Fun, Fun, Fun, Till Her Daddy Takes The T-Bird Away

It's been so wonderful having Frick home from college. Everybody is happy to be a complete family unit again. Even the dogs! I notice that Frick and Frack have a new found love and respect for each other, which is VERY rare and something I do not want to disturb. Part of this new buddy relationship may relate to the fact that they do not have to share a car anymore.

Quick back story: Frick left for college in August of 2012. Frack did not have his driver's licence at that time, so Frick's car sat unused until Frack got his licence in Feb 2013. Said car then became Frack's car, and you know how  a boy feels about his first car. When Frick came home on the occasional weekend during the year, it wasn't always smooth negotiations between the two of them for the car. BUT, lucky for us, we have 4 cars, and My Guy and I only need a car each for driving to work and back. Precious evenings out with their friends were salvaged by the parents carpooling at night. Problem temporarily solved right?

Wrong.

Now that we have Frick all to ourselves for the summer, the need for everyone to have their own car has reached a crescendo.Summer jobs, Frack still in school, my job, My Guy's job, we all need our own wheels. So what are we to do? Again, I said we are fortunate enough to have 4 cars. The fourth car is what we will call "the race car", and it's a two seater, five speed. The only one's that can drive a five speed in the family are My Guy and myself. The race car is a a little showy for My Guy to pull up to his office everyday, so guess who has to take one for the team and drive the rag top, race car everyday???

Oh hell YES! It's meee! and I'm loving it!

I have to say, driving a five speed is very freeing, especially when the top is down and the wind is blowing through your hair, but it's a lot of work too. It's definitely not as smooth sailing as an automatic, but who the hell cares? The work out, (I'm definitely getting an arm workout) and the power I am experiencing daily is a complete blast!! Heck, I may never give up this car. If it weren't for the severe winter weather here, one would have a hard time prying the key from my hand later in the year.

Nothing erases the stresses of a long day at work like the ride home, top down, in my race car and I'm taking downshifting to a whole new art form. I'm also feeling like I want my kids to experience this kind of joy, so I'm thinking it's time to teach them.But then again, if I do that, I may never see the race car again.

In fact, they may start fighting over the race car, and then we would be back to square one again.

No, I'm going to wait on Frick and Frack's stick shift lessons until later in the summer and keep on having my own personal fun. Because once I bring them in on the party, I know exactly what will happen.

It will be just like dear old dad taking my T-Bird away.

Those Who Fail To Plan, Plan To Fail

Once again as a Nation we are riveted by tragedy 

This time it was Mother Nature and she delivered a most beastly devastation. The tornado in Oklahoma, an EF-5, on a scale to 5, spanned a mile long and wiped out an entire town with catastrophic damage. The Death toll was revised to 24 with 9 of them children.

Our thoughts and prayers are certainly with them. News videos of the complete destruction, and cars twisted and tossed in piles like jigsaw puzzle pieces in the suburban area's remind us that life is so precious and can be fleeting. It seems residents had less than 16 minutes to prepare for the deadly tornado.

What I took from this "nightmare scenario", is that everybody needs a plan. Experts are warning that a global climate change is upon us, and that nobody is safe from violent storms. They predict that Midwest tornados and storms will get stronger and the Northeast will experience more powerful and violent hurricanes. History so far has supported these claims.

So I decided my family, my staff, we all need to have a plan of emergency, one that we can put into action if needed. We are not strangers to extreme weather, especially here on the East Coast and I think it's time to prepare. As climate changes become more severe, we must adapt to the threat of danger and prepare. It's beginning to become cliche, like a TV sitcom episode about an emergency preparedness drill gone awry. But there's nothing funny about any of this.

This isn't an episode of "Happy Days". In fact these aren't Happy Days at all.

Friday Funny

A blonde was speeding in a 25 mile per hour residential zone when a local police cruiser pulled her over. 

The female police officer who walked up to the car also happened to be a blonde. She asked for the blonde's driver's license. The driver searched frantically in her purse for a while and finally said to the blonde policewoman, "What does a driver's license look like?'

Irritated, the blonde cop said, "Don't be a smartass!, it's got your picture on it!" The blonde driver frantically searched her purse again and found a small, rectangular mirror down at the bottom. She held it up to her face and said, "Aha! This must be my driver's license", then handed it to the blonde policewoman. 

The blonde cop looked in the mirror, handed it back to the driver and said, "You're free to go. And, if I had known you were a police officer too, we could have avoided all of this." 

source: http://www.jokes4us.com/blondejokes/blondepolicewomanjoke.html

Luck Be A Lady

This is Jessica Buchanan. Jessica could be considered one lucky American.

In the fall of 2011, Jessica and a Danish citizen Poul Hagen Thisted were working with children on a demining project in the Somali town of Adow, when they were kidnapped by Somali Pirates. Held for ransom for over three months, the Somali's nearly killed their golden goose, Jessica.

Apparently, the Somali's refused a 1.5 million dollar ransom offer and many attempts to free the hostages by the Danish Refugee Council were unsuccessful. Sick, half starved and beginning to give up hope, Jessica was recorded explaining that she thought she had what was a serious kidney infection, and feared that she would soon die.

For Jessica, luck soon intervened.

On January 25, 2012 a group of United States Navy Seals, late one night raided the compound where the hostages were being held, killed nine pirates and rescued Jessica and Poul. They brought medicine for a sick and weak Jessica and incredibly, as they carried her to the location where they waited for the helicopter to lift them away, the navy seals delicately placed Jessica on the ground then the entire navy seal team gently laid down on top of her to protect her from danger.

They laid down on top of her...They placed their lives before hers and ensured that Jessica would get back to the US safely.

Was it luck?

Some say Jessica placed herself in a dangerous situation that she could have avoided. That being where she was increased her chances of danger dramatically and that the US should not negotiate with terrorists. Personally, I feel that's an argument for another day. What I think the most incredible thing in this story is this:

They laid down on top of her.....

Was it luck that a Navy Seal Team rescued her that night when time was running out for her?
Was she in the wrong place at the wrong time or was she at the right place at the right time?
Maybe luck had nothing to do with it, but Poul Hagen Thisted reportedly said, in his interview after their rescue, he considered himself "lucky" to have been held hostage with an American.

Mooscles

It's All Good..

All good things today!

• Frick is on her way home from the Big Apple!!! Congrats to my baby girl for successfully completing her first year of under grad at NYU!! I'm so happy she's on her way home, I could just blow a whole bunch of bubbles!!

• Those AWESOME Boston Bruins pulled it off last night!!! I gotta say, I had given up. With a little over seven minutes to play and down 4-1, I gave up all hope and turned the game off. It wasn't until later, while I was taking a relaxing hot tub outside, that Frack came out and informed me that I was missing an EPIC Bruins comeback. We watched the overtime together and YES! I called it! I said to Frack, when the B's were pressing in the crease, "they're gonna score". Frack replied, "I don't think so. The rest is Bruins history. Boston Strong is an understatement. Thank you Boston for always providing us with the most amazing, come from behind, exciting victories! It's no wonder we are sports obsessed in this town. You always deliver!!

• I am a blessed woman. Blessed to have a wonderful family that gave me the most incredible mother's day and which continues to support me in everything I do. And truly blessed to have the most talented and amazing staff at The Candy Bar. We just completed a long week and my staff stepped up and produced awesome work! I couldn't be prouder of the things that we are accomplishing at the store. 

I am grateful for all of my blessings. 

What are you grateful for?

The 80's Child

If they say the heart of Rock and Roll is still beating, then this album is more than barely breathing.
80's mega band Huey Lewis and The News,  today celebrate the 30th anniversary of their number one, award winning album, Sports.

Thirty years ago I was exactly the one who was falling for "The Power of Love", as I had posters of the band and clean cut, raspy voiced Huey Lewis adorning my adolescent bedroom walls. The affable Lewis, and his band mates didn't always feel that  loving power, though. They didn't hit record gold until their sophomore album, Picture This with the mega hit- "Do You Believe In Love?" that fueled a 35 weeks run on the Billboard 200 Album Chart.

With the release of Sports in 1984, the band was fast becoming a household name and went multi-platinum with their four, Billboard Top Ten hits, "Heart and Soul", "I Want a new Drug", "The Heart of Rock and Roll" and "If This Is it".  Following their ascent into fame, they then released their fourth album, a chart topping number one, Billboard 200 Album, "Fore!". That album produced five more top ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and it then went triple platinum. Suddenly it was very, "Hip to Be Square".

The band is back and embarking on a tour in celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Sports debut. Judging by this morning's appearance on Good Morning America, the boy has still got it, the band is still rockin' and still delivering that special Huey Lewis sound.


So, relax Huey, no need to let you know, "If This Is It", someone would have told you a long time ago.