AnneLyze

Ben had four friends sleep over Sunday night. Their plans “chill, eat, play video games and hang out all night". I like all four of the boys, two even call me Mom, even though they have great Mothers and they both know it. A trip to the grocery store and I made a brownie desert with a chocolate chip bottom, so I was all ready. The key to a successful sleep over with 14yo boys is simple, keep them safe, keep them fed and don’t get uptight about where or if they sleep. Having a place for them to hang where you can’t hear too much makes it even better. They arrived around 7 and were immediately steered to the “man cave” by Ben. The “man cave” is down in the basement and Ben had two TVs set up and his Xbox 360 ready. He also has a computer down there. What I don’t see or hear doesn’t bug me. I laid down the law around 11pm and went to bed. I was awoken several times and one of those times I thought,” I knew I should have taken the soccer ball away. No boy can resist a ball lying on ...

On Sunday I did something I swore I would not do, I bought a NOOK. I didn’t buy the cheapest version either; I got the most expensive model, THE COLOR NOOK! The smell and feel of a book in my hands was something I thought I would miss. Instead I love the feel of the NOOK. I don’t have to struggle to keep the page open and be all annoyed because I lost my place. I don’t have to smell the musty smell or the cigarette from the last patron. It's beautiful, my NOOK.  I can still borrow from the Public Library for two weeks at a time. I feel a little like a mistress in an affair, leaving her old love behind. On Monday I realized I misplaced an educational handout on Constipation that I had written for work. Constipation is a very common problem for woman on anti nausea and pain medication or because of their disease. It was sooooo boring to write and it will be twice as boring to redo. Shit, no pun intended. On Tuesday I finally published my Blog, “What About Love?” both in Anne...

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day, the number two holiday for greeting cards and the number one for flowers. The news said the average person spends about $115.00 on Valentine’s Day. In the spirit of cupid, I set out to find out about love and what makes a marriage a long and successful one. The first person I asked was my 14yo son who was being held hostage at the dinner table. “What does love mean?” He thought for a minute and finally replied, “Doing something nice for someone you care about”. After a minute or two, I asked him to take the garbage out after dinner. His head popped up and he said, “wait….what?....no, it’s cold out there” and slunk off leaving his dirty dinner plate behind. After that I decided to take my question to a larger audience. Thanks to my friends, co workers, family, patients, and Facebook, this is what I learned. So what makes a long happy relationship work? Well almost everyone told me commitment, communication and a sense of humor was important. My sister N...