covert cookie deal

March 13, 2015Leave a comment

We have almost delivered all of Maria’s Girl Scout cookies – thank god. What a task it was this year with the ridiculously cold temperatures. Ri and I were relegated to packing the boxes of cookies in my car and delivering them rather than walking them door to door. Bethany was a savior and worked with Ri for two hours sorting boxes for each house.

By the time I got home in the evening it was dark outside. We loaded up a couple of boxes, threw on a scarf and hat and gloves, and made our way over to the next street for our deliveries. No one was outside due to the cold weather. It was a pitch black winter night. The street looked ominous without any people walking and with the street lights out. I pulled up in the driveway of the first house and Ri jumped out with two boxes of Thin Mints.

“How much do they owe you”, I asked her.

“$8!”

She scurried up to the door and knocked. A tall man opened the door and invited her in while he got his money to pay her. She slipped out into the night minutes later and rushed to my car. She handed me the money.

I couldn’t help but feel that we had just completed a covert drug deal. Not that I have any experience with such an operation but I have seen them on tv and at the movies. I told Ri how I felt and she looked at me in horror.

“Mom! Seriously?!”

But my girl doesn’t miss a beat. As we pulled in the driveway of the next house, I jostled the cookie boxes trying to find a Samoas and a Do Si Do.

“Hurry up, Mom, I gotta get the deal done.” God, I love her.

zoom zoom

March 9, 2015Leave a comment

Go, go, go, go.

This is my default mantra. I have invested in many a self-help book to help me stay, stay, stay, stay but they have not worked. I’m hoping this year may at least bring one “stay”. Plantar fasciitis and a hamstring sprain will likely assist with this goal.

And I wonder why Ri can’t sit still for too long … except to play barbies. She fidgets when she reads a book, which she really despises doing at this age. She chows down her food and is ready to move away from the table within ten minutes of the start of dinner. And Mario is even worse. He can’t wait until the commercials so he can wrestle with me until the show resumes. And if we can get three bites of food in him before he pops up out of his chair to run around, it’s a miracle.

“You did too much with them when they were little. It’s no wonder they always want to move.” I hear this from numerous friends and family. And I ponder “hmmm, should I have stayed home and read more to them on the weekends? Should I have not trekked over to Pittsburgh with them and showed them all over the city in a 48 hour period? Should I have made them have an obligatory hour rest period in their rooms? Should I have not walked down to the river with them every Sunday and trucked rocks home for us to paint all day? Should I have made them sit in the grocery store cart rather than let them roam the aisles and explore?

Ri and Mario headed to Boy Scout camp last weekend. My neighbor graciously took them on Friday night and I met up with them on Saturday. When I arrived in the morning, Ri was playing with two other girls and Mario was playing ping pong with a gang of boys. My friend approached me as I trekked through the door; she couldn’t stop raving about M&M.

“They are so polite and listen to me more than my own kids! And they had a blast with all the other kids – they didn’t cry or get sad about you not being here at all!”

She proceeded to tell me how they had no fear; they both hopped on their sleds and zoomed down the hills; helped prep for dinner; took on challenges in ping pong; and engaged with everyone. As we were talking, Mario jumped in front of me and gave me a hug. Then he was off for more ping pong. I didn’t see Ri until I took my bags into the girls dorm room. She was jumping back and forth on the bunk beds giggling with her friends. She was the ring leader.

After a few rounds of s’mores late into the evening, I laid myself down in my bottom bunk bed. I stared up at Ri sleeping caddy corner from me. Her head was inches from the edge of the bed and there were no guard rails. I leapt out of bed and scooched her body all the way over to the wall. I laid back down and chuckled. Here I am worried half to death about her falling from the top bunk yet I allow her to run free at the grocery store and barrel down the steep neighborhood hill on her scooter.

The next morning, the kids continued their sledding fun. As we ate breakfast, they asked what’s on the agenda for the rest of the day. “Nothing at all,” I report to them. I see their pupils float up towards their eyelids, deep in thought.

Old Man Winter

February 21, 2015Leave a comment

These days grow longer and longer. It is flippin’ freezing outside; you know it’s been a rough ride when you see the temperature will be 16 degrees and you are excited. I can’t drag the kids outside with me in the evening to walk Rocco because I would be accused of child endangerment. I can barely head out there with Rocco for more than fifteen minutes. My poor toes have steadily remained purple through the days. All I can say is that sweet Spring cannot get here soon enough. I will embrace it and not let go. I will not complain when we have 90 degree, humid weather this Summer. Just get me out of this frozen tundra.

There have been some highlights to the last few weeks – thank goodness for these kids and their activities; they force us to get out when we would be hibernating.

On February 11, Maria had her first play. She played Susan B. Anthony and had a whoppin’ three lines. But she rocked it – she was one of the few kids who you could hear (thanks, Heile family). She got on line and found a colonial costume to wear for the show and a hilarious white wig. Grandma Ionno, Grandma Lolo and Aunt Sarah, Jorge and Elena showed up to see her in action. She did not seem nervous as she waited for the play to begin; rather, she ran around with her friends and laughed. She was annoyed with me and Grandma trying to get pictures of her. She was nervous about one thing – that Elena would start wailing during the performance. Elena tried to do that but Sarah swopped her out the back doors before she could get a good one out. We cheered hard for her after the performance; she shot us a quick glance but focused all her energy on Luka (Bethany brought him to see the show). Afterwards, we took the actress to Barley’s for her much loved ribs and beans.

On February 13, the kids celebrated Valentine’s Day at their schools. Ri took in tattoos and Mario took in Sponge Bob. I had bought them mustaches on a stick that said “I mustahce you as a Valentine.” They were adorable. Both Maria and Mario were appalled at the the thought of giving them to the respective opposite sex. “That would be so embarrassing mom!” So back to Target we went for the tattoos and SpongeBob cards. Boring. Ri got ice cream sundaes at her party; she did not care that I did not come. On the other hand, Mario begged me to attend his, which I happily did. You can’t walk away from those parties with a sour attitude. The kids are too dang cute and so excited about making heart-shaped towers and paper flowers.

On February 14, Ri had a pool party for her friend Janira at Westerville pool. They stayed there from 12:30 until 5. She got pizza and ice cream and cake and non-stop pool action. When I came to get them at 4 pm, they begged to stay for another hour. They all tried to jump in an inner tube together without tipping over, which failed every time. But they had a blast and it was great to be in a heated pool area and see bathing suits!

On February 17, Ri had her skate party with 10 friends. Mario got to attend, also (Ri let him use one of her friend passes for one of his friends). The moms may have had more fun than the kids…. I was happy to see many of the moms head out on the rink with me. The girls all did a great job skating and falling. No broken bones. Ri greeted all of the girls as they trickled in at different times – she is a good host. Mario tried to help Rohan skate but it was not easy. So the two of them ended up playing games the entire time. Mario was not disappointed about that.

On February 19 and 20, the kids got off school due to the extremely cold temperatures. Bums. They were so psyched up. On Thursday, Bethany took them to Galaxy Games and Golf from 3 pm until 9 pm. They played tag and hide-n-seek and Mario won 1000 tickets. He was so pumped up. On Friday, Mario feigned illness to stay home with Jon and Bethany and Ri went to COSI. Not bad for two days off of school.

On February 21, we got seven inches of snow! The world turned white and Rocco couldn’t get enough of it. I am surprised his nose did not freeze off as much as he dug into the snow with it. Ri and I took him on a walk up to Grandview Grind and he leapt with joy, literally, throughout the entire walk. We visited Ri’s friend and their new pup and Rocco found a playmate. They played great together. Ri ended up staying at Anna’s house while I walked Rocco home. The neighbors were making a giant snowman in the front yard. I walked in the door and told Mario we had to go sledding. There is a small hill by his school that I knew was open. He shook his head no and told me he didn’t feel like it. I kept prodding him until he finally got on his jeans and sweatshirt. He had to wear his Cabella’s overalls and coat since we don’t have any snow pants that fit him. He was all stressed out about how he would look.

“No one else will be wearing this, mom. I will look stupid!”

This boy is more concerned about his looks than I ever have been. Jon and I reassured him that he would be fine. If someone laughed, he should ignore them. Each person is unique. I don’t think he so much agreed with us than he just wanted to shut us up so he threw on his boots and headed to the car. It was funny because Ri showed up with her friend, Anna to sled an hour after we arrived and she had on a huge pair of brown bib overalls that did not fit her at all but she could have cared less. They all had a blast going down the hill, engaging in a massive snow ball fight, and making a ramp to jump over.

It was so beautiful today because although we had seven inches of snow it was 33 degrees so you could go outside without your face freezing off. Tomorrow the high is 23 degrees and I think it starts to plummet even worse Monday on. I keep telling the kiddos to have dreams about Spring flowers and birds chirping and open windows with a warm breeze wafting in, and maybe that will help move old Man Winter along.

But we’d be amiss if we did not thank Old Man Winter for giving us the snow to play in today.

Cooking with Ri

February 6, 2015Leave a comment

My junior chef and I produced another wonderful creation this week. Ri loves to cook; she definitely takes after her Aunt Sarah. And she loves to cook healthy, which cracks me up since all I wanted at age 9 were hot dogs and potato chips.
But here we were cutting up cauliflower and broccoli and brussel sprouts to add to pasta. We tossed the veggies in olive oil and sea salt and placed them on a cookie sheet to roast in the oven for 20 minutes. We boiled some pasta (fiber plus white pasta since Ri hates wheat – just like her dad) and saved one cup of the water we used to boil the pasta. Then it was as simple as mixing the veggies and the pasta with the water and olive oil and feta cheese. Sprinkle a bit more sea salt and pepper and thyme and it was ready!

Ri and I sat down at the table together and toasted to another successful dinner creation, that included three veggies even! She’s carried me a long way from my hot dog and chips’ days.
Bon A Petit!

Sunday Woods Day

February 4, 2015Leave a comment

Ri and Mario held me hostage Sunday morning. They would not let me go to yoga or run Rocco. They forced me to make a plate full of chocolate chip pancakes while they both cooked me some delicious over easy and sunny side up eggs.

Being held hostage ended up being a delight. Eggs and pancakes and hilarity out of the hostage-takers’ mouths. Mario cracked me up when he got out the crossword puzzle to work on while eating his breakfast. “Grandma Ionno does the crossword everyday so I will, too,” he told me.

After breakfast, Ri did my hair while I tried to tickle Mario as he rolled all over me (one of his favorite games with me). Rocco started to get wild by this time and began jumping on me and the couch and Mario and anything else he could as a way to tell us he wanted to go outside. I informed the hostage-takers that they needed to take Rocco on a walk to the woods with me before he tore up the couch or broke a bone in one of us by all his mad hopping. With a little pushing from dad, they agreed. We bundled up and headed off to the woods, which turned out to be a delightful hour of exploring and creating.
There is nothing better than watching your children use their imaginations while in nature. They found a few makeshift tents made with sticks and fallen branches. Mario thought the trolls had made them. Maria winked at me while she agreed with him. Maria found a stick with a rock tied to to it. She proceeded to tell me that it had to have been made years ago. She let Mario use it to cut wood (when asked why he was cutting wood, he had no purpose – just the sheer thrill of cutting into something). They found a half-enclosed area with a log in it and decided they wanted to work on fixing it up. Ri and I rolled a second log down the path so they’d have two to rest on as they worked on their fire pit. I was complaining about how heavy the log was to roll and Ri chirped “you’re getting a workout in, be happy!”

Mario worked on his firepit and positioned the sticks along the border of the shelter while Ri gathered more materials. I made sure Rocco didn’t destroy their creation. He can’t stay away from a good stick.
I had to drag the kids out of the woods at 11:30 so Mario could make his b-ball game. I told them to remember how much fun they just had so that next time I asked them to come with me, they wouldn’t whine about going out in the cold. They rolled their eyes at me and I yanked them both close to me for a hug. Rocco was up at the end of the trail gnawing on a huge branch he found. I looked up at the blue sky and knew the day was gonna be great.

Girls and Boys

February 1, 20152 Comments

The boys and girls split up early yesterday morning. Ri and I left at 8 am for her indoor soccer game and Mario and Jon left at 8:45 am for Mario’s basketball game. Ri took me up on my advice to get more aggressive, at least somewhat. She went for the ball a few more times than last week. Slowly but surely….
After soccer, we stopped at Starbucks and got my coffee. Ri wanted to try something new so we got her a chai latte. She loved it.

We saw the boys off to go hunting (Mario was so excited) and got to work cleaning the house. All the salt and snow had been tracked in and it was driving me nuts. Ri agreed to do the toilets and I did the floors. As we began, she looked at me with a rag in her hand and mused “Susan B. Anthony would be shaking her head at us doing the cleaning in the house after everything she fought for on behalf of women.” Touché. I explained to her that we are doing it of our own choosing and the boys would definitely be folding laundry when they got home.
After finishing the household chores, we settled down for a mani/pedi in the kitchen. Ri wasn’t too concerned about this activity when I said “why should girls feel they have to get their nails done and not boys?!” Her response: “boys should get them, too.” I had told Ri that we could go to CK Nails but she responded ” why don’t we save money and just do them for each other?” That’s my girl. And so she arranged the kitchen as a nail salon with two trays and chairs and polish, clippers, files, moisturizer, towels, and bowls of water. She gave me my mani/pedi first. I have to act like I’m in her salon and she tells me about all the famous people she treats at her salon. She informed me that I had large veins in my hands which was a sign of stress. I needed to take it easy (her way of getting me to sit with her all afternoon). She finished my hands and moved onto my feet. Yowzer! She had her hands full with my feet. They are definitely runners’ feet. She kept her game face on though as she worked on them since she didn’t want to offend her customer.

By the time I finished Ri’s nails, we were starving. Ri agreed to walk to Stauf’s but only if she could scooter. Deal. I miss heading up to Stauf’s on the weekends. When the kids were little, I’d stroll or bike or carry them up to Stauf’s for a muffin or bagel at least once a weekend if not two or three times. We lived two blocks away. All those memories flooded back as I sat across from Ri and she worked on a crossword puzzle and we ate our bagels. How has she grown into such an amazing girl in what feels like three seconds?
We played tether ball on the way home and I’ve never felt so uncoordinated in my life. Ri got a kick out of seeing me so unable to play an activity. She also got a kick out of me getting slammed in the stomach by the ball. Yea, it was ugly. Not a fan.
On the way home, we decided to go see a movie at the dollar theatre. We decided on Alexander and the Horrible, Terrible, No Good Day. Before we saw that though, we had to try on Ri’s new Susan B. Anthony outfit that we ordered for her play next week. She looked like she had been blasted out of the 1800’s. She loves it.

As we drove to the movie, I remembered that Ri could not eat popcorn with her palette expander. Dang. I didn’t want to make her jealous so I had to be relegated to Milk Duds and nachos. Ri got a one quarter pound angus hot dog, God love her. The movie was bearable, which was a gift since so few are at her age.
We drove home and ended our night with a call from Jon informing us that Mario and him got a rabbit. Mario climbed through the thorn bushes to retrieve the rabbit for him.
Ri and I laid in her bed while Rocco ran back and forth from her bed to the hall chasing a ball. We laughed so hard at his crazy antics until he finally had enough and laid his head at the end of the bed. We rested our heads on her purple pillows and fell fast to sleep.

Target

January 26, 2015Leave a comment

“Mom,I want to buy this hat so bad.”
Mario holds up a white cap with zig-zag designs on it and the word “CHILL” written across the front.
Hilarious and perfect for the Mario-man.
He pouts his rapper pout and I want to scrunch his gum ball cheeks with my hands and kiss his face.
Ri grabs a fuzzy white and black hat to throw on and pushes the lid down so you can’t see her eyes.
Humble and cool, she is.
I grab the sole one left and push my lips out like I’m gonna kiss the air.
Ri looks at me and shakes her head.
Crazy mom.
Then she yells “get a picture!”
We move together and make faces at the camera phone.
Click.

Bring it on palette expander

January 21, 2015Leave a comment

This girl got a palette expander inserted into her mouth yesterday. The above picture was her happy face prior to the insertion. She asked a ton of questions of the dental assistant like what tools they’d use, would her tongue get in the way, when would she get her braces….. The assistant was great about answering all of them. Ri seemed relaxed and unconcerned about the procedure. She has expressed some worry the night before; she had heard from friends that it hurt. But she seemed calm and collected with me as she sat in the chair playing with her molds.
She showed me what her cross bite looked like and how the palette would help correct it. She knew more than Jon or I did.
The assistant took out her spacers and noticed two were missing. She became worried that the palette expander would not fit her because the space had not opened up between her teeth. Ri looked dejected.
“You mean I may not get my expander today?”
The assistant told her she’d give it a try and low and behold, with a little pushing and prying, they fit. The palette expander on the top covers most of the roof of her tiny mouth. The bottom is just a wire behind her teeth. The assistant told her that she’d have to take it out in order to put glue on it to keep it firm in her mouth. Ri pleaded “will you put it back in today?”
She was relieved to hear the assistant say yes.
And so the glue was spread on the expander and re-inserted in her mouth. She didn’t cry or flinch or scream once (meanwhile there was one little girl wailing in the next room – poor thing). Here are the after shots.

My machine. She is unbelievable. Here I was fretting about having to cancel meetings in the afternoon because I thought she’d be hurting and beg to stay home but I should have known that would not be the case. I should have known that she’d crank it out like she always does with everything. She is my trooper-girl.
She sounds hilarious when she talks because she’s not used to the expander yet. She sounds like a two year old. But does she care? Not at all. She laughs it off and after trying to pronounce a word correctly for the tenth time, finally does. She pats herself on the back and smiles at me. Then tries another.
I adore this girl.

Spanish sweetness

January 21, 2015Leave a comment

Mario walked in last night from basketball hyped up with his buddy, Owen. They were talking about a dream Owen had where he found peoples’ butts and made a hill of butts. They were laughing hysterically about this dream while they were wrestling around on the kitchen floor. Boys.
After Owen left, Mario sat down at the table to play Minecraft.
“You have to eat dinner, buddy,” I told him as I popped in a lasagna dinner. The oven died yesterday so all we have is the microwave (which is usually our go to appliance anyway but it never fails that the one night I’m gonna use the oven, it dies).
“I’m not hungry mom. I just wanna play.”
“You gotta eat.”
“No.”
I move over to where he’s sitting and tickle him. I tell him he needs more flesh on those bones of his. He laughs.
I place the lasagna in front of him and he eats it slowly. His eyes are directed at the computer. I tell him to turn it off and eat. He huffs and sighs and eventually turns it off. He’s mad. He sits in silence and eats. When he’s finished he looks at me and says curtly “there, now can I play?”
“You can be nicer about it”, I tell him. He comes over and gives me a hug and says sorry. As crazy and pissy as this boy is at times, he has got a huge heart. I remove his folder from his bookbag as he plays his game and find this gem.

I do not know Spanish but I have a hunch as to the translation and I smile wide. Mario glances over and smiles at me.
“Can I read it to you?”
I tell him I’d love for him to do that.
“My mom is athletic and caring. My mom is funny.”
Really? Can I love this kid anymore? These little gems bring more joy than any material possession ever could. This is refrigerator worthy, for sure.

Calm and cool

January 11, 2015Leave a comment

Yesterday was sports day in the family. Mario had basketball in the morning with his buddies up at Carriage Place. They lost and a few of his friends were crying or throwing things but he stayed cool and collected making his pops proud.

Ri had her first indoor soccer game. Yea, indoor soccer. The girl who refused to even mutter the word soccer because she hated it so much is now trying indoor soccer. I think a lot of her desire to play is because her girlfriends are on the team and it is more of a social hour versus a game to win.

When I told her that Riley’s mom had called to she if she wanted to be on the team, she asked “is Ri-Ri on the team?” I said yes and she immediately shook her head affirmatively. “Sure, I’ll try it.” And that was it. No questions about what indoor was like, what position she’d play, etc. Even on the way to the game she exhibited no nerves or anxiety. I asked her who she thought would play goalie and she didn’t know. I cringed after I asked her the question because I thought that might raise some concern in her about possibly having to play goalie (after the Fall outdoor session’s goalie experience, I don’t think she wants to try it again) but again, she was calm and cool.
When we got to the site, the girls kicked the ball around while the moms stood around wondering where coffee was located. A couple of the moms talked about their daughters being nervous about playing indoor since they’d never tried it.”She was worried about what to wear.” “She was worried about whether indoor was the same as outdoor.”
I stood there listening to them and watching Ri play with her friends, laughing and talking with all of them. Missing the ball half the time it came to her. Still laughing.
She amazes me with her laissez-faire attitude. I would have been a nervous wreck at that age wondering if I’d be good and make a goal. But she just looks at it as a time to be with friends and run around and have fun. Good for her.
Even though she did leave the field after losing 7-0 and look a bit dejected. I asked her what was wrong.
“We lost.”
I told her she and the team played really hard and that’s all that matters. She shrugged her shoulders and ran over to her girlfriend and threw her over her back.

And that was that. Next time I lose a case at work, that is the approach I’m gonna take. Shrug my shoulders, flip a colleague over my back, and laugh.

"MOM!"

Adventures in the Life of a Working Mama

Tag: Motherhood