Someone got a hair cut!!

That would be me!!! And I got a ton chopped off! I have to admit, I hadn't had my hair cut in almost a year....I just never made the time to do it, and I sort of liked it long. In the end I decided to chop it because the ends were like straw and I was tired of putting it in a ponytail/messy bun all of the time. Here's a before pic: (Jen on the left, Erin on the right, picture taken by Marty as we sat in traffic at the I-90 toll booth forever!!!)

And here's the new and improved me:) Now this is the day after the actual cut, and I spent part of the afternoon at the pool, so it's a little messy, but I LOVE IT!!!

Did we all miss that day in Kindergarten???

I've been neglecting my blog as of lately. The reality is that it's a very stressful time at my house. Life is not always easy, especially when we're in the middle of so much change and the future is a bit uncertain. I don't know how to get it all out, and frankly, I don't know that I want to through this outlet. It's times like this when the lack of friends that we have nearby hits us most.

And a quick question (or 10!)?: Why does it seem that as we grow making friends becomes difficult? I watch my students meet new people and make new friends with such ease, and I have to wonder, what happened? When did we suddenly decide that it shouldn't be that easy? And here's another one, as children we want to learn more, want to explore and discover....until what, we reach a certain age and then that all stops? And we become plugged in, hooked up, know it alls who have no reason to open our minds and learn more than we already do??

Robert Fullghum wrote the book: "All I really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten"....and how true it all is:

All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I
learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school
mountain, but there in the sandpile at Sunday School. These are the things
I learned:

Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life--learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing
and dance and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and
stick together.
Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The
roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but
we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the
Styrofoam cup--they all die. So do we.
And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you
learned--the biggest word of all--LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love
and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult
terms and apply it to your family life or your work or your government or
your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world
it would be if we all--the whole world--had cookies and milk about three
o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or
if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where
they found them and to clean up their own mess.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are-- when you go out into the
world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

--Robert Fulghum

A new one of the girls

When we moved we really wanted a backyard for the girls. When we found this apt. complex we knew there wasn't exactly a backyard, but that there was a dog run behind us on the property. I was worried that the girls wouldn't get enough "outside" time, but I was wrong. Here is their favorite thing to do, especially when it's nice outside! (Usually Maggie is actually on the patio, but this was as close as she would get because I had the camera out...she hates getting her picture taken!!!)

What's that in the sky...

wait...it's the SUN!!! (picture from kids for saving earth website) It was sunny for most of the day yesterday, Adam and I even got to play a game of Tennis. PS: neither of us are good at it..haha! It's 7:45 am and the sun is shining bright and it's going to stay this way all day today, and tomorrow! They are calling for rain Saturday night and Sunday, but then the 5 day for next week has more sunny days than rainy ones! And it's going to get above 80 degrees this weekend! Could this mean that summer if finally here?! I sure hope so:)

Not as in love with MA as before...

There were 8 people killed this weekend in 4 different accidents on the 4th of July. The reason? Alcohol and NO SEAT BELTS!!! A few weeks ago Adam and I were going to IKEA and we witnessed the clean up of an accident where a child was killed...she was ejected from a car because she was not wearing a seat belt!!! Adam has commented quite often that people who he works with do not wear seat belts and now I know why.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts does not have a mandatory seat belt law. I am annoyed, disgusted, and ashamed to be living in a state with this type of ignorance!!! We are progressive enough to allow anyone to marry, regardless of sexual orientation (Makes me proud!!!), but we do not require people to wear a seat belt?!(Makes me angry!!!)

Here's how it works:(quoted from the following website)

"The law in Massachusetts mandates that everyone wear seat belts, but drivers must be stopped for another offense before police can enforce the seat-belt law. Statehouse lawmakers refuse, year after year, to pass a primary seat-belt law, which would allow police to enforce the law without the need for another offense."

So they do encourage, even go as far as to say "require" but check this out....you can only be fined $25 and you can't be pulled over strictly for no belt...you must be pulled over for something like speeding, running a red light, etc. Here's how it reads from www.mass.gov:

Chapter 90: Section 13A. Seat belt use required; exemptions; penalty

"Any person who operates a motor vehicle without a safety belt, and any person sixteen years of age or over who rides as a passenger in a motor vehicle without wearing a safety belt in violation of this section, shall be subject to a fine of twenty-five dollars. Any operator of a motor vehicle shall be subject to an additional fine of twenty-five dollars for each person under the age of sixteen and no younger than twelve who is a passenger in said motor vehicle and not wearing a safety belt. The provisions of this section shall be enforced by law enforcement agencies only when an operator of a motor vehicle has been stopped for a violation of the motor vehicle laws or some other offense."

I'm sorry, I just can't wrap my head around this! Last year there were 363 fatal traffic accidents in MA and 208 of those killed were not wearing a restraint/seat belt. That's about 60%, and no one seems to think this warrants a real conversation about changing the laws! In a vote three years ago the State Senate passed a mandatory restraint law but the House failed it, and it hasn't come back up since.

I think it's time.

4th of July

Happy 4th of July! Hope everyone had a blast this weekend! We spent our holiday time with good friends, Marty and Jen, from MI. Saw a great/sad Red Sox game on Friday night, visited a local Botanical Garden, sat by the pool, drove up the Coast and had dinner in Portland, ME!! Here are some of our memories in pictures!!!

Rain Rain GO AWAY!!

Do you see this?! This is the forecast for today in New England and much of the great lakes region! What the hell?! Why why why is it still raining!?