Happy Birthday Gavin

I adore ALL of my nieces and nephews. Having them is benefiting from the fun and craziness of kids without the big worry items. Each is different and amazing in their own way.  Today my nephew Gavin is celebrating his 8th birthday - hmm I think it is 8, anyway that is not the important part.

Every time I see this kid, I want him to move in with me and be Max's little brother.  Maybe its because he is so much like Max or maybe its because I see I lot of my brother in him. But the kid is fabulous.  First of all he is adorable!  Blond hair, puppy dog eyes and the most knowing smirk you have ever encountered.

When he was a toddler, Gavin wanted nothing to do me with.  Probably because I smothered him every chance I got!

This illustrates our initial relationship.  I was driving and he was in the back car seat, probably he was 3 years old.  I told him I wanted to kiss his entire face.  He responded that he would turn into a zombie and eat my brains.  But why?  He stated because he does not like me.   I countered with "Why my brains?  If you don't like me my brains would taste bad."  He thought about it and after much debate agreed that as a zombie he would eat dog food instead but would scare  me whenever I tried to kiss him because he does not like me.  I told him I ADORE him and would love him even if he was a zombie.  He proceeded to turn into other hideous creatures to try to get me to not love him anymore.  Well there just wasn't anything he could bring up to refute my affections.  Finally we settled that if I bought him a milkshake he  would probably stay a little boy and not attack me, but he still wouldn't give me a kiss.

Since then, our relationship has gotten even better.  He is the kind of kid who names his minature hamster Philaroni.  He warned me that he has to wear oven mitts when he picks up Philaroni because the hamster bites whenever he squeezes him.  Hmmm.

My favorite part of Gavin is that he will just randomly come up to you and cuddle....for no reason at all.
I still kiss his whole face, but now whenever I see him, he runs up to me and gives me a hug.  In return I sneak him candy.

Gavin will certainly not be reading my blog but I wanted to wish him a Happy Birthday anyway.  Love you!

Looking for the Good news

This morning I walk to the Co-op with dog in tow, to get start the year off right with The Buffalo News.  Filled with hope for 2011 I purchase my pumpkin muffin, organic Lovebug coffee and the news.  Before I can even shallow the first gulp, my hope starts to fade.  The top three headlines on the front page address homicides, the horrific position of NYS and the bad-mouthing of Buffalo b the Junior Hockey tournament viewers.  Where is my good news?

It's not that I simply want to fluff pieces.  I actually do want to know what's going on in the city, region, state, county and world. The media should be presenting all things good and bad, its just that the good seams so much lighter than the bad.  Can't spend the first week of a new year focusing on difficult political challenges, murders and cynics can I?

Here is my approach.  I will read each article with the sole intent of looking for the good in each situation.  Let's begin...

- New governor delivers inaugural address.  I could read that the government is the largest part of the NYS situation and that irresponsible fiscal leadership and sketchy ethics prevail.  Instead I read that the governor has a fresh look and is more than capable of offering the olive branch to political adversaries and working together to make NYS a powerhouse once again.

- Fifty five homicides were reported in Buffalo in 2010.  I could read about the teenagers who were gunned down and the innocent kids killed because of anger.  Instead I read that homicides are down by 8.3%.  That our county hospital staff did a stellar job in saving many of the lives that would have increased that number and that there is a push by neighborhoods to work more closely with the police.


- Buffalo called a ghost town by junior hockey USA team player.  But the hockey is great and many people see Buffalo as hospitable with great sportsmanship and excellent hockey facilities.

Hey this may be working, I am already feeling better!  I am going to keep going.

- Brazil's new president is a women
- North Korea promoting peace talks
- Russian plane explodes by most passengers survive
- Evacuation of Capitol simply a false alarm
- Obama is getting both sides of the aisle to work together ( ok I may have taken it too far)

Off to a great start.  I don't think I have changed the news or ignored the real message. But I still feel hopeful for 2011!

Reviewing Last 2010 Resolutions

Now is the time to reflect on the success of last year's resolutions.  Based on my blog this time last year, I had five pretty solid resolutions.  Let's see how I did...

1) Fix Body.  I gained 12 pounds this year and almost passed out bringing the laundry upstairs.  Guess we can say I did meet this one.

2) Fix Person.  Really?  For the first time EVER I actually hit my son.  Oh he deserved it and much more, but that is certainly not the intent of being a better mom.  Second one down.

3) Fix House.  Well I hired someone to replace the driveway, does that count?  Never touched a paint brush there year.  Strike 3.

4) Fix Mind.  Mainly I wanted to be calmer. Although my son and husband kept me laughing - does that count. We' ll say maybe to this one.

5) Fix Career.  I did start a new job but I did not publish anything.  I submitted a short story to a contest - didn't win but let's call this one a success.  Baby steps.

The bad news is I am still screwed up and need to address the same things in 2011.  The good news is I don't have to write a new list, the old one is just fine :-).

Happy New Year.