The Fish In My Pool

Lately there have been all kinds of cute things in my pool….

What do you do to stay cool in the summer?

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Interview Series ~ Mom

My Mom

While brainstorming about what to write blogs about, I wanted to find a way for my readers to get to know some of the awesome people who I know.  The best way I could come up with was an interview series.

Meet my Mom.  We met at my birth.  (obviously!)  She’s one of the most kind-hearted people I know.  Always willing to lend a helping hand.  So… without further ado – here is my Mom. 

Name: Mom

Age: 69

Location: My house –> Dutchess County, NY

Hails from: Pennsylvania

Me, Mom & Dad with my Aunt Rita in the front. She's my God-Mother.

Relationship Status: Happily Married for 49 years

Children: 4 – 3 sons & 1 daughter

Occupation: Takin’ it easy & lovin’ it!  spoiling my Grandkids – both 2 & 4 legged

What is the most challenging part of your job? Finding the nearest couch

If you could spend an evening with anyone from history, who would it be? Jesus Christ

What do you miss most about your childhood? Walking to the brook and swimming with the neighborhood kids.

What’s a goal in life you have yet to accomplish? Getting to heaven

What 5 things in life could you not live without? My husband and 4 kids

What’s your favorite snack? Drumstick Ice Cream Cones (not the chicken variety)

What super power do you wish you had? I’d love to be able to fly without stepping foot on an airplane.

What is your favorite movie? Ben Hur

How did you meet Dad? By remembering that the quickest way to get to a man’s heart is through his stomach!

What are your favorite flowers? I like roses, daisies, peonies, and gladiolas.
Author’s Note: Thank goodness she didn’t name me after any of the other 3!!!

Who was your best friend growing up? Patsy

What was your favorite subject in high school? Math – I still enjoy puzzles with numbers like Sudoku.

Who’s your favorite grandchild? Elizabeth, Anne, Katie, Sofia, Jacob, Frank & Bella.  (Bella’s my 4 legged grandchild)

Where would you like to visit that you’ve never been? Greece

The Sistine Chapel

Where was the most interesting place you’ve ever visited? The Sistine Chapel

What is your favorite holiday and why? Christmas – for a few reasons.  I love to see happy children, I like Christmas music, our Christmas mass is always nice, and Rose usually cooks Christmas dinner.

Mom & her Mother (My Grandmother)

Who’s your hero? My Mother was.  She had 9 children (I was the youngest), 30 grandchildren, 50+ great-grandchildren, and a number of great-great grandchildren before she passed away at 102 years old.  (And she remembered ALL of their names!!)

What is your favorite song? How Great Thou Art

Where do you go for your favorite ice cream? Holy Cow

Mom & her sister Rita (my God-mother)

What would you like to know about my Mom?

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The Weeklies ~ Week 24

The Weekly Re-cap: We talked about free days to visit national parks this summer.  I showed you adorable videos of Isabella’s 1st time in the pool.  I passed along some household tips and tricks and we talked about personal strengths.  We grooved along to tellingdad.com‘s Say the Things song about how much us blogger-folk love comments.  I asked what inspires you and needed help captioning a funny photo….

The Weekly Movie: I’ve been watching the Back to the Future movies.  They never get old.  (See my How Does The Space Time Continuum Effect You blog)

The Weekly Downer: It rained much of the week up in Lake George, NY and soaked Americade.  😦

The Weekly Beverage: Bartles & Jaymes pomegranate raspberry wine coolers and Spag’s famous Bloody Marys 🙂

The Weekly Food: We had fresh fruit with our friends Angela & Phil earlier in the week.  Yesterday while we were visiting Old Forge, NY we stopped at Slicker’s Tavern and had spicy peel-and-eat shrimp and a yummy French Dip sandwich.  I wish I’d have taken pictures!!!

The Weekly Amazing Fact: “Almost” is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.

The Sushi Lovers Birthday Cake!! http://geekadelphia.com/2008/07/22/sushi-cake-delicious-not-made-of-fish/

The Weekly Birthdays: Emily Romanchak, Kelly Gardner, Stacy Lynn, Chrissy Mason LaCato, Jessica VanTassel, Kevin Crouth, Natalie Falk, Joni Choi, Aaron Greene (30), and Christine Bard Cole.  I hope you all had wonderful birthday celebrations!  Leave a comment and tell me what you did for your special day.

The Weekly Activity: Motorcycle riding with Michael and our friends.  We rode to Old Forge, NY.

Harley Davidson ~ Faded Glory

The Weekly Shoes: Harley Davidson Faded Glory Motorcycle Boots.

The Weekly new people I’ve found on Twitter: Telling Dad, Jaime-Ann Laidlaw, Kim Komando, and The Daily Puppy.

The Weekly Charity I’m Pimping: Sweet Dreams Fund that Telling Dad started.  With your support children who arrive at domestic violence shelters to escape abuse, will be greeted with their own pillow, pillowcase, coloring book, box of crayons and a teddy bear.  If you would like to read about what inspired Greg to start this fund you can read here.

Weekly Grand Totals: Miles on the Bike: 400ish….

Tell me what you did that was exciting this week.

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Isabella In The Pool!

Isabella went in the pool for the first time ever!!  She did so well!!

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Interview Series ~ Cute~Ella is Bold

Cute~Ella Is Bold

While brainstorming about what to write blogs about, I wanted to find a way for my readers to get to know some of the awesome people who I know.  The best way I could come up with was an interview series.

Meet my friend Cute~Ella Is Bold.  Cute~Ella is a great gal who I met through a social networking group I’m part of.  Since we’ve met she’s proven to be a great friend who knows how to listen and can give un-biased advice when it’s needed.  So… without further ado – here is Cute~Ella.  🙂

Name: Cute~Ella is Bold

Age: Closing in on 30 faster than my mother would like.  (Turning 30 on Saturday!)

Location: Upstate NY. Yes, there is one of those. It’s actually quite large.

Hails From: East Bum-fuck NY – within an hour radius of Oneonta, NY

Relationship Status: Newly not single.

Children: None of my own yet, I’m enjoying letting my friends have turns, planning baby showers and spoiling their kids.

Blog Link: http://cuteellaisbold.wordpress.com

Cute~Ella Is Bold

Occupation: My real job isn’t exciting. It’s supposed to make an impact, but all it really impacts for the most part is my company’s bottom line. Also, I spend a lot of time in bathing suits either teaching midgets not to drown or refining bigger midgets strokes by yelling things like “reach!”. “kick!”, “glide!”, “breathe!” and various other things across the pool.

What is the most challenging part of your job? My real job? Not quitting because I’m bored and need a change…swimming lessons is more like play time, but I’d have to say not getting kicked, flashing boobs when the little ones grab my bathing suit straps and or not getting spit on when they come up for air.

How did you get into blogging? I started blogging in 2004 for no reason I can remember now, then my friend passed away and I found that it was a good distraction and when I needed to get stuff off my chest it was a good way to do so.

Why did you move to the Capital District? I came up for college and for various and sundry reasons, just haven’t left yet.

What thoughts went through your mind when you found our your little brother was getting deployed to Iraq? He was deployed to Iraq in Oct ’08.  It was complicated because I was so proud of him and what he was doing, but at the same time I was so scared for him.  I eventually put it up to Fate that he was well-trained, focused and that he would be home again.  My parents were more worried and I think part of the reason I was alright for the most part was because I was more focused on being there for them coordinating Christmas and my Dad’s retirement party than anything else.
Of course I worried all the time and started crocheting because it was the one thing I could do and not think about what he was doing and where he was.  Also, I started working out with a friend and that took my mind off what was going on because she was trying to kick my ass regularly.
I can say though that the training camps and being out of touch for long periods of time helped.  Also, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been because we had internet connections on both ends and he and I had a deal that we didn’t have to talk or email, but I had to see that he had logged into My Space on a regular basis or I’d worry more.  He’s all about me not worrying.

I know you like crocheting.  What is the most complicated project you’ve completed? Haha complicated? I don’t really do complicated.  I do hats and scarves and I’m going to do a couple blankets for soon to be arriving bundles of joy.  I am going to try making a poncho type thing for my niece.  See the problem is, I don’t really know how to read patterns, I just play with different yarns and/or materials and hope for the best!

What’s it like being a swim instructor? Have you ever tried corralling cats?  Kidding.  I love it.  I teach little kids basics and have fun refining older kids strokes.  Sometimes it’s wicked stressful but it’s almost always fun.  Every time a kid “gets” it, it’s a personal victory.  I liked my special needs kids the best, but right now we don’t have a special needs program at the pool I’m at.  Also, it’s quite inspiring to know I have to be in a bathing suit so many nights a week…keeps the inner fat chick at bay.

Do you find that kids are well-behaved because they enjoy time in the water? Sometimes.  They try to be good for me, but some kids are just rambunctious or are facing other things that make it difficult.  After 15 years of doing this, frankly, if no one drowns and we all learn something new, then I consider it a good day.  I had some kids years ago we’ll call Igor and Namanja (because those are their actual names) and they were terrible.  If we could make it through a class without they punching each other, trying to hold the other ones head under water or kicking each other in the junk then it was a seriously successful day.  They were hands down the worst children I had ever met.  I have often wondered what was going on to make them act out like that

How large are your classes? Up to 8 kids at a time.  If I have more than 6 they give me a helper.  My current one is awesome, but I fear that he will realize how good he is and want his own class.  Then they’ll give me someone new to break in.

What do you do if you get a bad kid? There are no “bad” kids.  I have kids that misbehave, kids that are going through a lot of changes in their life outside of class, kids who don’t want to be there, and kids who have trouble paying attention.  When they misbehave they get a warning, if they do it again they have to sit out of the pool, and after that if they do it again they get out for the day.  I’ve only had to tell one parent in my current program that if their kid doesn’t get better at listening/behaving then they can not return next session.  The parent took it well because at this point, they’re just wasting money.

Cute~Ella Is Bold

What book has had an impact on how you think about life? Oh gosh, so many books! I don’t even know where to start.  PS I Love You by Cecelia Ahern hit home hard.  When I read it, I had just lost a dear friend of mine/ex-boyfriend to complications from his lung replacement and it was just a really meaningful book to read right then and there.  The Lorax by Dr. Seuss when I was little and it really did help form an opinion of “different is ok or even good” at an early age, my Intro to Semiotics class book in college – it really changed my view on word usage, and then a book in college about how a message is affected by the media used and mode of communication.  That was really fun to play with.  An example of this is the song “Good Riddance“, by Green Day. it’s a song we all know and most of us have loved or at least even liked, but if you read the lyrics with any degree of anger it’s not a happy goodbye, it’s the ultimate F*ck You.  (You might only know the song by it’s secondary title of “Time of Your Life”.)
I’m working in Ishmael by Daniel Quinn right now.  It’s about a Gorilla who has the meaning of life.  I try to take something meaningful/educational from every book I read.  Even the trashy novels.  It might not be the message the author intended, but I get something out of it all.
I just finished reading Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore.  It’s religious satire at it’s finest.  The writer is either drunk, stoned or crazy – or some combination of the three.  (and I say that with the utmost admiration and respect for his talents.)

What do you worry about? I am a worrier by nature.  I want my friends and family to be happy, healthy and loved. I worry about my parents, my siblings, my friends and their troubles and about finding a new job before I go completely nutso here.  I worry that I don’t have it in me to make it through the next year with my guy, but I’ll find a way… I worry about money, if I’m eating the right food, if my car is going to die.  Maybe worry isn’t the right word for some of it, but there’s a lot of passing concern and thought.

What do you miss most about your childhood? The only thing I miss  about my childhood is the simplicity and reading by the pool every day all summer while I life-guarded (rarely had patrons).  I don’t want to go back and relive high-school, I wasn’t a typical kid.  My parents divorced when I was really little and I had a more adult role from about the age of 5.  I was then raising my kid sister (we have different moms) at 14 on weekends… my parents actually considered letting me take the GED and leave high-school to start college at 16.

Cute~Ella Is Bold

What’s a goal in your life you have yet to accomplish? Figuring out what I want to do with the rest of my life. I’m not sure I’ll ever figure that out to tell you the truth.  Right now my goals include saving 6 months worth of living expenses, making sure my friends, family, and new guy know how much I care about them, finding a job that I like more, working on the 101 in 1,001 Days, and finding a way to relax on vacation.  I don’t do relaxed very well. 😦

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