy wife dancing around half nude in a room full of screaming girls. All that to say - I don't care for cockroaches much. Actually, I abhor them. They know it too. They are out to get me.

But what do you do when your kid wants to be an entomologist? Denying him these bugs would be the equivalent to my mom denying me drawing pencils and paints as a kid (that's what my guilt ridden brain told me anyway) So I reluctantly accepted our neighbor's generous gift and now... we have bugs for pets. But I will tell you, if those huge bugs ever get out of their cage, I WILL without hesitation be the crusher of Zane's dreams in a heartbeat. There will be no more bugs getting in this girl's pants- that's for sure!

MY 2¢ ON STINKINESS

Zane spilled a small bottle of milk in the car earlier this week. The 70 degree weather we've been having was just the perfect temperature to bake the spillage into a ripe huge, enveloping vomit inducing smell. Just rolling down the windows and talking to Zane's teacher from the curb as I picked Zane up from school caused his teacher to back away rapidly in disgust. "Oh, don't mind us we're just the smelly family!"

Well, I found this stuff called 'Kids and Pets' that I just squirted onto the spoiled spill under the seat and by the end of the day the smell was GONE, completely gone. So there you go a little tid bit from the smelly family.

WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?

Please someone... tell me why anyone in their right mind slashes tires!

I woke up this morning to find our car which was parked on the street last night complete with two flat tires and several box cutter puncture wounds. ARGHHHHHH! I am so angry!

I guess I will start the much procrastinated workout plan today by walking Zane to school all the way up the ONE MILE ....STEEP... STEEP...HILL and then I will walk back down the steep hill to find out just how steep two brand new tires are. ARGHHHHH.

Did I mention I was angry!?