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Tuesday’s A Wrap – Tears of Sorrow, Tears of Joy

January 17, 2013 by pbenjay

Well it’s finally here; Tuesday the 15th and I’m going home today.  Back to New York City, back to my husband who I have missed and  back to my two cats who I hope have missed me.

Finley goes off to school and Francesca and I have breakfast and  I decide to give this blasted kitchen floor one more washing to see if I can get it really clean. I did and it didn’t.  I think Chiara is right, she has to get the floor steam-cleaned or try a scrub brush because the swifter dry-wet combo hasn’t worked and neither has a sponge mop.

Chiara returned and said, let’s get ready to go to the store;  We have to return the lamp for the toy room which was broken and  I’m sure as we stroll through the aisles of Target, any number of things will jump in the cart.  I’m looking forward to Target’s because Starbucks is there and this seems like a Venti morning for sure.  I have been packing up my stuff since yesterday and now I’m just about done.  It’s been a lugubrious task 😦

It’s really lovely and sunny today as it has been for the last week and I’m sure I will miss the weather.  Target was a bit empty but then again how can you really have any idea how many people are in a store the size of a football field?  Today it was less than 20 minutes before Frankie moved from buckled to un-buckled and in the basket to out of the basket.  She’s getting really good at this!  She enjoyed the Bath an dBedding department  because we saw Mickey Mouse towels and a Spider Man drinking cup and toothbrush holder.  Chiara is a feminist, there are three females and only one male in the house, well two if you count Pasha but he is neutered after all.  So what is the first thing Francesca says when she sees the Spider Man stuff? “That’s boy’s”? Yes she did and she often ends her phrases and sentences with a questioning rise in her tone.  Very cute!

She managed to try on at least 5 pairs of shoes on her own in the shoe department and pointed out the gender of a lot of toys while she and I waited for Mommy to make a decision about a lamp and a rug.  Eventually we filled two carts…oh didn’t I mention that we had two carts today?

images

It’s time to pack up and head for the airport.  Feeling blue is an understatement but I try to make small talk along the way with Chiara and Finley.  Timing was perfect because when they dropped me off at the Delta departure terminal, all they had to do was drive over to the Jet Blue arrival terminal and pick up Tia who will stay with them for 2 weeks.  Help is never far away…and I learned later that evening that Tia wept tears of joy at seeing Finley and Frankie (and we all know Frankie is her favorite).

I got my suitcases, gathered up my blazer, swung my computer and handbag on my shoulder and kissed Francesca goodbye, hugged and kissed Chiara and went around to the other side of the car to kiss Finley goodbye and tried VERY hard to control my voice which was quivering and say goodbye and I love you very much to her.  She looked at me and saw my eyes were brimming so I just kissed her again and closed the door.  I decided to go into the airport to check my bag and there were no lines.  There was a reservations clerk and another Delta employee alongside of her who seemed to be a greeter. She was all smiles and cheery and asked me how I was.  AND that’s when I began to cry.  I couldn’t stop myself even though I knew I was making a scene. Thank God the area was almost completely empty.  I told her I had to leave the grandchildren and she immediately extended empathy and said she understood as we all love our grandchildren so much.  Asked me where I was going and assured me I would be back soon.  Valiantly I pulled myself together to get checked in and PAY for the suitcase which I find really ridiculous that you cannot have even ONE piece of luggage stowed!  When I got to the gate and sat down I called Peter and of course started crying tears of sorrow again.  This was going to be a rough ride home…  

Before boarding the attendants asked passengers to surrender their carry-on bags and allow them to go into cargo because the flight was full and overhead space as always limited.  Considering that Delta charges to put bags in cargo, gee what a surprise that everyone had a suitcase with them.  They also repeated company policy dictating only two pieces per person allowed and your handbag was one and my computer the other one.  I did have a bulging carry-on bag with me too.  I debated about what to do because I did not want to be embarrassed at the entrance to the jetway so I went up to the desk and asked if they were charging for the bags that they were now storing. “No” – well okay then, here’s my bag.  How nice to go down the narrow aisle carrying nothing more than my handbag and my laptop!!

And guess what? It was! NOT because I was teary but because there were two children in the row in front of me. One with her mother and grandfather and the other with the grandmother.  At least the one with the grandmother in front of me was well-behaved BUT OMG the one across the aisle was wild.  I think she was around two and she would NOT stop screaming.  You know that awful loud shriek and make-believe tears because there are no real tears just a long whining whimper and it went on and on.  The couple behind them were beside themselves.  They tried to change seats, they asked for earplugs.  I’m telling you she would not stop and the mother remained calm and did try several things to placate her but nothing worked.  I mean REALLY what did she want?  If it was to sit with Grandma, couldn’t they have switched seats?  Well actually they did pass both kids twice back and forth OVER THE HEAD of the man sitting on the aisle seat in front of me!!!  At one point the mother took the crying kid to the back of the plane and managed to get caught behind the food service which meant although I could still hear the crying (we all could), can you imagine what it was like for the people in the rows behind me who now had this kid right next to them?

The best part of the trip was yet to come.  Tom had a car service waiting for me at LGA. The nice young man took my luggage which came out almost immediately and had me home in record time.  

It’s always nice to come home!

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, BY THE WAY, Finley Ray, Frankie, Friends, Smooth or Crunchy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

FINALLY! Frankie

January 15, 2013 by pbenjay

SUNDAY – This could be one of the grossest things I have ever written about but I am going to try to keep my PG rating!  Actually I probably don’t have to get too graphic because I’m pretty sure most of my readers will get the story line real quick.

It’s sunny Sunday morning and the family is going out for breakfast!  I mean what could be more fun than sitting in a public restaurant with two kids under the age of  5 ?  And while you are still waiting for your Eggs Benedict, they have already eaten their scrambled eggs with cheese and now want to get up from the table and although permission denied, they do…  I thought about that familial scenario and  then thought better of it after all. “See y’all later”.

About 2 hours later, I received a phone call from Chiara and she told me there was an art show in town that she and Tom were going to and did I want to come along?  It is sunny and not too hot so sounds like a plan to me. As soon as we debark from the vehicle and take a few steps towards the art exhibits, Chiara notices that there’s a playground and I held my breath – surely they didn’t come back and pick me up so I could watch the kids at the playground while they walked  around the Art Show! NO, of course not, had you going there for a minute, huh?

Tom took the girls to the playground and Chiara and I moved through the tents of rather uninspiring paintings and mediocre pottery.  There were shockingly bright acrylic flowers, pastel beach with palm trees and flamingoes, dark abstracts done in oils, and some jewelry.  Out of nowhere this woman jumps in front of us and screams, “I LOVE that bag!  Where did you get it”?  Chiara was carrying NOT one of her designer bags but rather a gold-studded handbag, hobo style.  This exchange brought us into her jewelry booth.  Very unusual pieces;  I liked two of the original-design bracelets and Chiara was taken with some stacking rings.

And then the text came dinging in….She pooped!!  Everybody poops or so the book says.  There are so many books out now for toddlers all about pooping and peeing and the potty.  Whatever happened to The Saggy Baggy Puppy?  Anyway, Frankie has a habit of NOT pooping for days on end.  This time she was out to set a record fighting against all odds to hold onto her poop.  Chiara has been pumping her full of Miralax everyday and yet Frankie prevailed.  That was, until today.  Chiara raced out of the booth with me on her heels.  There stood Frankie with a big smile on her face and greeted us with “I poop”.  GREAT, WONDERFUL BUT no diaper, no wipes, no public bathroom.  What’s a mom to do? What all mothers do, she pulled down the pamper, wiped her with as many tissues as I had and when it was apparent that we could not put this child in the car (yet), Chiara walked over to the boardwalk, cupped her hand in the water and splashed Frankie’s tooshie with some water.  Not exactly the circumstances one would hope for in this situation but you do what you gotta do.

Everyone Poops

Everyone Poops (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 Frankie was happy, Mommy would be happy when she could wash her hands and so with the windows open we drove home.

The End

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, BY THE WAY, Finley Ray, Frankie, Friends, Smooth or Crunchy | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Thursday’s Child Has Far To Go…

January 13, 2013 by pbenjay

THURSDAY – A new day dawns and around here it has been dawning at about 6:30am when Francesca calls out “Mom may” “Mom may”.  There  are 3 sound machines going and  I can hear her clear as a bell. And I’m not the only one;  Finley heard her, Mommy heard her, Daddy heard her, even Pasha heard her.  You can try to ignore the sound of pleading baby for only so long, you can try to will yourself back to sleep but it doesn’t work and besides within minutes the sound of pattering feet in the hallway is evident.

 

Chiara has to go to an auxiliary meeting this morning at Finley’s school which means Francesca and I are on our own.  Breakfast went ok, waffles and some fruit.  Then we went upstairs so I could make beds, and get her dressed.  Well while I’m picking up and mopping up (we still can’t seem to get these floors clean) (still too many boxes around I guess), I left Frankie in the toy room.  It wasn’t long before I heard voices!  The high-pitched sound of TV kid character voices so I raced back across the hallway to see what she was doing.  And there she sat…Little Francesca in the middle of Mommy and Daddy’s king size bed and there she sat with one of their iPads and SHE had turned it on and was watching some downloaded show!!!! She’s only 27 months old!!!  Needless to say, Gigi is persona non grata because I have to take the iPad away and insist she play with her own toys.

 

Sometimes the attention span of a two-year old works in your favor.  She quickly dispatched herself to the toy room and began the routine of removing 80% of the toys either off the shelves or from the bins.  Oh well, at least I know where she is.

 

All week Chiara and I have been planning an “outing”-an adult one that is. We are supposed to meet Elaine, their real estate broker, for a glass of wine in the late afternoon today.  Chiara has arranged to have a baby sitter come over about 3pm.  She will interview her and see how she interacts with the girls and if all goes well we will go out for our drink.  What do you think happened?

 

Things started out sort of okay because both Finley and Francesca were out on the driveway with me, driving their various vehicles. This is always a good way to expend some energy.  Mimi came out and I went in and for awhile there was relative peace while Frankie and Mimi explored the yard.  One can never be sure what the hair trigger is but soon there was the usual “no, that’s mine”, “I want that”.  Mimi was very calm and didn’t get ruffled as the meltdown began.  When it a fever pitch, Chiara and I stepped outside and Finley was dispatched to a Time Out.  She would not calm down and was sent to sit on the lawn.  The histrionics increased several decibels when Finley determined their were bugs and they were going to get her!  They may be sisters but they are surely different. Francesca likes to go with me looking for lizards and Finley won’t go into the pool if there is a bug in it or even a flower petal.  Having somewhat the same aversion to several kinds of bugs, I interceded for her with Mommy and she was allowed to have a time out inside.   Things were not looking good for the drink….

 

Playtime moved upstairs and as Chiara and I continued to put things away and clean up.  Not long after, there was a lot of crying and screaming coming from Frankie’s room where both girls were in her crib and having a territorial dispute over a pink blanket. These things are hard to resolve.  I mentioned to Chiara that it was doubtful Mimi would return.  Dusk set in, Mimi made the girls supper and the idea of going out with Elaine was officially put to death.

 

FRIDAY – Finley left for school especially happy today since on Fridays the girls at her school can wear their jumpers.  She left for school and Frankie and i hustled to get dressed and ready to go shopping.  Today we were going to find a Bed, Bath and Beyond Or as Chiara likes to refer to it, Bed, Bath and Bend Over.  At any rate we are headed there because she needs an ironing board and believe it or not, Target and Walmart  did not have any!  Two carts and one kid going in.  We found the ironing board and checked out rugs, containers and other assorted necessities.  Frankie, although almost completely toilet-trained, wears a diaper when we go on long excursions.  Chiara noticed she was leaking and took her to the ladies room.  That worked out well except upon return she had no underwear on!  Then it’s on to Home Goods. Both Chiara and I LOVE this store!  Chiara made a very funny remark, however, it was one you don’t necessarily want your two-year old to repeat.  She said as soon as we walked in and stopped at the first beautiful display of dinnerware, “This store is like crack to me”.  Don’t you know for the next 5 minutes, Francesca kept repeating like crack, like crack.  It was hysterical and hopefully none of the other shoppers heard her!

 

Friday is supposed to be reward day for Finley Ray.  For every good morning she has (there are several factors) she gets a star and 5 stars gets you to Barnes and Noble to pick out a new book.  Unfortunately this morning was not terrific.  Once she was home from school, Chiara decided they could at least go to the MacDonald’s in town because they had both seen it from the car several times and growing up in the city, there were no MacDonald’s with a super playground!  

 

As soon as we entered we knew something was amiss because the playground was empty and the door to it was locked.  Turns out it needs some repair.  OK, Chiara will find another playground and we can go through the drive-thru and get ice cream.  She orders 2 cups of vanilla and 1 cone. When a day starts out badly, it often just keeps on compounding itself.  First Finley threw a crying, whining scene because she ONLY wanted to to this playground,  Then when she saw the cone, she wanted that instead of a cup.  Being told she wasn’t old enough for a cone didn’t help either so more whining and whimpering.  I know she can handle a cone and she knows she can because when she’s with Gigi, we always get ice cream cones!  So on this point, Chiara conceded and gave her the cone. Not a word from Francesca as she shoveled in big spoonfuls of ice cream 🙂

 

Finally we are at a playground which is by the shore and even though Finley’s first comment was, “There’s not very much stuff here” , the girls ran around, climbed, rocked, swung and slid for quite sometime. Fearless Frankie swung from the top of the huge slide before she slid down and almost gave me a heart attack!  Then she got onto one of those big coil rocking things, this one was a sea horse.  She was rocking like she was on a bucking bronco and soon she was tossing her head back and forth – I think she was trying to keep the hair off her face BUT by doing so I knew she was going to eventually bang her face on the sea horse’s head.  Warning her fell on deaf ears and soon she was really crying-at least she didn’t end up with  fat lip!

 

English: Bed Bath & Beyond

English: Bed Bath & Beyond (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Friday was Tom’s birthday, so we needed to get home and make cupcakes.  This was going to be a joint project with Mommy and the way the day had been going, I opted out and had some wonderful alone time with my computer.  Tomorrow my friends are coming to visit me and we are going out to lunch, I can’t wait.

 

 

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, BY THE WAY, Finley Ray, Frankie, Friends, Smooth or Crunchy | Leave a Comment »

It’s Wednesday And We’re On Target

January 12, 2013 by pbenjay

English: Logo of Target, US-based retail chain

English: Logo of Target, US-based retail chain (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The store that is!  There’s just something about  the allure of big box stores.  Give a woman with a new house to set up and a car to get around and sure enough the GPS has found Target, Walmart, Home Goods, Pet Supermarket and Lowes. 

By midweek, the house is really shaping up and the only problem is each room that we tackle ends up needing something she doesn’t have or needs to be replaced.  So we set off for Target pronounced Tar-zhay when you want to pretend you’re shopping on Madison Avenue in Manhattan instead of a strip mall in Florida!  And this was no ordinary run-of-the-mill Target store.  NO, this was a SUPER TARGET.  Really it was like a Mall unto itself. And one of the best things about it was that there was a Starhucks cafe inside it.  Nothing like that extra shot to get you moving down those aisles.  Fortified finally with a Grande Americano I’m ready to roll.  I say finally because unlike my home in New York City where I can walk across the street and get my morning fix, here you have to really be dressed and get in the car and drive into the commercial district of Delray Beach to get to a Starbucks.  AH, but who knew that
Target was on target when it came to keeping the shoppers in the store and fueled to buy nonetheless.

Of course we have two carts because one of them is for bouncy bouncy child and one for the loot.  This store is SO BIG that Chiara gives me some of the items to locate and she goes off in another direction. She needs an ironing board, they don’t have any! Really!  She needs a small dish drying rack, like my sleek stainless steel one.  They don’t have any. She needs a few good knives, they only carry one line and they weren’t very good.  I have to continually return to her and report in what I have found that might replace what she really wanted, which of course she doesn’t so I have to return it to its appropriate aisle.  Mind you the store is ginormous and I’m not saying Francesca was crying…but let’s just say I dnn’t have any problem locating them – I have a good ear!!

Frankie always starts out in the carriage, even buckled in, but sometime between the “I hold it”  and “I’m cold” she is out of the buckled seat and into the basket itself.  This neccessitates cargo transference as 4 boxes of padded hangers and a toaster oven go into my basket which heretofore held only a small bottle of eye makeup remover and tinted moisturizer.  Now I’m hauling Vitamin water, Pampers Pull-Ups, and other assorted sundries.

The sun was extremely intense that day and believe it or not, with all the things I did pack to go to Florida, I forgot my sunglasses.  I knew I had to buy a pair today because I could hardly keep my eyes open in the car.  I ask a store clerk where they are and by the time she finished giving me directions, I knew the last sentence was going to be “….Turn right at the second star and straight on till morning”.  The sun glasses were truly at the opposite end of the store and it so happens that children’s shoes were there  too.  As I met up with Chiara I note that Frankie is no longer is the basket, she is now on the loose.  Francesca is a climber, a runner and a mischief with a mind of her own.  In other words she is TWO.  Chiara wants to go get something so couldn’t I just keep an eye on her for a minute? Well I could if I could spin my neck around 360 degrees!  She is moving at the speed of sound between the aisles and trying to keep her in one place while maneuvering my cargo barge on wheels and carrying a handbag is not an easy feat. For a while I had her amusing herself with the brightly-colored wristwatches but she was able to grasp them and soon she was trying to buckle a lime green Swatch-like watch to her arm all the while repeating, “Frankie’s watch”.

After the watches we moved on to Jewelry and the rows of dangling beaded necklaces were soon the source of a color-identifying lesson. Some she would lightly touch and say the color, otherls like silver and gold she looked to me for an answer.  She is so funny because of course she wants (and often does) touch everything but when you say to her, “Don’t touch”, she looks at you and holds both hands up in front of her with palms facing outward and says, “Just see”.  It is so cute, I can’t stand it.

By this time I am really wishing Chiara would return.  Frankie ran off so fast and into a main aisle, that in order to catch her, I had to abandon the cart with my handbag in it, so I could catch her and bring her back. Just as Chiara returned, Francesca removed her shoes and proceeded to walk around barefoot.  She was cruising down the center aisle with no shoes and Chiara and I were following her.  I turned to my daughter and said something to the effect that I found it rather interesting that she yelled at Tom and me for walking into the playroom with our shoes and here her daughter was walking barefoot in a public store, for God’s sake and let’s not forget that while the other one is in nursery school eating an organic  lunch, Frankie wolfed down a box of 4 chocolate truffles and wouldn’t even give me a bite. Oh how much easier life is for child number

two.   I reminded her that it was I who bought the lollipops about an hour ago but regardless she wasn’t sharing.  

Sticky fingers and all we headed for the check out counter.  We still had time to hit Walmart before Finley got home from school!

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Tuesday’s Child Is Full Of Grace…

January 11, 2013 by pbenjay

Tuesday – Or in this case waffles as that seems to be Francesca’s breakfast favorite. Well as you know, Pedro did not show up today so the only TV working is the one leaning up against the bookcases in the family room.  Of course the kids don’t mind because Bubble Guppies (Seriously?) is in full view for them. Tuesday was a day filled with empty boxes which we broke down out of deference to the recycle rules and the sun was out and it was hot!  Chiara wants Francesca to play outside but wants me to watch her.  Watching her meant actually pushing her around in her pink taxi, that’s how she refers to the  bubble- top plastic ride-around car that is powered  by her feet. No battery-operated vehicle for her.  But don’t feel sorry for Frankie because she also seems to own or have access to a pedal car in the shape of a pink vintage convertible as well as another ride around toy with her name emblazoned across the back and then there’s the Radio Flyer red wagon and Finley’s scooter! The ONLY one of these that she really operates on her own is the ride-around  toy.  Everything else was, “Push me Gigi”.  The highlight of our outside playtime was finding lizards which scoot across the sidewalk regularly and up the bushes.

Then Peter called me and asked me if I had a moment to talk; If ever there was a sentence full of foreboding, this is it for me.  On Monday morning Peter had to move the car at 7:30am and when he got to the car he noticed a dent in the front passenger side fender.  How the hell did that happen? The passenger side in on the sidewalk side!  He got into the car to move it when the street cleaner came through and it wouldn’t start. Oy! So he called Triple A and they came out and tried to start it with jumpers and even a new battery but no good. So up on a flatbed truck it was hauled away to a garage to have a new alternator installed to the tune of $800.  With the $250 deductible for the fender, Monday turned out to be a pretty pricey day!  All I can say is thank God I’m here and not there because I would be making my husband’s life a living hell at this point, screaming we should sell the car.  I’m not a New Yorker at heart when it comes to cars.  I hate what happens to the car while parked on the street.

Finley arrived home, the AT+T guy finally left and since there was still no food in this house, we made off to the grocery store. with 2 kids in tow (one of which has NOT had a nap in 4 days) and oh what a treat it was!!!! Two kids, two carts – who wants to hold this, no, who wants to hold that? Mommy has to buy two cellophane packages of brightly colored straws and two aisles later there is a downpour of straws as Frankie has managed to rip open her package. Like a rainbow waterfall the straws drop through the slots in the carriage and bounce around the floor.  If that wasn’t enough the little napless-one threw a fit as we sailed through the candy aisle1 “Down, down, down” she wailed , only to be placated with Monkey Smoothies, Dora the Explorer yogurt and a humungous box of rainbow-colored gold fish, I’m beginning to see a pattern here. Do you think Francesca is working the cause?

Check-out was as much fun as only another mother of two kids two years apart knows! There was a minor skirmish over who is helping to put the food on the counter but before it could escalate, Mommy yelled loud enough to put the fear of God in them for a couple of minutes.

Pretty NOT Practical

Pretty NOT Practical

I was to give the girls a bath and Chiara would put them to bed. Sounds simple right? Sounds not too difficult, right? WRONG!  Finley is crying because she doesn’t want her hair washed, Francesca wants to control the water flow and I’m trying to figure out how to keep the water in the tub.  The drain has some weird  mechanism that I’ve never seen before, as its stopper. BUT that’s minor compared to actually trying to bathe them because the bathtub has been designed with one of those fixed glass panels that shield one half of the tub area, the area where the faucets and shower head are located.  It was NOT a pretty sight of me trying to lean around the glass and grab onto a soapy slippery wiggle-worm of a kid.  On top of which I was in a fairly smallish bathroom with two entrances, two step-stoos and well two of just about everything,  Finally they are out of the tub and while trying to drape Finley in a towel, Frankie takes off wet and naked running down the hallway.  You see this is really why my generation knew you should have all your kids before you’re thirty!

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UH OH! LOOK What I Found!!!!

January 10, 2013 by pbenjay

Champagne Went MIA

Champagne Went MIA

Monday – I don’t remember my kids  getting up so early, so I’m either too old to remember or as my daughter would like to say, “My brother made my breakfast”.  You have no idea what a horrible mother I was! OMG!  Well, little Finny was up before 7am and getting dressed in her new school uniform, which is navy blue shorts, a white polo shirt with the school logo, white sneakers and a school bag bigger than her!  First day of school and she is saying, “But I don’t want to wear shorts, I want to wear a dress”.  If you’ve ever read the blog before and seen photos of Finley Ray, you note that she is always beautifully dressed in the most gorgeous outfits and she LOVES to dress up.

Once we have established that a dress (really a jumper) can only be worn on Fridays, we’re headed downstairs for breakfast, which I tell her she has to eat because lunch time is long time from now and you’re not home where you can snack at will.  And here’s another first for me;  Chiara has pre-ordered Finley’s lunches to be delivered to school every day! Naturally organic, of course.  I guess the school has contracted with some service to provide these nutritious balanced lunches – I didn’t ask what it cost!!  Poor Chiara and Joel suffered with PB&J sandwiches (at least not on white bread), a piece of fruit, some cookies or better yet, one of Debbie’s Little Cakes or a Devil Dog! Can you imagine the horror of sucha lunch?

Once Finley was off to school and Francesca was literally tearing apart the toy room, Chiara was hell-bent on stuffing her enormous wardrobe, a carload of shoes and we won’t mention how many designer handbags into her closet.  It was an amazing feat but she did it.  AND as she is unpacking boxes and her suitcases, oh my look what was inside – Yup you guessed it, THE  MISSING MAYBE STOLEN EXPENSIVE CHAMPAGNE BOTTLE!  Chiara is holding up the beautiful  bottle of Tattinger’s Comtes du Champagne. Now who is going to call The Breakers and apologize?  Not Me! Tom tells Chiara to do it and by Tuesday we both tell Tom he better do it since he was the one who went to the Security Station and made the fuss.  And one does wonder exactly what champagne bottle was Rachel referring to!

By the end of the day, the living room floor had been washed, at least 5 loads of laundry washed and folded, Francesca tried to ride her car down the stairs – it’s a good thing Chiara heard it moving.  I shrieked when I found a lizard under a suitcase in the front hall and it ran into Tom’s office and hid between some stacked paintings – I never told him about it!

The day has vanished, the electronics guy, Pedro never showed so we never got to the grocery store!  No TV, No internet, No food!  Delivery Dudes to the rescue  again! This time Chiara ordered so there was chicken and salmon and veggies.  It wasn’t too long into the meal before one of Frankie’s favorite phrases came out, “I don’t like it”.  “Isn’t  it time for them to go to bed”?

The dueling toothbrushes is a scene not to be missed.  Different toothpastes, individual stools to stand on and yet there must be something here to whine about.  Ah hah, Frankie’s stool has more decoration on the name than Finley’s.

Twenty-five pages into Eloise, I call it quits.  Silly me never checked the number of pages in the book before giving it to my own little Eloise, Finley.  Good Night!

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Check Out is 11am ……

January 10, 2013 by pbenjay

Sunday – But I asked for a late checkout till 1pm so I could be at the house and the last big push was on to get the girls rooms done.  Finley and Francesca were still at The Breakers (ordering up room service no doubt) with Martini (yes that is her name) , one of the hotel’s Nannies.  Moving is upsetting to everyone and Chiara wanted them to come to their new house and be able to see their rooms all set up.  I think I was still working on the kitchen trying to figure out what dishes to put in what cabinet.  I have this organization thing about kitchens and I’m trying to lay it out the way I probably learned in Home Economics class lol.  

This IS a Martha Stewart closet!

This IS a Martha Stewart closet!

Tom was setting up his office and playing music way too loud! So loud that we had to scream his name to turn it down a couple of times because we couldn’t communicate at all on the second floor.  At this point I decided to re-do the linen closet.  This is where OCD comes into play and usually someone benefits.  On Saturday Tom hired his assistant from work and her daughter to help us unpack boxes and put stuff away.  At one point in the afternoon I  saw both the mother and daughter sitting on the floor folding sheets and towels and putting them in the linen closet.  I looked at the closet on Sunday morning and knew that I wouldn’t be able to sleep IF I didn’t re-fold the towels and sheets and blankets.  Luckily for me (and for her), Chiara agreed that the closet didn’t look good. Tom came by and saw me pulling stuff out and refolding and remarked that the daughter had done the closet and then the mother said it was wrong and they re-did it. NOW I was doing it again-so many man hours, it’s a good thing this isn’t a Union job!  Martha, on the other hand would be perfectly pleased as the closet was now a work of art if I do say so myself!

And speaking of communication…Tom took me back to my hotel to get the cat and check out.  On the way he wondered out loud if Chiara had packed the champagne they had gotten as a gift at the Policeman’s Ball. I  texted her and the instant reply was “Shit no you better call The Breakers right away”.  Not having  both feet firmly planted in the 21st Century nor having the money to spend on one, I don’t have an iPhone but at least I had my Droid and internet access.  So I look up The Breakers on Google or rather I try to look it up. Have you ever tried to see your screen in the bright Florida sunshine?  I swear I scrolled all over what came up on mobile and THERE WAS NO CONTACT US link to be found.  OK so I called the reservation desk and spoke to someone who after I explained the situation, said she would connect me to the front desk. FIVE full minutes later I hung up the phone and spent another five squinting and twisting myself every which way in the seat to find a spot where I actually could see the screen.  I called another number also connected to a site proclaiming, of course, reservations.  After I went through my spiel that the Clarks had checked out but had forgotten a very expensive bottle of champagne in the room, I was informed I would need to call the actual hotel they were just for reservations and were off-site. Geez!

On the phone again to the original reservation clerk, I tell her that she left me on hold so I hung up.  She explained she was trying to get someone at the front desk. Rachel (her name) said the room had been cleaned and no one reported finding anything.  I told her someone had to have seen the bottle there.  She then mentions things  left behind like a bottle could be considered trash by the cleaning staff.  I’m hot, tired and sitting in a car in the sunshine while my son-in-law buys some lunch so I very loudly say to Rachel, “NO ONE would see this bottle and throw it out!  If they don’t have it someone does”.  Ok, ok, she is going to get a hold of the front desk.  Tom returns and since this is his thing, I give him my phone, put on speaker and tell him what she has said so far. Apparently, the Clarks did not actually check out but since check out is 12 noon and the hotel has the card number, they WERE checked out. And we are being told that there was an open bottle of champagne but that was trashed”.  Well, this one was not opened and it cost $1000!  Visibly or rather audibly  Rachel is struggling to make some sense of something that is not her problem because she is just a reservation clerk but trying hard to help.  She comes back on the line and says, “Good News, they have the bottle and they are holding it at the security desk for you”. Ah great all is well……..

Fast forward to about 4pm and I tell Tom he better go get the girls because it will be dark soon and they have yet to see their new house and they have to eat and bathe because Finley starts school tomorrow at 8am!  Off he goes BUT he stops at Lowes first and I have no idea where it was or how far it was BUT both Clarks use their GPS to find their way to the Post Office, Starbucks or Sears Roebuck!  THEN he went to the hotel and called me to say that now he was being told that they did not have the bottle.  Ridiculous! Fortunately I remembered who we had spoken to-Rachel who of course by now was nowhere to be found.  It is 6:45pm and the girls are still at the hotel as is Tom but not the champagne. “COME HOME”! he is loudly directed by his wife.  For God’s sake those kids have to eat.  

EAT? There’s no food in the house, Chiara didn’t go to the grocery store because she wanted to be home when the girls arrived and take their pictures.  Delivery Dudes again!  Needless to say it was pitch black when they arrived, best laid plans blah blah blah,

Did I mention that we have been cleaning the house every day since Saturday?  Well the very expensive Dyson vacuum cleaner wasn’t working (didn’t she know that before she had it packed?), the Swifter box was rapidly depleting as I discarded one black cloth after another and then one black wet Swifter pad after another. Tom returned not with the champagne but with a new Dyson but by that time we were too exhausted to open the box!  We were all Blackfoot Indians and everyone knew they had to wash their feet before getting into bed or collapsing on the bed, whichever came first! 

Sweet dreams Finley, BIG day tomorrow at your new school.  What kind of nursery school starts at 8am and ends at 2:20pm?  The private kind, the uniform kind.  

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I’m BACK and Let Me Tell You…..

January 8, 2013 by pbenjay

PB FL Breakers Hotel01

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

Residence Inn Logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Posted in BY THE WAY, Finley Ray, Frankie, Smooth or Crunchy | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments »

Lessons I Learned Today At LGA

January 4, 2013 by pbenjay

English: Corner view, Marine Air Terminal, LaG...

English: Corner view, Marine Air Terminal, LaGuardia Airport, New York (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Finally, quiet and at peace, sitting on the hotel bed watching the News.  If you’ve never watched the News in Florida, you don’t know what you’re missing! Every car crash, kidnapping, murder, robbery, hate crime and jaywalking is reported in glowing terms, vivid color and dramatic overtones.  Ahhhh

Of course I digress, what I learned today at LGA – LaGuardia Airport to those of you who do not live in New York.  It all began a few weeks ago when my daughter informed that she and family were spending the holidays in San Diego with her brother.  Not having them around for Christmas was a bummer but to top it off, she said they would fly from San Diego directly to their new home in Florida!  The movers would come on the 19th and 20th and empty the apartment and they would spend two nights in a hotel before they took off on the 23rd for San Diego and they would arrive in Florida on January 2nd.  “OH” I said.  “What will you do with the cat?”, I wondered.  “THE CAT” “OMG”, she shrieked.  Did she think she could leave the cat in an empty apartment for 12 days?  Someone could come in and feed it? GEEZ I hope not.  Mom to the rescue-I said I would find someone to take the cat and I would bring  Pasha (the cat) to Florida with me when I went to help her set up her new household.

Just a bit more digression….I found someone who said yes they would and my daughter was going to pay the person and of course provide for all of the cat’s needs and since he was de-clawed, he hopefully would be easy to house.  TWO days before the woman was to take the cat, she knocked on our door and said she couldn’t and Peter didn’t tell until about midnight.  OMG now what??  I literally had one day to find the cat a home before it spent a night in a vacant apartment.  Mind you this is a Siamese who talks and I could only imagine how his yowling would echo through the empty rooms.  YES we found a second willing soul to keep the cat.  Poor Pasha saw all the furniture in his house dragged out by strangers, then his mother put him a cat carrier (not his) and brought to my apartment where he sat cowering in the crate while my two resident cats hissed and stared at the intruder.  Then he went to his foster home where he had never been and with people he never saw or smelled before!

Fast forward to today;  I had called the cat keeper last night and said I had to pick him up at 12:30pm.  She informed me that she wouldn’t be there, but her Dad would.  I asked her if she would make sure he was there, “yes’ she said. What do you think?  NO ONE was home at 12:30!  Frantic phone calls and 1/2 hour later, we were able to scoop him up, shove him in sherpa bag and hail a cab to catch a 2:30 flight.

 Lesson One-Check and then double-double check that everyone is on the same page about the time.  Also I specified that all of the equipment and supplies could be tossed or donated but instead they were piled outside the door!

Lesson Two – Always check (somehow) which terminal your flight departs.  Apparently Delta has 3 terminals at LaGuardia!  We instruct our cab driver to go to Terminal D.  Upon entering the terminal I am SHOCKED! There are hundreds of people in line to check in AND I have to check in because I have two suitcases to check and a live cat with me.  I feel myself getting warm because although I’m headed to Florida, I am still in NYC and so I have a couple of layers on and carrying two MAC computers, a handbag loaded with stuff including a Kindle and a 12 1/2 lb. cat in the other. I had no idea where to go and thank God, I literally blocked the path of one of those airline facilitators who wander around the perimeter of the roped off line area.  He noted I was traveling with a friend as he referred to the red bag hanging from my right hand.  Oh so I can go to Special Services check in and he tells me to follow him as he leads me to a line that is miniscule but then he inquires as to where I’m going.  West Palm?  Oh well in that case, I should go back out and get into the blue bus and it will take me to Terminal C!  Not to worry, he says, plenty of time as I protest that the cat has to be checked in as well as baggage.

Lesson Three – Not a good idea to attempt to go through security with TWO computers, a handbag, a blazer, running shoes, a computer case AND a live cat who most apparently was NOT given the holistic calming tidbit in the morning as instructed ALONE! I methodically filled 3 bins and was inching the cat in the bag towards the X-ray machine.  I was waved over to a metal detector arch and told to remove the cat from the bag.  Easier said than done as Pasha had decided it was safer to stay in this cosy bag than to come out into a huge space filled with hundreds of people and SO MANY smells-NOT.  Hissing at me I yanked him out and reluctantly went to the metal detector.  Reluctantly because now I have lost sight of both computer and my handbag.  Pasha and I sailed through BUT then were told to wait here.  WAIT, is she crazy? The cat is squirming and wiggling and twisting and turning and trying to jump out of my arms as I stand there barefoot struggling to hold onto him. I announce I cannot stand here because he is going to jump and run.  I was lucky, a kind TCA agent took pity on me and called me over to a cubicle and snatched Pasha’s bag off the rollers and I put him in.  Now why was I in this cubicle? Because she had to do my hands!  I had no idea what she meant as she swabbed my hands with some pad.  I asked if this was some random thing but no, anyone bringing a live pet with them has this done to them because they are checking for residue.

Lesson Four – Make sure you look at BOTH sides of your Boarding Pass so you can find out what gate your headed to instead of walking in the wrong direction while carrying two MAC computers, a handbag and a cat while wearing a cashmere sweater under a wool blazer and a silk scarf around your neck.

Lesson Five – Do NOT attempt to administer sedative pill to cat who is already quite disturbed, just before boarding. The instructions are to give the cat the pill at least 45 minutes prior to boarding.  By the time I got to the right gate most everyone was already on board.  I realized the futility of my attempt and so I went up to the desk to get on the plane. Thank God it was cool in the jetway.

An aerial view of LaGuardia Airport

An aerial view of LaGuardia Airport (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lesson Six – Smile and be charming to your seat mate while the non-sedated cat continue to thrash around and cry.  Have you ever hear a Siamese cry?  They sound just like a baby and don’t we all love to  be on a plane with a crying baby?  Irwin was a delightful seat mate and LUCKILY no one was seated in the middle so with his agreement I moved Pasha up to the seat once we were in the air.

Lesson Seven – Once you realize that the cat is NOT going to settle down, muster up your courage and stick you hand down the cat’s throat and drop the sedative down his gullet!  Then hold his mouth shut so that he’s forced to swallow it and then once you have wiped the sweat off your forehead, order a cold drink from the Flight Attendent!

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“Tomorrow, is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one”.

January 1, 2013 by pbenjay

English: Brad Paisley at the 45th Annual Acade...

English: Brad Paisley at the 45th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This great quote is from Brad Paisley, country song-writer and singer. AND I should have posted this yesterday and the title should probably read “Today” instead of tomorrow.  Well, hopefully the rest of the year won’t be filled with overlooked tasks and posts!

Since this is A NEW BOOK, no point in rehashing the 2012 version.  I’m looking forward to a better year;  A year marked by several changes…As per some sage advice given on ABC NEWS this evening, I’m not posting or announcing my resolutions.  I’m keeping them to myself and that way although I won’t be able to boast or brag or take undue pride in some accomplishment, I also won’t have to weep with shame at some predictable failures

That being said, of course I would love to hear from some readers as to what their New Year’s Resolutions are.

Out with old, in with new! How many times did you hear that today?  So out with all the old bills-I empty out the folders, staple those monthly invoices/bills and put them aside for IRS preparation.  Cleaning up the top of the desk too, clutter, clutter, clutter.  Re-arranged the hundreds (only kidding) of wires and plugs in the two power strips under the desk because I have to have an outlet to re-charge my phone.

I got an addition to my Alice in Wonderland  book collection which necessitated a major shelf switch.  AND that was a good thing because  now we have some books we need to relocate (out of the apartment I hope).

Not going to listen or watch any more ASPCA ads because they are too heart-breaking and disturbing.  I wonder how much money the ASPCA raises with this ad?  Everyone I know tunes it out.

Not hung over and only a little tired, but I think this post should end right here.  

Wishing all my readers from all over the world a wondrous, healthy, happy New Year.  I think the number 13 is going to be a lucky number after all!

There is an updated 2014 version of this post at:“Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.” 2014

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