Balderdash

I got a kick out of this blog which listed several words that have disappeared from the modern English language, but may need to be rescued. YOU may be able to revive one of these words. Pick one and make use of it today. I think I will use Brabble.

Ever played Balderdash? I love playing that game with my brother, David, and my pops. Their false definitions make me Kench... or laugh out loud aka LOL.

I think it may be time to get that game back out again. It's not the best game for a Hoddypeak, however. (simpleton, noodle, blockhead).

You Want Hear the Good News First or the Bad?

Good News: The orthodontist office sent us a cornucopia bouquet for Thanksgiving! That was really nice! I was actually blown away by it.

Bad News: I still have lots of payments to make as we are on the 3rd child going through braces... and Anika's retainer was a lovely $400 slam to the credit card right around the Christmas holiday.

I think we definitely deserved a cornucopia at the least!

Good News: It was great to see Luke for a few daze, even though I didn't really get to see him all that much.

Bad News: His Christmas present will probably be the $625 balance that is due on his college bill. Also... he tried to replace the wheel bearings on the suburban, but didn't have the right tool to get one of the large bolts off. Car remains unfixed and the tires continue to badly wear--which already they won't pass inspection without being replaced. Let's just add another $300+ to the expense list.

Good News: Thanksgiving with the family was really nice. We all especially enjoyed seeing the little ones. They are the most adorable kids ever! My girls were in heaven, just playing with Sienna, Ava and Dylan.
They have such personality and are very loving and happy and funny.

We played a few games together, like Bananas and Left Right Center. I got out a bunch of quarters for LRC to make the game feel more exciting and fun.

Bad News: Dylan won! hahaha Terry lost all his quarters to a 4 year old. Hee.

Good News: The Fifty Million Frenchmen rehearsals are kicking in now after waiting quite a while to get going.

Bad News: This is a terrible time to be in a show and have all this added stress to my life, not to mention all the expectations being placed on me (whether real or fictitious) for this season. I thought it all through many times over and this is what I chose... so now I must make it work.

Good News: Jolene will probably not need any surgery on her arm. Also, her 16th birthday is coming.

Bad News: Her birthday is only two daze before Christmas and I have a rehearsal that evening. I think she may be expecting a party or at least a birthday dinner.

Good News: She will get a party and a birthday dinner because that's tradition.

Bad News: It won't necessarily be when she wants it.

Oh the pressure. I want to enjoy decorating and shopping and baking and visiting with friends and throwing parties... but don't be surprised if I struggle to find the joy! I already experienced one meltdown over the schedules and conflicts and it's not even December yet. >:-(

Good News: I've been able to work out my schedule to accommodate a rehearsal as well as accompanying for the church Christmas program.

Bad News: The calls are coming in now from individuals who want me to accompanying them and wish to have some rehearse time. AGH. More of my calendar gets filled.

Good News: We've established some family traditions and the kids really enjoy that.

Bad News: The expectation of fulfilling those traditions... its going to do me in.

Good News: Thanks to Turtle, I have a lot of really great music to comfort me.

I'll end on a good note.

Me and My Guitar (ok. Nate's guitar)

Hey, its a Kool Daze Video Blog!! (This is my third FORTH time at posting these videos. Hope this time its successful).

Here's a song I wrote:

Sometimes life it hard from Karen Hochstedler on Vimeo.

This one's for Sohailah!!!

shout get happy from Karen Hochstedler on Vimeo.

And this is an extra Bonus video from Thanksgiving Day. LOVE THIS!!!

Did I tell you that my fingertips hurt?

QUICK!

I've been laboring on the computer ALL DAY!!! Shopping. Editing Photos. Creating Christmas Gifts.

I didn't get too far with shopping, but I was looking at doggie doors. Noah MUST get a Christmas present this year. I just can't deal with another winter of the incessant letting-of-the-dog in and out and in and out. He doesn't need to be walked on a leash. That part is good, but sheesh.

He had a self-made doggie door all summer long. We still have those two doggie doors but we can't leave the main doors open anymore. It's NOVEMBER!!!

Any suggestions on the best ones for a large, FAT dog. The doors that work for Noah's body type tend to be the MOST expensive, of course.

BTW... I do have photos, but I must peel my backside out of this office chair before I lose use of my legs.

Pre-Thanksgiving Daze

The Thanksgiving Feast is always a Happy event for the entire school.

I greeted everyone, as they made their way into the Community House, with a gooble and a photo.
My kids are always goofing off.
Caleigh had a little Thanksgiving play, which was very cute. She was nervous for some reason.
My camera was malfunctioning--BOO! I only got a few of the pictures of the play.

Yesterday, Jolene, Anika and I heading into NYC. Jolene had an appointment about her arm so we decided to make a day of it. Good times.
I love Grand Central Station and rarely make it over there.
We shopped a lot. Bloomingdales was NOT a place for me. Everyone in there seemed to be looking us up and down, wondering why these lowerlings were in there even shopping. Jolene tried on a $900 dress. (HAHAA) Something she always wanted to do.
Dang! I thought Anika knew I was making a scared expression. She ruined all my attempts with her beautiful smile (i.e. no braces anymore). Isn't she gorgeous?
We shopped a lot.
Jolene had to experience FAO Schwarz, even with the huge crowds. It was one of the very important things we needed her to do on our tour for the day.
Here is a picture for Just Son, Aisha, although it may be upsetting for him to see that Kung Fu Panda was brought into captivity. LOL!

We thought it would be so awesome to go see the Macy's parade balloons the night before their flight. Every year thousands upon thousands go to the upper west side to see them as they are being inflated. Well...
It was NOT a good idea. We thought we were going to die before we ever go out of the subway. There was no where for the people to go. The crowds already on the streets were ridiculous and we couldn't even get out of the subway for a good 25 minutes. Anika was beginning to panic and break out in sweats because the trains kept coming in behind us. Can anyone say sardines?
And then, once we got to 81st street, we discovered that the balloons were all netted and sandbagged on the ground. Major disappointment. >:-( That's not very impressive!!!
But we were good sports anyway.
Smurf, Buzz Lightyear, Pillsbury Doughboy and Kungfu Panda were forced to stare at the ground all night long.

Macy's Judging stand.

I can't believe I actually missed the Macy's Day parade on TV. Sheesh!!! totally thought it started at noon. That's when it ended.

All in all we had a great day. There were so many more places we wanted to see, but everything takes longer when there are holiday crowds to contend with.

I call this dude "A Nate Wannabe"

Don't Be Frightened!!

This is a progression of Nate's Hair project.

The picture above was taken one year ago. He decided to shave his head completely bald... and of course his humor kicks in to make it look like a mug shot. We should have put an ID number in his hands.

When he decided he wanted to grow his hair long he told me it was because he wanted to have dreadlocks [oh dear God]. He had one of the girls from school rubber band his whole head. It was supposed to make it grow faster. He anticipated being able to have dreads much sooner that what was actual reality. And those rubber bands hurt like heck. He took them out while we were in Mexico for a wedding last May. (At least there was some level of decency in there somewhere).

He's been able to wear his hair in so many styles. Who knew he would have a head of curls? I think he's enjoying the idea of expressing himself through his hair. He slicks it back into a ponytail for work. You can't be a busboy with an unruly bush crop of hair, not at The Paradise. He usually lets it be curly for school, whatever is easiest to get him out the door before 1st period has ended. There have been a few times where he let his sister experiment with the straightening iron. NOT A PRETTY SIGHT!

He has reached the point now where its long enough to dread. He has an appointment with a friend who knows how to dread it. Thanksgiving has his goal for the past several months. eGAH!

It's gotten so long. He is very proud.

I continually tell him that I like it curly! I try to be subtle, so that maybe he will change his own mind about the dreads... but alas, Nate is a determined boy. STUBBORN may be the more accurate description!

He's been visiting his brother at college over the past 5 days. I miss him. Noah (our dog) misses him too. Anika really misses him--they're close. (Caleigh said she didn't even know he was gone, because he's never around much anyway). :-(

Random Bits of My Week

Random Bit #1

The colors ended up being purty this year in the Hamptons. I love a pretty fall. This tree is actually one of the few in my yard that produce any vivid colors. Last year it was red. What makes a tree decide to be red one year and yellow the next? Maybe we'll get orange in 2011.

It's kinda cute. Thanks Mom and Pops for that Japanese maple. It's doing well after its transplant from your yard those 5 years ago(?), however, the dwarf apple trees and pear tree... um... yea... NO!
Random Bit #2

On Tuesday the BH PTO had our 3rd annual "Wrap a Box of Kindness" for Operation Christmas Child. We sent exactly 100 boxes this year. Love this event. Does anyone see me in this photo? (Think pink).
Random Bit #3

Someone was nice enough to take a photo of me and my babe.
Random Bits #4, 5, 6, and 7

Samara was dragging Caleigh across the gym floor for fun and Caleigh's friends all decided to jump on. Not sure if that's a good idea on the arms.
Jolene and Jennah were selecting items for their shoe boxes.
Ciena and Anika were relaxing with a cup of hot cocoa.
Elizabeth and her friends were playing with the toys that were going in the boxes. Lizzy actually gave herself a hickey by sticking some of those trinkets that are like suction cups all over her face. NIIIIICCCEE!
Hi Lillian. (Those boxes are so neatly wrapped, aren't they?)
Random Bit #8

Caleigh lost both of those bottom teeth in a 2-day span. She was complaining and wiggling them for over a month. To shut her up calm her down, we even took "bets" on the calendar of what day she would loose the first one, and everyone was a month off. That's how obsessed she can be sometimes.
Random Bit #9

Yesterday, I had my day all planned out. I had a rehearsal scheduled with the music director for the show I'm in, afterwards I was going to head to Riverhead to drop off the wrapped shoe boxes at the collection center, then do a little Christmas shopping to kill some time before I headed to my later rehearsal for the scene study class. Just as I was about to leave around 11 AM, Nate calls from school (well he actually called about 3 times leaving messages as well as sending a couple of texts). He asks to be picked up because his tooth was KILLING HIM! When I picked him up he looked like he was about to cry. Ah tooth pain. I'm glad not to ever experienced that. Anyway, my planned schedule was scrapped. I had to take him in for an emergency appointment.

Remember the DENTIST??!! with the cone mask and the wandering eye? I got to see him again yesterday. I so wanted to discretely take a photo of him with my phone. But my battery died while I was there. I'll be seeing him several more times in the next two weeks. Maybe I will ask him for a cone mask... for a show I'm in... and then I will vlog something.

Anyway, they did the teeth x-ray and Milo (that's the dr's first name) called me in. He was giving me this big happy smile--I only know because he removed his mask to talk to me--while he announced that "Nate has several cavities and he's going to need a root canal [big happy smile]!" He told me what the co-pay would be [big happy smile] and asked if I wanted him to take care if it right then [big happy smile]. I told him, "Yes, you should," (he was STILL smiling) and I asked how long it would take. He said, "Oh about 15 minutes." [big happy smile]. So he took care of it, no big deal. I think he needs a happy mask to go with his expression underneath his mask.

STRANGE GUY!

Personality Quirks

I consider myself to be a nice person. I'm friendly, caring, sometimes funny. I'm also fairly direct... not in a mean way, but if I'm talking about something or telling a story and a particular point of interest helps the story succeed, I'll use it. I can have a tinge of snark...used in the nicest of ways possible (unless I am really angry about something). But as my husband sometimes points out, my direct personality-style has gotten me into trouble. This isn't a story about that. I'm just making an observation.

Lately, I've been feeling maybe a little misunderstood... as if I'm a mean person (in the eyes of others). I was under the impression for quite some time that German's are, in fact, direct. Culturally speaking. And there are many Germans I know who uphold this notion quite precisely... but, not my German girl. With some things, like my unedited photos she can pop a zinger, and yet she's afraid to tell a teacher at school that she doesn't want to give up her Saturday's every weekend to come work on the greenhouse. THAT WOULDN'T EVEN HURT THE TEACHER'S FEELINGS! But she thinks it's mean to say that to the teacher. O.K.

I mention this little example to point out, that if she makes the comment, with a giggle and a smile, saying, "That's so mean," in response to something I've said... well, I shouldn't take that to mean that I'm a total misanthrope. (I had to look that word up. It means person who hates others. I'm actually more of a humanitarian). Maybe we've reached the low point in the graph where the host parent feels a little bit scrutinized and judged. It could quite possibly be a bit of cultural tension under the surface that we aren't recognizing but is literally crashing into each other like icebergs. I sure do wish I had some support. We have absolutely NO support out here on the end of the earth. All the other students and host families live at least 1.5 hours away from us.

Please know that its not Jolene's comments that are getting me down. That was just another one of my DIRECT examples. I think I'm just feeling a wee bit insecure lately. It's stupid how I go from subtle comment to another subtle happening and begin stacking up a load of crap against myself... from a variety of sources. And then, Blah. I'm just a bad person. Suddenly, I feel alone and sad. I know it's stupid. I know the signs and can see all of that coming along the pike... but it doesn't prevent the age old struggle from passing my way every now and again. It's meant to keep me sharp, I suppose.

Enough of that!

Story Time

Anika is getting her braces off on Saturday. OH HOW EXCITED SHE IS!!! Actually, I signed a paper to allow her to get them off before the orthodontist was recommending it. He wants them perfect. She wants them off!! I'm tired of bringing her to the office month after month with no further improvement. So I signed the freakin release form [gasp] because I refuse to be scolded any longer for my 16-year-old daughter's inconsistent ortho practices. This morning she requested a dentist appointment, for a cleaning once the braces are gone. This brought up the story of my first visit to this new dentist my family now will see.

It's such a different office and group of staff than our previous one. Scary almost. I had to take Caleigh and Elizabeth a few months back. They are the only ones to experience our new dentist so far (we have new dental insurance which is why we had to switch). So this doctor is probably in his 30s, but he came out of the room wearing... um... a face mask. Not your regular one that covers your mouth and ties around the back, but the one that's a cone!

It wasn't like this one pictured above. I couldn't actually find an accurate picture.

It was more like this:
When I saw him I had to choke down my sudden urge to LOL. To top things off, he had thick glasses and a wandering eye. He called me in a few times to talk and he's a really nice guy, but he was talking about getting those medical forms filled out for the school (now NYS schools want dental and eye exam records along with the children's physicals--WTH?). He was telling me how he was in school for years, sitting in the back of the room before his mom discovered that he couldn't see well and needed glasses. He's telling me this story all while I couldn't quite figure out which eye he was using to look at me. I was like, "Come on!!! Your mom had NO idea you may have needed to see an eye doctor?"

I know I know. That was mean! Jolene already told me.

Mesmerized

Don't show THIS to my kids please. I'm not sure I want them getting any ideas with my piano.

I May Have a Problem

These are the games I have on my iPod and/or FB and I play all of them probably every day.

Spellstacker is a little different then straight scrabble, maybe a little more challenging than your average word game. CONFESSION: I played it all through the minister's sermon today. [gasp] Well, I can't see her from the balcony because she walks up the aisle out of my view, which makes it harder for me to listen... but, I was definitely naughty today for tuning out. Oopsie. Truth be told, I think the guy who was this week's scripture reader set the tone when he hijacked the service. He gave full-on explanations of the NIV Bible and the NAS Bible. He also had a few humorous anecdotes that I think he prepared, and then he interjected during the scripture readings by giving his own two sermons based on the selected scriptures. It was a new one for this congregation. Anyway, I figured it was ok to tune out of the 3rd sermon.

I don't have this app on my iPod but I thought I would show you the pinch zoom feature.

Scramble... I've reached level 22 and I only play solo, but I think I'm going to break that barrier today and play online. I like competing.

I've been getting my butt kicked in scrabble. So, what's new with that. Momma Roar and Just Mom used to cream me in FB scrabble until some virus caused major issues. You see, I have this tendency to open up the board... and I end up giving my opponents all kinds of options to score BIG. I guess I don't like playing in tight spaces.

I've branched out and have played strangers in Scrabble. I've actually creamed them... but my friends are too smart for me. Although one of my friends invited me to play and left me hanging for 24 days before surrendering the game. Good one, Nicki.

Bananagrams is my new favorite. I recently purchase the real game. It's so easy to put it out on the table and pick up players who are just sitting around watching TV or something. I play it on FB, too. Very addicting.

What is wrong with me?

(Got any other games you want to recommend?)

Not Much to Say Today

My new endeavor but this was from 1931. WOW. Gotta love it. It almost runs a close second to the Three Stooges humor. If you get hooked there are 4 other clips you can watch. LOL. I like clip 3/5. BAaahaha

I got the part of Mrs. Carroll. I had another part I wanted but, I'll do it. And I'll like it. I really will.

Okey doke. That's about it for today.

I Loved Today *edited*

We had a Veteran's Day Assembly today at the Bridgehampton School. It was, of course to honor our U.S. Veterans, but this was especially... special. David Holmes did a lot of behind-the-scenes work to arrange for a Black Hawk to be flown to the school. It even landed in the back yard while the entire faculty and student body watched. Just before the Black Hawk arrived, two huge trucks, and a Humvee (or however that's spelled) all drove into the yard and parked. There were also fire trucks hanging out for fun. It was all very exciting.

New York Assemblyman Fred Theile and Senator Tim Bishop attended, as well. A student trio sang "God Bless America" as the helicopter came in, and everyone applauded the soldiers as they led the way into the gym. The band played 3 songs, and all the veterans young and old were recognized by name with thunderous applause. After the assembly everyone returned to the backyard to check out all the vehicles and black hawk for photo ops. It was a wonderful time. Very moving. Very special! ...to allow the kids the opportunity to acknowledge and thank those who have given themselves in military service for our country. It was heartfelt and wonderful. Thank you. Thank you to all who are serving and have served in the military. I do not take you for granted.

After that, I got my haircut. So it was a really good day!!

I also got to see several of my family members today. I just took a ride over to their houses. Lucky me. Everyone was home. My brother Dave took a drive in my car and helped to confirm what the problem is in the front end. It's the wheel bearings. Not such an expensive problem.

Later, I made a pork roast and mashed potatoes.

Anika decided to audition for the upcoming production of 50 Million Frenchmen. That made me happy. I enjoyed the auditions tonight. She did too.

I am content.

*This is my haircut, only in the morning after sleeping on it and not being very ready for a photo.

*Sohailah's request