Category Archives: Relationships

Kiss and Tell

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Fun Shadow shot of Hubs & I kissing on a Hilton Head
Island beach after watching the sunrise. 
Something happens when two people kiss. I’m not referring to your usual goosebumps inviting, butterfly acrobatics in the tummy, endorphin release. That’s a given. If you’re kissing someone you’re attracted to. What I’m referring to is an invisible weaving of hearts that occurs while two sets of moist, charged lips touch. 

In most memorable love stories, whether read on seen on Hollywood screens, the moment I anxiously await is the culmination of that first kiss. So often it disappoints. But every once in awhile, the story nails it. Perfectly timed. Perfectly orchestrated. And perfectly executed. 

When I was young, and the hormones kicked in, I started wondering, hmmm? Who will be my first kiss? When will I kiss a boy? How long should I wait till I kiss the boy I’m dating? Will I have time to apply a little last second lip-gloss!?! 😉 Continue reading →

The Dirty Dancing of Marriage

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Waking up at Gunstock Moutain Resort in New Hampshire for our first full day of vacation, all I can think is, where is the coffee? The 11:30PM arrival the night before which involved some not-so-nice words exchanged while the GPS evaded us, seasoned the RV air with the perfect ingredients for sweet dreams. Not. I went to bed, exhausted from packing the day before and my heart sinking for the weeks that lie ahead. If this is how we’re starting our vacation, angry and miscommunicating, I just want to quit now. Hide under the covers and wake up when it’s time to go home. That’s how I think when I feel desperate. Inadequate. Hopeless. And just genuinely messed up. 

It was just a fight over directions, I try to convince myself. But under ever petty argument lies a deeper issue. When you’ve been married for more than a decade, you know each other too well to know when something is just a tif or a tip. As in the tip of the iceberg of abandoned issues. I tell him he doesn’t trust me. He tells me I don’t respect him. Tempers flare. Words fly. And in the small confines of the RV, every sound is heard. By everyone.  Continue reading →

A Week of Storms… Tears for Colorado

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Shout of to ALL who HELPED Build our Tree Castle Blog

It’s raining in New York.

All week, my life has played out like a perfect storm. Full of lightening, thunder, sunshine breaking through the clouds and even a rainbow. Unfortunately, when the rain stops, the thunder subsides, and the clouds roll back, the damage is still there. And clean up is hard. Sometimes impossible. 

Without going into great detail, this week I’ve dealt with family health care obstacles, paper work nightmares, countless hours on the phone with banks, my Blog Address expiring unexpectedly and a traffic ticket via those darn traffic light cameras. All when I went grocery shopping after the storm that wrecked Morgan Park in Glen Cove, the friendly Shop and Stop cashier rings up my bill. 

“That’ll be $66.66.”

Gulp. Just glad there are four sixes and not three.

The guy behind me in line said something like, “And I thought I was having a rough day.” Continue reading →

Rolling with the Settlers of Catan

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Of Course Someone already has a BLOG on this cool Game!

Picked up Princess #3 from a birthday party and spent a few minutes catching up with a friend, birthday girl’s mommy. We sat around her magical backyard garden-bordered cushions around the fire pit. The squared off corner is surrounded on three sides with picket fence siding on which she hung small jars with pretty little tea candles lit inside them here and there.  Times like this I wish I owned a really cool camera that can take pictures in the dark.

As we chat she tells me about the party activities. Each of the kids decorated white cardboard squares to be placed in a gigantic rectangle on the floor for a homemade life-sized board game. She showed me the softball-sized dye she created too, covered with green felt cloth and white dots. So cool. And the pieces: the kids of course. The squares had instructions like “move up three spots,” “dance free-style for thirty seconds” and one even said, “You lose 1,000,000 points.” Yeah, the last one seemed a little harsh. Hope no one landed on it! That would take the happy out my birthday! Continue reading →

Fireworks of the Heart

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The flickering light whizzing around the dark living room brought a glimpse of fiery orange glow for  two seconds and then went out again. Thought about several fun tweets immediately:
“The night light in our house has a mind of its own. Oh wait. Just a firefly wanting some attention.”
“If I were a lightening bug, I would only offer to count in hide and seek. Just sayin.”
Or…

“This little light of mine is buzzing above my head. First official summer #firefly spotting. And she’s indoors!”
Never get the energy to rise and type in my tweets. Decide it’s okay to let it go. Enjoy the moments inside my head, smile, and move on. No one in the cyber world’s life depends on my firefly fixation tonight. Continue reading →

A Man in His Ocean…Drowning

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Photo Taken In Feb 2012

Walk into the hospital room and see Papa sitting on the edge of his bed with the lunch tray still in front of him. The pudding, ice cream and jello containers are empty. Sugar packets lay torn and scattered near his half full coffee mug. The salad sits untouched. 

“Rajdeep, you came?”
“Hi Papa. How are you?”
“Good. Good. Fine. I feel fine. Can you take me home now?”
“Not until the doctor says you’re okay to leave.”
“I feel fine. Good. I can go now.”
“Sorry Papa. I have to wait until the doctor says it’s okay.”

“Can you go and call the doctor then? Call him right away.” Papa is tugging at his I.V. as if it’s a chain.  Continue reading →

Living: An Extreme Sport

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A Room with a View…
Two years ago, hubby and I ventured over to Catalina Island in mid February. Just the two of us.
 
On the one hour boat ride over to Catalina, we enjoy the wind blowing through our hair and the words, “It never rains in Southern California” seem ominously untrue with the dark clouds looming above. But it doesn’t actually rain. Much. By the time the boat pulls into the docks, the sun is beaming and we are on our way to four days of Operation Anniversary Adventure, Take 12. In three months, we’ll be married twelve years. We are celebrating a little early this year. 
 
After we check into our spacious villa that overlooks the ocean, we venture down to the waterfront in our golf cart [hubby’s first time driving one] for a late lunch/early dinner and some grocery shopping. We figure we’ll cook some of our meals to offset the cost of the nicer accommodations, and when you’re only feeding two mouths—cheese, crackers, fruit and cold cuts count as a meal.  Continue reading →

My Hotty Under the Hood

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[In Honor of Father’s Day, this week I’m blogging about one of hubby’s favorite things in the world: Cars! … Enjoy!]

Remember when you went to Kmart with your mom and they had the blue light special. “Attention all shoppers! For the next five minutes, and five minutes only, all white sports socks in Aisle three are an additional 50% off.” Then your mother would race her cart like a Nascar Driver over to Aisle three to get her paws on several packs of socks before they ran out. Can’t say I miss those days. Do they even have Kmarts anymore?


Anyway, in these economic times, every one’s looking to save a buck. When you save two, even better. When you save ten, you throw a party, order pizza, throw in some soda and inevitably, you’ve blown a twenty. Darnit! Two steps forward. One step back.  


The thing is, *Mom, please don’t be mad, I don’t do coupons. Sorry Mom. I know you still mail me them every once in awhile. But I just can’t get the hang of them. I tend to forget I have them. They expire. And I’ve received so many dirty looks from shoppers in line behind me as I dig through my purse for those “I just know it’s in here somewhere” moments. I’m done. I wholeheartedly applaud all you coupon kings and queens out there that have your organizers and never miss the “must use by” deadlines. I gladly place the “Clippers by Night & Savers by Day” crowns on your heads. Doesn’t work for me. So for anyone out there who still wants to save but has given up on coupons,

Here are My Top Ten Ways to Save a Penny…”Less for Less” 
Continue reading →