My Real Life

July 21, 2012

Things I Miss

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 6:00 am
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When I went to college, I had a Macintosh Color Classic computer.

I loved that thing.

Anyway, it was basically a word processor, but over time, I was able to get games for it.

One of my favorites was “Scarab of Ra.”

I loved that game.

It wasn’t particularly taxing, but it was a great game when I just wanted to relax and not really think too hard.

I’ve tried to find it, in the years since, but can’t seem to find a version to download.

I found one, and it told me I had to also get this other program to open it, but neither worked, so I deleted both.  Quickly.

I miss Scarab of Ra.

—–

When I was a little, little kid, I had a Halloween album.

I loved this album.

Erin knows.  She listened to it with me.

I listened to this album, even when I wasn’t a little kid anymore.

I listened to this album, when I was a teenager, sometimes.

Reminded me of childhood.

My parents moved when I was in college, and when they did, the movers stole some of our things, including albums, and they also left our belongings in a leaky moving truck, overnight, outside, in a rainstorm.

Many, many things were completely ruined.

I don’t remember if this album was stolen or ruined, as I was in college, but the end result was that it was gone when I came home for Christmas that year.

Devastating.

Almost as devastating as the fact that my Shaun Cassidy album was also gone.

But, that’s another story.

So, I have been looking for a copy of this album ever since.

No luck.

I’d even be happy with getting the songs online, but the most I’ve found is four of the songs.

Disappointing.

I miss my Halloween album.

—–

My old roommate, Nita.

I’m not sure why, but I’ve been thinking a lot about her, recently, and I’m wondering how she’s doing.

When I graduated from college, I came home for awhile, and then decided I needed my own place.

I fell into a great deal…renting a house from the county with two roommates.

Large house, mature roommates, Nita and Mike, who both had jobs and responsibilities.

Mike lived downstairs and Nita and I had rooms upstairs.

We spent a lot of time just talking and laughing and just hanging.

I moved out when Real Man and I got married, a few years later, and Nita and Mike came to the wedding, but we lost touch over the years.

Now, I’m trying to find her, but haven’t met with any luck.

However, it appears as though I’ve found her in North Carolina.

Unfortunately, I found her mother’s obituary online, and in the obituary, found Nita and her 7 brothers and sisters listed, along with their cities.

Then, I went to whitepages.com and looked her up, and it appears as though she is living with her sister.

That’s it, though.  I have an address, but no other information.

Not on Facebook, not on Twitter, can’t find an email address online.

So, I’m going to have to reach out to her the old fashioned way.

Write her a letter.

And hope that it’s her.

——

When I moved home, after college, I brought my Macintosh Color Classic with me.

It was 1994 and it was the early, early stages of social networking.

When I went to college in 1990, there was barely email.  I certainly didn’t know anything about it.

By the last few months of my senior year, in 1994, Real Man and I were emailing each other…me from my dorm room, he from the computer lab at Rutgers.

I believe I had an AOL account, but I wanted something a little more.

So, I signed up for eWorld.

It was a Mac users online community and it was so cool.

It was like a smaller AOL, just for Mac users.

It was so cool.

Visually, it was colorful and pleasing to look at.

It wasn’t overstimulating, it was easy to use, and had everything.

Until it was cancelled in 1996.

And that stunk.

—–

in 2001, there was a TV show called “Mystery in Small Town X.

It was part reality show, part drama, part mystery.

I really, really enjoyed it.

The premise was all a bit complicated, so please feel free to click the Wikipedia link above to read about it.

I think what I liked so much about it was that you could try to solve the mystery as you watched the show.

The sad part was that the winner of the show was a NYC firefighter who was killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks, about a week after the finale of the show aired.

Very, very sad.

Still, it was a great show and I wish they would do something similar again.

—–

 

October 29, 2010

‘Tis the Season

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 5:34 pm
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..for magic and make-believe!

 

We hit the Halloween parades today.

First was the parade for Baby Monkey.

We weren’t sure they were going to let him wear his mask, but for the parade, I guess it was okay.

He gave us big smiles and waves when he saw us.

He was so happy to be Batman.

I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to get the costume off.

Then, we raced over to Monkey Girl’s school for her parade.

Be still my heart with my little Hermione.

She’s read every Harry Potter book and wanted to be Hermione last year, but we could only find Kindergarten-sized costumes at that time.  This year, we ordered online and she was thrilled.

Just to watch her doing the dances and parading with her friends.

She’s the best medicine for anything that ails you.

The afternoon brought the parade for Monkey in the Middle.

Mr. Serious.

Mr. My Mom Came To Read To My Class During Her Prep Period On Monday And I Couldn’t Even Smile At Her, Nor Do I Smile When I Score A Touchdown In Football, A Goal In Soccer, A Basket In Basketball, You Get The Picture…

It’s hard to tell, but there is a smile lurking behind that mustache.

I think we actually got two smiles.

Public smiles are hard to come by with this one.

We felt honored.

The parades were a success, and now we have a day until the big town parade and the trick-or-treating.

We’ve been DVRing Halloween episodes of television shows and Halloween kids movies and are ready to spend our weekend snuggling and being scared.

You can have your Christmas and your Thanksgiving and your New Year’s.

THIS is the time of year that makes me smile.

October 17, 2010

A Look Back

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 8:01 am
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As I wake up early on this beautiful (chilly) fall morning and fight the urge to turn on the heat, because I just will NOT turn on the heat until November, I’m curled under a blanket looking at photos with my boy monkeys.

As we near Halloween, we love looking at photos of Halloween past.

Here is last year’s photo.

Superman.  A Witch.  A Storm Trooper.

So fitting for all of their personalities.

The little guy who wants to always save the day.

The girl who believes in the possibilities of magic, despite what she already knows to be true.

A serious, serious boy…ready to defend.

Can’t wait for this year!

October 14, 2010

Halloween

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 4:43 pm
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Yes, yes.

It’s only the 14th of October.

But, it’s October.

And to me, that means Halloween.

The monkeys and I have started reading our Halloween stories and taping the Halloween shows.

We’ve gotten the costumes, and have put out the decorations.

I have rented scary movies from Netflix for Real Man and I to watch, and am dying to get a babysitter so we can see some of the new release scary movies.

I love Halloween.

I love being scared.

I love the thrill of the supernatural and paranormal.

Halloween is just such a time of…possibility, I think.

I get more excited for Halloween than for any other holiday.

Even Christmas.

Just thought I’d share.

November 2, 2009

Candy

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 6:55 am
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Last Halloween post…I swear.

I was an only child. So, technically, all of the candy that I brought home for Halloween belonged to me.

Notice the use of the word “technically.”

See, I grew up in the seventies and eighties, and those of you who were kids when I was remember the years with the poison candy and razor blades in apples scares.

My friend, Gail, and I would walk the entire neighborhood (which was pretty extensive if you were willing to make the hike) for hours and come home with more candy than you can imagine. We’d be so excited, figuring out what we’d eat first and then next, etc.

However, I’d come home from trick or treating and my Dad would say, “You know, I better check out that candy. It might be dangerous.”

 He’d eat a piece.

“Yep…that one was safe. I better check another.”

And so it went.

Real Man is the youngest of four, so even though his Dad wasn’t eating his candy, you can bet that if it wasn’t carefully guarded, his sibling’s candy bags got fatter while his grew thinner.

So, Real Man and I have a rule around here that we never break.

 We. Don’t. Eat. The. Monkey’s. Candy.

 They are such generous little monkeys, though, and they always offer to share. We turn them down.

However, we do encourage them to share and trade with each other. This year, in particular, there was quite a bit of trading to be done, as Baby Monkey is allergic to peanuts.

Here is Baby Monkey’s haul.

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We separated out the peanut/tree nut containing candy. Then, his brother and sister looked through their bags and found things that they knew he liked and traded for the peanut/nut laden candy. Monkey Girl took care of the Butterfingers and Monkey in the Middle traded for all the Snickers. So, Baby Monkey is left with a peanut free candy bag full of candy.

This candy will stick around for a long time.   My monkeys aren’t huge candy eaters.  They’ll want the candy every day, for awhile, and then soon, they’ll forget about it and start eating oranges and bananas again for dessert.  However, even if they want the candy, it lasts.  Here’s why.

We’ve got some candy rules in our house that would probably make most kids run for the hills, but it’s what the monkeys have grown up with, so they really don’t know any better at this point. They can have one piece of candy for dessert each night. You get a good year for trick or treating, and I don’t have to provide dessert until April!

Say what you will, but it keeps the dentist from having to fill cavities and it keeps the monkeys from turning into sugar addicted crazies.

For now.

November 1, 2009

And just like that…

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 8:52 am
Tags: , ,

…Halloween is over.

That’s the only problem with holidays.  There’s so much build-up, and then it just ends.  I guess there really isn’t any way to ease your way out of a holiday, but still.

So, the rain started about fifteen minutes before the town parade and we made the decision to skip it.  We drove the kids to my parents, and then to Real Man’s father’s house, then came home and had some dinner. 

High school friends of ours who live in town and recently got married (Hi Pete and Jen!) had an Open House and so we went over there.  It was really pouring, but they had a tent covering their deck and the kids played in the basement.  We had a great time catching up with people and chatting, and then around 8:30, we came home and Real Man took Monkey Girl and Baby Monkey trick or treating.  Monkey in the Middle decided he wanted to stay home and snuggle with me.  In his words, “I have enough candy.”  Love that kid!

Apparently, there weren’t many trick or treaters in our neighborhood, because as they rang only a few doorbells, everyone just dumped loads of candy into their bags, saying “I need to get rid of this candy…take more!”  So, they came back loaded down with candy and completely ready for bed.

Real Man and I put the kids to bed, and fell fast asleep ourselves.  We set the clocks and thought, “Whoopee!  We get an extra hour of sleep!”

Nope.

Kids decided to go ahead and get up at 5:30 anyway. 

So, the task for today is to figure out a way to get rid of a gajillion Reeses Peanut Butter cups and Milky Way bars.  Because we only had 3 trick or treaters all night. 

Time to prepare for Thanksgiving!

October 31, 2009

Parade Nation

Friday was a three parade day around here.

Real Man and I always take personal days on Halloween parade day.  It’s such an exciting time for the monkeys, we can’t imagine them looking out in the crowd and not seeing one or both of us. 

For yesterday’s morning parades, Real Man and I split up, as Monkey Girl and Baby Monkey had parades at the same time.

I took custody of the camera.

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I love, love, LOVE what they do for the Halloween parade at Monkey Girl’s new school!

First, the principal blasts some Halloween music, ala The Monster Mash, the kids come out, by class, and parade twice around the parking lot.

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After the parade, the classes all go to these pre-painted circles on the pavement and they do some dancing and then they play some games.

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The pure joy on the faces on those hundreds of kids was just wonderful to see.  I love a Halloween parade!

In the afternoon, I headed over to Monkey in the Middle’s school, where I helped get kids in costumes and took class photos for the teacher.  Then, I headed outside and met Real Man in the back for the parade.

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Monkey in the Middle is not comfortable being the center of attention, but will give me a smile every now and then.

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When it was time to go back inside, Mr. Serious had returned and he did his best, serious, Stormtrooper walk as he went inside the building.  I wish I had had the time to get a full body shot of the walk, a his arms were straight down at his sides and he leaned forward on his toes as he went.  Real Man and I looked at each other and said, “What is he doing???”  Then we smiled, because really…it was cute.

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So, one more parade today on Halloween.  It’s raining right now, and I’m really hoping it clears up or we’ll have some very disappointed monkeys around here.  Apparently four parades aren’t enough.  We need five.

So, enjoy your Halloween and may it be as magical and mystical as it was when you were a kid…

Whether you are in character…

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Or are just enjoying the day with good friends…

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