Valentine's day is my enemy

Valentine's Day is a day that is meant for love. For me, it is a bunch of poppycock. Don't get me wrong, I used to love Valentine's Day.  I remember the first Valentine's Day that I ever celebrated. I was in Preschool and I remember that I got a HUGE Ziploc bag full of candy hearts, heart shaped lollipops, and  Hershey Kisses. I was a very happy child. When I reached Elementary School, Valentine's Day was more of a chore for me. I had to fill out 24 cards and I had to do it neatly which is hard for a child with a learning disability. I remember being excited to get card and candy from my classmates. In Fourth Grade,  I received  a Valentine from one of the boys in my class. It wasn't any ordinary Valentine..He had scribbled out all the nice things on the card and wrote how much he hated me. I remember showing it to my fourth grade teacher and she said, "What do you want me to make him make you a new Valentine? Don't be ridiculous. Go sit down." That was the day that I decided that I hated Valentine's Day. I went to a semi private middle school for 5th and 6th grade.  Very few people brought in cards or candy for the class and everyone got one but me. I got the "I ran out of cards, sorry" excuse and the "I ran out of candy, sorry" excuse. My 5th grade teacher scolded my classmates and then told me how sorry he was. I told him that it was okay and that I hated Valentine's Day so that it didn't hurt me that bad. When I was in Sixth Grade I had the same teacher as I had in Fifth Grade.  He remembered what had happened the previous Valentine's Day and decided that we weren't allowed to give out Valentines.

When I transferred schools in Seventh Grade to a public school, We didn't give out Valentines but I did receive  a card and goodies from my English teacher. In Eighth Grade I had a boyfriend when Valentine's Day came. I had worked hard on a card for him the night before and on Valentine's Day I gave him his card and he  didn't give me a thing. When I got to High School, they tried to make everyones Valentine's Day a pleasant one. They would make  2,700 hearts and write the name of a student on each one so every student in the school would have one and then they would plaster them all around the second floor and you had the fun of finding your heart. I found mine the first two years and a friend found mine for me during my junior year. I didn't bother looking for it or sending someone to find it for me. Our school  also sold Carnations for Valentine's Day. You buy them outside the cafeteria during lunch and fill out the card stating the persons name, their homeroom number, and a message. In my senior year, two of my friends told me that they sent me Carnations. I got super excited and I sent them Carnations too. I was sure that this was going to be the Valentine's Day that was going to make me love Valentine's Day again.It snowed on Valentine's Day and we had no school, so the Carnations were delivered the next day. I remember the girl who was delivering them was a girl that was in my next class. She walked into my room, delivered Carnations and then left. I didn't receive mine. After class I found my friends and asked them if they sent me Carnations. They said they did so in my next class I went and asked the girl who was delivering them. She said that it was  not her problem and that I should talk to the teacher who was in charge of the Carnations. He conveniently decided to start his February Vacation early, so he didn't comeback until a week and a half later. When we came back from February Vacation I found my Carnations in the classroom next to mine. The idiotic girl decided not to deliver the flowers to me in the correct classroom that was listed on card and make my life miserable. And when I got my flowers, they were almost dead. I still hated Valentine's Day that day and I hated that girl too for making me miserable. Over the years, people have done thinks to make me hate Valentine's Day even less. Last year, A little girl that I took care of made me a Valentine. When I was in Seventh grade, two girls who were in my class received a ton of candy grams on Valentine's Day and saw that I had none. So they erased what their name and added mine to them and gave them and the candy to me. I hope there will be a time where I can enjoy Valentine's Day as much as I did when I was in Preschool.

Its Christmas time in the city

Ahh, Christmas. When I was a kid it was a lovely time. I always knew what I wanted and I made homemade gifts for everyone. But as an adult, I find it stressful since I have no clue on what I want and I now buy people presents and everybody is not helpful when it is time to buy gifts. But don't get me wrong, I still love Christmas.

I love the lights, the decorating, and the Christmas specials. The other day I was traveling down memory lane and remembered some fun things from Christmas Past.

Dad's Moccasins: Every Christmas Eve we gave my dad Moccasins. He would kick off his old ones and place on his new ones. One Christmas he kicked his old Moccasins off and they went flying across the room and hit the back door. We laughed so hard.

Christmas Tree: One year, we thought out tree smelled way too piney. So my sisters and I took a hairspray bottle that came with a barbie that my younger sister got at a Christmas party and we sprayed it on the tree. We got yelled at by our dad, but the tree did smell nice.

Christmas house: For Christmas one year, our parents gave us a playhouse. Since my dad painted the house that year, my sisters and I took our hair brushes and pretended to paint the house. We still have the playhouse and my niece loves to play in it.

Reading The Polar Express: My uncle gave us A Polar Express  book when we were little. My mother would read it to us On Christmas Eve before she put us to bed. This year, I am reading it to my niece, nephew, and their cousins.


Those are my top memories of Christmas and I want to wish you all A very Happy Holiday season and a Healthy New Year!!


Oh and Please check out www.hyperboleandahalf.com and go to the archive go to December 2010 and read her blog on "The Year Kenny Loggin's Ruined Christmas." It will make you laugh and put a smile on your face! :)

Thanksgiving!

In my family, Thanksgiving is one of our favorite holidays. It is one of the few days a year where we saw my mothers paternal  uncle. It is  the only day that had an amazing parade that is worth getting up early for, and it is the only day where all the men in the family would gather in front of the television and bond over a football while the women would gather in the kitchen and cook and gossip. And we kids would dress up and would pose for pictures and wreck havoc at my mothers maternal aunt. One year, we decided to do something unique. Thanksgiving 1995, I was in the first grade, My older sister Victoria was in the second grade, and my younger sister Maggie was in Kindergarten, At my school, the first and second graders made special costumes and would join together to recreate the first thanksgiving. My class made pilgrim bonnets and hats and we made aprons and dress bibs. The second graders made Native American head dresses and dyed t- shirts and cut them to look like Native American outfits. I remember the day before Thanksgiving, we went dressed in our pilgrim attire and went into the second grade class room who were dressed in their Native American attire and we sat down and dined to popcorn, cookies, chips, and apple juice.

The next day, Victoria and I wanted to where our outfits to my Great Aunts for Thanksgiving. My mother said we could so I put on my Pilgrim outfit and Victoria put on her Native American outfit. But, there was a problem. Maggie's class didn't make anything special and she wanted to dress up too. Victoria remembered that she made a Turkey centerpiece in art class, so she got in and gave it to my mom. She cut a whole in the bottom of the centerpiece and  placed it on Maggie's head and she went to Thanksgiving dinner as the turkey (my grandmother wasn't amused by this). We did our usual thing at my great aunts house, but I decided to do something new. I learned a song called Albuquerque Turkey. The song goes like this:

  (to the tune of Clementine)
Albuquerque is a turkey
And he's feathered and he's fine
And he wobbles and he gobbles
and he's absolutely mine.
He's the best pet that you can get..
Better than a dog or cat.
He's my Albuquerque turkey
And I'm awfully proud of that.
And my turkey, Albuquerque
is so happy in his bed,
'Cause for our Thanksgiving dinner...
We had egg foo yong instead.

I taught that song to my family and my mother recently told me that I was so excited to be singing the song, I was dancing around the room while singing. Out Thanksgivings now consist of us going to my grandfathers and then going out to dinner and going back to my grandfathers for my homemade apple pie and birthday cake so we can celebrate my cousins birthday. The men still gather around the TV to watch football and I still get up early to watch the parade. THAT tradition will never end!
                                                      
                                                             Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Why Halloween makes me happy

When I was a little girl there were two holidays that made me happy, Christmas and Halloween. I will get into why I love Christmas in December. But, Halloween was the one that I always felt was awesome and epic. When I was little, we used to go Trick or Treating in a big group. The group was made up of  My friends Dan,Dave, Krystal, Terry, Erin, and my sisters Maggie and Vicki, and of course myself. My mom and Erin's grandmother (who lived in our neighborhood) always took turns taking us Trick or Treating. But, while we were Trick or Treating or mission was clear., fill our buckets up full of candy and get over to Erin's grandparents house for her Halloween party. Erin always threw an amazing party every year and I can't exactly remember what we did at the party but I remember what we did one year that made it really epic.

Erin's Uncle got a ton of empty card board boxes and made a spooky maze out of them in the living room. We each then took a turn going through the maze. Erin went first and made it through with out a problem. Next went Dan, he made it through with no problem either. Dave went after him and he made a couple wrong turns, but made it out in now time. Terry went after Dave, and he couldn't decide where to go so  we saw the boxes shake as Terry decided to make up his mind. He then found his way out of the maze. Then it was my turn. I crawled in and I remember it was dark.There were also spooky light up decorations that made weird noises that didn't bother me. I was just scared of the darkness and was scared to move. Erin's uncle tried to encourage me to go on and insisted that every thing was alright and to carry on. I didn't want to take any risks. I wanted to get the heck out of there.and i wanted to get though to the end so I wanted to get to the end fast, but I didn't know where to go and I just stayed in my spot frozen. Krystal began to yell at me to get out through the entrance so she can go. But, I wanted to go through the end so I stayed there. Erin decided to help me so she lifted the flap and the end of the maze and said "hello." I then crawled like I have never crawled before to where I saw Erin's head and made it out the end I made it out and I was relieved. my sisters then took there turns and they made it out with no problems and then it was Krystal's turn. She was scared like me and didn't budge. So I stuck my head through the end flap and said hurry up. I remember she couldn't do it and crawled back through the entrance. After that, we played a couple of pranks on Erin's Uncle and then we chowed down on cake and then went home.  That was the last Halloween party Erin had. I will always remember it fondly. Every Halloween now, I remember Erin's epic parties and I smile. I can't wait to throw one for my future kids and their friends. And then I will eat some of my kids candy while they sleep because that is the parents right. :)

Bored little girls invent the coolest games

When we were younger, My sisters and I were always bored on rainy days and at night. My family didn't have cable and we only had four channels. Since the channels had boring adult shows on them (Except one which had children shows on during the day until 6pm and then put boring adult shows on) so we would make up games of our own to play. Here is a list of the best ones.

Pinky Pinky: This was our version of Hide and Go Seek where whoever was IT had to go outside of the bedroom that we were playing in, count to Ten, and then when the time was up open the door and say,"It's Picky Picky, In case of an Emergency Dial 911 (we don't know why we would say dial 911, but my older  sister made up this game.) and then they would find those who were hiding.

Delivery Man: This game was simple but was played in the bathroom (I have no clue why we played it in the bathroom). Two people would stand in the bathroom with the door closed and one person would go into the others rooms and get the stuffed animals and will knock on the bathroom door and one person will answer the door. The person with the stuffed animals would say, "Delivery" and the person who answered the door would have to "sign" for the package. The Delivery person would give them the stuffed animals and then the delivery man would run off into another room to get more stuffed animals and the person who answered the door would close the door and the whole thing would start over again. We would play this game until my father had to use the bathroom and make us clean everything up. My mother ended the game for good when after we played the game, my older sister threw up on all the stuffed animals, ruining them. This was a fun game, but I wouldn't play it in the bathroom

Slimy Swamp Monster: When I was little, our family room had this dark green shag carpet in there. That carpet served a lot of purpose in our play. When we played Barbies at the beach, The carpet served as the ocean. One game we liked to play was Slimy Swamp Monster. In the game, the carpet was a slimy swamp where the slimy swamp monster lived and if you stepped on the carpet, you would get eaten by the swamp monster. The only was to get around was to jump from the easy chair and the sofa that was in there. My mother ended this game after a while because she was tired of us jumping on the furniture. 

Those were the best games we ever invented and I can't wait to see what games my niece and nephew invent!

Happy School Year

Today was the first day of school in my town. As a nanny, I know it is a very stressful time for children as they start a  new bed time routine, start doing pages of homework, either start a new grade or start a new grade and a new school, and to make new friends. Also,  Now is the time of year where parents start hiring tutors to help their children to excel in school. There is a way to keep your children stress free and to help them do well in school. I don't know how many of you actually read this and if you have children, but if you do have children, I will tell you a secret. According to a study, children who eat dinner with their families every night and talk to each other do better in school. As a child, my parents made it top priority to eat dinner at the table every night. When we were in high school, we attempted to eat dinner together but my younger sister was involved in a lot of school activities and I was in a club at school that took up our time. But, the amount of time we spent as kids did have an impact on our education.

Now, I know these days people are working multiple jobs to support their family and have no time to cook a nice home cooked meal. But, there is a way to make it possible. My older sister works at a law firm and goes to law school at night, Her fiance works three jobs, and they are parents of two children. Usually, my brother in law cooks dinner, but some nights she cooks dinner when she has a day off. My sister sometimes will take those days to cook several meals i.e. Lasagna, Quiche, Meat loaf, etc.  and then she will freeze them so she will have them for future dinners.

So there you go! A way to kick off the school year in a positive way! I hope your children have a good school  year!

Never trust my niece with a secret.

So, since my job is a nanny, I spent this past summer taking care of my six year old niece and my ten year old nephew. Both of them are very bright and they are very funny. A few weeks back, our whole family (My mother, my father, my sisters, my brother in law, my niece, my nephew, and I) went on a family vacation together. My mother rents a house every year on a private island off of Cape Cod in Massachusetts and we spend a week there. This year, my brother in law and my sisters had to leave early since they had to be back at work early and since I had an extra spot with my car, we decided to let one of the kids stay. My parents and my sister decided to leave my niece since she was more adventurous then my nephew. She spent the rest of vacation going to the beach with me and going to the floating dock that is attached to my house and look at the crabs that were on the ocean floor below. On the day we went home, we left early in the morning to make the morning ferry and start our two hour journey home.

 Since we left so early, we didn't have time to have breakfast so my mother decided to stop at an Ice cream parlor and get us some Ice cream for breakfast. Now, before my sister and my brother in law left they told my mother not to give my niece any sugary foods. My mother really wanted to get ice cream but she knew my niece can't keep a secret since my brother in law gave her candy one time when she was punished from candy and he told her not to tell my sister and when she came home, she ratted him out. So my niece agreed to keep it a secret and my mother bought ice cream for breakfast. When we got home, my brother in law picked up my niece and drove her home. That night we got a phone call from my sister that went like this. (note: I am not putting my nieces real name on here for her protection, So I am going to call her, Phoebe.)

Mom: Hello
My sister: Hi mom, thanks for taking good care of Phoebe  after we left.
Mom: It was no problem. She was an angel.
My sister: And thank you for feeding her good foods for breakfast.
Mom: No problem, we gave her the pop tarts and fruit snacks that you left her.
My sister: Are you sure you didn't give her anything else?
Mom: THAT SNITCH!

That night, I went to my sisters house and found out through my brother in law that my niece was singing a song about "Having a secret with Grandma." And when my sister asked her about it, she spilled the beans. The next day, I asked my niece why she was singing a song about having a secret and when you have a secret, you don't sing about it to other people or else they are going to want to know about it or else they will want to know. My niece looked at me and said, "I told mommy not to tell anyone!!"

To this day, whenever someone mentions having a secret, my niece's ears perk up and she says. "Secret." And we don't tell her a thing.