Well, I shut original attempt at blog down and am starting again on my sisters laptop in a little hallway outside our room in Florence where we have a window of WIFI.
Rome was exactly what everyone tells you. You have to go there if you're in Italy. But it was dirty, expensive, not that friendly and a little bit full of itself if that makes sense. Love the double decker bus tour as a quick way to see all of the city and take little naps as needed, but you have to get out on foot to find good food that's not a tourist trap. I have to say even with my limited geographical abilities getting from airport to the city to our hotel was not that difficult. But after being at our front desk for the 100th time with question/problem etc we finally asked the guy why he seemed so grumpy (I was starting to take it a little personal). He said they have never been this full in August and he wants to be on vacation. I'm thinking "Dude, everyone else in your country is thankful for the business," but weirdly I didn't get that vibe. And who gets to just say they are cash only, seriously, they took my $ and gave me 1/2 and then complain about VISA charges? We called the Vatican Museum tour on their 5 euros extra to use the credit card machine and then suddenly it was broken. Vatican City and the Sistine Chapel were awesome as were the coliseum and numerous fountains.
We saw what we needed to see and are now in a much more beautiful place - Florence.
Took the train from Rome. It was relatively easy and not crazy expensive (17 euros) but the express was cancelled and what should have been a 1/2 day trip took all day. After setting up shop and heading out, we were really getting into the whole experience and quaintness of Florence. Yep, you guessed it not me but my sister had her wallet stolen. I swear I felt a little jynxed as I had read and heard so much about pick pocketers. Lucky, she had spread out her stuff and isn't completely devastated, but what a pain. Ridiculously hard to make a collect call from here. They definitely have cut back on the expense of having international operators.
Oh well, it is going to be a great day tomorrow.... watching Francine plank and "owl" may be the most entertaining when all is said and done. Look at pic at bottom of page to figure out what that means. I'll work on better pics of "owling". Too funny.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
Fair Warning
Well the Stylski girls are 1/2 packed and have one foot out the door.
I'm leaving with the following ground rules in place. No sleep overs for the next 2 weeks at Casa Stylski. Sleep outs welcome! Papa Bear doesn't go up to the third floor (slumber party location) to survey the damage. It almost feels insurmountable when I return from a trip. I'm talking dishes, clothing, cases of empty drinks bottles and just plain ole crap everywhere (potentially including dog crap). And just for the record and I may be repeating myself here; there was a slumber party that involved streaking. I'm sure you don't want your children involved in these sort of shenanigans. Needless to say Papa Bear is a very heavy sleeper so nights could be a free for all. Keep your children away. Rule #2 - No friends over after school when there is not an adult home especially for BMXing. Now this may sound obvious, but somehow it will be overlooked and ignored. We used to have a trampoline. I am an idiot and really do I need to say more. As soon as I'm gone there's been head staples, loose teeth, concussions - and you thought I was just a "Nervous Nelly" to be leaving? Trust me, I have sufficient reason to be cautiously optimistic that everyone will still have their limbs when I get back. I just saw this morning (and I was here for the BMX party yesterday) a hatchet and hand saw for some reason out on work bench in the garage. I'm waiting to confront the boys when they get back from school today as to what the uses of those tools was yesterday. I'm scared...........
So fair warning. Lock your children up and don't let them anywhere near Casa Stylski for the next 2 weeks. I will be blogging from Italy and can't wait to share our adventures so you can all feel like you've joined us. "Cioa" or the country girl in me really wants to say "chow"...
I'm leaving with the following ground rules in place. No sleep overs for the next 2 weeks at Casa Stylski. Sleep outs welcome! Papa Bear doesn't go up to the third floor (slumber party location) to survey the damage. It almost feels insurmountable when I return from a trip. I'm talking dishes, clothing, cases of empty drinks bottles and just plain ole crap everywhere (potentially including dog crap). And just for the record and I may be repeating myself here; there was a slumber party that involved streaking. I'm sure you don't want your children involved in these sort of shenanigans. Needless to say Papa Bear is a very heavy sleeper so nights could be a free for all. Keep your children away. Rule #2 - No friends over after school when there is not an adult home especially for BMXing. Now this may sound obvious, but somehow it will be overlooked and ignored. We used to have a trampoline. I am an idiot and really do I need to say more. As soon as I'm gone there's been head staples, loose teeth, concussions - and you thought I was just a "Nervous Nelly" to be leaving? Trust me, I have sufficient reason to be cautiously optimistic that everyone will still have their limbs when I get back. I just saw this morning (and I was here for the BMX party yesterday) a hatchet and hand saw for some reason out on work bench in the garage. I'm waiting to confront the boys when they get back from school today as to what the uses of those tools was yesterday. I'm scared...........
So fair warning. Lock your children up and don't let them anywhere near Casa Stylski for the next 2 weeks. I will be blogging from Italy and can't wait to share our adventures so you can all feel like you've joined us. "Cioa" or the country girl in me really wants to say "chow"...
Monday, August 1, 2011
Summer Life
This is not your normal summer. Wow, that says it all for me right now. We had our annual family vacation in Avalon, New Jersey in June. I don't understand how a vacation is a vacation when I swear it takes a week to prepare; you're gone a week; and that it takes a week to get back to normal. It was awesome though. Just came back from my sisters/girls weekend at the beach in Delaware. Still recovering; not fun at all. What's fun about hanging out on the beach, laughing, dancing and partying with all girls? This Saturday, I leave for Italy for two weeks with my daughter. We are meeting one of my sisters who is on a round the world trip and basically offered to put up anyone that wanted to join her for any portion of the trip. My daughter and I decided to join her for her two week leg in Italy. Honestly, I don't think it has really sunk in that we're going. I've said it before and I'll say it again, "my life does not suck".
I do have a few worries. Things don't necessarily go that well when mommy is gone. When I walked in the door recently from being gone for 4 days; things were definitely a little out of control; think empty pizza boxes, crazy dog, dog pee on new carpet, whining - sleep deprived teenagers claiming to have no homework (emails from teachers detailing missing work); you can picture the situation? I'm guessing; maybe you've even been there before?
The boys have started 8th grade (year round school) and there is a lot of homework. They had been on Track 1 since 4th grade. I changed their Track to Track 4 for 7th grade thinking it would be nice for them to be on the same schedule as their High School sister. Big mistake. Nice for the family Spring Break trip, but every 9 weeks they were off for 3 weeks with only 1 friend. They missed their big group of friends, so I switched them back to Track 1 for this year which means they only had one week off in between 7th and 8th grade. In my defense, they wanted to do this; in their defense this is hell! Seriously, could there be anything worse for a teenage boy than to have only one week of summer? This summer has been rough for them and getting up at 5:50am a little rough for all of us at times. There is also a lot of crazy 13 year old testosterone being thrown around Casa Stylski. When mommy is gone people don't follow as strict of a schedule, as in really no schedule. They don't go to bed when they should. They don't eat normal meals. They eat anywhere, but in the kitchen. They fight. They touch walls like they're tagging a basket every time they leave a room. It's like someone got a hall pass. So I've called in the recruits. My friend's college age daughter is going to hold the fort down week one and my mom is headed here for week two. Now, my parents have preached from day one they are not babysitters. But, my mom is currently in between jobs and I think she sensed the desperation in my voice when I recapped coming home recently. She has agreed to come and I bought her the ticket. The boys are happy. I can't wait to see how this goes. The good news is as hideous as they may be for me they tend to be angels for other people. If my mom sees them at their worst they may be enrolled in military school when I get back which I've given seriously thought to myself. I may not be that upset/shocked about their absence.
Physically, I was doing great leading up to the girls beach trip. We had good intentions of getting in some good runs. The heat combined with some late nights didn't lend itself to exercise, so we ended up taking a few days off. This led to a down slide for me. There's something about being in a bathing suit for a few days that had kept a girl on her toes. Plus, the fact that I was competing for beach bodies with my sister that is 10 years younger than me and has been doing Sean T's "Insanity" for 2 months and my fitness trainer buddy who is still in her 20's. That's a tall order for this old lady to fill. I managed. And then I threw in the towel. I let myself enjoy some (I can't even repeat the list) but now it's back on the healthy bandwagon (with the exception of tonight's Bachelorette Finale). There is no way I'm getting through this awful show with out a few cocktails with my buddies. So really, I'll be good starting tomorrow!
I completed my "Navy Seals" competition Saturday and had a blast. It was a challenge, but rewarding. Next up is my Philadelphia Rock n Roll 1/2 Marathon in September. I can't wait! I plan on being very active in Italy and enjoy as much culture as I can on foot.
I know I've been slacking with the blogs. Fame doesn't seem to have found me yet. Still waiting for the call....I'm going to make August an awesome last month of the summer; join me!
I do have a few worries. Things don't necessarily go that well when mommy is gone. When I walked in the door recently from being gone for 4 days; things were definitely a little out of control; think empty pizza boxes, crazy dog, dog pee on new carpet, whining - sleep deprived teenagers claiming to have no homework (emails from teachers detailing missing work); you can picture the situation? I'm guessing; maybe you've even been there before?
The boys have started 8th grade (year round school) and there is a lot of homework. They had been on Track 1 since 4th grade. I changed their Track to Track 4 for 7th grade thinking it would be nice for them to be on the same schedule as their High School sister. Big mistake. Nice for the family Spring Break trip, but every 9 weeks they were off for 3 weeks with only 1 friend. They missed their big group of friends, so I switched them back to Track 1 for this year which means they only had one week off in between 7th and 8th grade. In my defense, they wanted to do this; in their defense this is hell! Seriously, could there be anything worse for a teenage boy than to have only one week of summer? This summer has been rough for them and getting up at 5:50am a little rough for all of us at times. There is also a lot of crazy 13 year old testosterone being thrown around Casa Stylski. When mommy is gone people don't follow as strict of a schedule, as in really no schedule. They don't go to bed when they should. They don't eat normal meals. They eat anywhere, but in the kitchen. They fight. They touch walls like they're tagging a basket every time they leave a room. It's like someone got a hall pass. So I've called in the recruits. My friend's college age daughter is going to hold the fort down week one and my mom is headed here for week two. Now, my parents have preached from day one they are not babysitters. But, my mom is currently in between jobs and I think she sensed the desperation in my voice when I recapped coming home recently. She has agreed to come and I bought her the ticket. The boys are happy. I can't wait to see how this goes. The good news is as hideous as they may be for me they tend to be angels for other people. If my mom sees them at their worst they may be enrolled in military school when I get back which I've given seriously thought to myself. I may not be that upset/shocked about their absence.
Physically, I was doing great leading up to the girls beach trip. We had good intentions of getting in some good runs. The heat combined with some late nights didn't lend itself to exercise, so we ended up taking a few days off. This led to a down slide for me. There's something about being in a bathing suit for a few days that had kept a girl on her toes. Plus, the fact that I was competing for beach bodies with my sister that is 10 years younger than me and has been doing Sean T's "Insanity" for 2 months and my fitness trainer buddy who is still in her 20's. That's a tall order for this old lady to fill. I managed. And then I threw in the towel. I let myself enjoy some (I can't even repeat the list) but now it's back on the healthy bandwagon (with the exception of tonight's Bachelorette Finale). There is no way I'm getting through this awful show with out a few cocktails with my buddies. So really, I'll be good starting tomorrow!
I completed my "Navy Seals" competition Saturday and had a blast. It was a challenge, but rewarding. Next up is my Philadelphia Rock n Roll 1/2 Marathon in September. I can't wait! I plan on being very active in Italy and enjoy as much culture as I can on foot.
I know I've been slacking with the blogs. Fame doesn't seem to have found me yet. Still waiting for the call....I'm going to make August an awesome last month of the summer; join me!
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