The Last Hurrah

OK. Here we go again. Today is the last day that I get to spend with the kid before she goes skippingly back to UF. This time she is thrilled to be going back because her boyfriend Zac will be there waiting for her. I, on the other hand, will be standing in the driveway crying when she leaves. It's always hard for me when she goes back after a long visit like this winter break has been. She's my bud. My other half. I miss the crap out of her when she is gone.

Kerry sitting on the gator on the UF campus

Today I will wake her up and we will go back to the Town Center Mall in Boca Raton. We will shop the sale racks at Bloomindale's, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Apple, Coach, Henri Bendel, Dana Buchman and Sephora among other stores. I'm actually hoping that these stores are totally shopped out because Kerry doesn't need any more clothes but I just can't say no once we are in the dressing room. It's kind of like I am with food. I just can't say no to either one. Kerry or Food. Hmmm.....

We will walk for hours and when we get hungry we will go to Salad Creations and get what we refer to as "a big salad". I usually get a "chopped veggie" salad with no croûtons and just a little cheese. My dressing of choice will be, gasp, full fat ranch dressing. Yep, full fat. A friend of mine taught me that a little full fat is better than lots of crappy tasting fat free. I plan on keeping The F*ing Agreement in mind while in the mall. No Ben and Jerry's. No gourmet pastries.

We will shop and shop and talk and laugh. Later on in the afternoon we will stop off at the Nordstrom's coffee shop where I will have a small regular coffee with skim milk and Splenda and Kerry will have an iced latte with lots of raw sugar. We will sit there, drink coffee and people watch. We will laugh at some of the rich ladies with their little dogs in strollers and their cosmetic surgery. I'll complain about money and Kerry will tell me how I shouldn't worry because someday she will be a doctor. I'll tell her that I don't want to spend her money and only want to spend my own. We will laugh about that.

Kerry and I having coffee at Nordstrom

We will shop until Pat calls and tells us that he is finished playing golf and is ready to go to Tijuana Flats for dinner. With the F*ing Agreement in mind I will order a small Black Bean Powerlight Burrito which comes in at about 280 calories. Not too bad. The trouble comes with the chips and guacamole on the side. I can give most of the chips to the kid but will I? I'll report in on our new blog called F*ing Agreement or here if I'm not able to get into the blog to post. (Laura and I have been having some technical difficulties).

We will all come home, pile into bed and watch football until Pat and I fall asleep and Kerry goes into her room to call Zac.

Kerry and Zac

It will be a totally glorious time for me spent with my incredible, beautiful, smart, gorgeous daughter who I love so much.

Then I will wake up and it will be tomorrow and Kerry will be leaving. OK, now I absolutely not lose control when she leaves. Remember the agreement...

Early Voting and Happy Birthday Ma

Well, we did it. We waited on line at the North Regional Library in Coral Springs for 2 hours to vote early. It really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We met some very nice people and the time went really quickly. There was a lot of talk about the wording of the state amendments. It seems that in some cases if you vote yes you are really voting no. We had a real good time with that. One person brought her little 9 week old grey schnauzer puppy to the polls and Kerry was totally taken with the dog. Fawning over the dog took up some time. We were both very happy that we were able to vote and now the deed is done. I've made my choice and that's it. I feel very good about voting early. Of course, after we finished voting we treated ourselves by going to the Town Center Mall. Retail therapy is the best. LOL
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Yesterday was what would have been my mother's 89th birthday. Yep, she was a Halloween baby and she used to complain about it. She told me that her birthday parties always had a Halloween theme to them and that bothered her. She wanted a Happy Birthday theme. That was my Mom though. She was a complainer. It was what she did best. I was the listener. It was what I did best. I am still the listener only the complainer has changed. Now it's Kerry doing the complaining.

Kerry the complainer with Pat

This is how I remember Ma. This pic was taken by my brother Jon in the 70's. Note the ciggie.


Kerry reminds me of my mother in many ways. It's comforting, really. It's as if my Mom is still with me in some way. They are very much alike in their likes and dislikes and I often tell Kerry that she is just like her Nana. I guess having Kerry makes it a little easier to accept that my Mom is gone. She was my biggest champion and fan. She adored the ground that I walked on and I could always count on her. I totally miss the hell out of her.

Me and Ma at my baby shower...a long time ago

Happy Birthday, Ma. Yeah, I know. "Don't call me Ma".

Time is getting short

Here it is Saturday morning and I am sipping coffee waiting for the the kid to wake up. I was told yesterday that we would be hitting the mall today. I guess it's a stress reducer for her. It's a pocket emptier for me. LOL

We will go to the Towne Center Mall and shop in all of Kerry's favorite stores. We will go to Anthropology, Nordstrum, Saks, Coach, Abercrombie and Fitch and Bloomingdales. We will check the sale racks in all of these stores and she will drive me crazy until we buy something for her. It's kind of a reward for all this studying. Kerry always does well on the reward system.

We will also have lunch at Salad Creations where we will make our own salads with whatever "throw ins" we want. We will also choose our dressing from a list of about 20 different dressings. I will choose full fat ranch. Yep, you heard me. Full fat ranch. My good friend and fellow Fab L has taught me that sometimes a smaller portion of "the real stuff" is a good thing. This lunch always gives us energy to finish shopping and we need energy as shopping is usually a 4 to 5 hour thing.

This kid is really working hard. She is studying 6 or so hours every day. I know that she will do very well if she doesn't let the stress get to her. She feels as if her life is coming to a screeching crescendo which will be this test. Gen Chem, Organic Chemistry, Physics and Verbal skills. That's what life is all about around here.

Kerry in scrubs...Dr Peewee

Good luck Peewee. I'm pulling for you.

How Was Your Mother's Day?

Did everybody have a great Mother's Day? I did. Pat gave me a dozen roses and $100 and told me to take the kid and go to the casino which he knows it is my very favorite place. What a guy. I did just what he said. I played for about 3 hours and lost $60. It was really fun. Kerry didn't gamble. She sat around studying physics! In a casino! She amazes me.

The slot machines went cold so we decided to take the other $40 and go to the mall. We had lunch at a make your own salad place. It was really good and healthy too. We walked around the mall for a while and then came home and watched some Grey's Anatomy. Kerry bought me those for my birthday. We love Grey's around here.

After dinner Kerry said that she had to go out so I figured she was doing something related to a possible Mother's Day present because at this point she hadn't given me anything. She came in a little later with a smug look on her face and a bag. She handed me the bag and I opened it up. It was a beautiful photo album filled with all of the pictures of our trip to Las Vegas. She even had saved the tickets from the LOVE show and the Titanic exhibit and included them in the album. I was so thrilled. It was really a wonderful and thoughtful gift.

The last part of my present which really wasn't a present for me but I'm looking at it as such is that Kerry decided to move the MCAT back from May 31 to July 8. That means she will be home much longer that we had originally planned. What more could I ask for? I'm ecstatic that she will be home for an extra month. What a great Mother's Day.

I did, however, miss my mom who I wrote about yesterday. She was on my mind all day but I guess that's to be expected. I wish she was here now to help me with all of the issues of getting older. She helped me so much while I was young. I sure could use her sage advice now and going forward (as they say on CNBC). I guess I'll have to figure it all out myself. As my wonderful friend and fellow Fab Laura would say "Oy Vey".

Shopping With The Kid

Kerry and I bond as mother and daughter by shopping. This is something that we have done as long as I can remember. We always have a great time and Kerry usually ends up with something new. Our trip to the Town Center Mall yesterday was no exception.

Entering Town Centre Mall

The first store we hit was Abercombie and Fitch. We always shop the sale racks there.

Kerry liked this tank top

She liked this one too!

This one was a NO!

This one was a definite maybe!

We ended up buying 3 tops but got very hungry shopping so we hit the food court. When we go to this mall we always make our own salads at Salad Creations.

This is my salad with low fat ranch and Caribbean mango dressing. Yum!

Kerry eating her greek salad.

When we finished lunch we hit Bloomingdales. It is one of our favorite stores. Great stuff and great sale racks.

Free People is one of Kerry's favorite line of clothes

Off to Juicy Couture !

Then to Tiffany's

And Saks Fifth Avenue. They have a really nice bathroom.

Note the Dr Seigal's Cookie Diet kiosk. You gotta be kidding me. Richard, where are you?

Then it was time to go to American Eagle. Kerry needed jeans but there were more shirts that needed to be tried on!

We both liked this one.

This was my favorite of the day.

We stopped for coffee and took a picture together. We are a happy couple.

It was time to leave and we were shopped out. When we got there the parking lot was full. Now my car was the only one left in the lot. I guess we shopped for a long time.

So that is a typical shopping trip with me and the kid. It's the best time in the world.