Random Thoughts...

• I keep thinking today is Thursday....I guess I am wishing for the weekend.


• Last night Kelsey, Kurt and I had our photos professionally taken for our church's photo directory. The photographer was great and got some wonderful shots of our family and our girl! She giggled and mugged the whole time. He was taken with her...of course I know it's all a sales pitch to sell the photos. I bought some and got the proofs as well.


• I think it's Karmic payback when I finally have a chance to wash the bathroom rugs (I use 2 in my tiny bathroom because I HATE the floor in there) that overnight the steam heater in the bathroom spits the rusty water all over the floor and onthe newly clean rugs! Grrrrr


• I put in an application for Kelsey to begin pre-school in Sept. It's a competitive school and I was late in learning that I had to apply now. keep your fingers crossed that she gets in there!


• I think work is going well. People seem to like my ideas and manner of doing things. I wish I trusted myself more in this capacity. I really do like the folks there.


• I've been waking up before dawn (4:30 or so) worried about the office. Being in charge of an entire state is daunting! Also working through lunch a lot. I've been told that I'm becoming indoctrinated into the organization!


• I find myself sort of enjoying the longer commute I have now. I don't like stressing out over the daycare stuff...but I like making phone calls or listening to the radio again. And having some room to get lost in my own thoughts.

• I found myself thinking about my paternal grandmother the other day. She died when I was 10 and I barely knew her. I believe she had a very hard life.


• She was born in Italy and was married there and began to have babies there. All of them didn't survive babyhood. She and my grandfather came to NJ in the early 1930's and my Dad was born in '32. I believe she had a few other children that again didn't survive.


• My grandparents landed in Hoboken, which at the time had a thriving Italian community. Then years later, they moved to a more rural part of the state (again with a thriving Italian community) this was important because my grandparents didn't speak English. My Grandfather could speak enough to work, but my Grandmother created a whole entire life in a subset of our state.


• After my Grandfather died, my Grandmother came to live with us. She moved to a town that didn't speak her language into a family that couldn't communicate with her. All the simple pleasures of life...cooking, cleaning, shopping, hanging out with friends were denied to her. My Mom isn't Italian and none of us speak the language. We really didn't spend much time with her, she had a separate apartment in our house. It must have made her so sad to give up her home. My Grandmother was an amazing cook and taught my Mom. My Mom gave me some of her recipes so I think I am a pretty good cook too.

Kelsey, one day your Mommy will teach you how to make "gravy" and meatballs and really amazing eggplant parmesean. We will have to take cooking classes together to learn how to make great Chinese food, but you will be a really good Italian cook! :) It will help make you friends as you embark on your neurosurgeon/concert pianist careers! :) I will give you a piece of good advice for the neuro stuff...blood is red, not green! ;)