This Is Not Your Home

My sister just sent me an email forward, and it had this great quote in it:

“We are not human beings going through a temporary spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings going through a temporary human experience.”

Looks like the original source of this quote is a sermon in 2003.    It reminds me of something our pastor once said during a sermon a couple of years ago that has stuck with me ever since, on par with quotes I’ve enjoyed of C.S. Lewis:

“If you feel like an alien in this life, you should.    This is not your home.”

Perhaps I like this quote so much because it does indeed reflect the premise of one of C.S. Lewis’ quotes:

“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”

Until I make it home,

Lorelei

Taking the Toddler to the Grocery Store

For some reason, the toddler loves going with mommy to the grocery store.   He gets very excited whenever I invite him to join me.   So, I found this article on the Creative Play Plus website of interest: Learning Opportunities Easily Achieved in Play with Your Toddler.

Typically, our trip to the grocery store begins with determing if the “race car” cart has already been snatched up by another toddler.    If it is MIA, then toddler willingly sits in a regular shopping cart, for which I am grateful.   Apparently he does not do the same for daddy, from what I’m told.   We enter the grocery store, and we find the various fruits and veggies we need for the week, we name them and I hand them to him to hold so that he can check them out.   He often says the food is yummy, though I am hard pressed to think of any fruit or veggie he’ll eat for us at home besides avocados.   Recently, he took a big bite into a raw red pepper while at the store.   Very strange.  

He’ll often be my little helper and hold my list for me for awhile, but eventually that gets boring for him.  About half-way through the trip it has become more of a game where we’re racing around the store for entertainment.   I try not to point out the foods I am purchasing that I know are his favorites, like cheese or granola bars, for the risk that he may whine the rest of the shopping excursion that he wants to eat them.  Maybe that’s why his best active participation is in the produce area?

By the time we’ve made it to the check-out line, he’s become interested in gossip mags.    As a reward for making it through the shopping experience, we stop by the free magazines rack near the exit of the store and we pick out a “car magazine”, also known to the rest of us as “Auto Dealer”.  

So, I guess if you want to consider that a script for daily activities, that’s our script.   That’s pretty much how every trip to the grocery store plays out, and he apparently loves it because he always wants to go back with mommy.

Until next time,

Lorelei

On Birthdays and Roller Coasters

I have to say that I am actually not particulary fond of my birthday.     The best birthday I ever had was two years ago, it was the day our son came home from the hospital.    It turns out he was due on my birthday but I guess he didn’t want to share his special day with anyone, because he came two days early.     It was a perfect day.    He was healthy and happy, we came home, and as if that wasn’t a blessing enough, the hubby got me a gorgeous giving-birth/anniversary/birthday present, a platinum and diamond tennis bracelet.   That evening a couple of friends came over and my best friend brought over pizza and wings from Dina’s in Brooklyn.   My all time favorite wings and a meal I associate with great memories.   

Prior to that, and since my teens probably, birthdays were pretty uneventful.    My 21st birthday was probably the other best one, as I was on my honeymoon in St. Lucia, in an evening gown sipping a daquiri on the beach under the moon.    So, yeah, it’s hard to have realistic expectations after that one, or after bringing your firstborn home on your birthday for that matter.     Last year’s birthday was a randomly good one, we went to hear the Orchestra at Blossom with some friends, and for that birthday I am greatful as well.

Today however, I am hoping everyone forgets it’s my birthday.    I don’t really feel like celebrating.   Not that I think I’m getting old or anything, I’m only turning 29 and am very much looking forward to being 30.    I am enjoying life so much more approaching 30 than I did when I was approaching 20.    Celebrating the toddler’s 2nd birthday was much more fun than celebrating my own.    The in-laws came into town and spent a few days hanging out with us.    We all went toy shopping, played at the Botanical Garden, saw cars at the Western Reserve Historical Society, ate food from India Garden (it was too salty this time), fed ducks at the duck pond (no Canadian geese this time), visited Honey Hut for ice cream and went to Lakewood Park and walked along the promenade.    I cooked some ribs on Saturday and we had some more company over to celebrate the big 2nd birthday, and spaced out present opening throughout the day to avoid overload.    It seemed to help.  I was disappointed when I called Corbo’s to order a cassata cake that they were not making any special orders for them that weekend, due to the Feast of the Assumption festival in Little Italy.    Corbo’s was too busy feeding the crowds at that event, which happens to always take place during the week of our birthdays.   Oh well, the Baskin Robbins cake I picked up at the last minute worked just as well.  When asked what our son’s favorite present was, he told us, “birthday cake!”     Though, the last present we gave him, from mommy and daddy, seemed to be the biggest hit…a roller coaster from Step2.    Conveniently, my sister lives right down the street from the Step2 headquarters in Streetsboro, so we were able to save about $20 off the cost, plus shipping, by having them pick up the toy for us.     Our son is having a blast racing down the track and rolling across our hardwood floors.    It’s one of the few toys I’ve seen that every parent review says it is great, and it is.   It comes with five pieces that all slide together like a big puzzle, no screws, no tools needed.    We had it out of the box and ready to go in 2 minutes.    I didn’t even need to read any instructions.   And it comes apart just as easily for when we want to take it outside as well.

So, my sister made the joke to me today that she should have bought me a roller coaster as well.   I can’t believe this, but the Big Dipper at Geauga Lake apparently sold for just $5,000 this summer!    I really can’t believe that.   I mean, granted, who has room to erect a full-sized adult roller coaster on their property, but still.   Only $5,000?    For a big kid, like me, that would be an awesome birthday present…but it still wouldn’t top bringing home the toddler for the first time.

Until next time,

Lorelei

PS.   I did fail to mention that the hubby sent me some beautiful roses to work for my birthday, which was very sweet and the first time I’ve ever gotten flowers at work.   He’s apparently thought of doing it before, but couldn’t figure out the exact address of where I worked, I probably shouldn’t take that for granted.

Cleveland Restaurant with the Best View

Ok, so it’s technically in Lakewood, but it’s four blocks or so from the Cleveland border, so I’m calling it a Cleveland restaurant.   Tonight the hubby and I went to Pier W to celebrate our eighth wedding anniversary.    We try to go there once a year to celebrate special occasions as that was the restaurant where the hubby took me the night he proposed.   We also try to go there once a year because it is consistently good and the view is great.

The restaurant was remodeled about two years ago, updated to a more modern look.   While the hubby and I miss the retro nautical theme of the old restaurant, they did a fantastic job updating it.     The building juts out from a cliff along Lake Erie, over the water with floor-to-ceiling windows surrounding the dining room offering views of downtown Cleveland.    Our reservations were at 7:30, so by the time we finished our meal we were given a view of the city all lit up.    My favorite meal there, which I believe is the same meal I’ve had there for the past seven years in a row, is surf and turf with filet mignon and lobster tails.     The only other meal I’ve had there was Mahi Mahi the night that we got engaged, which is an interesting story in an of itself.    I knew what was he was going to do, so at dinner I asked him not to propose at the restaurant because I didn’t want to cry in public, so he proposed in my college dorm room later that night.   Had he asked me to marry him in the summertime it would have been nice to propose outside on the patio that overlooks the water and the city, but we got engaged in January, so I suppose it might have been a little too cold for that!

Anyhow, I always get filet and lobster because, at Pier W I know it will always be good.     And who wants to spend $56 for dry filet and broiled, over-cooked lobster tails?    Sometimes consistency is a great thing.      I unfortunately had a poor filet and lobster experience earlier this year at another local upscale restaurant (we’re not talking Outback here), which is really too bad, now I know better.

The hubby had a pasta dish with pappardelle and lobster which was equally delicious in a heavy cream sauce, plus we shared some fish tacos and calamari as appetizers.     The hubby was amazed at the yummy fish tacos, with a delicate fried wonton for the shell, avocado and salsa and the calamari could have been a meal itself there was so much of it.   I enjoyed a glass of Tocai Friulano, an Italian white related to Sauvignon Blanc, which the waitress informed me was the same wine served when the Pope visitied NYC recently.    I don’t know much about wine, but the name sounded interesting and I wanted to try something different.   It was good and I’d definitely get it again.

We finished our meal with a dessert called the Chocolate and Peanut Butter Bomb…apparently I’m pretty predictable because the hubby was chuckling and told me he figured that was what I’d order, I’m a sucker for anything with chocolate and peanut butter.   It was an interesting and non-traditional kind of dessert, served on a long plate with a tiny scoop of caramel/cinnamon ice cream, some peanut butter cream and crushed peanut brittle, two marshmallow puffs and a pyramid that resembled a cross between flourless chocolate cake and mousse with a chunk of peanut butter in the middle.  It was a perfect end to a great meal, complete with a little “Happy Anniversary” banner embedded in the top of the dessert.    I think the hubby was surprised, he hadn’t realized I mentioned it was our wedding anniversary when I made the reservations.

We went outside and took some pictures of the nighttime skyline across the water and still made it home in time to say goodnight to the toddler and head to bed ourselves.   And of course, it was a beautiful night as well!

Until next time,

Lorelei

Children’s Books

Today I was reminded why I should not go into bookstores by myself.    Especially not when our son is celebrating his second birthday this weekend.    This morning while the toddler and I were driving to daycare we saw several trucks.   We realized that we do not know the difference between an excavator and a backhoe.    I mentioned that I needed to buy him a book about trucks for his birthday so that we’d know the difference between all of the many kinds of trucks.    So at lunchtime I headed to the children’s book section at Borders.   I’ve always had this obsession with actually owning books vs. taking them out from the library.     I guess I’ve seen too many dystopic movies and fear someday books will become obsolete–too bad it’s my favorite genre.

Anyhow, $90.35 later, here is what I left with:

• My Big Truck Book by Roger Priddy
• On the Night You were Born by Nancy Tillman
• Oh, the Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss
• Trains, Cranes and Troublesome Trucks by W. Rev Awdry
• Cars and Trucks and Things that Go by Richard Scarry
• The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper and George Hauman
• And a stuffed version of the pigeon from Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus

I know my mom has been buying up books from the Disney collection and my mother-in-law is a kindergarten teacher who gets children’s books from Scholastic and sends us boxes regularly, plus our friend in Hawaii with the masters in children’s literature has a bad book-buying habit.    I’m thinking he may need a set of built-in bookshelves lining his wall by the time he is 3!

The last time our children’s lit nanny friend came to town to visit, on July 4th, we decided to take a trip to Barnes & Noble.    I have no clue how much she spent, but here’s what we left with:

• Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner
• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
• Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
• HUG by Jex Alborough
• Wave by Suzy Lee
• Toot & Puddle: Top of the World by Holly Hobbie
• Travels With Toot & Puddle: Three Books About Friendship by Holly Hobbie
• In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak

And mommy picked up Corduroy by Don Freeman and Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.    I have to say, I’m not digging the Maurice Sendak books.   Maybe when the toddler is older I’ll appreciate them more.   

This week we love Skippy John Jones, however Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel and the Toot & Puddle books have also been big hits!

Until next time,

Lorelei

Only a Mom Would Care

This morning was very exciting for me and for our son.   As I was changing his diaper I noticed he was dry, so I asked him if he wanted to go potty.    He’s tried periodically to go, and ocassionally there’s a trickle, but today he was sitting there and I had no idea anything had happened, but when he stood up, the toddler potty was half-full!     I made a huge deal, I was so happy for him, and completely shocked.    He’d done such a good job.    It’s so amazing to me what children accomplish each day.

See, told you only a mom would care.

Until next time,

Lorelei

The Dark Knight Breaks Another Record

Last night I went to see the new Batman movie, “The Dark Knight”, for a second time.    We’d seen it opening weekend, before I had a chance to read any reviews and any of the hype.   I’m so glad that I did because I loved this movie because I thought it was actually a very good movie, not because the reviews told me it was so.    I can’t believe how many people are being critical of this movie.    I dunno, it’s a movie.    A friend of mine hadn’t seen it yet, and I wanted to see it again.    Driving home from the theater, I understood why I wanted to see it again.    It’s not just the fact that I have a huge crush on Bruce Wayne (yeah, Christian Bale is hot, but he’s even hotter as Bruce Wayne), that I wish I had my own Alfred and Lucius, or that Bruce Wayne drives a really cool million dollar Lamborghini Reventon, but also, I’m a little inspired and comforted by the dark knight.    I’m a bit annoyed with Harvey Dent, because his character clearly isn’t as heroic or wonderful once his life gets turned on it’s head.    Batman is unchanging, and cares nothing for his own personal reputation, he even goes so far as to ruin his own reputation to protect those around him and ruin a perfectly good million dollar vehicle in order to save the weasily little accountant who is trying to out him.    He cares more about his purpose and mission, to try to save Gotham and the city his parents believed in and tried to save, than he does about his money, his safety or his reputation.  And he stays true to his own way of fulfilling that purpose.  It reminds me that it’s often not what’s on the surface that is true or that really matters.

This isn’t meant to be some deep analysis of the movie, I just really enjoyed it.  It’s silly, but it made me feel better, even if its fiction.   

So, it’s no wonder to me tihs week that “The Dark Knight” shattered the $400 million box office record in 18 days, passing up “Shrek 2″ as the fastest film to reach $400 million in 43 days.    Oh, such a good movie.

Until next time,

Lorelei

New Zoya Nail Polish Deal

Just received this in my email, I must have signed up to receive email updates from Zoya/Art of Beauty.

Now thru Friday 8/8/2008, Purchase a Vibe Sampler or a Pulse sampler or both, and receive the 3 matching Zoya Vibe and/or Pulse Hot Lips Lip Glosses FREE. Simply add a Vibe and/or Pulse Sampler to your shopping cart and enter ” GLOSSME ” in the enter code# box (you will have to press the update button) in your shopping cart. The Zoya Hot Lips will automatically appear in your shopping cart at no charge. Remember you can purchase one Vibe and one Pulse promotion per order. This special is available only through www.zoya.com, www.qtica.com and www.artofbeauty.com.

I actually like the colors in both sets, though if I decide to buy it will probably be the Vibe set, as I like the lipgloss colors better that come with that one.

Enjoy!

Until next time,

Lorelei

Outing to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Lorikeets

Saturday morning we realized that it was the first time all summer that the hubby didn’t have a church softball double-header which meant we had the day free to take the toddler somewhere fun.  We hadn’t made it to the zoo since June, and the toddler seemed excited, so we got things packed up and headed out.  

The zoo is a short 10-15 minute drive from our house.    In that time, I managed to:

1. Hit a dog that ran out on the freeway (I’d slowed down enough/managed to stop so that when I backed up it ran away as if nothing had happened)
2. Got a flat tire from said dog (this morning we discovered the smell that was coming from the Rav4 since then was actually doggie doodoo on the tire, to which the hubby replied, “I guess you scared the crap out of that dog!”)
3. Almost broke the hubby’s foot because I forgot to put on the parking break before he jacked up the car to change the tire.

So, I’ve learned the hard way that I need to engage the parking break before changing a tire, and also that some animals aren’t smart enough to not run in front of a car going 60 miles an hour.

Despite all of this, we made it to the zoo in one piece, though the hubby has been teasing me about this ordeal since.    I’ll gladly take teasing over anger any day.    The zoo, as always, was a hit.   We typically only go for two hours at a time.   The weather the past week has been great, Saturday was no exception.   For the first time, we let the toddler feed the Lorikeets.    For $1 you get a shotglass worth of nectar, and the birds lick it out of the cup.    What a treat for our son!

We of course also had to ride the train through the Australian Adventure area, and headed uphill to the primates, cats and aquatics building.  He loved running around the building, seeing the various fish, monkeys and the snow leopard.   The best part may have been when looking at the baboons with their red behinds and our son telling us, “they need some cream.”     On the walk down to the stingrays exhibit called “Touch” we took the terraced walkway that allows you to walk down the hill through the shade of the trees.  One of the things I love about this zoo is the amount of space dedicated.    It is more like a huge parkspace with animals dispersed throughout.    Before our son could even appreciate the zoo much we bought a membership just to go and enjoy walking around and being outdoors with him.    

I think he enjoyed the stingrays, though his little arms are still, unfortunately, too small to reach down and touch them.    By this time, nearly two hours had passed and it was time to head home for a nap!     But, I can’t wait to go again soon.   Maybe when the grandparents are in town in a couple of weeks.

Until next time,

Lorelei

The Best Cleveland Indians Seats Ever!

Cleveland Indians vs. Detroit Tigers

Ok, at least they were the best seats we’d ever had.     I bought them through StubHub.com and they were well worth it…Row G, Section 157 if you ever have a chance to buy some great seats, these ended up being second row, behind home plate, so I really splurged on this one.

Last Wednesday I took the hubby to an Indians game to celebrate our upcoming eighth wedding anniversary. If you ask him, I actually took him to a Tigers game. He grew up in Detroit, so whenever Detroit plays Cleveland in any professional sport, we try to go.  It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful evening, the perfect temperature for a ballgame. Which is good, because the game lasted 13 innings. A friend of ours went with us to the game along with his girlfriend, and as he so eloquently put it, “well, if I’m going to be at a baseball game this long and stick around to the end of the game, these are the seats I want to be in!”

Cleveland Indians game

The hubby and I got to the game an hour early, since the seats we bought came with passes to the Terrace Club. We decided to sit at the bar, the service at the bar seemed quicker and we wanted to make sure we got to our seats at the start of the game. The bar and restaurant have a fantastic view though, so had it been much hotter we may have decided to stay inside in the A/C and watch part of the game. I think I had the biggest mimosa I’ve ever seen in my life. We passed on appetizers and the carving station, because it just doesn’t seem right to go to a game and not eat an All-Beef frank with Stadium Mustard in the comfort of your seat while watching the game, at least not for us. This is our first game of the season that we’ve gone to, and we wanted the full ballpark experience.

The area where we sat was a blast. I desperately wanted to get a pic of the guy sitting in the front row behind home plate who watched the entire game with no shoes on, making himself right at home, however the hubby would have been too embarrassed. I also learned about a guy named “Pudge” who just got traded to the Yankees by the Tigers yesterday. It apparently was a very big deal to Bobby, our usher, who had a passionate conversation with the hubby and our friends. As he said, “Why on earth would you want to help the Yankees?”  There were some very amusing girls behind us heckling the Tigers, and I personally enjoyed heckling the hubby and our friend (both are Tigers fans) as the Indians led 11-7 in the eighth. My friend’s girlfriend and I bonded every time the Indians scored, agitating the guys with high fives, and chimed in our “O-H-I-O” during Hang On Sloopy. There’s nothing more fun than teasing a Michigan fan, especially one you love.

I should always know however that teasing and heckling will always come back to haunt me however. Despite the fact that after 13 innings and over 5 1/2 hours of play the Indians lost to the Tigers, it was a terrific game to witness. Kelly Shoppach played an awesome game, he became the ninth player in MLB history with five extra-base hits in a game, which ties the all-time record, including two homers. Ben Francisco and Grady Sizemore were also good for some exciting homeruns.

With the exception of the outcome of the game, it was a perfect outing to the ballpark. Awesome seats, great weather with a gorgeous breeze, an excited crowd, hanging out with the hubby, beer…and stadium mustard. I think I may be an atmosphere junkie.

Until next time,

Lorelei