Winners!
I’m totally off my ‘game’ today because we were at the beach all weekend for Mother’s Day, got home late, and now my son has strep throat; we’ve been to the doctors’ and we’re home sick… great.
Anyway, I got 3 comments, 1 which I just accidentally deleted, but I know who it was- so I’m giving all the ladies who commented-
Stuffed Arties 
Enjoy! I’ll send them to you and drop them by your ‘blog bases’- but don’t worry- not for a few days-
I know you don’t want strep throat.
National Train Day At Union Station… It’s Free! And A Giveaway!
All Aboard Everyone! This Saturday at Union Station,
Amtrak is celebrating National Train Day!
It’s FREE and goes from 10am til 3pm!
American Idol Judge Randy Jackson is the National Train Day Spokesperson and will kick off the festivities!
There will be Train Equipment Displays for the kiddies to see trains up close and personal all day,
including the Georgia 300 (President Obama’s historic inaugural private train car)
National Train Day is a celebration for all trainiacs, especially the little engineers. Bring your kids and enjoy appearances by The Radio Disney Road Crew where kids – and former kids – can enjoy music, a dance party, interactive games, and receive giveaways. Magicians, face painters and educational hands-on activities will also be onsite, including interaction with real Amtrak employees such as train engineers and conductors.
NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY: Just leave a comment and you are entered to win a an ‘Artie’
I have 2 to give-away! “Artie” is a plushtoy leaf, wearing an Amtrak hat. Why a leaf you might be asking? It’s to help signify and spread the word of the environmental efficiency of train travel. The Department of Energy’s 2008 report says that Amtrak’s trains are 18% more efficient than commercial airlines & 24% more efficient than cars!
ALSO-
Here are some more all day events going on:
Trains Move our Economy Exhibit, the Go-Green Express, Honor the Bright Land: Trains and the Preservation of America’s Great Places, Amtrak – Enjoy the Journey, Snapshot Station and the Train Day Trading Post.
So, leave a comment and be entered to win an ‘ARTIE’ !
**This giveaway runs through Sunday at 6pm**
**Only open to DC Metro Area residents**
**Winners will be chosen by Random.org**
Take the Metro Train down to National Train Day!
My Presidential Sighting !!!
I’ve been so busy this week I haven’t had time to share my exciting Presidential news!
This past Friday evening, we decided at the last minute to have dinner at La Panetteria, it is a great little family-owned Italian restaurant in downtown Bethesda. We love this place- it is fantastic food and always welcoming!
So we are sitting there, facing the bay window out to the little Bethesda side-street, Cordell Ave, when-
a big motorcade comes passing by!
My husband commented, “That almost looks big enough to be the President’s.” We are both natives to the DC area, so we don’t get excited about motorcades and like to think we can guess what degree of dignitary it’s for, based on the amount of cars, SUVs and security.
“Yeah, but why would the President be in Bethesda… for dinner?” We laughed… and went back to eating.
We had a great time and headed to the next block to a parking garage where our car was parked.
AND THEN we saw a large group of people gathering… around Imagination Stage.
I went up to a guy standing there to ask what was going on, then a saw that the entire road was blocked,
“The President’s in there, with the girls.”
All of a sudden, This DC native got really excited! I mean, I CAN WALK to Imagination Stage.
Then the guy told me we wouldn’t be able to get out of the parking garage- UGH.
But I went up to the Secret Service and they told me ‘no problem’, the agents in the garage would just let us out on the other side of the garage. The Secret Service was so nice, (I think they’re especially nice when you are holding hands with a 5-year-old)…
But I totally appreciated it because most were decked out with guns and stuff and for them to be nice and polite in front of my little guy was cool…
It was also cool that the President and First Lady were at Imagination Stage for officially an ‘extracurricular event’ for Sasha…
and Imagination Stage is down the street!!!
Okay, so I didn’t actually SEE the President- but really close!
So, ‘Bethesda is the new Georgetown’… without the drunk college students- YEY!
DC Metro Moms Party with ‘Top Chef’ Spike at his ‘Good Stuff Eatery’
What do you get when you cross-
Good Food,
Beer,
MILKSHAKES,
A Bravo Top Chef,
and those wild and crazy DC Metro Mom Contributors?
Well, a FANTASTIC time, of course!
The place? Good Stuff Eatery on Capitol Hill! Good Stuff? Are you kidding me?
I love this place- look up at my blog title… I love ‘good stuff’ !!
‘Bravo Top Chef’ contestant Spike Mendelsohn showed off his culinary skills last night for DC Metro Mom contributors. This is his new restaurant, specializing in burgers and fries and salads and other comfort food. I love that there are delicious milkshakes on the menu and
I especially love that I got carded when I ordered a beer!!
There’s Spike with some of our lovely DC Metro Mom Contributors…
He’s super nice, and talented- I loved my salad!
Everyone had fun; we always do when we get together…
Most of the seating is upstairs, I like this layout…
And there’s the infamous famous Jessica (A Parent In Silver Spring) holding her beer…
What a fabulous time: good food, good friends.
Spike’s new restaurant serves really good food and is reasonably priced…
AND he is working right now on opening a ‘pizza joint’ next door- SUPER COOL!
Thank you to Quaker Oats for appreciating Moms!
The Birds and The Bees and 5-Year-Olds
It was a normal day, matchbox cars everywhere, a nice afternoon, and then my 5-year-old son got up to go to the bathroom.
While he was going to the bathroom, he asked me, completely out-of-the-blue,
“Mom, why do girls sit down to go pee-pee?”
By the way, my son closes the bathroom door at friends’ houses, and out in public, but sometimes he ‘forgets’ at home… and I don’t make a big deal about this because I don’t want him to ‘feel embarrassed’ about his body, blah, blah, blah, psycho-babble, blah, blah, blah…
So I very matter-of-factly told him,
“Because girls have vaginas.”
I’ve told him this before, but he forgot, probably because he just doesn’t care that much.
“Faginas?” He asked with a funny look on his face.
“V-aginas.” I answered.
He started laughing,
Continue reading this at DC Metro Moms…
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Have a Great Weekend!
EASY Dinner Side Dish- It’s so easy, it’s not even a recipe !
From time to time I find great ideas for dinner on blogs. As everyone knows, there are cooking blogs, and mommy cooking blogs and blogs about cooking, etc. etc. I’ve even had the pleasure of meeting a fellow DC Metro Mom Contributor who has a fantastic cooking blog…
This ‘recipe’ is for the rest of us…
It’s not even a recipe-
* Just get Plum Tomatoes from your grocery store (all stores have them), they’re just tomatoes that are more oval in shape and a little sweeter, it seems
* Slice them and serve them with slices of cheese and a little vinaigrette…
YOU’RE DONE!
I slice them and put them on a little platter with slices of cheddar cheese, provolone and I usually have mozzarella cheese sticks in the fridge, so I slice those up too. Use whatever you have, let your kids choose, and then drizzle a little vinaigrette on them!
During the winter I usually bake the tomatoes in the oven for several minutes and let the cheese melt over them- this takes just minutes too!
See, I told you- a healthy side dish in 1 or 2 minutes!
These are the kind of ‘recipes’ I like!
Enjoy!
I’m a New Aunt !
A BIG CONGRATULATIONS to my brother and sister-in-law !!!
John Theodore was born yesterday evening at 6:47pm. He’s 7 pounds 15 ounces and 21 inches long.
My awesome sister-in-law was in labor for about 5 hours and everything went smoothly.
They are calling him Jack!
He is their second… that makes all grandsons on my side of the family…
Mom: don’t get rid of any of those toy cars!
Random: Why is this movie always on TV?
This movie, The Last of the Mohicans, is always on TV. My husband has seen it about 20 times, it’s supposedly a good movie. Oh, by the way, it first came out 17 years ago…
I have not seen it all the way through, because now it has become a joke in our house, that you can always find this movie on some channel, at any given time of the day… that’s not really logical, but you know what I mean.
The other night I walked into the kitchen to get a drink of water, returned to the living room, and my husband was sitting on the couch watching- you guessed it. We looked at each other and started laughing. Okay, it’s a pretty stupid inside joke, but it was still funny.
So, Why is this movie ALWAYS on TV?
Or, almost always- it’s not on as much as any given episode of Seinfeld or Law & Order… yet.
Good Mom / Bad Mom
I have my good days… and I have my bad days.
Don’t you love those days that are terrific? When everything falls into place at just the right time: everyone is happy, the house is clean, the wash is done and folded, dinner is planned and you’re doing an educational art project with your son? I have days like that… sometimes. And on days like that I say to myself,
‘I have got this mom-thing down!’
Most days are pretty much like that, without the laundry getting done, and my son and I doing something together, although it is not always an educational art project…
And then there are days that are not-so-good.
On these days I forget to do something, my son is cranky, or we are out-of-sync or all of the above.
I give myself a break on the forgetting part because we all know that you just become more forgetful once you give birth, it must be one of those left-brain/right-brain things… I don’t know, I forget.
But anyway- on the incredibly harried days I think to myself,
‘How can I possibly be so inept at something I’ve been doing 24/7 for 5 years?!…’
Does this happen to anyone else?!!
My thoughts usually get better in a little while, when a tantrum is over, or I realize that you can’t always have a logical discussion with a 5-year-old…
And then I realize that I am unconsciously basing my net worth on if my child is happy, and fed, and not tired and cranky…
And this is not totally out-of-line, because I can control/fix/remedy most of these scenarios… And it’s my job.
But I shouldn’t get frustrated with myself, if my son isn’t thrilled about eating lima beans.
My mood is so affected by my little guy’s.
If he’s having a good day, I’m having a good day. When he gets excited about something, I do too.
If he’s sick, I might as well be…
I wonder if this ever changes? The way my mother looks at me sometimes, I don’t think it does…
I am constantly reminded of the overwhelmingly ENORMOUS amount of love,
that my heart can generate for such a little human being…
Love is powerful, however. It’s been written about for centuries…
So it’s no surprise that then he smiles, and it’s a good day again.
An abbreviated version of this can be read at DC Metro Moms.
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