songbird's crazy world

so last night Jen called me from school and asked me to buy a DVD "before Disney puts it back in the vault." the DVD she wanted was a prequel to the classic "The Little Mermaid". Jen has always loved Disney movies, but I think "Mermaid", in all of its incarnations (movie, TV show, sequel, prequel, Broadway show, soundtracks, Disneyword performances) has always been her favorite. on Jen's 3rd birthday, my sister Andrea -who has long red hair- borrowed a mermaid costume. Jen was so excited! she wanted to wear the costume. fortunately I had some pretty green fabric in the house, which I wrapped around her like a sarong, and she was overjoyed. so of course I went out and bought the DVD for her.

this is "Hungry", the mascot for Weight Watchers' new "Momentum" program. everyone at the meeting yesterday would like to have one. hey, if Ty can make Sasha and Malia doll, why not make a "Hungry" doll, too? I'd keep mine on my desk at work, for inspiration. same reason I watch "the Biggest Loser" every Tuesday night. I'm trying to find my groove. or actually, "rediscover" would be a better word. I lost 70 pounds...then stopped eating right and stopped exercising, and gained back 40. last night I did a 30 minute workout and thought I was going to die. I'm doing "Relay for Life" in June, I've got to get back in shape for it!

bought myself a little pick-me-up on this dreary winter day This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless! To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture . Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required.

if you can't see the whole picture, click on it to enlarge. Here's Jen in the dress she wore to senior prom: and here's Becca in a dress she wore to a friend's sweet 16:

don't let my smile fool you, I am HATING this winter weather! normally our winters on Long Island are relatively mild, maybe a week or two of extremely cold weather, maybe one or two snow storms. this year we've been hit with one storm after another after another. and I am sick of it! you have no idea how miserable I am right now.

Jibber Jabber commented on Suzanne's blog and mentioned that 1776 is one of her favorite soundtracks. it's on my hit list too. I'm a Broadway baby and majored in history in college. I own the DVD of the movie, starring William Daniels. and after seeing Brent Spiner in the Broadway revival, I bought the CD of the revival cast. my ex husband -- all 5'4" of him -- played John Adams in his high school production. Remember that old series, St. Elsewhere? Ed Flanders, Ed Begley Jr., William Daniels, Howie Mandel, Denzel Washington, Mark Harmon, among others. A lot of black comedy and inside jokes. the series was set in Boston. In one story line, William Daniels' character, Dr. Mark Craig, visits Philadelphia (I think his character was supposed to have gone to medical school there). And during that episode, he sings one line: "It's hot as hell in Philadelphia!" when I saw that show on TV, I almost lost it!

I visited the school district's website today. and there it was. the 2009-2010 school calendar. the first day of school. each vacation day. the last day of classes. graduation. Becca's senior year, laid out on a neat sheet of paper. the last year my life will be governed by a public school calendar. when the girls were little I figured out "Jen will graduate from high school in 2008 and Becca in 2010." 2010. wasn't that an Arthur C. Clarke novel? it seemed so far away. and now it's almost here. and I'm not ready to let her go.

I saw the Brad Pitt movie this past weekend. It intrigued me enough for me to find the original short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Other than the name and the central premise, the short story bears little resemblance to the movie.the original story had a sense of wry humor. Set in Baltimore, with the main character born in 1860, it had a sense of history but little romance. The movie, however, is a bittersweet romance, told in flashback and set in New Orleans, with the title character born in 1917. I liked the care that was put into the story line -- from the clock that ran backwards to having Benjamin grow up in an old age home to Benjamin and Daisy finally being in sync with each other. I am amazed at the make up and digital photography that made Brad Pitt look older/younger than he really is. The story is told in flashback, Daisy's daughter is reading Benjamin's journal to Daisy as she lies on her deathbed in 2005. What I really didn't "get", though, was the ...

One of the perks of being on the high school cheer team, or the high school dance team, was the annual trip to Central Florida for competition. With neither of my girls on a team this year, I am bereft. I have wonderful memories of these competitions, especially the Florida trips. the girls and I had vacationed in Central Florida many times from 1998 through 2001, visiting Walt Disney World 5 times and Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure once. We hadn't been to Florida since 2001, and going back with the teams was a delight. Jen's sophomore year the team went to a competition at Universal Studios, and Becca and I went with the team. The next year, Jen's junior year and Becca's freshman year, the dance team went to WDW in early March and the cheer team went to WDW in mid March. Ditto last year. (The dance team also travels to Myrtle Beach for a competition at the end of March, but that's a different story.) Going on these trips is a lot different than watching y...

Jen told me she won't "friend" me on facebook, it would be "too weird". she went back to school tuesday after 5 weeks of Christmas vacation. her boyfriend stopped by monday evening to say goodbye. as soon as he was gone Jen ran upstairs to sign onto facebook. I didn't find out until yesterday that she changed her facebook status to "single". the boyfriend's "goodbye" meant "I'll see you next time you're home." but Jen' "goodbye" was more along the lines of "don't let the door hit you..." sigh...

found a new blog today. Love it. http://secret-squirrel.webs.com/index.htm I've posted there under various names over the last 10 years or so. it went from a sweet little board that was Pete Werner's hobby to ....well, a real nightmare. that a board devoted to all things Disney can be such a nasty, racist, childish (not childlike) place.... loving the inside scoop, though. Did I ever tell you how "songbird" was banned from the DIS? I was a poster in good standing for 3-4 years. Even booked my trips through Dreams Unlimited, back when Pete was careful to distinguish between the disboards as a hobby and Dreams as his business. Pete and Webmaster Alex were struggling with server issues, the disboards would go down more often than they'd stay up. then Pete announced cosmetic changes to wdwinfo.com, which feeds into the disbaords forum. Like all other members of the forum, I was frustrated. so I was a bit sarcastic. I posted something to the effect of "would yo...

tragedy struck our home Thursday night. Becca broke up with her boyfriend. the boy she swore she would love forever. "forever" lasted about 8-9 months. I guess in teen world that constitutes a lifetime. the ex is a nice kid, I liked him and I liked his parents. but to tell the truth, he's "geographically undesirable " -- he doesn't live in our town, it's20 minutes of highway driving to get to his house. I won't miss that drive at all. on Saturday I noticed she wasn't wearing her own coat, she was wearing a red and black lacrosse team jacket. there are two high schools in our town. Becca goes to High School West. their school colors are red and white. the other school, High School East, uses red and black for its colors. at least this time she picked a boy closer to home! I'd say her recovery is complete.

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a long-standing relationship with bagels. Part of it is ethnic compulsion -- I think it's in the genes. Part of it is family history -- my late uncle was a bagel man, owned a store in Newark and later had a shop on the East Side. and part of it is that they are a little bit of carbo heaven. of course, I am a bit of a bagel "snob". A real bagel should be boiled, not steamed, before it is baked. and those weird flavors -- like blueberry or sun-dried tomato -- you know, the things my uncle would never have added to his bagels -- just don't cut it for me. and those horrible doughy things they sell in the supermarket freezer section -- don't get me started. when I was in college, in Albany, NY, most of my classmates were from NYC or Long Island, and we used to beg our parents to bring us "Guyland bagels", because what was sold as a "bagel" in Albany just didn't compare. it must be something in the water. in ...

It occurred to me today that, for the first time in my life, the President of the United States will be younger than I am ! I was born in 1960, my sister in 1961. Obama was born in 1961. He's a member of my generation . wow. the torch has been passed.

the view from my bedroom window...I am starting to HATE snow. *Robin* This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless! To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture . Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required.

it was snowing when I drove Becca to the party tonight, and I was so glad it was a sleepover because I didn't want to have to pick her up at the end of the evening. not that the birthday girl lives far - it's only about a mile or so - but I dislike driving while...while...while the snow is falling. so you can imagine my joy several hours later, when Becca sent me a text saying she had a headache and wanted to come home.

Jen will be headed back to college on tuesday. she's an education major, she wants to be an elementary school teacher. she's spnet most of Christmas break doing what college kids do at home -- sleeping until noon, partying with her friends,driving all over town, hitting mom up for cash. but she did something else as well. my friend Jenn is a high school teacher. and Emily teaches elementary school. Jen spent a day shadowing Jenn, and a day observing Emily. and discussing her own career objective with them. and I marvel that this is the same child who just 4 years ago thought school was getting in the way of her social life.

Grandy blogged about cleaning her desk awhile back as she prepared to relocate to another desk in her office, and I laughed. oh, the irony of that laugh. two years ago my division went through a major reorganization, which resulted in many large departments being split into smaller, more manageable departments. my department was one of the affected departments, and I was assigned to the new department. in july 2007 the new department was relocated to a different floor. well, 18 months later, we're going to relocate -- back to the floor where our former colleagues have remained. we're likely to be moving by the end of this month. I have been with this company for 6 1/2 years. this will be the third time I've had to move, so I've weeded out some of the trash, but still...

*Robin* This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless! To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture . Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required.

*Robin* This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless! To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture . Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required.

If I walk over to the window and look north, I can see the plane crash site.I can see the fireboats and ferries, and lots of rescue vehicles on both sides of the river. At first I couldn't see the plane itself, but now that they're towing it, it's become visible. http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Plane-Crashes-in-Hudson-River.html A US Airways jet crashed landed into the Hudson River near Manhattan this afternoon, plunging its approximately 150 crew and passengers into freezing waters after apparently hitting a flock of geese. The plane was submerged in the icy waters up to the windows, and rescue crews had opened the door and were pulling passengers in yellow life vests from the plane. Several boats surrounded the plane, which appeared to be slowly sinking. An armada of boats, including at least five commuter ferries, as well as firefighters, federal officials rushed to the scene before the Airbus A320 could sink into the murky depths. The plane crashed in the area of...

Where were you in September 1985? I was working in a law firm in lower Manhattan and living in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, with my roommate Eileen. It was my first apartment and (with the exception of my college dorm) the first time I was living someplace other than Long Island. Two of my best friends at the time were classmates from law school. Linda and her husband lived in Garden City, Long Island, and Debbie had an apartment on the Upper East Side. the three of us would get together frequently for dinner, theater, etc., and we'd usually wind up back at Debbie's for a sleepover. That's where I was the night before Hurricane Gloria. It was already raining when the three of us got up to go to our respective jobs. We splurged on a commuter van downtown instead of the subway. By the time I got to my office the rain was very heavy, and the winds had kicked up. My firm was on the 27th floor of the building, and I could hear the wind rattling the huge glass windows. I was...

when we moved into the house in 1968, my mother decorated our new den in a sort of Spanish/Tudor style -- dark wood floor, dark panelling, stucco and beam ceiling, dark brick fireplace, red and black upholstery on the sofa and lvoe seat. shortly theerafter, she decided the room was "too dark". she wanted a skylight in the room. but with four kids and one salary (my dad made good money, but still...), it wasn't likely that the room would be redone any time soon. fast forward ten years to 1978. the Long Island Ice Storm of janaury 13-14 Light snow spread across the island during the morning on Friday January 13 and continued throughout the day, with most areas averaging around 3 inches of accumulation. During the evening the snow mixed with sleet and freezing rain and eventually turned to all freezing rain which became heavy at times and continued through the night. As the ice accumulated, power outages began to occur during the late evening and towards midnight, they beg...

I don't even know 7 people in the blogosphere! I will do my best, though. Suzanne has given me an award. The Honest Scrap Award. The rules for the Honest Scrap award: The honorees are to: A) first list 10 honest things about yourself - and make it interesting, even if you have to dig deep! B) pass the award on to 7 bloggers that you feel embody the spirit of the Honest Scrap. OK, here goes: 1. I am terribly, horribly romantic and idealistic. I truly expect the happy ending, that love with conquor all. I know this is terribly illogical, after all, my marriage was hardly a storybook. We had some good years and some bad years, and a very acrimoneous divorce. but I am still looking for the prince to sweep me off my feet. 2. I was picked on a lot in junior high, and even a few times in high school. It took me until my 40's to learn how to effectively deal with bullies. 3. I do have a mean streak. My ex (Drew) and I went to Fort Lauderdale, FL, for the wedding f one of his childhood...

It's cold, it's snowy, it's miserable. The excitement of holidays is over. the doledrums have set in. trying to find something interesting and exciting to motivate myself.

I'm not really a football fan, but I do have a sense of hometown pride. alas. no New York team will be playing this year... Last year - Giants vs. Patriots. Jen and I were in the car during the game, and she kept getting texts from her friends with score updates. We were on our way from our home on Long Island to Hartford, CT. Jen had been accepted at Hartford and we planned to check out the school Monday morning. Just as I pulled into the parking lot of the Holiday Inn Express in downtown Hartford, Jen told me "The Giants just won the game." we walked into the hotel lobby. there was a huge flat screen tv in the lobby...and a lot of sad Patriot fans staring mournfully at the screen. they gave us a nice room despite my NY driver's license.

so the previous post was a photo from my archives, from June 2008, at Becca's sweet 16 party. Jen is the one wearing the pink Betsy Johnson (it was the dress she wore to the prom in 2007) and Becca is the one in the teal and cream Betsy. both girls went to a sweet 16 tonight and I wish I'd had the opportunity to take a picture of them. Becca was her usual gorgeous self in a purple strapless and my Tiffany earrings. but Jen....wow... she borrowed a dress my from sister, a frothy black and white strapless that my sister had worn to the sweet 16 last June. (I'm sorry, but a 40 year old woman should not be wearing a Besty Johnson prom dress, even if she can fit into it!) she looked like she should be modelling the dress. it looked like it was made for her. I doubt my sister will ever wear that dress again.

if you can;t see my beautiful daughters, click to enlarge

New Years Meme 1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before? I was elected to serve on the board of trustees at my synagogue and appointed to chair several committees. Jen graduated from high school and went off to college. Becca turned 16 and got her learner's permit. 2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? No, but I'm stuill trying 3. Did anyone close to you give birth? No. 4. Did anyone close to you die? Not really close, but I felt great sadness. My parents have very close friends, they've known each other since I was in 3rd grade. their son was in my third grade class. You couldn't call us friends, we barely spoke to each other, but he died of brain cancer a few months ago, and I was devastated. 5. What countries did you visit? None, unless you count the pavillions in EPCOT's world showcase. 6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? tranquility in my life, less stress. material...

Grandy looked at the photos I took in the World Trade Center subway station, and asked “where are all the people?” Her question brought back memories of a time when the city was virtually deserted. Although I have spent most of my legal career with law firms and insurance companies based in NYC or across the river in Jersey City, in 2001 I was fortunate enough to have found a job with a law firm on Long Island. During that time, I did many court appearances and depositions in the city, but I wasn’t in the city on 9/11 – my friend Shlomit says I had an angel on my shoulder that day. I watched it all on television, almost as if it were happening somewhere else. 9/11 was on a Tuesday. Reality set in a few days later, on Friday September 14. By then, lower Manhattan was isolated from the rest of the city, and people were starting to struggle to find some semblance of normalcy. The courts had reopened, and one of my cases was on the docket in federal district court in Brooklyn. The c...

this is one I got from Grandy 1. Have you ever been on TV? YEP - the local cable news interviewed my in 1981. 2. Have you ever sung in public? YEP - in junior high I was in the school chorus. in high school I was in the musicals. I actually had a solo, of sorts, when I played Aunt Eller in Oklahoma -- she sings a few lines in a couple of the songs. 3. Have you ever dyed your hair blond? YEP - the first time was when I was 16. 4. Have you ever eaten frogs' legs? Nope. never wanted to, either. don't tell me they taste like chicken, I know better. 5. Have you ever received a present that you really hated? YEP - hasn't everyone? 6. Have you ever walked into a lamp post? Nope. came close once -- damn text messaging. 7. Have you ever cooked a meal by yourself for more than 15 people? YEP - my mom was supposed to do dinner for Rosh HaShanah one year, but she had to go to the airport to pick up my sister, who came home unexpectedly. I cooked the meal while on the phone with m...

some photos of the subway staion at the World Trade Center: -click to enlarge t get the full effect:

When this message posts, I expect to be at the radiologist's, drining some godawful chemicals in preparation for my semi-annual CAT scan. Most of the time I can forget that I am a cncer survivor. Most of the time I can feel almost normal. But then I have to go for some test -- like the CAT scan -- or trek over to a doctor's office for a check-up, and it all comes back to me. Can you believe it's been 4 years? December 2004. when I walked into Ilene's office, I knew I was having problems, but we both assumed it was hormonal -- just a few months shy of my 45th birthday, it wouldn't have been unusual for perimenopausal symptoms. Ilene scheduled a D & C for the end of January, 2005. I don't know which one of us was more surprised by the pathology report. But 2005 became my nightmare year -- surgery, radiation, chemotherapy. And a whole group of new friends, each with the same first name -- "Doctor". four years later I am feeling healthy, far remo...

not only do the rats continue to thrive in the 34th strret station, but I just saw a mouse in the World Trade Center station...and I am quite certain his name was NOT "Mickey".

So it's the middle of Becca's junior year, and time for her to start her college search in earnest. She's more than ready to begin the adventure, she's been talking about where she wants to go to college since the moment she walked through those high school doors at the beginning of freshman year. I, on the other hand, am still recuperating from Jen's college search. I couldn't really get her motivated in her junior year -- all her friends were seniors that year, so "college" meant her friends were leaving her. Consequently, everything we did was rushed. I think she was happy with her final decision, but I don't think she allowed herself to explore all the possibilities before she made that decision, and I think I may have heard some rumblings about "transferring next year..." (Lord help me). Becca is self-motivated and very bright. she's got good grades and will likely do well on the SATs. She's taking 2 AP classes this...

whenever it snows, the genuises who plow out the local train station pile up the snow in the corners of the parking lot, thus reducing the available parking space in an already-overcrowded lot. well, all the snow from the New Year's Eve storm has melted -- or so I thought. I was running late this morning (don't ask) and got to the station much later than normal. spotted an empty parking spot at the end of the row. pulled halfway in, decided I needed a better angle, backed out a little bit...and got stuck on a huge mound of ice I never saw. had to call AAA to pull my car out of the spot. by now I was sooo late I thought I'd never find a legitimate parking spot. but no sooner did the AAA guy unhook my car from his tow truck than I saw someone actually pulling out of a parking spot . a little silver lining in an otherwise cloudy morning.

I am trying to decide if letting Jen get her driver's license was the best thing I ever did...or the worst. Bright and early on her 16th birthday, which also happened to be Election Day 2006, my firstborn child took that gigantic leap into adulthood and made her very first appearance at the DMV. There she got to experience, for the first time in her young life, the torture that I, an experienced driver, have known for all of my adult life. Paperwork...wait for your number to be called...more paperwork...she was photographed, she took a written test....and was handed a temporary learner's permit. So now she was legally allowed to get behind the wheel of a car. That's when the fun really began! Four days later she had her first fender-bender. She wanted to make a left turn...I saw a car coming from the opposite direction...but before my mouth could form the words "don't turn yet"...she did. Well, at least the only thing that hurt ....was paying the repair ...

ruby slipper nail polish:

today is reorganization day...gotta get the house in order. next weekend is time to catch up on paperwork. time to get back to weightwatchers....I pay for membershp, Ishould actually follow the program. and I am going to sign up for aquarobics over at the Y. how's that for self-improvement?

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*Robin* This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless! To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture . To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required. Visit www.apple.com/quicktime/download to download the free player or upgrade your existing QuickTime� Player. Note: During the download process when asked to choose an installation type (Minimum, Recommended or Custom), select Minimum for faster download.

my dad doesn't do much cooking anymore...but when he does...he makes the best chicken soup in the whole world. the whole house smells like chicken soup right now....

I'm Jewish, so I get to do this twice...once at Rosh HaShanah and again for the secular New Year. 2008 didn't totally suck for me. of course, working for a company that received a government bailout certainly hasn't helped my cheery disposition, but even though I saw my stock drop from $50 a share to about $1.50...well,at least Istill have a job. still beating myself up a little about weight...I lost 70 pounds in2006-2007 but gained back 40 in 2008...but I'm watching the "Biggest Loser" marathon today for inspiration. kids are doing well. at lot of "lasts" for Jen in 2008, and a lot of "firsts" as she graduated from high school and started college. Becca celebrated her sweet 16 and refocused her direction in school. my parents had a few health scares...dad's going to be 82 next month...but they're doing well, all things considered. the biggest change has been between me and Drew. we're rediscovering what we liked about each ...

"machine wash warm, tumble dry low"... I bought a lovely velour track suit 2-3 years ago. the label says you can put it in the dryer, but I was always afraid it would shrink, so I'd hang it up to air dry. until last week. threw the track suit in the dryer. yep...it shrunk. ugh!