Pbenjay's Blog

PB FL Breakers Hotel01 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

YIKES! It’s been crazy around here!  I’m glad to finally be online again, the ATT guy showed up at 1pm and left at about 6pm!  We have one TV hooked up and it’s a 60″ flat screen sitting on the floor leaning up against a bookcase.  Pedro (yes that is his real name) was supposed to come on Friday to hang the flat screens but he cancelled which was sort of okay because Friday was a day in hell. I don’t really care about the TV and am glad the wireless is installed, however it IS TUESDAY and still no Pedro.  

Friday – Not only was it as hot as hell (I’m not kidding) but that was also the delayed move-in date.  Two trucks, 5 movers speaking Spanish and about 900 pieces were moved in. Every box and piece  of furniture had a number on it and a color sticker and guess whose job it was to check off the boxes as they came off the truck to see if the number correlated to the master list? Uh huh, that’s right.  Once the box was in the house I had to direct the movers to the appropriate place which meant that by noon I must have climbed those 15 stairs 15 times!!!  Door wide open so no A/C on – I told you it was hell. 

Certainly we couldn’t sleep in the house that night so it was back to the hotels on Friday night.  If you read the previous blog you know I was the designated cat carrier and since The Breakers in Palm Beach doesn’t allow cats, I was relegated to The Residence Inn in Delray!  REALLY???

Saturday – It rained. Thank the Lord, the stuff was in the house, now the movers were back to unpack.  There were boxes piled from floor to ceiling in both of the girl’s rooms when they set up the beds, anything that didn’t have a clear cut home ended up in the dining room or the guest room (and you know who ultimately would be int the guest room)! We worked and worked and worked some more to get as much done as possible before Chiara and Tom had to leave to go back to Palm Beach to attend the Policeman’s Ball.  I was finally going to get to The Breakers because I was babysitting that night.

Saturday Night –    Finley and Francesca had now spent the entire day with a Breakers’ nanny.  When I got there, they were wired for light and sound and stuffing goldfish in their mouths.   We took a walk to see the turtles who were not to be seen because they were in their house, and with Finley spinning like a top around the basketball court and shrieking at the top of her lungs, we made our way to the Italian Restaurant in the hotel.  “Do you have a reservation”? I look around the restaurant, there is ONE table seated, “Do I need one”? I ask.  “YES”.  “The entire restaurant is empty”, retorts the smartass from NYC. And then I was informed  that all tables were reserved at staggered times. Hummpphhh. I was told we could eat outside.   Midway thru the meal which has up to this point not gone entirely smoothly, Francesca announces she is done and wants down. I try to explain to her that we can’t get down because we’re not done and we have to wait for the lady to come back with the bill. Thwarted only for a moment, Frankie announces she has to pee.  She is in the early stages of potty training so I jump up and grab her out of the chair and tell Finley to stay seated and DON’T MOVE!  Well that’s not happening;  She decides she has to go also so I grab my handbag, Francesca and head to the ladie’s room with Finley leading the way.  15 minutes later, Francesca did NOT have to pee, Finley did and then some and locked me out of the stall AND kept up a running dialogue on what was and was not happening in the stall AND there were other women and girls in the room!!  I was sure the waitress figured we skipped out on the check, so I went directly to the hostess and explained my hurried exit and asked for the check.  “Dessert”? Finley wants to know. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? “You two are going to the room and to bed”.  The crowning glory of the dinner escapade was watching Finley race down the beautiful lobby of The Breakers and sort of plow right into Francesca who went down face first on the marble floor and screamed her head off all the way up to the 5th floor in an elevator with other guests and out the door past other guests who looked shocked as the doors opened to reveal a wailing child, a harried grandmother and a 4 year-old protesting, “It was an accident”!

Residence Inn Logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)