Thinking of all my good friends...

Are you a good friend?

Even if you aren't an antique lover, you can probably appreciate old things.

The most worthwhile, long-term investment you can make is investing in relationships.

A healthy, edifying friendship can have a huge impact on your well-being, character, and even your success.

Old friends have seen us through celebrations, grief, births, graduations, marriages, and so much more.

They love us for who we are--warts and all!

Think about the most formative friendships in your life and consider writing a note of appreciation to each of your friends.

Maybe there are some buddies that you need to reach out to because they have a need, or others you just need to reconnect with.

Your gratitude shows them that they are cared for, which everyone needs to know.

The best antique is an old friend.- Anonymous

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The holidays weren't so bad. Mario didn't come. And my ridiculous brother made up some lame-ass excuse why Mom shouldn't come so he wouldn't have to buy her the ticket he promised. And we got a new baby. Meet Lucy...

The dam broke

She wants to know when we are leaving after Christmas so she can book her flight to St. Thomas. Maybe we should spend Christmas home alone, too. I officially hate the holidays. And FIL is coming for The Nutcracker(yay) except he's bringing the uninvited, rude, nasty, thing he divorced last year who was so unbelievably rude to me last year with him. So..go to Maine knowing Mom is just waiting for me to leave or stay home with the Nasty Thing?

Back to crying.

This is great for weight loss, tho - I have absolutely NO appetite. Dinner is on the table & nobody even knows it.

Holidays

Ok. So Mom doesn't have enough money to drive down to NY from Maine to spend Thanksgiving with us. BUT, she can afford to go to the Virgin Islands to visit her blessed son for New Years because supposedly he is buying the ticket.

I tell her Paul was laid off. She panics about her mortgage that we pay then asks when we're coming for Christmas so she can plan her trip to the VI.

I'm trying REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY FUCKING HARD NOT TO CRY. REALLY HARD.

Anybody want to come over for Thanksgiving? I have a table that seats 8 & there is 4 of us, so 4 people. I'll bet I could squeeze in more if I tried. ;)

Happy Fucking Holidays.

And she didn't even acknowledge my 'big' Creative Memories news. But hey - David is buying her a ticket to the VI!!

I wish everyone would leave the house so I could have a total meltdown. I fucking deserve it.

SO THERE.

Europe, the 2nd installment

Everybody is finally up & moving. Rebecca is the last to get moving. Breakfast!!! It is now 9:10. See ya!!!
Monday eve. Spent the day on the canal bus....stopped at the Anne Frank house & Rembrandtshuis museum. Had lunch at a fab hole in the wall inbetween. Mom had salad w/shrimp, I had quiche & salad, Nicole had spinach soup, ½ a chicken sandwich & some of mom's shrimp. Rebecca had (surprise, surprise) spaghetti w/cherry tomato sauce. But she did eat it all. Paul had the same as Nicole. Also between canalbus stops at Centraal station, we stopped at a pub for beer & hot chocolate.
The kids showed great interest in both museums which was great. I got pooped on by a bird while waiting in line at Anne Frank's House. Twice. NA-ASTY. Good luck is comin' my way because a lady bug landed on my nose yesterday. Maybe the luck is the weather. We've had some horrendous raain storms but we're never outside when they occur.
Bill Zwartjes had recommended a Indonesian restaurant that starts with 'k' & has a 'j' in it. LOL, mom. We found Kantjil & Tijger. The concierge made reservations & it was only a 15 minute walk! Bonus we didn't get totally lost or rained on. We made pigs of ourselves. It was sooo good! The service was typically bad but I guess that's an European thing. We had beer, vodka tonic, 2 pots green tea, mango juice, batavia (11 items, no fish) & matjan (12 - or was it the one w/13? - items, no chicken), Rebecca ordered fried chicken w/pineapple sauce (ajam goreng pazri nanas), nasi goreng(fried rice), mint tea, tigers coffee (w/ginger liqueur), nonja poetih (vanilla ice cream w/fresh exotic fruits & whipped cream) , tjoetji moeloet(Nicole's mango/papaya ice cream), gember liqueur – ginger liqueur (!), grand marnier, & spekkoek (cinnamon cake) all for 176 euros. The waiter was less than charming so he didn't get an additional tip. Besides the fact they added on 6% & 19% anyway. He seemed less than pleased. OH WELL. The lady in the WC said that this was a very good restaurant & the food is very authentic.
What did we have....
1. veggies in coconut sauce which was awesome.
2. Beef in coconut sauce which was disappointing,
3. pork kebabs w/peanut sauce – YUM,
4. chicken kebabs w/peanut sauce,
5. mackerel in whatever sauce – don't care – Paul & Nicole ate it but said it wasn't terribly remarkable.
6. Salad w/daikon, cukes, bean sprouts, pineapple, peanut dressing.
7. Green beans in a spicy coconut sauce, cabbage, potatoes, turnip in a spicy sauce – to cabbagey.
8. Another salad w/the shrimp styrofoam,
9. a whole bowlful of the shrimp styrofoam,
10. toasted coconut,
11. pickled cucumbers,
12. white rice,
13. yellow rice,
14. 'spicy chicken' which was soy sauce-ish more than hot spicy,
15. another order of the fried chicken w/pineaple sauce,
16. hard boiled eggs in coconut sauce which were splendifferous.
17. sweet potato chips
18. shrimp kebabs
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24. (?)
Ah well, maybe Paul will remember. Or Nicole, lol.
Concierge suggested against a dinner cruise & said dinner out & then an evening cruise would be better. I'm guessing the food's not all that fab for the cost. Better to have a great meal then have a nice ride. The kids are bathed so I'm suggesting the 9-10:30 otherwise 1. it will still be broad-broad daylight at 8 & what do we do afterwards if we go on the early one? We take 2 ½ – 3 hours for dinner & eating before 7 is not a typical happening, either. So, early dinner at 6:30, be done by 8:30 & go on a cruise until 10:30 then it will be bedtime.
Tomorrow we're going to the Rijksmuseum & Van Gogh museum. Other than that...lunch somewhere. Probably bfast upstairs again which is ok. Then wednesday morning, we pack up, check out & Andria is picking us up!!!
Paul is asleep in his clothes again & snoring. MUST turn the fan on. Miss Rebecca is faithfully writing in her journal – I'm very impressed. Mom & Nicole are asleep in the other room.
Nitey nite. I still hate not having internet right here, right now. I could go upstairs but..blah. In the morning, I will check. :)
It is Wednesday!! How on earth did that happen so fast? We've had a busy but great time in A'dam in spite of the weather. Right now it's SUNNY but cool (only 8am) probably because Paul bought a sweatshirt last night.
Yesterday, we ate upstairs again then walked to the Rijksmuseum – did a lot of souvenir shopping there. We had lunch at nearby _________. I had a croque madame, Rebecca had croque monseur, mom had mozz & tomato salad which came with a lot more greeenery than at home. Paul & Nicole had smoked salmon sandwiches which came unassembled. My ice tea was bottled Lipton & CARBONATED. Very strange. Then we went to the van Gogh museum & the Diamond museum. Stopped at Hard Rock Cafe for a shot glass, then back to the room for an hour. Found Haesje Claes, a traditional & very OLD (1500's) typical Dutch restaurant. They gave us a table as long as we agreed to be out by 7:45. Which also meant we had better service than most nights, lol. Awesome food. We all had Dutch cheese croquettes, Rebecca had tomato soup which she didn't finish I guess because there were veggies in it. Nicole had pea soup which she picked the sausage out of & ate separately. Whatever. Mom & I had pork madeira. I was supposed to have pork in pepper sauce. No matter, it was yummy. I also finally got pea soup! Paul had veal with cheese sauce & said it was fab. For dessert P, R, & N had apple pie with cinnamon sauce to die for. Mom had crème brulee & I had GINGER MET SLAGROOM which also had ice cream. It was sooo yummy. It was poached ginger in syrup with ice cream & whipped cream. Delicioso.
Then we headed for the Blue Boat evening canal cruise. Yay concierge who said to skip the dinner cruise & eat elsewhere. We stopped for a sweatshirt for Paul. The kids picked out patches for their bookbags. We got their early & needed to pee so we went across the street to the Park Hotel 4 star's bar for a drink & bathroom break. We had just enough time because after we crossed the street back to the boat, boarded & we left. The girl was a hoot & it was a lot of fun. Had some beer, wine, water, peanuts & cheese w/mustard for dipping. Returned at 10:30, went to the room & most went to bed; Paul went for a walk & came back at 1am with lots of stories. Now I need to get everythig ready for when Andria arrives around 10!!!!!! Get the kids dressed, pack, eat......toodleoooo.

Europe, the 1st installment

Friday 22: Have plane tix, railpass, rail reservations...all packed...at the airport, checked in & blasted thru security. PHEW. Oops, I forgot to add Coli's underwear & socks. DAMN.
Hanging in the President's Club w/my Sam Adams. No internet. Damn again. Mom's flight was just called to board. Kinda wish we could join her but our luggage is checked for our flight already.
Time to try to log on, lol.
Sat 23: oh what a day. VERY long night on the plane. Food was ok. 'slept' like crap. Stiff, achy pretzel. BUT it was a good flight & we arrived on time as did our luggage. Bumped into our 1st asshole while trying to leave the baggage area, he cut in behind Paul separating him from the girls & i. He didn't take kindly to us getting back in front of him. Tuff shit. Couldn't find mom; finally had her paged & there she was in 5 minutes! Apparently, her flight had been delayed & she only got there about 20 minutes before us. We went right past her in baggage claim. Oh well. Found a van taxi right away & arrived to find our room not ready. Gave stuff to concierge, called Helga & went for lunch. Ate in the hotel cuz it was POURING. Had a chicken vegie soup that was out of this world & the special of the day – ham, potatoes, white asparagus, chopped boiled egg & hollandaise. MmmmmMMMM. The brownie on the plane was better. Oh well. Room ready; took luggage up. Meo arrived; slept most of the way back to his house nearly an hour w/traffic. How unpolite.
Helga's kids are great; they all hit it off well, neither understanding a word of each others' language but no mattter. Went to a street fair kind of thing.
YUM. There were 'native american indian' performers. Wow, so out of place. Tried a few liquors, sorry lady – not actually buying any today! Went back & kids continued to play. SO CUTE.
Garlic bread, bread w/brie & summer sausage appys. I ate brie. And drank white wine. No complaints. Somebody please notice this.
Dinner was lovely – french onion soup(yes, I ate it), gnocchi w/ricotta, fresh basil, lemon zest, lightly sauteed zucchini – it was awesome. And chicken cutlets w/cheese & a pineapple ring all coated in breading. I thought it odd but it did taste good and Meike & Jelmer loved it. Everybody enjoyed it so what the hey. A salad which I never got to. Flemish fries which in another world I have visited are french fries. The big kind – maybe they differentiate between big & shoestring here? Served with mayo or ketchup. Dessert was wild strawberries in jello w/VANILLA LIME ZEST WHIPPED CREAM. Oh holy cannoli that is the whipped cream to end all whipped creams & it went with the strawberries SO nicely. Off to zaar with THIS one!
Several glasses of white wine then on to rose w/out complaint I might add, Meo took us home. Their kids seemed sad to see us go but we'll see them in the am. We (I) want to try the pancake house across the street & then depending on the weather we'll do whatever. No big plans, it is vacation. SO THERE.
Fucking internet is pissing me off. I was connected wirelessly but couldn't get a browser. (?!?) so I added the wire. I've been connected for about an hour but can't get a browser. I am connected to free wifi but keep getting directed to an iBAHN page where they want my money. Hell NO. i get free high speed with the hotel so go away. I'll complain in the morning. It would be too loud now & people are sleeping. And snoring. But i found the fan!!! it's so irritating. I was connected earlier but couldn't attend to any emails. Dratly. And i figured out why wasn't connecting properly before – Paul had had me change some settings which i finally found & fixed. damn ibahn. I'm going to bed. Need sleep – good sleep in a good bed. It's 5:30 MY time & 11:30 local time. I am on local time already. The others think i'm nuts for wanting to get up around 7:30. who wants to waste time sleeping in europe???
Monday 25. Yesterday was great. Alarm went off at 7 & we got up at 8, lol. TODAY, the alarm went off whenever it was & i woke up at 7:50, showered, etc & tried waking people at 8:30. Nobody is moving. And mom insisted we needed to get going early to be at the museum early. Must have been the wine.
Anyway, back to yesterday...Helga's family was moving just as slow so they said to go ahead & get bfast, we'll pick you up at 11. Went to a Sports Bar, watched some soccer & made pigs of ourselves. I had a bacon-cheese-tomato pancake & some pears. Mom had a bacon-mushroom-cheese pancake & Paul I think had the same as mom. Nicole had a lemon pancake which was just that – a pancake w/a quartered lemon. She rolled it up & squeezed the lemon on top & gobbled it up. Miss Rebecca got French bread & garlic butter & those little puffy things. She ate most of the bread but I think she was expecting it to be toasted garlic bread. Oopsie. I think she ate a few pofferthingies. 4,50 euros for a cup of tea. Gimme a break.
Helga & Meo took us on a lovely long drive to Zuiderzeemuseum which was an open air museum about the maritime history of the Netherlands. They were smoking eel & herring which Meo, Meike & Jelmer ate, Nicole & Mom tried. No thank you. They played the same old fashioned games we see at Williamsburg & Philipsburg Manor which was interesting. We made 'clog-ships' which was a really cool project & kept us out of the rain. Nicole found a Dutch girl costume at the gift shop & Mom got it for her for Halloween. Lunch was excellent. Rebecca had an apple-raisin pancake, I had ginger(candied), Nicole had plain, Mom had uitsmijter, an open faced sandwich with eggs, ham, cheese & tomatoes like Helga. Meo.... Paul had croquettes which were kinda like minced ham(?) balled & fried. Like the potato croquettes they serve in NY but made w/meat. He was happy.
We stayed until it closed then Meo took the kids home & Helga brought us back. We took her up for the free drinks & hors d'ouvres. I had biterballen & something like fried ravioli but the dough was different & the cheese was gouda, I think. Yumm. And a big pile of vegetation. Thank God. Tummy churned at that & I was crapping within minutes. Helga left around ?? We puttered & debated dinner for awhile, checked some stuff out downstairs – no, in fact iBAHN was supposed to take over my computer & make me pay 20 euros for 24 hours. Sorry everyone, I'll be in touch LATER. Apparently, that guy wasn't supposed to allow me free access. Ah well. After breakfast we had seen lots of South American steakhouses which got the gears rolling. We found an ad for a free cocktail at one so we went looking for it. It was over near the plaza Leidseplein, which is across the street. But it was a few blocks in but no prob & no getting lost. It was awesome. Perfect ribeye, grilled corn on the cob, some salad, a South American Syrah, a couple shots of Amaretto, an ice cream sundae, a couple t-shirts, a fab waiter, what more could you ask?? I peed 3 times so I guess I'm not dehydrated anymore. A nice pile of protein & veggies. Feeling much better today. Paul had ribeye & profiteroles. No veggies? What was he thinking??? Mom had a filet & salad. Nicole had shrimp (they gave her more than the menu said thank God) then helped Rebecca with her huge 'children's meal' and ordered a grilled corn on the cob & had 2 mango ice cream desserts. Rebecca's 'children's menu' item was a breast of chicken, a dish of applesauce, salad, and a baked potato. Straight for the potato after strict instructions that the carbs came last. Brat. She did ok & had ice cream w/bing cherries after. She gave away all her cherries, tho. Poo for her & yay for the rest of us. Got home just before MIDNIGHT & went to bed.

Trileptal

I was just poking around & found this tidbit of info....


What is this medicine used for?
• This medicine is used to prevent or control seizures.
• This medicine is used to treat manic depression.
How does it work?
• Oxcarbazepine calms the brain.
• It is a mood stabilizer.

This is my seizure medication. It stopped my seizures dead in their tracks but apparently failed to do any of that other fine stuff it's touted to do. ROFL. Treat manic depression? CALMS the brain?? Mood stabilizer??? It just keeps getting better. I wish it affected me that way! But I'll settle for no seizures. Can't have it all, right? Heeheeeheee. lawdy, lawdy.