Welcome!

For those of you who are new here, welcome to my blog! My name is Serena, and I am Mom to Ian, working full-time in a law firm, and going to school full-time to obtain my Bachelors in Finance.

The newest entries to my blog are on top with older entries following. Conversations I found funny have my son's words in blue and mine in pink. See Growin’ Up and Advice to the Lovelorn. Pressing the 'ctrl' button while clicking on a link will cause the link to open in a new window. Clicking on the word "Serenity" in the upper left corner will take you back to my latest entries.

Comments are always welcome, and you don't have to have a blogspot account to do so. Just click on the "Comments" link at the bottom of each entry, make your comment, and choose your identity. "Anonymous" is one of the choices. I only ask that if you post anonymously, you put your name in the post so I know who it came from. Thank you!

Please feel free to browse around!

Memorial Day Parade

Thousands of men and women have died and continue to die for our Freedom, and although it is woefully inadequate, to them I say, Thank You. It has never made sense to me to say "Happy" Memorial Day. I am glad I have the freedom I have, but at the same time am horrified by the vast number of lives it has cost.

Today was the Memorial Day Parade, and not only did I remember my camera, I remembered to use it! (Ian was in the parade. That's probably why.) I got some wonderful pictures of a few young ones absolutely glued to the goings-on. This little one seemed to really enjoy the bands:

and this little one waved to the Fire Trucks:

and I don't think this little guy stopped clapping and jumping for the entire 2 hour parade!

Little kids are great. They soak up everything like little sponges. I remember when Ian was this age... {heavy sigh} Where does the time go? This year he hits 'double digits'!

I believe this band was from the Charter School of Applied Technologies. Cool-looking uniforms, but I bet they were unbearably hot:

The Pipes:

Kenilworth Fire truck:

McGruff, the Crime Dog. (I bet he was in shorts in the car.) :D

Irish dancers:

The Town:

I missed the name of this group, but I bet they were a tad bit warm, too!

Check out the baby buggy!

I have no idea what these bikes are called.
I got video of them showing how to get on them, which will follow in another post:

More Pipes:

The Ladies Auxillary:

A fire truck circa the time my Dad was born:

The Lions Club:

Memorial Day Parade, Continued

Gymnastics:

Highway Department:

Boy Scout Supertroop 104 (War of 1812 Reenactment uniforms):

Sheridan Park Fire Department:

Kenmore Village Improvement Society:

Oooold Fire Truck:

A Snow Scene. What Memorial Day Parade in Western New York would be complete without snow? :D

Ooold Car:

New Mustang:

The Keystone Cops:

And, at long last, Tiny Treasures Day Care ! That's my favorite Boy Child, helping hold the banner:

Of course, I tell him he's my favorite Boy Child, and he says,

Mom. I'm your ONLY Boy Child.

Memorial Day Bag Pipes

How they get on the Big Bikes

KenWest Band

At least I'm pretty sure it is KenWest. I didn't take any video of KenEast. :D

The Garden

My former neighbor, Joe, left behind his planters. When he was here, he grew all kinds of vegetables on our patio. I planted this year:

Yellow Tomatoes

Yellow Bell Peppers

Parsley, Dill, Basil and Rosemary

New Guineas

And in back, Assorted Perennials

Oh, yeah. And I'm sunburned. SPF 30 on, and I still get sunburned. Gonna feel lovely for the Memorial Day parade on Monday.

Energy

Wouldn't it be great if life was a little bit like the Treasure Isle game in Facebook? Every time you run out of energy, you eat fruit. And if you run out of fruit, your friends will send you some.

I need fruit. :D

Growin' Up...

Mom, Angelina asked me to go out with her today.

Yeah? What did you tell her?

I don't have any money. I mean, like, no money at all. I can't go out with her anywhere. I can't afford to go out with anyone!

Probably not what she meant. I hope he keeps his innocence for a very, very long time. :)

Michael said...

Actually, its probably EXACTLY what she meant. Every home in America has an electronic babysitter called a "TV Set," and there is a constant tsunami of impropriety, debauchery and depravity coursing into little minds everywhere.

Serena said...

{heavy sigh} You are probably right. And here he is thinking she just wants him to take her to the Corner Store...

Bunny

Building a nest, I think. He/she seemed to be gathering stuff and cramming it in that corner. Hmmm.

It's been so long since I've posted...I didn't even realize how much time had gone by.

I took the months of April and May off of school. There has been so much going on. At work, Tim started a new partnership with is friend, Herschel Gelber, called Gelber & O'Connell. Tim kept me on as his assistant, so I have no immediate need to look for work. Thank goodness. I cannot imagine being a single mom with the pressure of being unemployed. I've been working partial weekends to get things done for the transfer.

I think I've been emotionally exhausted more than anything else. Worrying takes a whole lot out of a person. Today I slept until noon. Even more surprising is that Ian let me.

Baseball season has begun, and I've already been to three games. :) The weather has been great so far this spring, and I am loving it. Ian and I have been out playing catch every day. His league has started their practicing, two nights a week. He is excited about it, and it's great to see. I'll have to post a pic of him in his new uniform.

He is wanting to grow his hair long. I don't like it, but it's not worth arguing about. As long as he keeps it clean, I'm not going to stress over it. He knows, though, that if he doesn't keep it clean, it's buzz-cut time.

I've got to get my apartment in half-way decent shape. It's a disaster area in here, and I can't stand it. Tomorrow is house cleaning day. Ian is dreading it. (We're starting with his room.) :D

The New Uniform is Here!

...and he's ready!



The sweatshirt is a little big on him, but at the rate he is growing, I figure it won't be for long.

Play Ball!!!

Ghirardelli

Dark Chocolate and Caramel...

Does Life even GET any better than this? :D

Natalie

Here is little Natalie on Easter Sunday. She is my Aunt Marlene's 4th great-grandchild, born February 9th. She is just perfect.

Fambly

Here we are for Easter dinner, clockwise, Ian, Aunt Mary, Laureen, Dorinda, Karen, and Bill's elbow. {heavy sigh} Photographer is not going to go on my resume any time soon.

Bowling and Butternut Squash Soup

I had so much fun today with Ian and my Aunt Mary and my cousins, Bill, Dorinda, Karen and Laureen. We bowled.

Well. . . Okay. I'm stretching the truth a bit.

We tried to bowl. Ian beat the pants off more than one of us with his high score of 93. (Yes, that includes me.)

Funny thing...no one was asking us to join their league. :D

After bowling, we went back to Bill and Dorinda's home for Easter lunch. Rin made this outstanding butternut squash soup that was TO DIE FOR. I helped puree the soup with an immersion blender. Every time I go there, I learn something new. This immersion blender is a very cool apparatus. You put the end of it in the pan, and push the button, and it purees, while the stuff is hot! I was very impressed, and I want one. Even if I only use it to make more butternut squash soup, it will be worth it. I think I could probably use it to make applesauce, too, though, so the investment will be worthwhile.

DFoos said...

Does this mean that you've had a change of feelings about cooking? :D

Serena said...
LOL! Let's just say I'm willing to try some things. I'm just not ready to 'run with scissors' where cooking is concerned yet. Of course, things just taste so much better when someone else is doing the cooking. I can't make an omelet taste as good as Bill's. And not for lack of trying! :D

Rainwater

I read this book this evening. It put a lot of messages between the lines about life's lessons and helping your community. Publishers Weekly, quoted by Barnes and Noble, says, "Bestseller Brown (Smash Cut) brings Depression-era Texas to vivid life in this poignant short novel. At the recommendation of Dr. Murdy Kincaid, Ella Barron, a hardworking woman whose husband deserted her, accepts David Rainwater, a relative of the doctor's, as a lodger at the boarding house she runs in the small town of Gilead, Tex. As the local community contends with a government program to shoot livestock and the opposition of racist Conrad Ellis, a greedy meatpacker, to poor families butchering the meat, Ella grows closer to David. Meanwhile, David becomes a special guardian angel to Solly, Ella's nine-year-old autistic son. Dr. Kincaid has gently suggested Ella put Solly in an institution, but she refuses to do so. Brown skillfully charts the progress of Ella and David's quiet romance, while a contemporary frame adds a neat twist to this heartwarming but never cloying historical."

If I am not mistaken, Sandra Brown usually writes romance novels. This particular novel wasn't heavy on the romance, and I enjoyed it.

Twilight Puts Me to Sleep

After fighting it for quite some time now, I finally read (and finished) Twilight. Ian wanted me to read it to see if it was okay for him to read. {heavy sigh} So I did.

It was a fast read. I finished it in less than 4 hours. I thought it was rather boring, and I fought the urge to close my eyes for a nap about half way through. I'm not sure what the allure is. I mean, if you really want to read a vampire tale, shouldn't you pick up something by Anne Rice?

Ian wants me to read the rest of the series ahead of him. I think I'll pass.

Steve said: Twilight?!

Try Terry Pratchett's Nation. If you like that and find it appropriate for your son, Pratchett has about fifty books in the Discworld series. He is excellent. He has won awards for his Tiffany Aching books, based in Discworld. He also has Alzheimers and some day may be forced to stop writing. They are some of the best novels I have ever read.

You can rent Hogfather, a Discworld Christmas movie based on one of the books. Jim Butcher's Dresden Files may be up to snuff. Jasper Forde is fun as well.

If YOU want to read Vampire books for adults, Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake series is good, but after about ten she drifts and replaces plot with sex. And the Southern Vampire books by Charlaine Harris are worth the read. Trueblood, the tv series, is based on them.

I saw the Texas Depression book. Have you ever read Giant? The movie is good but the book is better.

Serena said:

LOL! Thank you so much! Ian wanted to read Twilight, but I wouldn't let him read it until I had read it first. I didn't want him reading inappropriate content, and I wasn't really sure what was in it. He is loving it, but then again, he's 9. I thought it was awful. :D

Vampire books really aren't my thing. I will check out your suggestions for Ian. I, too, am more of a murder mystery type. I have been hooked since I was Ian's age reading "Encyclopedia Brown". Remember those? I moved from that to Agatha Cristie's Murder on the Orient Express. GREAT book by a GREAT author. :D

I love Dick Francis and Mary Higgins Clark (Moonlight Becomes You is one of my favorites, and The Cradle Will Fall). I like more plot than sex. I've read some of the Nora Roberts as JD Robb stuff, and although I find the futuristic cop idea pretty cool, I think the sex in the stories takes away from the stories, if you know what I mean. What murder and mayhem authors would Dawn recommend?

Steve said...
Have you read the Dexter books? Pretty fun. Dawn has been read books by Chelsea Cain. She likes the Kathy Reichs books too.

Pratchett's books aren't just for children. He writes them to be enjoyed by all. Many are mysteries in their own right. One of the few authors will make me laugh and sniffle back a small tear at times. He writes to and about people, things that are universal and strikes home for everyone.

If Ian likes the fantasy stuff, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Howard's Conan books are wonderful. Tarzan kicks a**, and soon the John Carter of Mars movie will be out.

Neil Gaiman is another Brit author with kids' books, like Coraline. You can try American Gods if interested.

Douglass Adams books are worth the read. Hitchhikers Guide to Galaxy has been a movie, but the tv miniseries is better.

Serena said...

I LOVED Hitchhiker's Guide -- and I read it LONG before they decided to make it a movie. :D The pages in my hard-covered copy are dog-earred from re-reads.

I think Ian and I will hit the library tonight.

Steve said...
There is the Doc Savage series too. The best and greatest of pulp fiction stories. Superman was based on Doc Savage.

Your library probably carries the original British miniseries of Hitchhiker's Guide. It is very close to the books, unlike the movie.

Serena said...
I thought the Hitchhiker movie stunk. The Erie County Library lets readers reserve copies of whatever they have to your local library by requesting online, so I will request the miniseries online from the Library and have them send it to my library. Life is good!

Steve said...
By the way, American Gods is for adults. Gaiman has a children's line, and a whole bunch of comics. Just in case. Well worth the read and kind of a mystery too.

Lots of great authors, so little time.

Serena said...

I truly enjoyed a few by Rick Riordan, who wrote the Percy Jackson and the Olympian Gods series (that spawned The Lightning Thief). He is writing another children's series, also, called The 39 Clues. Excellent boy stuff - mysteries with history. I am so glad Ian is a reader. Ian also liked Pendragon and wants me to get more of those.

You are SO right -so many great authors, so little time.

Tweaked

My nephew came over today and 'tweaked' my computers at home. Life is good! He found the drivers I needed for my old laptop, so Ian can use it now for games/movies. And he upgraded my new laptop to Windows 7, uneventfully.

Thank you, Eric!

(He's so good to me, even though I forget his birthday.)

The Joy of Mathematics

For fun in the evenings, Ian and I have been watching a series of lectures called "Joy of Mathematics". The lectures are taught by Arthur T. Benjamin, Ph.D. They are wonderful! I especially enjoyed the lecture on the Fibonacci series of numbers, and Ian got a kick out of the lecture on Algebra. (He gets it!) All the lectures are in plain English, and Dr. Benjamin makes them easy to understand.

Dr. Benjamin gives excellent examples on how things work and why. (For example,"Think of a number between 1 and 10. Triple it. Add 6. Then triple again. Now take your answer, probably a two-digit number, and add the digits of your answer. If you still have a two-digit number, add those digits again. You should now be thinking of the magical number 9. The reason this works is based on algebra and the fact that the digits of any multiple of 9 must sum to a multiple of 9.")

I learned how to square any number ending in 5 without a calculator. And how to multiply any two-digit number by 11, yes, without a calculator. Ian thinks it's amazing. I think it is really, really cool.

It is obvious as we are watching the lectures that Dr. Benjamin loves Mathematics as much as I do. I am thoroughly enjoying them!

Michael said...I wonder if that DVD is available for rent some time in the future???

Serena said...

You could 'rent' it from me. :) I'll let you borrow it when I'm done. It's really interesting!

A "Math" Pun

There were three Indian squaws. One slept on a deerskin, one slept on an elk skin, and the third slept on a hippopotamus skin. All three became pregnant. The first two each had a baby boy. The one who slept on the hippopotamus skin had twin boys. This just goes to prove that...

The squaw of the hippopotamus is equal to the sons of the squaws of the other two hides.

I love it!

A Pun

A marine biologist developed a race of genetically engineered dolphins that could live forever if they were fed a steady diet of seagulls. One day, his supply of the birds ran out so he had to go out and trap some more. On the way back, he spied two lions asleep on the road. Afraid to wake them, he gingerly stepped over them.

Immediately, he was arrested and charged with...transporting gulls across sedate lions for immortal porpoises.

On-Line at Home - Finally!

The Internet is still running slow, but hopefully my nephew will be able to make some sense of it when he comes over this weekend.

Women and Weight

Received this by email today...

With time, women gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room, it distributes out to the rest of our bodies. So we aren't heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy.

Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror, I will think, Good grief, look how smart I am!

Windows 7

I recently attempted an upgrade to Windows 7 on my new Dell laptop, which THANKFULLY is still under warranty.

A Dell technician and I misunderstood each other. He asked me if I had backed up all my data. Yes, I replied, I have backed up all my personal files and photos. Okay, said he, because this upgrade will erase them. No problem, I said. All my personal files and photos are on CDs. He began the upgrade for me, and said I should be completely upgraded in about 45 minutes.

Well. Windows 7 erased EVERYTHING - -including my programs!!! My Microsoft Office suite? Gone. Games? Gone. Adobe Acrobat? Gone. My printer and drivers? Gone. My integrated webcam? Gone. What a nightmare.

I figured I could reinstall the programs from the discs that came with the computer. Unfortunately, the discs, which had never been removed from their packaging, arrived damaged. The Microsoft Office CD was actually cracked, and it wasn't noticable until I removed it from the packaging, which it was stuck to. Ugly, ugly, ugly.

By this time I am almost in tears. I called Dell and, of course, was directed to a very nice gentleman whose native language is not English. I believe I understood roughly 3/4 of everything he said. Ultimately, he and his manager took pity on me. They are shipping a new hard drive to me, a factory image of what I had, so I can start from scratch again with what I originally ordered.

Language barriers and lack of technological knowledge cause a whole gamut of problems. I am grateful Dell is making it right with me. I should be up and running at home again in about 4 days.

Lacrosse

Ian and I went to a Rochester Nighthawks lacrosse game yesterday with Dorinda and Bill. I don't really have a good grasp on the game, but we had a great time. The goalie for the Nighthawks, Pat O'Toole, tied a record for saves.

Lacrosse seems to have some elements of hockey with some elements of basketball. I don't know if there really are any rules. I mean, what constitutes 'roughing'? They are always hitting each other and pushing each other...where does playing the game end and roughing begin?

I'm going to get 'Lacrosse for Dummies'. :)