16 posts tagged “deniro”
hello there!
&:o)
I'm trying to clean out all the misc stuff on my computer and in doing so, found some pics that I wanted to pass along before I deleted them.
Deniro turned 4 on May 5, 2008 (Cinco de Mayo!) We had a birfday party for him at a really cool playground near us (John Story Jenks playground). Deniro & 5 little boys partied hearty at his Rescue Hero and Big Machines birfday party. Sarah had gotten some plastic hard hats from ebay and I made a little sticker for each one that had the little dude's name on it. They all loved their hard hats and wore them for the whole party --- plus, a couple of them were still wearing their's to day care the following week. His cake was decorated to look like a construction site. An excellent time was had by all.
&:o)
Here's a picture of Wembley slepping in our bedroom closet. I love her soooo much.
&:o)
Here's another pic that I took at the farm the other weekend, when I was trying to learn how to use my new camera.
And here's another pic from the farm --- Look! It's Happy Vase!
Here is a pic of Sarah & Deniro & Jim (Sarah's fiance/Deniro's daddy) back in May when we went to a Spring Celebration day in Chestnut Hill:
Here's a pic of Elle, Eric, Amber, Gillian & Hayden also back in May at the same Spring Celebration day:
And here's a close-up of Hayden --- probably the most photogenic baby in the entire universe!! (hee-hee!)
&:o)
Deniro (who will be 4 in May!) is getting so big so fast! I can literally see his speech improving every day --- and see him growing up & thinking things through more clearly than he did before --- and seeing him change, seemingly overnight.
Because of that, the outrageous stuff that he comes up with sometimes is much more common anymore, so it's easier for me to forget to mention as much as I used to. But yes --- Deniro is still coming up with doozies.
Because some of you ask about him regularly and wonder how he's doing & what he's said lately, let me try to remember some of his finer quotes lately:
* * * *
Over the weekend, his grandfather from Connecticut came down to visit. His grandfather is a long-distance big rig trucker, so he brought Deniro a baseball cap that has his company's logo on it. When he put the cap on Deniro's head, Deniro got a perturbed look on his face & took the adult sized cap off and said: "Hey - this hat is too big. Don't you know I only has a little boy head?"
* * * *
One morning we were driving to daycare/work. I was driving, my friend Ted (who's my age) was sitting in the seat next to me, and Sarah & Deniro were in the back seat. Ted discreetly reached into his pocket & quietly pulled a tin of Altoids from his pocket. When Deniro heard the very slight tin noise, he quickly piped up from the back seat: "Hey Ted --- you got any candy?"
* * * *
Remember Deniro being briefly told about the difference between men's body parts ( penis ) and women's body parts ( "vagina" which he shortened to "gina" )? Sarah told me in the car the other day that the only reason she told him that in the first place was because she was tired of defending herself against all of his questions about why SHE doesn't have a penis like he does. She said that he was very concerned about why SHE didn't have one and would talk about it all the time and even say things like she should BUY herself one, etc. So anyway --- the other morning while Sarah and me were trying to get ready for work, Deniro was sitting on the couch watching some kind of live kids' show on TV ( "High Five"? ) where the cast was a group of cute young women & cute young men --- all in their teens. They were all singing some kind of kid song & dancing all around on-stage, when suddenly --- out of nowhere --- Deniro shouts out: "Hey! I bet those girls has ginas too!"
I had to quickly leave the room. As I went, I heard Sarah say " Uh huh --- yes they do. " And then she left the room quickly too.
&:o)
This morning, Sarah, Deniro & me all got into the car to go to work/day care. Deniro sits in his booster seat in the back, and Sarah sits up front with me.
So we're all seatbelted in, I turn the car on and the radio comes on: It's playing a song by The Blues Travelers, I think it's called "Runaround" --- it's upbeat & catchy, with good harmonica - typical great Blues Travelers stuff.
Deniro pipes up instantly from the backseat ( remember - the name he calls me is "Tutu" which is Hawaiian for "Grandmother" ) and says:
" Oh Tutu, I LIKE this song!
It makes me want to get naked in your car!"
&:o)
Sometimes he cracks me & Sarah up . . .
1.
hai hai!
&:o)
2.
I have to tell all of you that "something" happened --- "something" just *clicked* this past week and all of a sudden now, I am
OK
at/with my part-time laundromat job!!
Maybe it was just a matter of me getting adjusted to the hard work and the change in my schedule, maybe it was an attitude adjustment on my part too, and maybe it was the well-wishes of all of you that you sent to me PLUS a bunch of angels looking out for me --- But whatever it was --- all of a sudden, it's all ok.
The work's still really hard, but like we discussed briefly previously --- I'm actually getting in shape & losing weight there!
The young girl that I work with ( Sarah - she's 17 ) (and NOT my DAUGHTER Sarah) is nice to work with and we get along well & work well together.
The patrons are all nice enough and easy to deal with --- and some of them know me from being a customer myself.
And just this past weekend, my boss told Sarah & me what a great job we're doing, and that we've done such a good job that she's seen an increase in business since the two of us started working there, and she even gave us a BONUS because she's so happy with us!
( yay us! )
&:o)
I even came home from work sat and sun and did NOT collapse in an unconscious blob on the couch, but was actually able to do some stuff and read a little and watch a little tv!
So thank you all for your support and good wishes --- I'm ok now, guys!
3.
Here's a funny Deniro story that Sarah told me the other day.
Deniro's 3 1/2 now. Sarah has briefly explained the difference between men & women to him because he's already noticed that he has a penis and Sarah & me do NOT. So (with the way he pronounces stuff) he knows that men have a penis and women have a gina ( pronounced like "vagina" but just drop the "va" )
The other week while they were together in the bedroom or the bathroom, Deniro found a tampon that was still in the wrapper. Before Sarah could stop him, he ripped it open and then he was asking Sarah what it was. Sarah briefly explained to him that it's something ladies use for their bodies.
With an admiring gleam in his eyes and an awed look of appreciation on his little round face, he looks at the tampon, shaking his little head in 3 1/2 year old wonder and says:
" Boy . . . Ginas and Lady Stuff sure is *COOL*!! "
&:o)
4.
I hope everything's good with all of you.
Have a good rest of your week, guys!
&:o)
The woman who runs Deniro's day care is Miss Edy. She's a small woman, who looks kind of like a more polished version of Aunt Edna in National Lampoon's Vacation. ( Imogene Coca. )
The other day, Sarah, Deniro and me were just standing in the livingroom talking and I don't even know what the conversation was about, but all of a sudden there's a lull in the talking and Deniro says:
" Miss Edy gots crabs. "
Sarah and me both stopped talking instantly, looked at each other and then Sarah says " WHAT did you just say? "
Deniro repeats very clearly : " Miss Edy gots crabs. "
Then he continues "They lives in their shellses - sometimes they comes out and sometimes they stays in their shellses. She gots crabs."
It was just a funny moment, and maybe you had to be there . . .
&:o)
Hello!
My past friday sucked Big Time. It spilled over into my saturday and dragged me right along with it in all of it's Huge Suckitudiosity.
Sunday was " better ", thank god or whoever is in charge here. It was warm, quiet & sunny and Sarah, Deniro & me went to a nearby farm, where you can walk through the fields of growing flowers and cut your own flowers. We cut 2 bunches of beautiful, colorful zinneas for 10 for $1. I got a big, gorgeous sunflower for $1 too. It's one of those huge fluffy ones, without any big seeds in the center. There were tractors sitting idly in the field and of course Deniro had to carefully inspect each one. Deniro LOVES anything vehicular and/or mechanical.
While we were traipsing through the field, one of the straps on my left much beloved & well-worn flip-flop broke... I was able to use a scrap of duct tape from the big can we were collecting our cut flowers in, to temporarily fix the strap. Not five minutes later, one of the straps on my RIGHT flip-flop broke, and I was able to temporarily fix THAT strap too. I felt just like McGiver. &:o)
Right after Sarah had cut one of the zinneas, a big old bumbley bee landed squarely in the center of the flower. It stuck it's little whatchamacallit in each part of the tiny yellow parts in the center of the flower, chowing down it's little breakfast. It was cool to watch the little guy going about his business. Then when he was done, off he flew.
Back at the apartment, we didn't have any vases. I put a piece of colored construction paper around the big can, tied it with a sparkly piece of gold ribbon with wire in it --- and voila! The flowers looked beautiful. Wembley enjoyed smelling them, but is leaving them alone, fortunately.
I put the sunflower in a used Arizona Iced Tea bottle and fully intended to bring it into work with me to put on my desk. I have forgotten it the past 2 mornings... ( d'oh! ) and come hell or high water, tomorrow morning I WILL remember it dammit...
I love the look of the sunflower. It reminds me of Van Gogh's sunflowers. I was reading a little book about him the other night and was astounded when I read that in his lifetime only ONE of Van Gogh's paintings SOLD! Only ONE. How the hell is THAT possible???
Monday morning when I sat down to my piece o' doodoo work computer ( you may remember previous posts where I said how much I HATE my frickin' work computer and how slooooooooooooooow and messed up it was??? ) it wouldn't work at all. The IT guys do updates after-hours all the time, and evidently the past weekend's updates were the final straw for my effed-up computer --- it couldn't take it anymore, and it died.
So yay --- original effed-up computer hard-drive is gone --- IT guys rebuilt the hard-drive or did SOMETHING that sounds like " yay YGRS is getting a New And Improved Computer At Last! " but when I used it for the first time this morning, it's just as slooooooooooooooooooooooow and messed up at the PREVIOUS one was...except it's NOT dead yet.
Yet.
So for awhile, anyway, I'm back in business computer-wise.
And I has bootiful flowers at home.
And yesterday and today aren't crappy like friday and saturday were.
So there's that, right?
little miao's post showing a luscious Lotus Banner by Ganesh at http://orchidolog.vox.com/ prompted me to post this picture of my daughter Sarah's recently new tattoo.
Her son's name is Deniro. So here is his name in beautiful script & a colorful Lotus blossom.
Hope everyone's weekend went well --- and I hope you all have a very nice week!
&:o)
Hello!
Happy Frickin' Monday. . .
[[ DAMN! Either my screwed up work computer or Vox itself has been making it really really difficult for me to get a post with these pictures included in it!!! This will be ( if it actually WORKS this time ) my 4th or 5th time trying to post this.....
waaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh...
And what I ORIGINALLY started out to post is: ]]
Maybe I have carpal tunnel in my left wrist --- I don't know. It started hurting in different ways a couple of years ago, and got worse/different over time. I do data entry for a living, so it wouldn't surprise me if that's what this is. A couple of months ago, the pain got so excrutiating that I broke down and bought one of those hand/wrist braces from the drug store, to see if that helps. It was pricey for me, but I got the brace and I'm finding that it really makes a HUGE difference. I wear it all day for a bunch of days in a row, and then am able to go without it for a day. It's not attractive, but it helps.
So what did I forget to wear today??? Yep --- my brace. My wrist already hurts so badly that I know I'm not going to be doing a whole hell of alot of commenting on Vox today. ( Doing my * exciting * data entry work is going to be more than enough typing...) So here I am for a couple of minutes.
My daughter Elle (as you may know) is pregnant with her 3rd child.( a little boy! ) She & her hubby Eric & their 2 girls were over yesterday for the day & dinner. In her 5th month, her tummy is already getting big and round. When she was pregnant with Gillian, people couldn't even tell she was pregnant up until her last month --- even THEN it was one of those instances where people were almost afraid to ask her " um... are you pregnant? " because they were afraid of offending her, her tummy was THAT little. --- Not THIS pregnancy though --- she's looking beautiful and round and definately pregnant already.
We had a good day together. The kids played nicely - Amber told me about her week at G.S. horse camp - the adults talked about this & that - we prepared a yummy dinner & then had cupcakes & ice cream for Elle's 32nd birthday - it was a good day. &:o)
This morning, Deniro marches into the bathroom while I'm getting ready for work, and points down to his misshapen fat lumpy belly (which is obviously a stuffed toy shoved up under his little t-shirt.) He says " Look Tutu. I have a baby in my belly. "
I say " Oh wow ! Is it a boy baby or a girl baby? "
He thinks for a second and says " It's a puppy dog."
Then he leaves the bathroom and goes back to his mommy Sarah, where he then has his baby - a stuffed puppy dog that I got for him from Old Navy when he was born ... Heh-heh...
My hand/wrist is hurting...Here's where I stop now.
I'll leave you with this: It's an email forward that Elle sent me the other day. Enjoy!
Woman is Abagail Alfano of Pine, Louisiana-she did not do it for a lark but had studied them daily and one morning put the cup from feeder with water in it and they had gotten used to her standing by the feeder and came over to her hand. She says in touching they are as light as a feather. Said if had known her husband would take pictures she would have put on makeup !!
Wouldn't it be * awesome * to be able to let wee tiny buzzy hummingbirds sup out of your hand and alight on your fingers!!!???
&:o)
* * * * * I hope you all have a good week! * * * * *
In Lancaster County PA, there is a great tourist spot called Strasburg Railroad. It's an old railroad station where you can go for a relaxing ride through the rolling, green Amish countryside on a big, beautiful, historic steam train. ( And feel the train car sway & hear the wheels clickety-clack clickety-clack rhythmically beneath you. )There are gift shops where you can buy something for everyone and a small restaurant. There are other train-related activities : a small hand-car where 2 people can push/pull their way back & forth on a space of track --- "cranky cars" where a little person can sit and crank their way around the track all by themself --- a miniature steam engine ride --- a small engine that pulls an old-fashioned cabboose and another small engine that pulls some carts. Right across the street is the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. The display of old engines & train cars that are visible on the property are awesome --- massive & powerful looking. If you'd like more info, here's the link:
http://www.strasburgrailroad.com/
Being that it's in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, there's also TONS of other stuff to do in the area. When my kids were little, we went to Lancaster every summer, and the Strasburg Railroad was usually the main attraction. It was always a fun day.
Last weekend, Sarah, Deniro & I went to Day Out With Thomas at the Strasburg Railroad. Thomas The Tank Engine is a much beloved charactor who started out in children's books and has since EXPLODED into a phenomenon equal to Sesame Street, Barney and anything else like that. Little boys ESPECIALLY adore Thomas and the world that evolves around him. There are dozens of different train charactors and each of them have their own personality, name, face & story.
Deniro loves Thomas.
So 3 weeks out of the year, on Day Out With Thomas Day, Thomas himself comes to the Strasburg Railroad, to take hyped-up little children & their parents on a train ride. Along with him comes a slew of circus-sized tents packed FULL of Thomas merchandise --- clothes, bedding, books, CDs and DVDs, souvenirs, toys, trains/track/accessories --- you name it. If it's THOMAS, it's there. TONS of merchandise!
Deniro had a BALL that day. It was beautiful, sunny & hot. The weather was perfect. He was sooooo excited to actually SEE " the real" Thomas and to ride on Thomas and the other steam train --- It was just all perfect.
If you've never seen Thomas, he has a face and his eyes move back & forth.
It was really funny --- when we were driving there, we're driving along through the Amish countryside. It's miles & miles of farms and wide open fields and nothing else. We drove around a bend, and there's Thomas pulling his train across the field next to us. He's smiling and his eyes are looking left & right. It took us by surprise and it just looked so funny to see him there, driving along, like it's completely normal. I love thinking that someone who had NO CLUE who Thomas was probably driving along there one day, minding their own business, and then all of a sudden THEY saw a train with a FACE on it, driving through the field...Then maybe they went home and tried to explain to their significant other how there was a train with a FACE on it and their SO thought they were drinking again... heh-heh...
It was a really really long day, and hot, and tiring. We walked for hours. There were probably THOUSANDS of people there --- 1/2 of those thousands being little 3-8 year old boys, all hopped-up on Thomas hormones. I watched all of the young parents (mostly in their 20's and 30's) and wondered where the HELL they get all of their energy and patience from...I remember being a young parent myself, but did I also have all of that energy??? Did I also have all of that patience??? If so, where the hell has it all gone???
&:o?
It took me a couple of days to be able to walk without hurting again...( I'm not as young as I USED to be, people...) but the fun that Deniro had was all worth it.
&:o)
Here are pics from our Day Out With Thomas:
The next pic is Deniro crankin' his cranky car around the track. He waited in line multiple times to do this --- he loved it! :
Here's Sarah & Deniro when we were riding the Thomas train --- and then ME & Deniro:
Here are Sarah, Deniro & me on the little cart pulled by a small engine:
Here's Deniro playing at one of the train tables that they had set up for the kids to play at:
The charactor who owns & runs the train station on the Island of Sodor ( where Thomas lives... ) is an English gentleman named Sir Topham Hat. He is very Proper and is All Business. Here are Deniro and me, when we got to meet Sir Topham Hat. ( quick note here --- my posture is NOT as bad as it looks here - I was trying to lean into Sir Topham Hat to be included in the picture that someone was taking from another angle...my posture's not the best, but it is NOT THIS bad...) ( Sir Topham Hat was luckily in an air-conditioned building, or else the poor person INSIDE his costume with oversized big head would have expired in the heat.)
And here are Sarah & Deniro sitting up high in the cabboose ( which was a bit of a climb to get up to! )
In SPITE of the heat, the crowds, the distances we walked, the stinky port-a-potties ( P-U ! ), the expensive food & merchandise, and the craziness of it all, we had a wonderful day together.
&:o)
A couple of weekends ago, I decided to rifle through the billions & billions of books in my favorite thrift store. The books there are something that, even though I love books, I've never spent time rummaging through because they're not organized very well and there are BILLIONS AND BILLIONS of them. . . Seeing my Vox friends posts on previously owned books that they've discovered, though, I felt like giving it a little look - a little see. [[ a little nod to Mooch at Mutts, there... ]]
My * treasures * that I ended up purchasing ( each one for only 25 cents! Yay! ) were:
1. a paperback Richard Scarry book called "Watch Your Step, Mr. Rabbit!" --- Deniro ended up loving this book ( Why didn't I think of Richard Scarry books for Deniro sooner!? The stories are simple and exciting - the words are easy to understand and remember - each picture has multiple layers of characters and action on it. ) He makes us sit down now while HE reads the book to US.
2. a hardcover edition ( in great shape! ) of Rotten Ralph --- which I had been trying to buy from Borders before, but it was waaaaaaaaaay too expensive.
3. a Little Golden Book ( remember when they were like 29 cents and 49 cents brand new?? Well - they're NOT anymore! ) of an ADORABLE story called " The Color Kittens".
I bought the first 2 books completely for Deniro. I bought them for him.
But the third book? I admit it --- I bought it for ME ! It was all of 25 cents - and it's about 2 little kittens called Hush and Brush who mix paint & paint the world! KITTENZ !
I am seriously a sucker for ANYTHING kitten ---- AREN'T WE ALL ? ? ?
&:o)
Here's a picture from Amazon of it:
From the Cover
The Color Kittens is the classic first book about colors - first published 50 years ago.
Blue is the door
That takes you through into
the world of kittens.
And so begins the story of Brush and Hush, the color kittens, who have "buckets and buckets" [[ bukkits! teh kittenz have * BUKKITS *, people! ]] filled with different colored paints. They spend their days splashing the colors about and mixing them up, for "out of these colors they would make all the colors in the world." When the kittens realize that they have no green paint, they decide to make some by mixing other colors together. Soon they have almost all the colors of the rainbow - EXCEPT the color they most want! Can they find the right combination of colors to create green?
The Color Kittens is the classic first book about colors that many adults will surely remember from their own childhood. Margaret Wise Brown's charming, fun tale of Brush and Hush, along with Alice and Martin Provensen's bright, playful illustrations, offer children not only a first introduction to colors, but also show them how new hues are created.
Hee-hee . . . my book. . . all for ME . . . &:o)Later that day, I gave Deniro HIS 2 books --- we read them and re-read them --- he dug 'em.
I put my book aside on a shelf.
Just the other day, Deniro's over near the shelf - spies my book, grabs it up saying " HEY! Look at THIS book mommy!" and takes the book off to show Sarah.
I told them that I had bought the book for ME because I liked the kittens. Then Deniro and me sat down and read it together.
A little later --- being as, unfortunately sometimes Deniro gets really really bossy and/or grumpy --- he hit a moment of bossy grumpiness --- scoops up an armload of his books in a grumpy huff ( oh yeah --- MY book was scooped up with them! ) and announces that he's going back to his room and nobody can read his books.
I snatched my book out of his arms QUICK as anything - looked his surprised grumpy little 3 year old face right in the eyes and said " This is MY book --- MY book." and walked away with it.
So.
There.
&:oP