The sex of the babies

I bet that title caught your eye since I have clearly stated I don't want to know :)    Well, sorry to spoil your excitement, we still aren't finding out!

Oh and for those few of you who read this blog, but don't actually know me in real life - I got too busy to be consistent with my blog updates, so I never made the announcement on here - but my husband and I are expecting twins!   It was a big surprise, but one that we are so thankful and excited for!

So anyways, I saw this quiz, Should You Learn Your Babies Sex, on one of the HUNDREDS of baby emails I now get.   And although I knew we didn't want to find out, I decided to take the quiz anyways.   A couple questions in, I was starting to get annoyed, because the questions and answer choices were clearly going to lean this quiz to state that I should learn.

For example, here are some of the questions, my answer choice is in red:

Would you categorize yourself as a control freak?

• Yes
• No
• I'm not sure

MY NOTE: I could never deny this - I need to plan everything out, everything always has a place in my home.   I fully admit I don't just have OCD tendencies, I am probably mildly OCD (I don't fully freak out when things are out of order, but I usually fix them as soon as I notice, and after I while it really irks me if it continues or I don't have time to fix things)

You're the type of person who likes to go on:

• A Vacation that is clearly planned out
• A road trip with no destination
• Somewhere in between

MY NOTE: It would probably be an understatement to say this.   If I go away for even just a weekend, I usually have agenda from wake up to meal-times to things to do.   We don't follow it 100%, but I plan it to the max, and then knock it down a bit.    Just ask my friend Kelsey - Adam and I went to visit her our in Oregon a few years back (when they were still state-side) and I sent her my agenda to see if she thought it was possible.   I can't imagine her immediate response or her facial expressions, cause she nicely said it was a lot for a short vacation (and it WAS, we ended up cutting 1/3 to 1/2 of it out when we were there).

Do you like surprises

• Yes, I love them!
• No, I hate them!
• Somewhere in between

MY NOTE:  I love the idea of being surprised with something awesome, but I usually figure things out first or am disappointed because it isn't as great as I thought.

Are you really hoping for one sex over the other?

• Yes - I've always wanted a boy/girl
• No - as long as he/she is healthy, it doesn't matter to me
• I have a preference, but its not a strong one

My Note:  To be honest, the answer choice that fits me best wasn't there.   Its more a combination of the No and the one I chose - what I really wanted to say was "I have a preference, but as long as he/she is (are in my case) healthy, it doesn't matter to me.

These are just 4 of the 11 questions - but that's still a third of the quiz - so you would guess they would tell me I should find out - right?

Well apparently, I answered the rest of the questions on the opposite side (i.e. Do you have to dress your kid in gender specific clothes?   No) and enough in the middle that it actually said I shouldn't find out.   I was really shocked that it said this based on how I was going through it, but I was also really excited.

So there, even parents magazine agrees with me - I shouldn't find out :)

Well hello there! Oh and Buffalo Wild Wings

I've had like 3 blog posts in my mind for the past couple weeks, but just haven't been able to sit down and write them - so hopefully after I get tonight's blog out, Ill get better about writing more consistently again.   Of course if that happens, I can pretty much guarantee it will all go downhill in about another 4 months when two little ones come into the picture.  But I'll at least try and give this a shot again because I feel good when I write :)

So anyways - now I'm back and tonight I'm writing about Adam and my interesting dinner experience.  This morning, I told Adam I would email him a recipe for a crock-pot chili to make for dinner, except with the craziness that was today, I didn't remember to email him until 5pm when I should have already left the office.   So that was off the table, but I was thinking making dinner MIGHT still be a possibility.   That was until I didn't leave the office until 5:30, heard on the radio that I was gonna be stuck sitting in "traffic" because of a bridge opening, so decided to take a detour to Buy Buy Baby and didn't get home until 7pm and in a bad mood.

I really needed to go for a nice LONG walk - like a good 8-10 miler.   But seeing as though it was 7pm, I knew I had no chance of that.   And Im still trying to teach Kalas the "fine art" of walking on a leash without pulling, which means I can't last more than a mile with all that pulling and attempting to train.  But none the less, the first thing I did when I got home was take the puppies out for a walk, because I NEEDED to relieve the stress of the day - even if Kalas's lack of training was not gonna make for a complete stress-free walk.   

By the time I sat down at home it was 7:30pm and nothing was started on dinner, and I already decided I needed to go to one of the great ice cream places in the area, Dairy Delite, since it was such a beautiful day and my day was so hellish.  In thinking of a place somewhat near, we decided to go out to Buffalo Wild Wings because we heard a bunch of great things about it.

Our experience was not  a good first impression.  The service was great, the atmosphere was fine, but the food was no better than "eh".   We had wings to start with and I decided I was in the mood for boneless wings, but the sauce we decided on was a dry rub, so our "wings" were really seasoned chicken nuggets.   And for chicken nuggets, they were still just moderate.   I had to use lots of the ranch dipping sauce - and I'm usually not much of one for ranch.   For dinner, I ordered a Buffalo Ranch Wrap and Adam ordered cheeseburger sliders.

My wrap just wasn't good, but nothing specific to talk about.   All buffalo sauce was at the bottom of the wrap.   The ranch dressing tasted more like mayo - which I hate, and the filling was just eh.   I only hate half of it before I gave up and ate all the fries for my dinner.   Adam's sliders were interesting.   Instead of making small little burgers, they created one large, long, overcooked slab of meat and then slapped it across three mini burgers rolls and called it sliders.   They didn't even bother to cut the sliders apart- they left that to Adam to do.

But what made the night the most interesting and worthy of a blog post was the older couple at the table next to us.   They weren't older, just older - I would guess 60's.   Definitely baby boomers.   The woman seemed to have a bit of OCD to her, but then at other times, it totally wasn't there.   I also thought maybe she had certain dietary restrictions, but this was over the top for that.   And for both of them, if those were the case, Buffalo Wild Wings isn't where those folks would typically go.   

I first noticed something when I looked over and saw that she had a half-filled nalgene bottle that she just put back in her gallon-sized ziploc bag and carefully closed up the bag.   I didn't think the Nalgene bottle was all that interesting, because I carry that or bottled water around with me a lot, although I don't take it out at restaurants, and I don't keep it in a ziploc bag.   Then I realized that she poured her own water....

As I was continued to watch the tv, I also kept an eye on them to watch the interesting situatin unfold.   At one point, she called the waiter over, and I'm not sure what she asked of him, but he walked away with her plate of food that was just delivered and he mumbled something like "you can't move it yourself?" as he was walking past my table.   He came back out with the plate, so I'm thinking she wanted like the tomatoes or something moved off her burger.  

When he came back, I watched her take her own napkins out of her bag and wrap them around the burger (just the meat) - seemingly to blot off all the extra fat.   I understand trying to watch your calories, but thats going a little too far - especially using your own napkins.   While she is doing that, I notice two more plastic baggies sitting on the table filled with various items that I couldn't quite figure out at that point.  

After "cleaning" her burger she puts it back on the bun, and takes out her own tin foil to wrap something up (never quite saw what she wrapped up) and put in her bag.   Next, she took out her own salt shaker from one of her baggies and salted her burger.   At that point she started to eat and our bill came, so we left - but I was really curious to stay and continue to watch them/her - because it was really weird and interesting.

I definitely understand dietary restrictions and sometimes bringing your own items.   But half the things she did had nothing to do with health, so I don't think it was a health thing.   Although everything she did could have fit into an OCD category, there is so much she didn't do that would have made more sense - such as bringing her own silverware over blotting the burger.   Or just not going out to that restaurant altogether.

Whatever the case - it made for an interesting night...

The obnoxious lady on my flight

Here is what I wrote on my flight on Thursday:

I have been absent from this blog for quite some time – I apologize.   Life has been busy, and amazingly I have not really had any crazy scenarios to truly bitch about – which are what typically spurns my posts.    Well that is until the flight that I’m on as I type this up.   Of course by the time I post this, I will no longer be on that flight as I’m on a plane without internet access – but that’s beside the point. J

As some of you may know I’m a frequent flyer.    I’m not high up there in frequent flyer status, but I hit between 25,000 and 35,000 miles every year mostly on US Airways, thereby obtaining silver status with US Airways.    Being a frequent traveler, I know a decent amount about traveling and have encountered many folks and many different situations.   Typically I just roll my eyes and laugh at them or something.   Well – that’s except for my redeye that Delta placed a man in the middle seat that needed two – but I digress.

On today’s flight, I was sitting in one row and two seats over from a woman in her mid-50’s (I’d guess).   This woman was listening to her music from the moment she was in her seat, which is totally fine with me.   What bugged me was that I could hear her music as clear as if I was the one with the ear buds in my ears.    Mind you, that’s also keeping in mind that the plane’s engines are roaring, and I could hear it that clearly OVER THE SOUNDS OF THE ENGINES!!!

I kept my mouth quiet about this, but it was interrupting my attempt to read and my sleep, and I knew I wasn’t the only one getting annoyed by this lady’s rudeness as there were at least 3 different people who kept looking back/over at her.   So after about an hour plus of listening to this I finally hit my point (mind you this is a five-plus hour flight) and politely tapped her on her shoulder to get her attention and politely asked if she could turn down the music.    She immediately questioned whether I could really hear the music and I politely responded that we all could hear the music and got nods from those other folks around me.   I thought we were good.

But then 10 seconds later when she starts to realize what just happened, she got up from her seat and turned around and stated that she was on 5 flights today and no one else had said anything.

At that point I thought about taking out my laptop and starting this post, yet I didn’t (yup …it gets better).    Here were some of my initial thoughts at that point:

-          5 flights in one day?  Seriously?    There is no place to go between that would require you to take 5 flights in one day.   I can’t even come up with a scenario where that would happen.   Say you were coming from some small island over by Australia or something:

o   You take a small flight from small island/city to closest major city

o   You take a flight from major city to next major city at the halfway point – that would be San Fran where this flight started)

o   Now you are on flight 3, not flight 6.

o   MAYBE, I can see how you added another stop in there, except I can’t think where that plane would have stopped at.

-          Once I finally got past the ridiculous 5 flights comment, I couldn’t get over the arrogance of this lady.   I’ve been on many flights, and very rarely can I hear someone else’s music.   Typically when I do, they turn it down because it’s too loud for their ears, other times it just lasts one song.   I’ve never heard anyone listen to something so loud that would require someone to say something.

-          When I do hear really loud music, it is usually coming from a teen or twenty-something, not an adult in their mid-50’s.    Don’t you know that you can blow out your ear drums just by listening to music at a moderate level – which was the level that I could hear it at when it was 5 feet away from my ears?

I eventually just let my mind subside and went back to reading (because as tired as I was before, this little situation woke me up).    Then she got up to go to the bathroom, and as she walked by me she snidely said “I hope you never have kids”.   

I thought about responding with a lie and just saying that I do have kids, but I raised them well and they are more polite than she will ever be.   But I held my tongue and just took my laptop out so I could get my frustrations out in this post.

You have a personal music player with your own ear buds.   That means that the music is for your ears and not for everyone around you – therefore you should play it at a reasonable volume.   And if someone says they can hear it and politely ask you to turn it down – and others agree – that doesn’t mean you should question that person.   It means you should politely say “I’m sorry; I didn’t realize I had it that loud”.    It surely doesn’t mean that you should doubt that person’s ability to raise children and be a good parent just because they don’t want to hear your crap music on a long evening flight that should be void of most noises outside the occasional screaming child and sound of the engines.   Even though I don’t like to hear the former on my flights, I expect to hear those noises.

Oh – and she kept her music down for about an hour, but I can hear it again, this time not as obnoxiously, so I’ll keep my mouth shut until she brings it back to full volume.    And if that happens, I won’t be so polite – and I’ll tell her if she is going to be stupid enough to fly 5 flights in one day, than she should just invest in the noise canceling earphones, because the sound barrier goes both ways on those.

Since I typed this on the flight, the lady did end up blasting her music for the last 45 minutes to an hour, all the way through when the wheels touched down.   Which means again, she ignored the announcement that all electronics should be turned off during the decent and the flight attendants let her get away with it.   I was quite annoyed, especially since there was no way they couldn't hear the music when they walked by, especially since more and more people were giving the lady dirty looks.   But I decided I just wanted to get home in a peaceful mood so I could easily fall asleep, so I ended up keeping my mouth shut.   Then when everyone was departing she was yelling across the plan like 5 rows back to her husband/partner/travel partner/whatever he was.  She was seriously the most obnoxious person I have ever been on a plane with - and I have been on a plane with some doozies! 

Feel free to comment on this story or share your own crazy flight stories in the comments section of the post.

When is it okay to strike?

I want to start with the fact that I come from a family of teachers and am surrounded by MANY friends and acquaintances who are teachers.   I fully respect the jobs that teachers do, and acknowledge the fact that they are many times under-appreciated.


With that being said, I don't always agree with the stance teachers unions - and many unions for that matter - take.   But now that I said that, I ask you to hear me out, because I am bound to surprise you in the end.

I think many teachers and their unions need to recognize that much of the workers in America are not unionized, we don't get to just demand what we want and strike (or picket if you are in a school district that is not allowed to strike) to help fight our cause.    For those of us who are lucky to have decent jobs, we still get underpaid, and pay a boatload of money to have health insurance.   For many others, they are drastically underpaid and don't even get offered health insurance.  

I recognize as teachers that although school hours are 9-3 (or whatever they may be), many of you still work more than that so you can grade papers, complete lesson plans, etc.   But I also recognize that many of you get paid more to do after-school activities.    I work 8-5 on a good day, many times my hours average out to more like 50 hours a week - and I don't get any overtime or comp time.

You get breaks throughout the year that add up to more vacation time than I can think of - and I'm not including summer break in that at all.   Im talking about your winter break, your spring break, all the holidays schools acknowledge that most businesses don't, etc. 

Then you talk about summer break, where you get two months off.    Or if you want to teach in the summer, you get paid good money to teach one of those months - typically for just a half day - and still get the other month off.

Many teachers get paid more than I do once they've been doing it for a few years because automatic raises kick in.   And then if you go out to some of the suburban schools - those teachers can reach up to six figures.   Back in 2000, my match teacher was in the six figures.

In the 5 years that Ive been at my company, I have endured one year with a pay cut (that we haven't and won't get back) and 2 years without any raises whatsoever.   And the year that raises did kick in I got a promotion with a measly 3% raise (from a salary that was less than I started at).    I get 2 weeks vacation and 8 paid holidays.    I spend at least a quarter of my weekends working and don't get anything for those extra hours.   If I want to take a day off after a long, enduring work trip - I have to use a vacation day.

With all that being said, teachers are the ones who educate our kids (when the government and their "No Child Left Behind" acts don't interfere) and they do deserve certain (limited) dalliances/benefits that some of us others might not get. 

Image taken from 6ABC-WPVI website

There are some teachers unions out there that I have a lot of respect for, because they do recognize the concept of finding a middle ground.   There was the one a couple years back - I believe in West Chester, PA - that took a paycut to save teachers jobs.    But specifically, the one that spawned this blog entry that I have respect for is Neshaminy Federation of Teachers in Bucks County, PA. 

They have been operating on an expired contract for 4 years and during that time, had never gone on strike.    Just this week, they decided to finally go on strike because the Neshaminy School Board wasn't working with them.   And you know what the boards reaction to that was?   We aren't going to negotiate with you while on strike.

Even if you don't agree with the teachers union, refusing to negotiate with them isn't the way to go - you are just fueling the fire.   That's just like the republicans in the House who refused to pass a short term extension of the tax credit because they wanted to pass the bill they had in mind (that would have continued to hurt our economy as the republicans have already done for so long).

I don't know everything that the teachers union wants and the opposing views of the school board - but I know that we are slowly working our way out of the depression the Bush administration and his republican buddies helped put us in, and with that, its time to work out a new contract that provides some raises to those teachers who have waited patiently these past 4 years.    I do agree that compromise needs to happen on both sides, but I also feel that you can't go from 0 to 60 in 1 second, everything needs to come in time and small increments.    But the only way to get to a resolution is for the school board to get back to the table.


Please Note: These are solely my own opinions - you take the good with the bad.   I have absolutely no relationship with anyone on the board of the NFT Union, nor am I related to anyone within the NFT Union - although, as I mentioned I know many teachers, including at least one in this school district.  Additionally, I am a taxpayer in this school district, and recognize that our taxes could rise with a negotiated contract, and accept that change as it comes with being a homeowner.

New Year, New You

Okay, well that title is super cheesy and I totally don't believe in it, but it was stuck in my head from good morning america and I couldn't think of a better title for this post. 

I, personally, am not one to make new years resolutions.   When people ask what my resolution is, I say I don't have one and then I joke that I want to lose weight.  In all reality, I'm always working on losing weight, and I almost never start a diet with the new year, because I find that is just a set-up for failure - at least for myself.    And Im sure if you did some research, you would find that resolutions are typically not kept for very long.

As my neighbor jokes, and it's so true, we see all the resolutioners for a few weeks, because they walk/jog/run around the neighborhood across the street from us (as its a popular exercise route for this area), and then after a few weeks/a month all the sudden all those folks slowly disappear.

Although I don't make New Years Resolutions, I do constantly have goals that I create throughout the year, so below are some of my goals that I have been on my list for a few months now, but Im hoping since Im putting them out there, Ill have a bit more success with them.

"De-clutter" my house.  For those that know me and have been to my house, you know that I actually don't have a lot of clutter in my house at all.   I used to be very OCD, and so everything is nice and clean, has its own place, and there is plenty of open space.   But with that being said, my office/den has a lot of STUFF in it, and we almost NEVER use or look at that stuff.   So my goal over the next 4 months is to declutter those rooms, and any other place where I might have STUFF.   Much of the stuff will take some time for me to be willing to part with, because its Phillies stuff that I have collected, but I know that it is time for me to realize what I really should keep.   I truly believe that the souvenirs are your memories and photographs and there is no reason to keep on buying junk that just sits on a shelf.

Be more minimalistic.   To advance on the item above, its one thing to clear out the stuff - its another to realize you don't need most things and to stop getting them.   I've already made a lot of advancements in this area.   Ive stopped buying A LOT of stuff because we really don't need it, so Id like to keep that going, and make some smaller advancements with that.   I don't want to be a complete minimalist - I enjoy the pleasures of many things that I do/will own and the experiences of my life, but I would really like to simplify my life.

Become more active in the Jewish Community.   When I was in elementary and middle school - I had Hebrew school (and to a certain extent, summer camp).   When I was in high school I had B'nai Brith Youth Organization (BBYO).    When I was in college, I had Hillel and Jewish Student Association.   But once I became a young adult out of college, there was no organization to keep me involved, and I didn't join my synagogue because they didn't have a reasonable rate for single (or married) young adults - and there really wouldn't be any value to paying for my synagogues membership to me because its a much older member base - so they don't have much going on for my age group - and I could do all that without being a member.   Id really like to find a good Jewish organization that I can get involved in that gives me the same things BBYO and Hillel did - social activities, volunteer opportunities, Israel and Jewish education, etc.  

Re-organize my life. I used to be so OCD and organized in my life.   And then I got dogs, and they take a lot of time from your life to care for them properly, exercise them, etc.   On top of that, work got crazy busy and I was putting in lots of extra hours there.   So instead of coming home, walking/exercising for an hour, cooking dinner, getting some chores done and reading; I ended up working late, taking the dogs for a shorter, 20-30 min walk, making a fast dinner or just snacking and sit in front of the tv and be lazy.    I would like to get back to my earlier schedule and/or find an in -between.   One BIG way to do this, is I want to minimize my TV time.   I was never a big TV person (I don't think) until the last couple years, so I'd like to start to knock it out again.  As I've said since I signed this most recent cable contract, I can't wait til its expired, so I can just cancel the cable portion and just get internet.   Ill hook up a computer to the TV, and use that for any tv viewing when I REALLY want to watch something.

Pick up a new skill or two.  There are a lot of things that I would EVENTUALLY like to learn.   I don't expect to learn them all this year, nor do I expect to really learn them all.   But I do hope to take the time and try and learn some of them sooner rather than later.   

• I've always enjoyed photography and had a lot of positive feedback from my friends and coworkers on many of my photographs when I was more diligent with taking pictures.   I hope to eventually get a DSLR camera and get back into photography, and maybe get a lesson or two on the DSLR so I can take advantage of all its features.
• Id love to learn to knit or something.    When I was at a BBYO summer conference, there was a knitting "class" that I signed up for - and I failed miserably.   For the life of me - I just didn't get it.   But Id like to give it another, more serious shot.   I think itd be great to be able to make some things for myself, my family and friends, and be able to make others to donate to good causes - such as scarves.
• I've tried my hand at gardening, and have had some successes and some failures.  Id really like to put more effort into it and learn the ins and outs.
• Id like to be more confident in my abilities to do real DIY around my house.   Im fine with building furniture, putting up shelves, painting, etc, but Id like to be able to do more and be more confident in being able to do that stuff.   Specifically, things like completely re-doing a bathroom, building a shed, etc.    There is LOTS that Id like to do around the house, some of which I know would need to hire a contractor for (new patio in front and in back with overhang, additions to house, etc.), but there is plenty that I know I could do on my own with the right equipment, knowledge and skills.

Continue to live a healthy lifestyle.  Although I'm not always eating healthy nor do I exercise day in and day out, I think that I keep a good balance of healthy living within my life.   I fully admit that I could always do more, but I'm happy with where I'm at - and that's what counts, so it is my goal to continue this healthy lifestyle.


Pick up the walking.   This may sound very redundant (and even a contradiction) of the above, but to me walking is not just my exercise - its a hobby and a big source of enjoyment and relaxation for me - so to me, this is a separate point (although it does still fall into the above point).   I don't want to make it a point to walk everyday, because there are always days where you just don't want to go out - so Id like to keep the "schedule" I currently follow, but Id like to find some new routes, and start increasing my lengths.   Currently, my average walk is 4 miles, which isn't bad, but Id like to get my regular weekend walks up to more of 7 miles and start to train again for a marathon, the goofy challenge and/or another 3-day.

If you want to join me in any of these goals, let me know and we can work on them together.   If you have the skills to teach me one of those new skills, and want to teach me, let me know that as well - as I can mix time with friends while learning one of those skills.

Here's to hoping that I have some success in some of these goals, and that you also have success in whatever goals. "resolutions" or life-style changes you may have for this year.