News Environment FoodShe took 2nd place in the Rochester Marathon yesterday. Even though its September in Rochester, it was a blazing hot and humid day. They even shut down the Marathon early because of the heat.
I’ll post pictures soon. But here’s the article in the Democrat & Chronicle.
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I have a monstrous vat of algae in my backyard that some people refer to as a pool.
It was never my intent to buy a house that had a pool. It just so happens that the perfect house had one– 26′ in diameter and 4′6″ deep at the center (i think).
The first summer I lived there I could not have been more excited to try my hand at pool maintenance and enjoyment. I spent hours upon hours lounging in my outdoor bath– it was heated by one large solar cover and really warmed up by the end of July.
Each year has brought a new lesson in pool care-
Year one- how to repair a hole
Actually come to think of it, year one was about learning how to do everything: connecting all the tubing, vacuuming and backwashing, the right (or wrong) amount of algaecide to include. I personally do not recommend pouring a whole bottle in.
Year two– How not to try to open the pool yourself
After dumping a large quantity of rotten leaves into the bottom, it took me quite sometime to clean out the very center of the pool where they all seemed to congregate.
Year three– How to purchase an appropriately sized winter cover so that closing the pool isn’t a total nightmare.
Honestly, as long as you let MHG be the engineer of the whole process it’ll actually be a somewhat painless process.
So here we are in year four–
And while in past years I have jokingly stated that I wanted to knock the pool down….this year I came SO close to actually doing it.
This summer was a green pool disaster. It turned green almost immediately. And round-after-round of visits to my dear friends at Clover, it stayed green.
Jesus loves me this I know… because it did clear up briefly.. long enough for the guest at my sister’s baby shower to not think that I was white-trash. But not in time for Princess Ria’s first visit to a big-girl pool on July 4th. She went in anyway….
(JAY will you add that cute picture of RIA here)
….really as long as there are plenty of cherry tomatoes to be had– Ria is happy.
After a brief respite– it was back to green and this time, it seemed, to stay…
I had reached such a level of frustration that I called an “expert.” A nice man who ran a pool service visited and spent some time explaining the chemical process, informing me that my peeps at Clover had sold me a terrible product , and diagnosing and “fixing” my pool. A day later, it seemed be on the mend.
HA HA HA!
Quickly the nation of algae revolted against my chemical weapons attack and reclaimed the territory.
I tried to contact the ‘very nice’ man that had come to my house only days before. And he ignored me! (so if you’re in need of pool care in the Rochester area I would not recommend Clear Choice Pool Services)
I then decided to take drastic measures. As if I hadn’t already! I was going to drain the entire pool, scrub it down and start over. I was just about to start the draining process when my neighbor Dave intervened. He asked me to give him 3 days to see if he could de-greenify my pool.
AND HE DID IT!
Now it never achieved the crystal clear appearance that his own pool had..but I could actually swim in it! So for the last month or so, I have obsessively worked my little behind off trying not to destroy his beautiful work. With few exceptions, I think I’ve made him proud.
Determined to get a reasonable amount of use out of it, I kept my pool open past Labor Day this year. [Really, I was worried that Labor day would take on a whole new meaning if JAY tried to help in the process–so I’ve waited until this weekend when I can enlist some other family members to assist in the closing] I’ve forced myself and my sister to get in that pool and to enjoy its lack of green-ness.
Sadly, this week has turned out to be rainy, cool and very busy so there have been no dips in the pool. BUT, as I prepare to drain it tomorrow, I have good news….
….my pool is now crystal clear and ready for swimming.
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I have to be honest, i was a little nervous that my sister’s pregnancy would put a damper on my summer festivities. Its not that I can’t do stuff without her– its just more fun when she’s there.
So when I stared down the summer concert schedule getting more and more excited about all of the shows I wanted to see– I was worried I’d have no one to go with. From what they tell me, pregnancy is pretty exhausting-sometimes requiring bed-rest.
(What exactly defines ‘bed rest?’ Are you actually expected to stay in bed?? How terrible? Who would actuallywant to be put on bed-rest to think day in and day out about the impending pain of childbirth? And if it doesn’t literallymean laying in bed, what activities are permitted? Is shopping? Is making dinner? Where is the line crossed from acceptable bed-rest behavior to unacceptable activity? And wouldn’t some jobs fall within the acceptable behavior range?)
The good news– my sister is no “bed-rester!”
So it seemed my “summer of concerts” was a go. MGH was particularly excited to see how the babies would respond during the different performances. And since each show was at at different venue, I made it my goal to rate each based on the availability and variety of alcohol…
So our ‘Summer Concert Series’ began way before summer with…
Show number one— THE POLICE
1) HSBC Arena- Buffalo, NY: Let just say as far as availability is concerned, HSBC might have taken the cake. However, it is presentation that really defines this venue. At this stop we (MGH, SKS, N(I can’t beleive I don’t know her middle initial)Y, DJY) took advantage of the bars. Bars– multiple Bars in the arena. Genious! We found ourselves abandoning our “seats” and hanging at a bar with a much better view of these rock legends. I might have even been close enough to douse Sting with the chocolate sauce JAY wanted the opportunity to lick off.
A+ for the concert–duh its The Police. But A+ for the alcohol too, HSBC Arena.
Show number two– The Foo Fighters
2) Blue Cross Arena- Rochester, NY: The most safety conscious location on our summer tour, gender-specific BCA security guards gave each of us a pat-down. (well–except the pregnant lady– note to self– sneak the illegal paraphernalia in with the mom-to-be) As expected, over-sized watered down drafts was the beer-du-jour. Don’t worry I drank it and I enjoyed it– c’mon its BEER! Nothing spectacular to report on this front– the fried dough sans powdered sugar might have been the gastronomical highlight. It certainly was not the dude standing next to me that kept trying to talk to me while the Fighters of Foo were performing. HONESTLY!
As far as the show goes– opening band Year-Long Disaster– to me– was just that!
But the all-mighty Foo’s played almost all my favs– a live version of ‘But Honestly’ would have erased earlier traumas– but I can’t and won’t complain about this Rock show.
A for the Foos. C+ for the beers. F for rest (including the pregnant girl we saw smoking outside before the show began).
Show number three- Sheryl Crow w/ James Blunt
3) CMAC (Constellation Brand Something or other)- Canandaigua, NY: This place gets my A-number one vote for best all-around eating and drinking experience. With vendors like the Dinosaur BBQ how can you not be happy. There was a large variety of wine choices–each sold in its very own “juice-box” like container. We, however, bypassed the wine and opted instead for BLUE MOON! You heard me– BLUE freakin’ MOON– a real beer. I think maybe that’s why MGH kept “going to the bathroom” and returning with more beer. Truly, JAY was not pleased that she had to drive home and while I think I enjoyed the concert, i know i enjoyed the beer!
A++ for the beer. ??? for the show.
Show number four– Sara Bareilles, Maroon 5 and the Counting Crows
4) Darien Lake Performing Arts Center- Darien Center, NY:
I have to start with the following disclaimer– I love Adam Duritz and I wouldn’t say a bad thing about this show if you paid me. And aside from the unfortunate older man (who was getting both his trophy bride, and 16 yr old son drunk) who decided to “take” the empty seat in front of us– the 9th row seats we had were killer!
Much to JAY’s dismay, I did not want the $14 yard of margarita. Unfortunately, my decision to opt for the “mojito” in a can was not a wise choice either.
An important security note– as concert-goers we are not allowed to have the tops to any of the plastic water-bottles sold. They can be used as projectiles to injure people. The plastic water-bottle itself and the aluminum can my Mojito came in were okay–not at risk of being used as a projectile– or at least not as dangerous a projectile as a plastic bottle-cap. Hmm…
Thank god for the wine vendor! Did you know they will take an entire bottle of wine and put it is a huge paper cup and send you off to enjoy the show. BRILLIANT!!
A++++ for the show, D for the Mojito, A for the wine
Show number five: John Mayer
5) Darien Lake Performing Arts Center- Darien Center, NY: Having learned my lesson about the Mojito, SKS and I immediately headed for the winos. We did not however, much to our dismay later, choose to buy an entire bottle. BIG MISTAKE. What was not a mistake was the nachos w/cheese sauce and chili– not runny gross chili but good stuff. And although the seats in front of us seemed to have a rotating collection of inhabitants, this was my favorite John Mayer concert. Sands rocked it out to the post-college angsty songs– and I carried the entire 401 section during the parts where JM asked us to sing along. All-in-all a great way to round out our summer of concerts.
Show–A Wine– A Nachos–A+
So now as I look back on my music-filled summer, I think 2 things:
1) I may be way too preoccupied with alcohol
2) My unborn niece and nephew, who have seen more rock shows before birth than I did before my 18th birthday, are already cooler than I’ll ever be!
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Trust me when I tell you… its no longer cool to only have one 10-lb. baby at a time. In fact, fraternal boy-girl twins (with a total weight of 10-lbs.) is where its at now. Let’s examine some recent data to confirm my assertion:
1. Julia Roberts: Hazel and Phinnaeus may be the oldest twins in my list at 3 1/2 but someone has to be the trend setter!
2. J-to the- L-O: A recent article suggests that she felt a flutter in her belly and knew that she was preggers. I prefer to interpret that as– she felt the doctor place the fertilized zygote into her uterus and knew she had a 22.2% chance of being pregnant. Regardless, she hopped on the momma-of-boy-girl-twins train this year when Max and Emme were born in February.
3. Brangelina: Clearly in an attempt to match my parents in terms of number of children, these two didn’t rest on the successful melding of their chromosomes in thier daughter Shiloh . Actually, they were so over the idea of having sex with each other that they opted for IVF!? And with the birth of Vivienne and Knox, they have done for boy-girl twins what they did for adoption. Hey you two– I think its time to adopt this 30-something– besides Rochester is sort of like a foreign country to you?!
4. Rebecca Romijin: I know it shouldn’t really count– she and Jerry O’Connell are having two girls– but since she plays a boy turned girl on Ugly Betty, one of those babes might just turn out to be a boy after all.
Apparently, I am not the only person who’s caught on to this trend. Check out this site… http://omg.yahoo.com/news/seeing-double-are-celebrity-twins-hollywoods-latest-trend/6954 to see who else in Hollywood is the proud parent of twins (Like that terrible lawyer turned obnoxious host- Nancy Grace)
And now with the impending arrival of Samuel Hardin and Lillian (McKenna/McCartney/Amelia/FRANCHESCA) Gauss… it seems, my sister, JAY, ever the local envelope-pusher is rockin’ this trend in Rochester.
Well… that one..and the scarf one too…
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So we’ve probably lost everyone who ever read this blog (which most likely was just a few of our brothers and sisters), but we’ve been busy.
SKY is working on her Administrative Certification at the University of Rochester AND training for the Rochester Marathon. (Plus summer is “So You Think You Can Dance” season and we all know how SKY feels about that)
I’ve been working (which I know isn’t new) and obsessively eating for my twins — Sam and Lilli. That’s right MHG and I have defeated natural selection AND jumped on the celebrity boy/girl twin bandwagon. Yeah Julia, J.Lo and Angelina didn’t use IVF either.
But excuses aside. We’re back…
And I’m sure with a new school year starting, babies and an election on the way, we’ll have plenty to talk about. (Seriously, a former beauty queen? I’m sure she is charming and has done great things for parts of Alaska. But come on, this one is worse than GWB.)
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This whole blog was her brain-child. It was going to earn us the money that would allow me to leave the gym I currently attend– where some not so nice people are– and to join her fancy and expensive gym.
Granted I myself have been slacking. But a sister needs some help every now and again. This was her grand idea after all. She is the computer-girl. I’m just mathy. If you look back and compare… in a ratio if you will… I pretty sure, SKY : JAY , head-to-head, NCAA tournament style: I’m Davidson, Sienna, hell even Villanova and she’s…
…. the teams that got beat by those underdogs.
C’mon JAY give me something worth reading about….
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JAY and I are four years apart in age. But there were times growing up where it felt like there were forty years separating us.
A fourth grader at Craig Hill school in Greece, there was nothing I dreamed of more than getting my own Cabbage Patch Doll. Those magical little ones, that literally were born out of a cabbage, did much to confuse my understanding of how babies were made. Not even the all-girls “health class” discussion in fifth grade did much to ease my fears about the true contents of cole slaw.
Like Lay’s– Cabbage Patch dolls could not be had in quantities of one. Once I had my first butt-tatooed doll, I had to have more. That Christmas, Santa heard my prayers and delivered to me TWO more vegetable-produced children, a stroller, and a crap load of clothes.
But “having” a Cabbage Patch Doll wasn’t all fun and games. Adopting my eventual five kids was a lesson in swearing in front of a witness (my mom) and my first foray into signing a legally binding document. Don’t try to tell me it wasn’t real, I still have the official certificate from Xavier Roberts.
Well my fellow children of the 80’s, Cabbage Patch Dolls have turned 25 and there are year long celebrations planned.
And while I don’t feel old enough to have a “family” of five 25 year olds—I have gotten over my aversion to cole slaw…
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