American Museum Of Natural History

The Girls had off for mid-winter recess the second week of February. Teri on Wednesday of that week decided it would be a good day to go to the Museum. I was working that day and I told her I was not going to go.Early that morning, I woke up and while I was lying in bed I realized I wasn't going to the Museum because that was what my father would of done. He would of gone to work and earned money so we could survive. The difference between my Dad's job and mine was I would not be missed if I didn't show up. I even had an agreement with my boss that I was paid a set fee and not by how much I worked. He'd taken advantage of it, it was time I did. So I called up the office as soon as Roger was in and told him I was not coming in and I told him the truth why.
  We got into the car a bit after 9 am and got into the city with no problem.Teri talked about going into the parking garage under the museum, bu I remembered parking on the street last time I went with Cory and Ryan about fifteen years ago.
 We drove up and down a few streets when I spied a car getting ready to pull out. It was a small spot, but I turned off the radio,told the girls to be quiet and backed into it on the first try. Nastia, who is learning to drive said she could never do that. I told her she would before she went for her license.Finding that parking spot, for me was the high point of the day. It got better when We realized we were only a block over from the museum.
  When We entered, Teri said the cost of tickets was $22.00 each, but it was just a suggestion. I was told to offer $10.00 a ticket, because that was all we could afford (1/2 a job between Us) I worked my way through the line thinking there is no way I will do that. We, I have always paid full price and wouldn't chinc on the price. What had this world come to when to get into the museum I would chisel the price. I got to the ticket booths and everyone followed me. I said five tickets. She asked how many children? I chiseled and said two, and three adults. Then She said the suggested price is $110.00. She gave me an opening. I took a deep breath, let it out  and said, asked I'm going to pay $50.00.  She accepted it without expression, without comment, without even calling me a cheap bastard, who has a lot of never short changing this wonderful organization, which was what I felt should at the minimum be my penance. She just says to remember to visit the food court, and smiles a strange smile, like there is a joke and I don't get it.* We go to the gate and get a smile from the guard, who takes our tickets and says don't forget to try out food court* and She smiled a smile that made me feel as if she knew something I didn't, like the world was going to end before I got my $10.00 worth of the Museum from my under paid ticket. We moved away from her quickly...
  The first place We headed was the 4th floor where the dinosaur was. He is so big that he doesn't fit in one room.
He is longer then my house, maybe even the length of our property. I have a video.
  We spend a good amount of time on the fourth floor. And when it feels like We have gotten our $10.00 worth* we venture to other places. We spend several hours walking through the different galleries and see things that you didn't know existed. Sad Things that no longer exist.

   About two in the afternoon everyone says they are hungry. Teri says there is a food court in the basement. A chill runs down my back as I remember the words of the ticket seller and the guard at the entrance.* Everyone agrees loudly, except me,who in a small voice tries to remind everyone what the witch, I mean the guard at the entrance had said, but they are gone and out of earshot* I give chase.

The cellar must be evil, it must house a deadly amulet that requires the sacrifice of a Russian father who's not Russian. It's all too clear. That must be that.* I run faster, but they seem to shrink further from me with every step I take. I raise my hand to yell for them to slow down, but I hear myself said for them to keep going I'll catch up. I start down a flight of stairs and suddenly realize I'm heading upstairs, the wrong direction. I stop and try to turn around and my feet are stuck to the steps. It;s like in a dream. I'm afraid to look down at my pant for fear that I will not be wearing any clothes. The lion heads on the ends of the banisters flare up like giant snakes, hissing and spitting at me.The rails next to me grab at me pulling at me, while twisting around me covering me, preventing me from saving my family. The rails prickly spines wind their way around me slowly suffocating me. They wind around my chest, forcing the air from my lungs. Around my neck and slowly into my mouth and nose, the thorns ripping at my skin, blood beginning to trickle down my cheeks. The Vines then cover my eyes pressing against them wanting burst them and enter my skull. As I begin to lose consciousness I hear two soft pops and the world goes black.

  The next sensation I feel is a soft nudging, then  a harder one to the ribs. My Wife is glaring at me, asking me if I've fallen asleep on my feet and do I want her to pay the bill for lunch. I shake my head, smile, she looks at me like I've just asked a street walker for directions. I look around, having no idea where I am. Then the realization hits me. WE ARE IN THE FOOD COURT, but except for it being crowded, not a hint of evil do I sense. I smile reaching for my wallet, for a brief moment I fear it will not be there. A soft bulge confirms it's safe. I slide it out of my pocket and go for my debit card, as I glance at the total. It doesn't make sense, it looks like someone printed their phone number at the bottom, where's the total. In the back ground two high pitched voices laugh at almost a screaming pitch and now I have found the evil in the basement. All the cheap, all the bargain hunters, all the poor are herded down to the basement and made into Soylet Green (AHHHHHH!!!!) (If You don't get it watch the movie) (AHHHHHHHHHH!) No the revenge of the spirits is we are charged over $100.00 for a lunch of two orders of chicken fingers, fries, a sandwich and an ice cream and three drinks,for four people. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! THE HIGH PITCHED LAUGHTER GETS LOUDER AND LOUDER SUFFOCATING, OVERWHELMING, OH MY GOD I CAN'T BREATH!!



* Where there is a * that didn't happen, I hope.

A Snowy Saturday at home.

The prediction of up to two feet of snow anywhere from Virginia to New York was known for most of the week before and everybody did their preparations for it. Of course the supermarkets were still packed the day before the storm and I was wandering around doing last minute things either I forgot to do or didn't make time to do. The most upsetting last minute surprise was finding the snow blower that I worked on last summer only sort of worked when I started it up. At full choke it would run at low RPMs and if I took the choke off the motor would stop. I shut it off and hoped it would not snow too much.

   It was supposed to hit starting at about 9 pm. I went to bed around 11 pm and it hadn't started, I was glad and when I woke up around 7:30 with about an inch or two I thought god had taken pity on me and We would get only a little snow. Well the winds picked up and the snow picked up and it kept coming down all day long. I went out to sweep around 11am, then again around 1pm and a third time around 3pm when I spent some time playing with the dog.
     Mesha loves the cool weather and wants to go out in it every time someone goes toward the back door. 

  I have spent the fall working on the mud room and finished putting down the new wood floor the day before the snow started. I feel I have to wait until the weather changes to put a finish on the floor. Hopefully it won't get damaged.

   No One was going out anywhere today, the governor declared a state of emergency and Nastia was sick and her work called anyway to tell her they were closing so don't come in.

 n Everyone sat around and watched movies under blankets in separate rooms. I went outside when the weather let up a little bit and played ball with the dog. Teri declared it a perfect day when we gathered in front of the living room TV to watch The Martin. It was enjoyed by the four of Us.

  Now it is two minutes to 11pm, the wind is howling outside and the snow every so often blows up against the window and it has gotten quiet. It might not be a perfect life, but the day was damn close to a perfect day. God has blessed my unusual family. I hope they feel the same.

From Nastia's birthday to Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve and everyone except me has gone out to visit Aunt Sue. The House is quiet, which is rare these days. The Girls get up for school at six am, Teri a little while later and I'm up by 6;30.

  The Girls go off to school by 6;50 and I leave for my part time job about 8am. I stop off at my Mom's until 9'30 and get to work around 10 am.
 I leave work at about 2 pm and always get home to a noisy house, so this is rare.
   Nastia's birthday was simple this year, we went to the Hard Wok in Nanuet on Route 304. She invited David and everyone had a good meal and some fun. We were going to go for Ice Cream,but it was cheaper to stay at the Hard Wok and eat it there.
  That was Thursday, On Sunday we had Cake and Ice Cream. Only Nancy showed up. David couldn't make it, my Mom was very tired and I forgot to invite everyone else, oops.
   This hollow day (no I spelled it correctly, Forced spending, fake cheer, stress, some day I'll get into it) season has had it's share of firsts. This year, Nastia and Elena were told to buy their own Christmas gifts. For the proceeding few weeks I would get them talking about items they might get for their Mom. Hoping they would get something original for her that I hadn't thought of.The Three of Us went to the Palisades Center about ten days before Christmas. At the door I told them to go and buy their gifts. They could go on the own to together. As they walked away I asked if everyone had their money?  Elena answered, "No", she left it home. So I gave her 60 dollars, yes a mistake in hind sight and off they went. I walked around the Mall figuring I had awhile. About twenty minutes in Teri gives me a call and asks how is it going? When I tell her the girls are off on their own she tells me that was a very bad idea and I shouldn't of done that. I tell her they have to start growing up and this is how it needs to be done. She says they are to irresponsible, She is right, but if We wait for them to become responsible they will be ready for nursing homes. The only problem with my way is if something happens once it's all going to come down on my head and be my fault. Bad position to be in. Sometimes I feel she wants them put in bubble wrap. She won't let them touch sharp object, feels real real bad when they get a cut. I want them out there and safe. She wants them safe, then out there.
  After about an hour after they started, they called and said they were done. We met and on the way out Elena goes, "This is why I hate shopping,it takes too long. They're really not real girls I guess.

Boyfriend,boyfriends, and boyfriends!!

Nastia is dating David, a nice kid. After some of the losers she bought home before, David should be a relief, and mostly he is. He does dumb things like driving his car when it is not ready to drive. He's had an accident and will not drive my daughter any time soon. He's invited her over and then told her she can't come over because he has to do work for his aunt. Most all his transgressions are because he is a young kid and will get smarter.
  Elena, she is not dating, I think. Reason I say that is, she wasn't dating anyone, then she says she's dating a guy who lives long distance and met through a friend. Teri and I got angry because she is not allowed to give out her number to people she meets on Xbox. She insisted she knew the kid from Congers Elementary. I didn't want it after the loser Nastia met on Xbox and wanted to invite over for a weekend. The Kid would tell her he didn't go to school today because his parents don't care. True or false I didn't want to find out.
  The next night, she says her and Mathew might get back together, I let it go and Teri handled it. She dated Mathew for a while and broke up in the Spring, no reason given from Elena. Some time last month he began sniffing around again asking if she was dating any one and Teri and her made jokes about what she should say. Elena seemed interested and it went on for a while. He just recently said he is not ready to get back together with her. Is she really that tough on guys or are they just that weak? Kids, I don't miss being single, it SUCKED.

An unpleasent surprise

Late night, Teri, Elena and I were having a quiet dinner. Nastia was at work at the movies. Teri left the table and went up stairs, it was just Elena and I.
  Elena starts scratching her face and rubbing her eyes. I think she is suffering from allergies, so I tell her the more you scratch, the more it will itch. She gets up and goes to the bathroom down stairs. She comes back, then so does Teri.
  Teri looks at her and asks her if something is wrong, Elena says, no, she continues to scratch her face. Again Teri asks her if something is wrong. I get up to clear my plate and I want Teri to quit bugging Elena.
  When I sit back down she is still pushing Elena. I lift up her glasses and look at her face. I see some red cheeks and they are slightly puffy. Teri is still pushing Elena to tell her what is wrong, I still don't see anything really wrong.
  The next thing I hear is Teri, her voice starting to raise a little and a touch of frantic entering it say to her what did you take. I'm thinking, take, our daughter doesn't take anything!
  It turns out Elena had a bad headache, so she goes upstairs to take some aspirin. The problem is She doesn't know what to take, so she guesses and since it is a bad headache, she takes three. When she tells Teri what the bottle looks like and I read oxycodone, I get scared. At that point Elena decides it is time to throw up again and She hustles down stairs, Teri follows, I am asked to call and find out about the medicine she took.
  I call CVS and talk to the pharmacist, a pleasant lady who reassures me that Elena took Percocet and being it was out dated, it was less potent. She also gives me poison control's number, which I call and get another pleasant women who reassures me again that it was not endangering. She says the same things that CVS said and also said her throwing up was good too, it getting some of the drugs out of her system.
Poison Control also said she would feel bad for several hours, head, stomach would hurt, she would feel a little dizzy and keep her hydrated. Give her something to eat.
  Now a day later, she is mostly good, but is complaining her stomach bothers her. Teri say she's like the comment about Barney Rubble in the movie Night Shift, that Barney Rubble, what an actor.
She's acting a little if you don't get the reference.
The thing that bothers me most about this, is I didn't notice the three trips to the bathroom in a short time and the change in Elena's behavior.
The one thing we stressed beside never take medicine you can't read is never take more then two pills, unless told to.

Everyone goes to High School, Dutchess County Fair and water gun cuts

It has been a busy last few days.
    The Danger Girls made an appearance at the Dutchess County Fair for most of ten rides.

They hit the Zipper, which made me sick just looking at it. For those not in the know, two cylinders rotate around an oblong tube, the long way, while the tube spins occasionally flinging these same cylinders over its long end. They went on it three times. They then went on 'Fire Ball' A line of cars sit in a large loop and it spins around the loop. They went on it three times. Then the scariest one, I think was called Khaos. They sit in a group at the bottom of a long metal beam sitting straight up and proceed to be flung around in large loops. I was invited to join the Danger girls, but my danger days, Lighting loops and the Great America Coaster at Great Adventure are far in the distant past. So I sat and imagined ways the rides would break and fling people to their death and pray it would not happen (Really Dad!!).

  WE left for the almost two hour trip there after some fun (Really Dad!!) at home about 9:30, picked Nancy up and got there at about 11:00. We had our advance entrance tickets and the Girls had their advance ride tickets, so We entered with no hassle. We had lunch soon after, I had a poor Philly cheese steak and later found a stand that sliced the meat there, gave you onions and peppers and might of not used cheese sauce. Of course this stand charged a dollar more.
  We walked the Barns and Teri talked to one of the women who had cows there, who described the fair as a spa day for the cows. They get washed and special care every day of the fair. Teri, Nastia and Elena all petted every Animal at the fair it seemed.
  We finished the day at The Cracker Barrel in Fishkill, one of Teri's favorite places to eat. Fun was had by all.
    The next day the temperature went from a comfortable mid 80 to the low 90's, with humidity. No One did much.

   Monday was the last day of Summer vacation before school so with the weather still hot Jessica and David came over to swim. I got home from work at 2:30, I know I have to find full time

employment, but I'm enjoying it while I can. I was asked to cook up some hot dogs for three of the four swimmers.\I called them to eat, when Elena gets out of the pool she is in a little pain and holding her left hand in her right. Some Blood is pooling in her palm and a few drops of red are running over the edge and dripping down spotting the ground, leaving a red trail, reminding me of the red wedding on Game of Thrones. (Ask someone who's seen it)
  No it wasn't that bad. She was rough housing with David and she grabbed for the water gun and he pulled it away and her hand caught on the plastic sight on the barrel and ripped a two inch, maybe a little more gash,in her palm. It looked real bad, but it didn't really bleed. I flashed back to when they were first ours and Elena hit Nastia with the branch, I did better this time. I got her a rag, yes it was out of the pile of clean rages and it was a former towel
 torn into a strip for her hand. She went with Jessica and got dressed. I took her over to Immediate Medical care in New City , where this Polish doctor with a gay assistant (not that there is anything wrong with being Polish. It's a joke, grow a thicker skin.)
  We had insurance issues over the Summer and the Girls insurance was cancelled. Even though We got it taken care of in a few days their coverage didn't take effect until... anybody want to take a guess? That's right, not until tomorrow, the first of September. The cost wasn't too bad. It was $100.00 for the visit and $130.00 for the stitches. Do You know they charge by the inch for cuts.Elena, got six stitches. I asked if it was cheaper by the dozen, Elena didn't like that. She was a good patient. She just didn't like the needle in the cut for the pain killer.
  Lastly today is the first day of School. I didn't sleep very well. I guess I was suffering P.T.S. from my days going to school.
This might be Teri's first back to school day. She was always going to her job. Wait last year she did take Nastia to the bus stop. This year they both walked to the bus. It's gonna be fun this year, NOT!!

Elenapalosa part 2

When We celebrated Elena's birthday and I wrote about it I said it was going to be hot out on Saturday. Well it was, I looked at the clock on the garage wall and it looked like it was bumping up against 100.
   I helped Karl mow his neighbor lawn. While doing that the pool turns green and the pump for the kitchen and downstairs bathroom quits working. It's the pump that pumps stuff out of the house. When I got back Teri had everything humming along.There is nothing to do about the pool on short notice and the pump downstairs quit working because the GFCI outlet got old (more Home Depot Crap) and quit working. Tomorrow I'll fix it.
 She bugged me to eat lunch. After that she bugged me to shower. After that I sat down and was watching the Yankee game and falling asleep, she tells me to heat up the grill to start cooking the chicken. AHH...married life.
  The Chicken cooked on some foil letting it cook in the juices. I added barbecue sauce and let it cook some more on the foil. The barbecue sauce didn't seem to stick to the chicken, so I took it off and put it on the grill. I have to work on that a little.
  I picked up, with Elena her friend Jessica and Justin's family dropped him off. All four kids hit the pool and would of stayed there all day and night if we didn't make them get out.

   Everyone ate hot dogs, burgers and chicken. There were salads and we ate outside. It was after 5:30 so I guess it had started to cool.
  Everyone had Ice Cream cake and Elena opened gifts
  About eight Justin's parents come by to pick him up, a little while later I get out the bug coils as everyone starts to say good night. It was a night day.

Elenapalousa 2015 part 1

My youngest turned 15.
I know one day I will look back at this day and think she was so young then and I will wonder where all the time went, because I am doing that now.

  Moscow, is a dream I went to in a drug induced  cold I had one day and I'm not sure I was ever there, it seems so far away. The Girls on the other hand seem to be growing up so quickly I can't imagine where the time went and how I got so old and fatter ( I was never skinny).
  When You start to go gray, it seem like you start to fade and when you look at old pictures it seems there is too much color in them and You look all bright and alive. Just ignore this last statement, I don't want to be a total downer.
  Yes, My Youngest turned fifteen the other day, We are so proud of the young women she is becoming. She is no longer the skinny little Russian girl, who was afraid to speak up. She is a noisy teenager, with more opinions, then knowledge, you know the type, a typical American teenager, yep that's the one. A special aside to Masha, the Russian who I stumbled across in 2008 when We first bought the kids over. She said only Russians could raise Russian children. I guess She was right, their no longer Russian kids. Their free thinking Americans and if they were to go back to Russia, they would be looked at like a virus, a free thinking virus, what this world needs more of.

Our plan for Elena's birthday was to go to Nanuet Restaurant. About twenty seconds away Teri says "I think they are closed." Oops, I forgot on Mondays they are closed. We went to Nanuet Hotel and the pie was as good as Nanuet Restaurants. We had our fill and a little to bring home to snack on the next day. It was nice.
   Saturday, will be the day for a little party, by the pool, starting around 4pm. It is supposed to be hot.

She's driving my car AGAIN!!!

I knew it would happen, so like William Shakespeare said if it is inevitable lie back and enjoy it. If You don't know what I'm talking about, ask Ted Antwan, the weatherman on channel 7 from the 1970's, that quote got him fired and Bill Beutell frowned at him.
  Any way out of the politically incorrect to who the hell is driving my car. Yes it is that young lady you saw screaming by you at fifteen miles an hour the other day. The same young lady who jumped when the door locks finally engaged when she got the car over twenty miles an hour, yes that young lady and lets sing it together...I don't know wither to use little old lady from Pasadena by Jan and Dean or The Beach Boy's classic 'Fun, Fun, Fun' . Since I put it in quotation marks,I'll use 'Fun,Fun,Fun'...
        Well, she got her daddy's car
And she cruised through the hamburger stand, now
Seems she forgot all about the library
Like she told her old man, now
And with the radio blastin' goes
Cruisin' just as fast as she can, now

Chorus 1:
And she'll have fun, fun, fun
'Til her daddy takes HIS MUSTANG BACK!!

I like the sound of that last line.Daddy gets his car back, 

I just listened to that great classic. 

Yes, my daughter is driving my mustang and it is not like she is forcing me to let her and yes, she will not drive it when she gets her license... Get off the floor and laugh standing up, it's not polite to laugh rolling around on your neighbors floor.

  She has been out several times driving and she is doing pretty good, She has driven on a road, going stright. She has driven on someone's lawn because I guess driving on the road was boring. She makes wide turns and sometimes she cuts them real tight to see if I;m still awake. It all fun and games until someone scratches my car.

  

She's driving my Car, I won't let her turn on the radio.*

*Sing it to Bruce Springsteen's song 'Fire'

Nastia finally got her permit to drive. It was the way the world will end, and may just of.  It was quiet and quick, almost painless.
  The World ended, I mean Nastia got her permit back in June. She asked me if we could make another try at it, So We went up on a Wednesday afternoon about two-thirty or so. Ive learned that if you can get to DMV before 4pm go any day but Thursday when they have the late hour because it will be crowded.

First time driving

  We get there,Our quick pass has expired and all our paperwork needs to be redone. While I'm doing it our number is called. We walk over to the same window as all the other times and there is another person there. I wonder if that is a good thing or not. It starts to go bad right away. I'm filling out paperwork and they try to give Nastia an eye test. I stop them and shove the eye form, with the eye doctors real signature on it under the glass. I divide up the paperwork from what they want and what is extra. They tell her to get her picture taken and to wait for her number to be called again.
  A few minutes later, it is called and she goes in. I go in for a minutes, because she is having a problem with something, then I leave.
   I wait and wait and wait. I see her get up and go to the counter. She walks through the door and smiles and says "I got it."

It's quiet time, time to say God bless America

This was written back on June 29th 2012 when we were adopting Leonid and Annya

I was a little kid in the sixties, yes it was a long time ago and god yes I'm too old to have all the birthday candles put on my cake.
  When I was a little kid, patroitism was a dirty word. Malikey McCourt, whose brother wrote Angela's ashes was on WMCA radio and would rile up everybody by saying he would wear the American flag for his underwear with no problem at all. What all this is getting at is this country is an amazing place. Iv'e only been to two other countries, but I look at the kids who come over here and are put on display. They put up with us taking their picture, speaking in a laungage they don't understand, eat food different from theirs all in the hope to become part of a family. I'd like to tell both of them their is nothing to worry about, they are going to stay, but I can't. What if something happens and we find we can't adopt them. That would be cruel. They would think it was their fault. We still don't know where the money is coming from for this adoption. We are still working on refinancing the house which will give us some of the money, then we will try for a second and have faith in god that it will happen. Their are other options like taking a loan from 401k monies and closing my e-trade account so if worse comes to worse we'll make it. I just feel this is meant to be.
  All of these problems are nothing compared to what these kids have been through. We bought them home and on the ride home they got to use Teri's Ipad and my smart phone and when I got home I went and read from my ereader. I got nothing to complain about.

Elena gets out of Felex Festa Middle School

Yes, Elena graduated from Felex Festa Middle school. She ended the school year with just under a b average, which I must say is pretty impressive for someone who didn't speak English five years ago and went almost catatonic when yelled at and who had behavioral issues for most of her time at Felex Festa. At the ceremony I was going to talk to Mr. Clemente, the dean of student behavior because I hadn't talked to him in several month and I'd been used to talking to him and Dr. Benjamin on a regular basis. I got to see Dr. Benjamin more often because her office is located in E-wing where Elena was and Teri and I would always run into her.
 The ceremony was a tight one hour affair. The
The kids walked in and sat in the first three rows of the auditorium. The School principle, made a speech, a student made a speech, a teacher described the awards some kids were getting and all of that was fifteen minutes. There were about five classes and each class lined up, half the class would be introduced, everyone would get a moment to clap , they would leave, then the second half would come up. This went on through five classes. Elena's was the second class to be introduced. Awards were given out with the certificate commemorating the day. Like I said a tight ceremony.
   Afterwards we went to Dave and Buster's for

The ultimate eye roll

some poor food. The girls had hot dogs wrapped in pretzel dough and looked good, I didn't try it. Teri had soup and some potato bits covered in bacon and some dipping sauce that was OK. I had a chicken Caesar salad and it was mushy like it had been sitting around for several hours. The chicken was not hot and over cooked. Won't go there again soon. Ten years ago I used to go there just for that salad, I remember it being really good. About three quarters of the way through lunch it was time for Nastia to go to work for training. Of course Teri walked Nastia to the theatres. Would You expect less? Teri, Elena and I went into the game room, which was why Elena wanted to go there. She was having some fun, but it didn't look like alot. So Teri said I should start playing some games with her, so I did and I think that was what she needed, someone to play with.
 

ALL HER TEACHERS LOVE HER!!

 The last game we played, Air Hockey, I left my card on the game. When I went back to get it,I start looking around. This young kid comes up and hands it to me. I buy them a game of air hockey and run off. It was a little cheap, but at the time made me feel good. The card has 25,000 points on it.

Nastia at the prom and her first job

Nastia was invited to the Prom by her boyfriend, David. The tickets were $90.00 each, a lot for a kid who works at Burger King when he is not at school. Nastia was asked to buy the flowers, a little odd, but again the price to go to the prom was a little steep. The plan was for Nastia and David to take a limo to the prom with some friends. There would be no after prom stuff. When I went to my girlfriends prom, I was twenty-one, she was eighteen, we went to the Jersey shore after the prom. I'd never let Nastia go to the shore at 16.
 David, driven by his Aunt picks up Nastia and the two are dropped off where the Limo is going to pick everyone up.  They go to the Prom, where Nastia dances and David dances a little, they have a great time and Nastia gets home around midnight.
    We were at the movie one night when Teri sees some help wanted signs. Teri was the one against Nastia getting a job until she could make change tells her to put in an application. There was a lot of not getting back to Nastia and her going to the theatres asking if a decision had been made and being told it was too busy to talk.

 We were at the movies at the Palisades Center and they were doing a major overhaul and they had help wanted signs up. Teri, who was against
  Finally, she is told to come in for an interview and again she is finally hired. Eventually she is told to come in on Sunday at 6pm for training. She stays until 10pm. The whole time they are training her. They go over the dos and don'ts, about what to do if there is a robbery, and I pick her up at 10. Her schedule says she will work on Sunday and Tuesday from 6:30 until 10:30. When I see this We go back into the theatre

At Amanda's graduation

and I ask for her manager. My understanding of child-labor laws and my desire not to get back home after 11pm motivates me to ask why she is working until 10:30, when the law says 10pm, I even ask it nicely. The women, I have forgotten her name says if it is during school, she can't work past 10, but during the summer 11 is legal, She might of said 10:30, either way, she said they follow labor laws closely. Not sure of that part of the law, I thank her and we go.
 Sunday, her first offical day of work Nastia gets to work the concession stand, (Oh no the change monster)  When I pick her up She says most people paid with debit or credit cards. She learned to make pop-corn and it was fun, Tomorrow she gets to clean theatres, she's not anxious to do that, she says it will be boring. After tomorrow, I am sure she will never forget to clean up her garbage after a movie.

A sweet apology.

This morning, a went into Elena's room where the remains of the office are. Most of it has been dismantled to be reassembled upstairs when I get it finished. The remaining piece there is the printer and a desk. I was faxing out some papers when I noticed a not folded up on the desk.

I thought it was from, Anna Lisa,a girl in school that Elena knows. It was from her teacher, Ms Sullivan. The not talked about how Elena came into the class room with her head phones on and to Ms. Sullivan the meaning was don't talk to me. So She wrote Elena a note about how she felt. I showed it to Teri by saying, "I know You don't like me snooping, but..." To my surprise after reading the note she wanted to talk to Elena about it. I thought it was no big deal, Teri thought it was a matter of disrespect.
   We go down stairs and Teri talks to Elena about the note and her actions and how she was to apologize to Ms. Sullivan. I put my two cents worth in and say she didn't have to apologize, but she should. An insincere apology was as bad as not apologizing. Teri gave me the death stare. So when Elena came back I elaborated on what I said and tried to leave it at that.I figured She would do what I would of done at her age, nothing.
  Later I'm mowing the lawn and Teri goes over to me and says"I heard from Ms. Sullivan,She said Elena came up to her, clenching and unclenching her fists. Elena says to Ms. Sullivan, "I've got something to say to You, but its hard."

Ms. Sullivan says"Would it be easier if I looked away?"
  Elena goes on with what I am told was a sweet sincere apology. Ms Sullivan says she looks away, as she is starting to well up with tears a little.
   I didn't think it was a good idea to take it as far as Teri wanted to but it worked out fine.

The Eighth Grade Dance, Elena dresses like a beautiful Young Lady and opening the Pool

 It was a year ago,the end of May when Nastia went to her eighth grade dance. Teri, Nancy and I went to dinner and picked her up around 9;30. She was flying high on the wonderful night she had.
  With Elena, I felt it was not unreasonable to hope she had the same experience. Her Mother went out and got her a very nice outfit. A dress you say? Not this young Lady. A stylish pair of short black pants and a white top, you know girl clothes. I don't know why She doesn't like dresses, maybe it's because everything is all open down there.
  Elena was dropped off by her mother, then she came home to make crab cakes for her and Nastia, I had a steak.
  A little after nine Teri says I should get going to get a good place to park. After a few turns looking for my wallet I'm on the road. I turn onto McCarthy road and go up the hill. At the top just before BOCES, traffic stops. They had moved the dance from the Gym to the Black and White Kitchen. The only problem, someone didn't plan out the traffic nightmare, when parents would pull up and stop and wait for their kids backing up traffic. It was backed up to the corner of Rt 304 and in the oppisite direction past BOCES. I parked in the bus parking lot and walked over to pick up Elena and Jessica. They were both standing with Mrs. Sullivan and I almost walked past them. Elena and Jessica were light as a kite, legally high. They were both talking loud and laughing. They had the great time I wanted them to. They listened to music, danced one dance, had ice cream and hung out with Ms. Sullivan. That was all it took.
   
We opened the pool at the end of May. Opening the pool is never an easy thing. We bought a new cover last fall. It split a seam, so I worked around it and kept the pool covered. Then during the Winter the dogs enjoyed playing Jesus Christ and were walking on the pool. Mesha decided that the pillow under the cover was a toy of hers and she made a hole in the cover to play with the pillow, which she ripped in half.

 To top it off the dogs started using it as their bathroom. They would leave it and we would remove it. It went fine until a sudden warm spell that lead to Spring. No one wanted to swim in that water. I drained the pool at the end of May
and let the water run down the side of the pool that we buried figuring that the water would push the dirt away from the pool like it did a few years ago and it would make it easier to fix the pushed in side. WRONG! What can go wrong will go wrong and it did. The Water ran under the liner and up the sides. The liner was floating. I emptied the rest of the water to confirm this, then dug a hole at the low point around the pool and put a pump in the hole until the water quit filling it up. We then tried to reset the liner, but you push the left and the right gets all out of place. We did the best we could and now the pool is clean and full of water. There was only one hole in the liner and it was again over near the ladder, which makes me think the ladder is putting the holes in the liner.

About a week ago, Nastia and I went back to the belly of the beast, the lair of the Dragon, the ... well you know DMV

About a week ago, Nastia and I went back to the belly of the beast, the lair of the Dragon, the ... well you understand, we went back to the DMV and she failed the test.
  It went so easy this time that I knew the only thing that could, would go wrong was she would fail the test.

GET ME OUT OF THIS SIT-COM!!!!!

It was a lovely spring afternoon, I pick her up at school, we dart over to the DMV, there is only a few people there on a Wednesday and we have our go to the head of the line pass still. And it was all over before I knew it. You know like...when... you know... great expectations... something you've been waiting for... anticipating... you know... getting your license. The anticipation was... hey she still hasn't gotten her license. She got sixteen of twenty right and had to get eighteen of twenty right.
  Watch, next time we go they'll just deport her.

Elena joined the track team and has been enjoying herself doing it. She has been getting good grades on her circle sheet and Dr.Benjamin and I have disconnected the hot line between our house and the school. Things could not be going better for her.She will go on to High School with about a B average or a little less. Very impressive from a year ago. Nastia will go onto tenth with an average around B+,also very impressive.
   Nastia's Spring concert was tonight and it was a joy to sit through.I'm used to going to the elementary school show that drag on forever and you don't want to be there and the kids don't want to be there and it drags on forever. This was a tight one hour show, with music I mostly knew and it was well done. There was So it goes, a Billy Joel song, Somebody to love, a Queen song and a medley of Beach Boy hit among others.I could of sat for an other hour. Very well done.

Let's do it again...and again...and again...anddd again...and yet again, do you get paid by the customer?

I have lost count of the number of times I have been to the DMV with Nastia to get her permit and have yet to give her the opportunity to pass or fail the test.
  This adventure started a few days after her sixteenth birthday. We gathered together the papers we needed and went up to the  DMV only to be told that most of her identification was not useable. I had copies of her adoption papers and her passport had just expired, and you get the picture.
  One time we did make it to the eye test which she failed miserably. She couldn't even read one letter on the chart.
   It took Us time and over $500.00 to get her hard contacts that improved her sight and were comfortable for her to wear.
  Sometime in late February or early March we tried again. This time the identification papers were no good. We needed originals, not copies. The originals had been misplaced. Teri thought she had given them to me and in the packet she gave me they weren't there, so I figured she changed her mind and so we looked and looked and looked some more. We knew they were in the house, they hadn't left, had never been taken outside since we brought them home. THEY WERE HERE!! Just hiding.
  A few weeks went by and we had exhausted all the places we thought they were in and several places we knew they weren't. We were at the point of looking in places we'd looked in two and three times before.
   Teri had a job interview scheduled with Orange and Rockland for a Friday and she went up stairs to a small rack of clothes I'd moved several times while insulating the attic. The rack started in the front eastern portion towards the road, then was moved to the north corner and then it was lowered, then it was moved to the western section of the attic, north side, then finally it was moved to deep into the north end to get it out of the way. On it was Teri's wedding dress, and a bunch of plastic bags and purses of her's. She was looking for a good purse to go  with the outfit she was wearing to the interview when she came across the papers. She called me and gave me the good news. Now if O&R would only call.
  DMV is open late on Thursdays, so Nastia and I decided to go on Thursday. I gather together the papers she will need. The adoption decree, her birthday certificate (in Russian), her out dated passport, I'm still hoping they will accept it. She still is who she is, that didn't change. I added her school ID, with a report card and her social security card. With all these papers I added the eye test paper. signed by Dr. Blumenthel and myself. Take note and see where this goes...
   Where it goes...where it goes...This is the DMV, where do you think it goes??
   I go straight from work to pick Nastia up from school. We get up to Haverstraw about 2:45 or so. We stroll in and present our paper to the person who gives out numbers. He gives us a number that starts with G instead od one that starts with A and we are feeling the love and feeling real special. We sit down confidently sure in our knowledge and our paperwork that this is the day we will succeed. We will over come!!
   Our wait is short and sweet. When we are called we are even sent to the same women as yesterday. We pleasantly say "Good Afternoon" and spill out our pile of perfect paperwork, sorted into two piles of useful and useless. Still carrying around that passport.
   I sort through the paperwork and hand over all the proper identification papers. Then as if I am placing a cherry on top of a pile of whip cream I slide the eye test out. It's a beautiful thing. It sits there shining in its new inkiness. Our overworked attendant separates the papers to her liking, asks for my drivers license. She then stops, I think she is dazzled by the beauty of the eye test paper, filled out in its ORIGINAL perfectness. She then asks me why I signed it and not my daughter.
I grab my anger in my fists choking it's purple foulness and sticking it in my front pocket, the one that holds my car keys the ones I want to use to gouge out her eyes with. I think the only sign of my anger is my smile that has gone to a smirk. I answer her, "I signed it because my daughter is a minor and all contracts are unenforceable in a court of law." My anger in my pocket turns blood red and screams 'what the fuck do you care bitch!' I always like my temper, it cuts to the chase very quickly.
  Our attendant reacts as if she has been slapped. "Really, I'm not trying to cause you trouble, but this form should of been signed by your daughter."
   My Anger makes a run for it, gaining a foot hold on my mouth and my smirk turns down to a frown. My Anger in full control of my mouth shoots out towards my fists and in an all out bid for control starts its crawl up my cheeks towards my eyes. In a moment the lower lids set in a cold contemptuous glare. The eyes begin to narrow and my hands are curling into fists.
  A moment before my anger has gained full control she say, "Let me get a supervisor." I know its a lost cause, just like yesterday, but I have a plan. The Supervisor explains there is no cutting breaks and the rules are the rules, are the rules, ARE THE RULES . Anger added the capitals, I didn't.
   You say I have a plan, well yes I do. Early this morning I jack assed to Engelwood NJ to have someone forge Dr. Blumenthels name, so I decide to go have some lunch and fill out another eye test paper and sign Dr. Blumenthels name to it, brilliant wouldn't you say? Why didn't I do it this morning you ask? None of your business.
  We go over to McDonalds about two minutes away. I figured if we had something to eat and filled out the form taking about half an hour no one would question that we went to get a new form.
 We get some food and sit down. After a few quiet moments Nasta looks at me and asks, "Dad, what if you get caught doing this will you go to jail?"
  I smile at the thought if everyone who did something like this went to jail and how naive my daughter at sixteen still is. I explain to her how the DMV is being unreasonable in not accepting the eye form and if I am caught they will just say the form is no good and needs to be done again.
 Satisfied, We eat until the floor show begins. Neither of us know what started it, but a woman starts yelling about something. I continue eating, while Nastia cringes like she will need to duck under the table to avoid flying debris or even bullets. I know there is no way I'll get under that table before being riddled with several high velocity bullets. Of course the teacher in me can't pass over a teachable moment and I explain to her why and how to handle an irate customer.
  The times has come, we go back to the DMV. There's electricity in the air, we are going to put one over on the man, the DMV for all their petty rules is goin to get fooled. We're gonna get them!! We park the car and stroll towards the doors. I laugh and tell Nastia, "It's a good thing we didn't wait too much longer, they close in fifteen minutes." We walk in like royalty, our fast pass guaranteed to get us fast service. We get pointed to the front counter, the Indian gentleman gives us a 'G' ticket, saying something about not understanding. I in all my confidence agree, "I don't understand either", Nastia quietly follows like the respectful peasant. We sit down and relax. Our new Indian friend comes up to Us and in one sentence shatters our master plan.
  He says, "I am sorry sir, as it is too late in the day to take permit test, You have to come back on Monday."
  Curses foiled again!!  Nobody beats the DMV!!

Twenty minutes in a microwave, still smells after three hours

Teri and I took a Friday night to have a date night. It was the first one in almost a year.
  We told the girls, we were going out and they were going to eat alone. They we're thrill to death. Getting to eat and watch TV alone.
  We left around five-thirty, the girls told us what they were going to eat. Nastia, soup and Elena, pizza.
  We ate dinner at 'The Yard House'. It was a little pricy. Teri had a drink and a crab cakes. I had a soda and jambalaya. The total bill with tax and tip $45.00. It was so reasonable,We debated selling the girls and eating out more often.
  We saw the movie Kingsman, with Colin Forth. I wasn't expecting much and was surprised. It was a nice way to spend an evening.
  When We got home, the smell hung heavy in the air. First words out of my mouth were '' Something smells.'' It was a brunt smell. Like something made burned. Like the handle of a pot, a chemical smell almost.
  Teri calls out for the girls and Elena answers. Teri yells to her ''What's that smell?
  Elena answers in that matter of fact way she has ''I burned the pizza. I put it in for twenty minutes in the micro-wave and it burned.''
  Well, their first night alone, they survived it and only killed one pizza. Well done, girls.      

Nastia went to the Movies and acted like an Ass and got it handed to her.

We went to see American Sniper the other day. Nastia asked if David could come along and I said OK.
  We picked David up a little late and went over to McDonald's to eat. David works at Burger King and didn't eat. We all had a little to eat. Elena met Jessica at McDonald's and I felt bad taking her away from Jessica, but We were on a tight schedule and we're running late.
  On the way to the Movie, Nastia picks the time to act like a teenager. Teri says something to her and Nastia says "I don't have to do that,I'm sixteen"
   Teri glares at me and I say "Just let it go and beat the crap out of her at home later."
David tells the story how he opened his mouth like she did and his Aunt put him in his place with the back of her hand, with his friends watching.
   Nastia then proceeds to open her mouth again and there is no holding Teri back. She rips into Nastia about being disrespectful and tells her to stay in the car when We get to the Movies.
  When they come in later Nastia is in tears and I try to tell her she picked the wrong time to act like a teenager.
  She gets over it and She goes off and sits with David and Elena. Teri, Nancy and I sit together and I enjoyed the movie very much. Best Movie in a long time.

Wandering the Mall and Cell phone repair

Nastia's phone quit working a week or so ago. You would swipe the screen and nothing. I had replaced the screen from a vendor in the Mall when she had cracked it several months ago. When It was taken to Apple they said it was the screen and We should take it back to the Vendor who sold it to Us.
  Nastia and I take it to the Mall and the guy asks if it was dropped, of course it was. He looks at it and says the screen is broken and needs to be replaced. He was willing to give me a brake on the price and I told him to go ahead, we'll wait.
  Nastia has always wanted to go to the Mall, with her friends, I didn't want her to go. Today while we were waiting, I went to the bathroom and left her alone for a little while. When I got back and she was still alive,I figured it was OK tolet her go wander around the Mall by herself..
  I played on my phone and off she went. About twenty minutes later, when the phone was ready and she hadn't returned, I became concerned. I started walking the lower level looking for her. I found her in Sharper Image, I think that is what it is called, listening to music and dancing a little bit to it. OH, the mischief she got into!!

Almost killing my Daughter in NYC

With the Girls off from school Teri gets the idea to go into the City to see the tree. We decide to go on a Monday, with nice weather expected and it being after Christmas. We set off about three-thirty and take my car. We head down the Henry Hudson and the GPS wants me to take the exit at the Boat basin, which I miss. We take the left at fifty-sixth street and head for FAO Schwarz. We cross the island to the east side. I drive past the intersection,  I think it was 5th ave. and 58th St. I find a parking garage two blocks away, turn in and as I read a sign that says  no SUVs, I hear my antenna tip scrap the roof. I'm about to turn around when Teri says there are SUVs down there. The attendant punches us in and off we go on our adventure. I'd been there twenty, thirty years ago the last time. This day it was packed.  We waited on a quick line and wandered around the store.  We went to the key board famous in the movie, Big. We were there about half an hour. We didn't buy anything. I saw few bags.
  We walked down town toward Rockefeller Center.  It was cold and I'm looking down at the sidewalk. Then I remember the best part of walking in the city is enjoying the show on the streets. I pick up my head and start looking around, just enjoying all the people,  the the buildings and the cars trying to go some where. I try to get Nastia to understand the fun, but she just kept saying she was cold.
  Teri asks to stop into a church and I tell her, OK without thinking. It was St. Patrick's.  They are doing work on it and I was there thirty years ago the last time. I walk in and I feel like I'm still outside. I don't remember it being such an amazing place The Girls were a little disrespectful and I told them they are going to Church. They didn't like that. I really want to get them there.
   After St. Patrick's We went a block West to Rockefeller Center. It was wall to wall people. It made Disney World look empty from several years ago. We managed to get up near the tree and get a few picture,
  We were going to eat in the City.  It was about 6;30 . I called Carmine's, a restaurant we lucked out at several years ago and got to eat at with Tony. This time there was a two hour wait. We decided to eat back in Rockland. So We started back up town. We stopped in the Lindt chocolate Shoppe and spent twenty-six dollars on real good chocolate.
   After We left the store. We stopped at an intersection, for a red light. I was not watching and the guy in front of me started walking. I had Nastias hand and we went too. The light was still red. I looked up as We crossed and noticed the don't walk sign and the cars coming at Nastia and I from our right. So I hurried Us up. I didn't understand why the guy in the first car was leaning on his horn until I looked behind me and saw that was Elena crossing too. Thank God, the car missed her. As the rest of the crowd crossed, I heard my wife cursing me as she crossed. It put a big damper on the night for me.
 IT WAS A FUCKIN MISTAKE!!! I WASN'T TRYING TO KILL ONE OF OUR CHILDREN!!!
      We ate at a Barbecue place on Erie St. in Blauvelt. It was a Monday night and it was busy. It is always busy. The food was pretty good.

going for her driving test and Christmas

My  greatest fear happened when Nastia and I went back to the DMV in Haverstraw. We had all of the required paper work and it had been accepted by the clerk. The next step was the eye test, the simple eye test. She scrunched up her eyes and leaned in and started to read the letters. The Clerk stopped her and said "No, please read the last line." She started again, got them all wrong. L was further back and they were all crystal clear to me. She failed her eye test. She failed it so completely, she got no letters right. I feel real bad for her. We knew her eyes were bad when we bought them home in 2009. The Eye Doctor said the best she could do was 20/60 then. I didn't realize how bad that was until the eye test. We are going to look into options after the New Year.

   It's Christmas Eve. The presents are under the tree and Teri and I are just getting to bed at midnight. I know it sounds like I did a lot of work, well I didn't. Teri did 99% of it. I wish I could say that I wanted to, but I don't. I find the Holidays difficult. The forced consumerism of the season really bothers me. I used to love Christmas and could never sleep the night before. I used to swipe Christmas lights from the stock pile we had and would put them up in my room. I would string a short line of the big old style lights around my door, on the inside. I would put up the decorations on the outside of the house every year by myself. I quit believing in Santa some where around thirteen.
  I got a big thrill and a little worried when my daughter's wanted to put cookies out for Santa this year. I thought they were a little too old to believe. I guess it is OK. I just worry. Nastia is dating a seventeen year old and she wants to be treated like an Adult. And Elena is this angry young women with attention issues, and they believe in Santa. I guess it's OK, maybe even sweet.

This afternoon, I went up stairs into the attic to wrap presents. Teri comes up a few minutes after I did. Then Mesha comes up and Bandi and finally even Athena. Mesha was bouncing around like a nut case. We find out later the reason was most likely she had to go out. That was after she left a new mountain range in the storage room. The dogs were causing all kinds of problems and made it difficult to do anything. When We finished, Mesha went down the stairs. Athena followed with a little encouragement. Bandi, he was a different story. The last time he came up stairs I had to pick him up and carry him down. Since then he's bitten me at least twice. So I got Oven mitts and still didn't want to pick him up. Teri put his leash on and that didn't help. Finally She picked him up by the leash , yes leash and put him in a milk case on the third attempt. Yes she was picking him up by the leash three times and on the third attempt he made it and was happy to be there. I carried him down and he was pleased to be down and if it wasn't for the leash pick up Bandi would still be up there, even if you are reading this thirty years in the future.
 CHRISTMAS MORNING
  WE went to visit Aunt Sue last night at the Adult Care Facility in Central Nyack where she is staying. Aunt Sue is 96 and has slowed some in the twenty years Iv'e known her but She is doing really well for someone her age. Above Nastia and Elena are choking/hugging her in the Dinning Hall. We went up into her room and she kept saying how terrible it was that she had nothing to give us and We kept saying it was no big deal and We are going out to dinner after. When We used to go to her house Christmas or Christmas Eve everyone would be there and She would be putting out all this food, chips and dips and everyone would sit around and talk. I think if I was Teri, I'd really miss that. Most of those people are gone now.
  After Aunt Sue, about 7;30, We went to dinner at Cinco de Mayo in Valley Cottage.They were preparing to close for their Christmas party, but they decided to serve Us.  We left about an hour later, after a fine meal.
   Christmas morning Teri and I are up by 7:30, She's in the kitchen doing stuff (Yeah, I have no idea what she was doing, it could of been important, doubt it (LOOK, tongue in cheek!!)). I was writing on the computer. It was a nice quiet morning, strange for Christmas, but OK.
  For some reason around this time of year I remember the time Mike and I went to the pizza parlor down the street. We were about fifteen I guess, and Bill Vines was there. Now the only reason anyone should know the name is he could of been a great man, He was then. He was my father's friend and helped Us many times with our business. Some where along the way he got lost and this vain, self serving, creature was created. He is the only Supervisor, who's picture is not on the wall in the Town Hall. Even Paul Mundt, who stole untold millions when sewers were put in got his picture up on the wall. Any way Mike and I go into the Pizza Parlor around Christmas, it's cold out and it must be later after dinner, but we order a slice each and a soda. As We get up to pay Bill Vines says he'll take care of it for Us.It always reminds me of the man he was before he changed and got lost.

Back to Christmas 2014, there was noise coming from upstairs around 10;30 or so.The girls ambled down soon after. The went over to the tree and looked at the presents very calmly like they were old pros at this. I waited for someone to do what   Ralphie's brother in a Christmas Story did "Oh,that one's mine and that one's mine and that one's mine!!!" No they were real cool about it and they waited for Us all to gather around and open presents together.
  We went over Karl and Madeline's for about an hour around 1pm while dinner cooked. The potatoes were done at 2, dinnertime. The Rib roast took it's time and was not done until about 3:30. We sat down around Joe Muller 2pm dinner time, which was 4pm. Regular Muller dinner time would of been 3:30.
   We ate, then at 6:30 went over to Lynn and Eric's to have desert and play a game that over the last several years, more then five (it predates Nastia and Elena) called, I don't know what it is called. But the way it is played is everyone brings a small dollar amount gift to play. Everyone picks and number and the first one goes and picks a gift. The second one can pick a gift or take the gift that someone has already opened. The fun of the game is to get a large group of people together (We had nineteen) and to steal a gift from someone else, just for the fun of it. It has become the high point of Christmas for me.
 

At Aunt Sue's Assisted Living 

 We left shortly after the game ended, everyone was tired and everyone was in bed early. Nancy had to go to work today, Friday. I stayed home from Crystal Spoon, Teri is looking for a job. I soon will be looking for something that pays more.

Nastiafest 2015 or SHE TURNS SIXTEEN!!

SHE TURNS SIXTEEN, ALREADY!!
  It seems like yesterday, we met  this scrawny little kid from Russia. She would talk to you like she knew you for ever and you spoke Russian.

I got down on my knees when we first met, to be on the same level and she climbs on my back like she'd been doing it all her life. I walked around most of the night with her on my back eating fruit, all forty pounds of her. Then her sister took her place.
   We adopted her and her sister in September 2009.
   Nastia's birthday, December 3rd, this year was on a Wednesday. I got her up at her usual six-fifteen. Her mother bought her to School.
   For Dinner, We went to Gilligans up in Mt. Ivy. David, Nastia's boyfriend was going to take her to Dinner, but he had to work. The four of Us had a nice dinner.
   On Saturday, we took Nastia, Elena, Kaley and David to Bounce for an hour. Teri and Nancy picked David up and Nastia called to find out where they were. Nastia calls her sisters phone, when David answers, she is confused

. He says she called him and that her mother just drove by and flipped him the middle finger. I'm on the other side watching her flip out. I call to find out whats going on and Teri says they are pulling a prank on Nastia. Nastia comes by me saying "they haven't picked him up and he says mom gave him the finger. Mommy wouldn't do that." I'm struggling very hard to keep a straight face. They pull into the parking lot, Nastia was out there looking for them.
  At Home, We had some Chinese take out, bought it home for the six of Us. At seven-thirty We had chocolate cheese cake. It was pre-sliced and the slices were too large and no one finished their's. The night ended early, David had to get home before eight PM. We got him home a little after eight.
  Teri and Nancy picked David up

Bad movie choices and Thanksgiving

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It's a Seinfeld Episode they missed*

This morning I went over to my mother's before I went to my high paying job in Elmsford. Just about the time I was going to leave Teri calls me and says she hurt her finger and thinks it's broken. She says she's not a baby when it comes to getting hurt, but she is. She shows me her pinkie finger. I ask her if she can move it. She moves it at the knuckle, but not at the last joint. So I know where this is going. She wants to go to the Emergency room and I tell her no, that is for emergencies. She then says what about Immediate Medical in Nanuet. This is where I make my mistake. I tell her they charged me $540.00 for a shot for poison ivy and they can go to hell before I step foot in there again.
   I tell Teri, who is getting pissed off at me we should go to the Doctor, that's where this would be taken care of properly and with minimal cost.
   Teri is fully wound up by now and she launches into her speel. It is WEDNESDAY. The DOCTOR is not open TODAY.
  We go to Nyack Hospital after I give up and say we'll go where ever you want to go.
   We go to Nyack Hospital. I drop her off at the entrance to the ER and look to park.  I tell her there is no place to park. Before she gets out of the car she points to a spot reserved for ER patients and says Park there, I don't someone gets it before me. I don't know if I would of parked there anyway. It still didn't feel like we shouldn't be here, it wasn't an emergency.
   I track her down, on a bed in the ER, waiting for a doctor to see her. A nice doctor finally comes to see her. The Doctor says she has dislocated her finger tip and she can A- put it back in. B- give her a shot and put it back in or C- get a shot, and four little shots around the finger and put it back in or D- get an IV drip and get it put back in. All of this for the most useless of digits.
   I give her credit. She let them try to do it straight away, it didn't work. She got a shot, her finger put back together, an other X-Ray to check it out and we finally got out of there at 1:30, about four hours. I hope they don't charge by the hour. A few months later we get the bills (ER, doctors and hospital) with good insurance it was still over $1,000.00.

* The pinkey toe episode where Kramer puts it in his box of candy I think? Friends does one too where they are in a flash back and Monica is trying to act sexy and drops a knife and cuts off Chandler's pinkey toe.

Got to make the best of a bad situation*

* Glades Knight and the Pips sang it right
Got to make the best of a bad situation, got to keep on keepin on.


I don't bounce back like everyone else in this house. When something like the fight that happened tonight happens, I feel it for a while. Everyone else treated it like a summer thunder storm. It blew in and blew out.

   This has been brewing for several weeks. Elena started the year doing straight threes on her circle sheets. October came in and there was a little slack in her sails, something was brewing. November it got worse. We paid a visit, Teri and I to Dr. Benjamin and one of Elena's teacher and did what boils down to an intervention. It was light hearted, it was straight talk,it was everything you can think of to get her doing the work she was doing in November.
  Then tonight comes.I was getting into the car to go to Costco when she got home. I asked her how the circle sheet was. She said "the usual."
  I told her, "no that wasn't going to do. What did you get?" She confessed to a couple of zeros. I told her to go tell her mother. I left.
  Teri called and said she'd blown her top at Elena and sent her up to her room. She'd gotten two zeros and a couple of ones. I told Teri to make sure she did not have her computer or her phone, because that would be heaven for her.

  I got back to a quite home, Elena doing homework and Teri cooking dinner.
  At the table dinner was going well when Teri goes to the bath room. Elena starts to tell an Anna Lisa story and I tell her don't. She's not supposed to be having any contact with her,it gets her in trouble. She gets angry and pushes Athena away from the table a little too hard. I smack her on the arm and tell her to leave the dog alone. I don't remember what happens next, but I think Teri come down and asks what is happening. And I think I begin to tell her and then I think she goes at Elena for hitting the dog and Elena who is already upset, gets angry and shuts down and is trying hard not to cry. Teri is pushing her and wants her to come closer to her and tell her what is going on inside of her. Something else happens and Elena is telling everyone fuck you. I ball up a fist and some how manage not to hurt her. Teri, the not violent one is going, "Funk me, no fuck you." She has fire in her eyes

and things might be spiraling out of control. I push Teri down into her seat and I talk to Elena in this overly calm voice, you know the one you use when you are trying to be calm and don't really feel it. I talk to her and tell her that this is her own fault and she could of avoided it if she just did what she did in September. I also say I want to hug you and take away all your pain, but I won't. It sounds cruel now, then it sounded like I was telling her she needed to do for herself.
  Somewhere along the line she had started hyper-ventilating.. It went on for a good five minutes.
  Somewhere about this time we, Teri and I start talking to her about how much we lover her and how we fell in love with them as soon as we saw them and how it was God that bought us together, which I truly believe.
  When things started to calm down, I wasn't sure Elena would want me to touch her. I gently touched her hand. When that was accepted I hugged her. Teri went right in from the beginning to hug her, she wasn't going to let her not accept a hug. I felt I had hurt her a little deeper then her mother and I might not be forgiven so easily.
  I did get the first smile out of her by telling her the story about how when I would come up the stairs at night and she would call out to me to fill her water bottle, I didn't want to. I would ask her why I should and she would say "because you love me." in an overly sweet voice, I would say "Oh yeah, I forgot." and I would fill it up.When I went into my bedroom, Teri would go "fool", that got the second smile.
  The night kind of petered out from there.I gave her a big hug in the kitchen and told her because I was a sucker and she had a hard night she didn't have to dry the dishes.
  And yes when I went up to my room after she had gone to be, she asked me to fill her water and I did. I gave her a big hug and a kiss and I don't think she saw the tears in my eyes.

He just wants to be my friend, yeah, heard that one before.

Nastia starts face timing with a kid from school. I ask her what is his name? She says it's Gene. Later, at the dinner table, she is talking about someone and is calling him a different name, and she mentions that he wants to go to the movies with her. I tell her he wants to date her. "Oh, no he don't.
 He just wants to be my friend" she says. As I am chuckling,  I tell her to watch When Harry met Sally. Where Harry says guys can't be friends with girls. I didn't go into further detail,  but I knew where this was going. And yes this past Monday he asked her out. Nastia now calls him David. He is nice from the little I've talked to him. He's smart, he tutors kids and he is black and I am sorry it bothers me. I wish it didn't,  but it does.  I will not stop it or say anything because he is a huge step up from any boy she has dated. And lets see where it goes. I wish I was as good as my words when it comes to dating other races.