The Frito Lay Truck

It's been about 35 years since my dad had a Frito route. Every afternoon after work he would back the truck into the driveway. Except on Halloween. On Halloween he parked front-end-in. I think about that every year. I hate Halloween.

Are you shittin me?

Tomorrow's forecast for Long Island: Snow flurries. Excuse me while I go throw up. (Justin - stop laughing.)

It's just too sad

My kids lost the baby. My heart is breaking for them. There are no more words.

How does "G-mom" sound?

Since a mere few seconds after learning that I am going to be a grandma, I have been wracking my brain to come up with an actual title with which I would be comfortable hearing myself be addressed. I am not liking the traditional "grandma," "grammy," "granny," "nana," "nanny" or any other of those variations. I'm much too "hip" for that! (No, I didn't say I broke my hip). I'm too young, peppy, modern, active. What does everyone think about "G-mom?" I think I like it!!

Opinions, please........

Does anyone else out there suffer from SAD?

Now that my extended summer is really over, the reality of the upcoming winter months is looming overhead. Here comes the SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) and yes, it really does get worse every year.

It's already dark by 6:00 and in another week or so, it will be 5:00. This is when I fall into that "woe is me, I hate the winter so much" mood. I already have to warm up the car in the morning and just now, much to my chagrin, I turned on the heat in the house. I usually try to wait until November, but it's friggin cold.

I already had to use the static guard or else I would show up at work with my clothes clutching my skin as if they are afraid to let go. They must know something I don't. My toes are very angry at me for being squished inside the boots instead of having the freedom of the flip flops I wore all summer. My beautiful palm tree tattoo must remain covered up. And let me tell you - a turtle neck sweater is no picnic to don when you are having a hot flash!

Oh well - only 19 weeks til spring training!

Baby update

After a terrifying ordeal where the baby's heartbeat was not showing up on a sonogram (boy did that worry turn me into an official "grandma" in a hurry!), it was determined that the pregnancy is two weeks earlier than originally thought. Which means, we have just now reached the 6 week mark and the first flitter of the heartbeat was seen by mommy and daddy late last week. More updates after the next sonogram (Monday, 10/27).



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Speaking of memories....

Rest in peace, Gary. Thanks for being my first boyfriend. Although I was a mere child at the age of 14, somethings you just never forget...

And now it's over....

Back to work today and already the trip is just a memory. I have a few more pictures to post from the last day, the front and back of the shirts we designed and, Kathy doesn't know this, but this is a picture of her plane just before she left to go home!

Clearwater beach days 4 and 5

We have been so busy having way too much fun that it's been two days since I've posted anything - much to catch up on.

On Sunday we went aboard the Starlight Yacht for a two hour all-you-can-eat brunch cruise around the bay, the intercoastal and the gulf. (See pics below.) It was absolutely amazing and the weather could not have been better.

In the evening we went on the Kai Lani catamaran for a sunset sail around the same waters. It started out just lovely and just as we approached the gulf, the captain announced that he did not like the way the clouds looked. He thought it better to head back to the pier. So back we went. On the way back we saw a beautiful rainbow (pics below). Just before we got to the pier, the sky opened up and it poured (nothing like a Florida rainstorm). We were absolutely soaked!! We went into the car to warm up and wait out the storm. 20 minutes later we set sail again, but the captain still wasn't liking the sky, so instead of heading into the gulf and letting the main sail take us away, we stayed in the intercoastal and the bay, just cruising and trying to look into people's houses!! (pics below). It truly was a remarkable day.

In the evening, we played spades again. Although I hate to admit this, the truth must be told and here it is: Kathy is the undefeated reigning champ, beating us both nights. (Yes honey, and mom, I lost twice - major bummer). I was going to lie and say I let her win, but I figured after all these years, I owe her this much!

On Monday, we relaxed at the pool for a few hours and finally got the color that you're supposed to have when you're a vacationer in Florida (see pics below). Then after days of brainstorming and creativity, we finally came up with the design for our tee shirt!! Anne and I were on our way to the tee shirt shop, when "the incident" occured........as I was backing out of the parking spot, the front passenger side panel scraped along the car port pole and did a bit of damage to the car. I have decided that I should probably surrender my license, as there is no one to blame for this one but myself.....i'm so bummed.

Anyhow, we then headed down to the beach and had dinner at Sheppards - an all-you-can-eat dinner buffet that literally had EVERYTHING from soup to nuts. Delicious and great service. Afterwards we headed onto the beach for fantastic sunset pictures - see below. That is it. We are now in the house, all packed up, catching up on the playoff games and being bummed that we are headed back to reality in 12 hours!

(P.S) - I forgot to mention that we all got matching ankle bracelets (how silly) and on the yacht, we were surprised with a 50th birthday platter (how sweet)

(P.P.S) - remember - if you double click on the photos, they will enlarge - this may or may not be flattering for some of us!!!!

This pic is for my step son, Josh

Hey Josh - check out this car I thought I'd get you for Christmas.......

Clearwater Beach day three - continued

This morning we enjoyed a real country breakfast at a great place around the corner called McCabes. There's nothing like good ole home-style sausage gravy and biscuts to help eleviate the problem caused by too much cheese the past two days!!!!

After breakfast we headed up to Port Richey to have a short visit with Justin and Vanessa. We spent a couple of hours with them (and Prada Puppy of course). Their new apartment is quite lovely and they have made a very happy life for themselves. (See pictures below). Sorry Vee - I had to post just this one, please forgive me.

After leaving there, we went to the sponge docks in Tarpon Springs to do some much needed souvenir shopping (yeah, right - much needed). We became honorary hat club members and look what happened to Kathy when she donned the small brimmed hat....she aged 30 years, if she aged a day!! I sported a large floppy hat to go with my large floppy over inflated ego, to which Kathy responded with a SNUB. Anne chose the simpler blue canvass tiny brimmed cap to match her ice blue eyes, which gave her the appearance of being in the NYC fish market. What a lovely hat club membership we made - don't you think?

We ate in a fantastic greek restaurant called Santorinos. Probably the best gyro I've ever had (yes, honey, even better than the one in the city that day). We came back to the condo early, and were in our pjs by 6:30 - OH MY GOD, WE'RE SO OLD!!!!

We played a game of three handed spades. This was no ordinary card game. We were three drunken 50 year olds who were perfectly sober. In other words there was plenty of cursing, spitting, burping and even flatuence and at one point, Anne had Fred Flintstone feet with Superman hands, after tripping over her own shoes, and landing head first onto the coffee table. (Susan, we owe you a coffee table - I guess we should have listened to you and moved it LOL). I swear there was NO alcohol involved!! We had, cookies, ice cream, salsa and chips even though we were so full from dinner we wanted to puke. Pictures of this last event to be posted another day. For now, here's some other shots to enjoy: (if you double click on the photos, they will enlarge for easier viewing).

















P.S. Susan - the next time you offer us your condo for free, we would appreciate the following additional provisions:

1. A big screen tv (minimum 48")
2. a sturdier coffee table (see above comment regarding Anne's fall)
3. The sunroom needs to be finished
4. A new, larger, modern couch
5. a clock in the living room
6. a stocked refrigerator
7. A large can of Lysol in each bathroom

Thank you for your anticipated cooperation.

Clearwater Beach Day 3

Here are just a couple more pictures, of course there was the geicko of the day, the rules of the pool, which we made sure to break almost all of, and yes, at nearly 50, I can still do a perfect handstand in the water, thank you very much, too bad the photographer cut off my perfectly pointed toes, the other pics are from Frenchy's Rockaway Grille on Clearwater beach.

It is now time to watch the Tampa Bay Rays try to even up the series against Boston, so stay tuned for more in a day or so.

P.S. - A note to Caryl - we are not doing any of the things you asked about!!! Just mostly eating and shopping!!

Day two continued - day three begins

We decided to get tee shirts made up to honor the big 5-0 celebration. We spent some time with the tee shirt shop guy and then some time online and then some good old fashioned brainstorming with pen and paper (my dad would have loved that) and we came up with a fabulous idea. You'll have to wait for the pictures to see more about that.

We also went back to the pier, had dinner at Frenchy's Rockaway Grille on the beach (for my Long Island readers, it's a lot like LaCasa). Then back to the peer for more shopping (different vendors) and wonderful street performers. What a fun time.

Today we are headed up to Port Richey for a quick visit with my son, Justin and his fiance, Vanessa and of course, Prada Puppy. Afterwards we will shoot over to Tarpon Springs for more eating and shopping.

More pictures to follow, I'm just too lazy right now.

P.S. A big hug to Caryl for saying that we all look the same. On behalf of the half of the Commack Clan that is here to the half that is not - we miss you.

another tatto

No, mom - I did not get another tattoo. That narrows it down to either Kathy or Anne. If you look carefully at the rest of the pictures you will see who it was, and that it was not real!!!! I told you - I am a good girl!!

clearwater day two

Lounging at the pool after bagels and conversation in the morning...i had to promise not to post pictures of anyone wearing a bathing suit (oh brother), so i will do my best to describe us:

Anne is donning a lvely two piece navy and aqua blue tank and skort type as seen in your most recent chadwicks calendar. While Kathy chose the all too familiar black and white of a similar genre. She is now floating on a hot pink a "noodle" and reminds me of the old ladies at my mom's pool!!!

Soon it's back to the condo for some cheese and crackers and maybe some wine for them (not me, mom). Then we will be off to St. Pete's to walk around the shops and delve into all the other tourist-trap type activities!!!!

Kathy has been trying her hardest to get us discounts all over by telling everyone we are celebrating our 50th birthdays, but alas, no one has taken the bait. I think it is because no one believes we are 50 because we look too fabulous!!

Things I've learned on this trip so far: 1) Anne snores and 2) Kathy cannont hear.


More later........

the story behind the pictures

day one: Anne and I arrived in Tampa approximately 1:00. We quickly learned that Kathy's flight was delayed half an hour so we stopped for hot dogs (Nathan's, perhaps) in the airport - deeee licious! We scurried on down to the baggage claim where we finally met up with Kathy, picked up the car, plugged in the GPS and were on our way. Arrival at the condo - approximately 2:30. A quick unpacking, a couple of phone calls and off to the supermarket for some provisions. Back to the condo, put away the goodies and off to Clearwater beach for dinner. We ate at Crabby Bills and then walked pier 60 where they had lovely hand made crafts and such for sale. Fun was had by all and then back to the condo - pjs and ice cream. What could be better?

clearwater beach - day one