Christmas Week

So...I know everyone is snowed in at the moment, but if you get a chance you've got to see the trees at the Ellipse! They have Santa's Workshop and free pictures with Santa. Today was a great day, if you like snow, almost 2 feet!

Myles is loving it, he was romping around like a 10 year old instead of a 14 year old lab!

Something new

This is for all the mom's out there, I found this new website: www.mommytracked.com I can't wait to start using all the cool features on it. Another favorite is www.momagenda.com I have been using their planners and calendars for year.

It is cold today, already smells like snow. We will be taking in the trees at the Ellipse today, so stand by to see some state trees.

Christmas is almost here

So, I have decided to revise my intentions with this blog, I am going to let you know more about things/products/ideas I like and love and want to share. Also, I am finding there isn't much to just tell you about my 'hood, but it is still me living in it and so, when things go on, check here for updates. :-)

Here is a new project I am working on: www.theactivators.net it is a cool new website that is sponsored by My Gym. (www.mygym.com) they will have videos for kids to interact with and workout to for sale soon, for now you can see them online. Piper has been asked to be in one, if we are out in LA when they are filming, and I am acting as an Ambassador, talking about the new website and the general idea and concept behind it; which is keeping kids active and in shape. Check it out, I bet you will like it.

Otherwise, I am just like everyone else, running around humming old christmas music that is stuck in my head from shopping at stores, (that means standing in lines), and baking up a storm. Oh and then there is the wrapping, I think I am going to lobby for a 'hide it under a sheet and keep shouting 'SURPRISE' every time!' Think how many trees we will save!

Holidays are Coming

Hi

It's been a while since I updated. Fun Halloween, great costumes on the kids and adults, rain was a bummer though, so no socializing outside like usual. Here is a picture of us as Shrek and Fiona and Princess Bubble.

The landscapers have been pretty good about getting the leaves picked up. They have also been pretty good about blowing leaves into my flower beds...thank goodness my neighbors came out and helped me bag leaves a few weeks ago. Today I only have to bag 2 more piles and I think I am done for the season.

Also, here is my website pick of week. (Don't think I am always going to do this but I happen to like this website a lot). http://www.coolmompicks.com/

Oh and finally, if you are interested, I have found a new Mary Kay consultant since Lisa retired to spend more time with her family. Here is Christine Coulter www.marykay.com/ccoulter

What you missed on Thursday night

So...big excitement in the hood last night. It wasn't the porch girls out drinking wine either. Some Maryland driver pulled into an open spot, music BLARING, dome light on and car running, and then he PASSED OUT. Luckily one of our neighbors called and the whole gang showed up, firetruck, EMT, ambulance, cops, etc. He was able to come around, but then he was just, well, drunk. The last we saw of him, he was telling the cops he loved them, needed to go pee and wanted to know what was wrong with using that tree near the car. Clearly a DUI was not enough, he was going for indecent exposure as well. At any rate, the cops said no, so he said he would hate to wet himself but that is what was going to happen if they didn't let him go somewhere. I am pretty sure he had the pleasure of wetting himself. If you drink and drive then you pee, end of story. Typical Maryland drivers....have a good weekend

The Weekend...again!

Hi

So, it took me a week to post this...let's review what has been going on. New neighbors, Ken and Karen are all moved in...The McHargues are moving out. I was thinking we could just call the boys by the cars that Vern has. Here goes, in order of age: Mercedes, Expedition, BMW and Jaguar. McB is really going to miss Expedition!! Speaking of them moving...had dinner last Monday night at the trips house. It was a going away dinner...a bit interesting. TV (big ol' flat screen) is in the pass thru, so you watch it in the kitchen, on our old couch we sold them via Craigslist. When it's on, the sound projects into the living room, which is where we were...eating our second dinners! Margarita, Pat (up past her bedtime, Anita and myself). At 9 I was beat and had to go home. Good food, but totally stuffed. The trips have 'basement people' that rent and live down there, talk about not having much room, them or the trips! I will say, awesome pottery, the trips mom is an amazing artist. More on basement people as I learn more...who knew? Besides Fatma of course.



So, onto other profound thoughts, some of the Porch Girls went to Let's Dish! It was quite fun, Tooch's mom shoo-shoo'd her out of the way and took over...so Tooch kind of made dinner. :-) On Tuesday night, it was a special gathering of Porch Girls for one last get together with Anita, (again, Pat up past her bedtime and Val too!). It was a good gathering, with chocolate mousse pie that Pizza man had given me.



Then, on Thursday we went to NYC, and I took McB to the Natural History Museum, and I learned something very interesting. The gross looking larvae I have been seeing on the ground the past few weeks, is really gross acorn larvae that hatch and become weevils! Yuck! Here is a picture I took at the museum in the biodiversity section. I got home and looked it up and this is what it says: Every year acorns become temporary homes for some insects. Acorn weevils overwinter in the ground. In the summer, they emerge to look for a mate. Mating usually takes place very soon after the weevils emerge. The female acorn weevil uses the small jaws at the end of her long snout to drill a hole in the shell of the developing nut. Then she backs up and lays 2 to 4 eggs inside.
The young acorn weevil larvae hatch inside the acorn after one or two weeks. The larvae develop inside the acorn, feeding on the nutmeat for about 3 weeks. The more larvae inside an acorn, the slower they develop because they must share the available food.
The infested acorn falls from the tree about the time that the weevil larvae are fully grown. When the acorn hits the ground, it is a signal to the acorn weevil larvae that it is time to chew their way out. This process can take from 2 hours to 3 days, depending on the thickness of the acorn shell. Once the acorn weevil larva breaks free of the acorn, it tunnels down into the ground and makes an earthen cell in which to spend the winter. The larva will stay in its winter home for up to 5 years before it emerges one summer as an adult acorn weevil.
The empty acorn can be used by other insects for food and shelter. A different insect, the acorn moth, may lay an egg near the exit hole left by the acorn weevil larva. After the egg hatches, the acorn moth caterpillar climbs through the hole into the acorn, where it spends the winter. The following spring it leaves the acorn before turning into an acorn moth.

The Weekend

So, people might not be subscribing but they are reading...that is cool. Here is a tip, went to the Washington Monument yesterday with McB, it was cool, took some great pictures, maybe I will even post one, but the deal was going to http://www.recreation.gov/ and for $1.50 each bought our timed entry tickets like 2 weeks in advance. Totally worth it.

Okay I am going to throw all caution out the door and get a bit snarky today...turns out my next door renters are planning to open a home day care, not cool. For those of you who have heard some of my stories, you know who I am talking about, it's not the Pizza Man. (I will now, forever refer to my 'good' next door neighbors as Pizza Man because he is part of Faccia Luna Pizza and restaurants). The renters are thinking of having a daycare, who knows where in that house, they have 8 people living there as it is. To top it off I just realized, (hello bells going off all above my head) that they have been door dinging my car for about the past 6 months, drivers side, AND they have been doing it to the neighbors on the other side to their passenger side. It is really bad, so now we have to start documenting all the dents, which if you look at my car and the other neighbors car you can totally tell, it's straight across and exactly the same, so we can file some paperwork about it. Totally frustrating, is it so hard to be a good neighbor? Does this make me a bad neighbor for being snarky about the renters? I don't think you can confront them until you have a case. Now for the daycare situation I vote NO NO NO! Any ideas how to stop this? Do you want a daycare in the 'hood? Fatma runs a great, quiet, legal daycare that is fine, but these neighbors, that rent no way!

Finally the low rider update, turns out they are running a daycare too, they are renters too, they are not licenced...I will keep you updated.

Halloween is around the corner, let's hope for good weather and lots of fun.

It's Friday!

So...big news, Lisa and Mike have now added, Oliver Michael to the family! Congrats to them! Oliver was born October 1 at 8:01 PM.



Also, this weekend you can go to any Starbucks and try the new via instant coffee. I went today and picked via over the brewed coffee. Amazing, it was delicious. You can get a free tall cup of coffee just for going in and trying it~ totally worth it. http://www.starbucks.com/coffee/instantCoffee.aspx?catId=17#num=01&id=instant_coffee



Porch Girls/book club met last night...no new gossip, and no rehashing of old gossip either, however all decided the book 'Time Travelers Wife' has some creepy parts, but also a bit of historical romance; and the book was better than the movie. Next book up, The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown.



I saw the triplets so I guess they survived and made it back in one piece from NYC. I also saw low riders twins, they are cute, but mobile. Heard from a neighbor that someone found them one day wandering out on Manchester Lakes Drive...watch out for wandering multiples.

Middle of the week

Hey, I am up, not going swimming and it appears the rest of the hood is sleeping still too! I see our almost accurate newspaper guy almost got the paper near my step today. At least he got it here, seems to me since we got a new delivery person the delivery of the paper is hit or miss. There is a couple great fall festivals going on this weekend, there is the Kingstowne Fall Festival down by Panera from 10-2 PM and a few others around here, I am going, for the first time to Art on the Avenue in Del Ray. It should be awesome, check out the website: http://www.artontheavenue.org/

Let's see, what else is going on? Weather is still good, kids still outside playing, that always makes putting them to bed a bit easier. No new babies in the hood yet, but we are on watch for Lisa and Mike. I see the triplets are not back from their trip to NYC, I bet they had fun.

I haven't been walking with the dog in the afternoons to see the couple of cars that pull up and load about a dozen kids in their cars after they get off the school bus, but I will try to catch that sight again. That was the final straw that led me to start this blog. Hellooooo??? Must have children in seatbelts, kind of a big deal law. And, how far away do you live that you have to drive your kid(s) to the bus stop?? The elementary school is just up the road, for how much you drive you could walk them to school right? I will get to the bottem of this, plus, they keep their cars running and the fumes are gross. (see I can be a bit snarky on this blog and get away with it)

First Post of Trish in the hood

So...how to start, let's start by driving into our little piece of paradise in Northern Virginia. This neighborhood is really great, during major elections we are truly blue and red, there are military, government, diplomats, and regular Joe's living here. Like I say, a little slice of life.

As you turn off Manchester Lakes, you see three options, go right and you are in Alexander cul de sac, we call it the rentals. Lots of rentals, no grass can grow on the front lawns, big ol' Christmas balls hanging in someones tree, another has some tree sprouts growing from the rain gutters. Then, there are some cute well maintained houses, but not as many as the others. This whole development used to be a farm, clearly not a very productive one, I mean how can you 'farm' on a clay base?? I had never seen so much clay so close to the top soil in my life when I moved here and tried to dig and plant bulbs. Anyhow, B doesn't like to walk thru that part, but I take the dog walking almost every day...gotta see what everyone is up to right?

If you turn left you are on Alexander Ave. this is a nice street, all friendly, for the most part, and they keep the front yards looking good. Lots of friendly dogs...Our best friends live on this street, keep reading and you'll eventually meet them, Haley's parents and Emma and Jack's folks.

If you go straight you end up in Ericka Ave. Love it! And, this is where a lot of the action takes place. Today there is nothing happening, just a lot of rain, and for some reason Myles, my dog, is barfing...totally gross and he doesn't have to clean it up...that would be me! I promise to keep this funny, light and interesting, so keep coming back there is more to come.