Just a suggestion...

I've been in a funk. Emotionally, physically, spiritually, I've been uncomfortable in my own skin, and I just can't get out of my own way. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe the very un-summer like weather, maybe it's not being on a real schedule or because I've been feeling physically yucky but whatever it is it effects everything I do. My ambition, my energy level, my patience...my blog!

I am slowly coming out of it, the sun is out, I feel better, I made myself go out to dinner with my girlie friends and I found a good book to read. But my blog...what to do with my blog?

So I took it to my facebook status and asked my friends for suggestions. I got some I think I can work with! Thanks to all my contributors!

1. Cooking and Recipes.

Let me just say, I used to like to cook, but then I had kids and all my creativity in the kitchen went right out the window. Not only did I have kids, but I gave birth to picky kids. It's the Irish in them. Meat and potatoes. I'm hoping my kitchen skills come back but they have been so dormant for so long now they may just be lost forever.

2. Rain.

See previous post.

3. Free things to do in Salem

At first I thought, free? No way. Living in a tourist town, there isn't much "free" going on, but then I started to do a little research and this is what I found.

Ten Free Things to do in Salem

Everything from walking garden tours to free films, to old graveyards, to the Witch Trial Memorial, Salem is full of history and just walking along the waterfront, or down Chestnut Street tells a lot about the past, present and future of a beautiful city. The Peabody Essex Museum is free for Salem residents and is a lot more kid friendly than I once thought. Time to open up my tourist eyes and get out there!

4. Irritating Stuff, Top Ten Things I hate.

Good suggestions but in the spirit of getting out of my funk, I'm going to avoid the negative for now...

5. Top Ten Things I Love...in no particular order.

• my family
• my friends
• my job
• the beach
• the summer
• the Red Sox
• Starbucks green iced tea
• my computer
• writing
• cookies

6. The Red Sox are 8-0 against the yankees but yet are still tied with them for first place.

Now I was going to completely ignore this suggestion because I really try to avoid talking about the yankees at all, but really, would it be a baseball season at all if these two teams were not neck and neck in the standings? (Note the use of the lowercase "y". Although the name "yankees" is a noun, they are far from proper.)

However, I will be in attendance at the game on Saturday night. I will be wearing my lucky hat and will say a prayer in the cathedral that is Fenway Park so expect things to shift in the proper direction.

7. The peacefulness and solitude of running.

The fact is, I hate running. I have to talk myself into every step. There is nothing peaceful about it for me. It's just the opposite, it causes inner turmoil. But, it's the quickest and most inexpensive way to drop a few pounds. I actually prefer to walk. I can let my thoughts wander, I can think, I can daydream, I can sing along to the tunes on my ipod. Sometimes I walk alone, sometimes Michael and I take ourselves to the beach and walk together, we have our best conversations that way. Walking puts me in a happy place, so I can safely say, unless I walk the 26.2, there are no Boston Marathons in my future.

So thanks to my friends, my blog post is done and I feel better. I knew they'd come through for me!

Thank you, Sandy, Regina, Angel, Michele, Robert and Don, and all of the rest of you, who make me laugh every single day.

Fun in the Summer Time

I have the good fortune of living in a tourist town. This is a new revelation of mine. Mostly I just think of Salem as home and never really had any feelings about it one way or another, but lately I've been trying to see my city in a new light...with a tourist's eye.

Yeah, it gets really crowded sometimes, and I find myself cursing the traffic and the out of towners who had no idea how to navigate our weird traffic patterns and tiny streets. When I'm trying to deliver my sons to soccer practice and I get stuck behind The Trolley, The Pedi-Cab or the Horse Drawn Carriage, I am not a happy camper!

One day last week I was looking for something to do with Little while Medium and Big were at practice. Little suggested Salem Willows. I am not a big fan of The Willows, in fact I pretty much hate it, but he has been asking to go for awhile and since I was in that end of town I said, "Okay, why not?" Almost instantly regretting it the second those words were out of my mouth. 

Let me explain a little about The Willows. It has it's share of cheesy arcades, slush stands, greasy fast food joints and hole in the wall Chinese Food Emporiums (Rumor has it, the Chop Suey sandwiches are "to die for", but I've never been brave enough). It does have THE BEST popcorn on the planet at Hobb's. Unfortunately, it's also a place to suck up your hard earned cash in a relatively short amount of time. So as I cruised around the parking lot a few times trying to find a spot, I was really dreading my decision to give in to Little's request.

However, since I have a "once a year" philosophy about The Willows I figured I was getting it over early.

So I opened up my "tourist eye" and off we went. I was really going to try to see this place in a new light. I splurged for $15.00 in tokens for the machines and told Little that when they were gone, that was it. There are two different arcades, one with awful video games and the other more kid friendly one with older arcade games like Skee-ball. (Who doesn't love skee-ball??) These machines have the tickets that come out that can be traded in for cheapo-prizes when you're finished. 

Little was having a blast and I was having a blast watching him have a blast! So we played our games, yeah, I played too, I can't stay away from Skee-ball, we collected our tickets and made our way to the dreaded prize counter. I hate this part because inevitably there is going to be major disappointment when Little realizes all he has enough tickets for are plastic spider rings (very cool) and midget tootsie rolls. (My personal favorite). 

Surprisingly enough, he did quite well for himself, scoring a whiffle ball and bat, goofy Groucho Marx glasses and a whole bunch of Tootsie Rolls! (Yah Baby!!!)

Off we went for some lunch which consisted of some really (surprisingly) good fries and a foot long dog. We picked a spot on a wall and while he ate, I enjoyed the view. The Willows' saving grace is that it is a seaside park. This alone made the day worth it. 

We took the scenic view back to the car, taking the time to sit on a bench and watch a sea gull continuously drop a clam down on to the rocks so he could get at his lunch. "That's pretty smart of them, don't you think Little?" "We should have saved him some fries Mom, it would have been easier." This kids makes me laugh every freakin' day. 

You know, as annoying as those gulls can be, I have to admit that's pretty smart. I mean seriously, one seagull, seagull generations ago figured out that little trick and passed it down to her (because you know it HAD to be a woman seagull) children who passed it along to their children...etc, etc, etc. 

So, as we left the bench and made our way to the car, Little said, "Mom, this was the best day ever!" He says that a lot, but today it really was! Score one for mom!