If you could be any superhero, who would you be?

Tonight, my son is glued to Incredible Hulk the Movie (2000+ version).  I asked him if he knew that we used to watch this as a weekly series.  Apparently, he did because he even knew Lou Ferrigno who played Hulk (apparently he had a cameo on Sunny with a Chance today ironically).  We then started to talk about other Superheroes of our time.  He joked that I would have been Wonder Woman.  I corrected him to say that when I was growing up, I actually wanted to be Isis.  He of course had no idea who I was talking about.  Do you remember Isis?



Now mind you I would never be ashamed to be Linda Carter (the Wonder Woman of the 70's), but Isis was extra cool.  The show wasn't long run, but I loved it.  If you could be any superhero, who would you be?

How to Catch Your Kids if they are sneaking candy

This candy dish has been through our family for at least three generations. 

I first remember it at my grandparents house.  The trick with this dish I think is the v-cut around the edges.  It is impossible to get the candy without making noise.  No matter how carefully you try to remove or replace the top it clinks, alerting everyone to your candy thieving.  So if you are an adult, I recommend purchasing one.  If you are a child, perhaps this is the dish that you want to carry with greasy fingers.

It was amazing to see this Christmas Eve to see yet another generation trying to sneak their way into it.

Generational Memories

Is there a place in your life that has been a constant for generation after generation?

In our family, it is Hawks Nest Beach in Old Lyme, CT. The beach has stretches from my daughter, through me, to my mother, past her mother to my great grandparents. Prior to 1938, our family had a cottage at this beach, but the ’38 hurricane took the cottage and flung it into the swamp. In fact, my great-uncle contracted yellow fever after trying to collect the items that survived the blow. My grandmother told of the dresser drawers that while they were pulled out of the dresser and flung into the swamp, the drawers were still packed full of clothes just like you had opened them on a normal day. Unfortunately, my great-uncle died from his illness and in an act of cowardice, his father actually committed suicide. He was frustrated that his son was dying and that he did not have insurance on the cottage, but I say it was cowardice because he actually committed suicide before his son died (the same day, but prior to his death) and left two other children and his wife to suffer through all loss themselves.

Anyway on a more positive note, my mother remembers hiding under the cottage stairs to watch her older cousin and her boyfriend as they sat at the beach. When she and her brother were caught, the cousin would give them a nickel to go get ice cream and leave them alone. My mother continued the tradition and rented cottages for us to stay at. My husband and I rented for a few years with our kids and while we don’t anymore, other family members do. So last weekend, we went back to the cottage for a good old fashioned family get together.

DD even got to go jet skiing. She is a girl of no fear and kept asking her cousin to go faster.

There is a part of me that hopes that this piece of family history will continue to climb down many more generations.

Mental Games for the Brain

As many of you have heard recently, surfing the web helps to stimulate the brain and possibly decrease the odds of alzheimers. (This is good news for all of us bloggers.)

Puzzles and other mental games are also another great way to keep the brain active and work out our mental muscle. So until we all get our Nintendo DS with Brain Games,




here are some online Sudoku for you to work out with.

(For those of you who homeschool like we do, you will find that these mental exercises have a double benefit because you will work out your brain, but at the same time you will inspire your kids. I have my Sudoku book out and guess who I found working on it this morning. Math practice without even an assignment : ) )

I Sat . . .

Willoughvale Inn, Lake Willoughby, VT

I sat in Robert Frost’s chair
And what did I see there:


a frozen lake,

a snow topped hill,

a desk,

a window,

a lover asleep in the morning light.



I sat in Robert Frost’s chair
And what did I see there:


an idea
developing / growing,


a pen
waiting to be picked up,


a future.



I saw these things as I sat in Robert Frost’s chair.

Points of Perfection

Every once in a while, I touch perfection. I never know when it may happen. The first time I remember recognizing it was when my husband and the kids were making a gingerbread house and I was in the kitchen making Chex Mix. Christmas carols were playing on the radio. I turned around from the stove, wiping my hands in a towel. I was ready to say something, but I shut my mouth and thought this is it. Please let me put this moment in a bottle. Tonight I have had another moment, it was nothing special. George and I were finishing up a movie. The cat curled up against my leg. I pet his head. A moment - - -a single moment of pure perfection.

I’ve had a few others that I remember, but I’m sure there are even more that I may not be aware of. I encourage each of you to look for those moments of perfection. This doesn’t mean planning them or spending money to create them. It means simply being open to them, being aware of your blessings, recognizing their fleetingness and savoring them.

Memory is a child walking along a seashore. You never can tell what small pebble it will pick up and store away among its treasured things. ~Pierce Harris, Atlanta Journal

Black Socks Cause Memory Loss

Where are my black socks? Where are the report covers? Do we have watch batteries? Do you have the kids’ camp health forms? Where was I going when I walked out here?

What is the difference between these five questions? I could answer the first four, BUT #5 - - -well, needless to say, I just walked back down the hall and whatever I needed must not have been too important because I seem to be doing ok without it. I am now convinced that the AMA (American Medical Association) should immediately conduct a study about the correlation of women’s ability to store worthless information and women’s memory loss.

Let’s do a quick test:
1. What is your husband’s social security number?
2. List all the birthdates for your immediate family?
3. What is your child’s school’s phone number?
4. What is for dinner tonight?
5. What 5 things do you need to pick up at the store?
6. Do the kids have books out at the library?
7. When is the next doctor, dentist, orthodontist appointment for a family member?

I am sure that I could list 50 more questions that you could answer. But now for the trick question – where are your car keys? For me it is not always that specific even. Sometimes it means not remembering the name of someone you’ve casually known for years or going in the other room to get coffee and coming back without it (of course on that same trip I got a pen, wrote my husband’s doctor’s appointment on the calendar, and got my son a cookie, but I still came back without my original intent – what was that again ??? Oh, yeah – coffee).

I think the AMA would find in their study that while men do experience some memory loss with age that the most pronounced affect would be found in women. I primarily account for the space saved in a man’s brain by their ability to block all birthdays and anniversarys. Let alone the fact that many only schedule their own time and are not responsible for the comings and goings of every member in the household. Also, they don’t really have to know where their black socks are because they know that they can always just ask you.



BTW – My husband claims that GoldToe Over the Calf dress black socks are the best and they are in the top drawer on the left.