This morning a parking attendant asked me if i was from Argentina. That's a first.

Just ran my 100th mile today

All thanks to the greatest gadget in the world.



That image is tiny but you can go here or here to get the info.

The good news is you don't even have to buy the shoes. An Ipod Nano, yes, but an $8 shoe wallet makes a perfect substitute for $200 nikes.

It's just awesome.

Sock Party

Owen and i had a sock party last night, just the two of us. We went around the house and found all the single socks from every drawer and tried to match them up. He thought it was great and i learned that there must be some huge sock MONSTER somewhere in this apartment because we had 31 single socks left over. 31. I didn't think we had that many in the house between all 4 of us. And you can't just toss 31 socks which is what i was going to do with all the leftovers. snap.

What do you do when you're just off the plane from Iran... you barely speak english, don't have a job and need an apartment for your mom and 10 year old brother but have no way of paying for it? Such is the story of this 20-something girl that really, really wants to live in our building. She and her family arrived about 2 months ago and desperatly need a place to live. So much so that every time we talk she says, "Please don't rent. Keep for us." The first problem is they want to have all three of them plus a dad that comes back and forth from Iran live in a one bedroom. And at first i was going to go with it because i've really stopped caring about this place and have grand (likely dilusional) ideas about moving out this summer. The second problem is we have this 2 person per room policy that i'd have to violate in order to do it sneak them in. Just incase my dreams are smashed, i should probably stay in good graces with the management, dang it. When I say can only rent to 2 of the 4, they decide just the mom and the boy will live there and the girl will try and find a roommate. They also need a cosigner because there's not one shred of work, residence, or credit history between them in the US which becomes problem number 3.

So, they come with the co-signer this afternoon and the application says she has a house payment of 1200 dollars a month and she makes 1300 dollars a month. And i was trying to explain that there is no way she makes enough money to be approved as a cosigner. 100 bucks left over after paying her mortgage just wasn't going to cut it. "But my husband pays for the house and all that," she says. So i suggest having him be the cosigner or the Dad... it sounds like he's making money somewhere. "But he gets paid in cash. What if i put my yearly salary of 20,000 a year?" Oh no. they are in trouble.

Then the cosigner starts begging me, "please, they have no one else here, they just arrived can't you do something?" Fortunately, for me and unfortunately for them the system is so much bigger than me. i have zero power to do anything.

So, they leave, faces downcast and with the applications in hand so they can try to find someone who makes at least twice the 1050 rent. Honestly, i think our requirement is actually 3x the rent to be approved, so they are pretty much screwed.

Makes my heart break.

lately

Things have been crazy around here the past few months. Ross left to go back home and the kids are sad but i'm sure we'll see him again soon. Sophie has been busy with homework and Owen has been just a little too obsessed with Xbox, of course.

They are both signed up for Basketball in the spring. Sophie had to go to the basketball evaluation the other night and it was quite the ordeal. She's never played basketball and at her age they evaluate them so they can make even teams. she was really nervous and but I make her go anyway and we show up to find 35+ girls, most of them 12 inches taller than Sophie, decked out in well worn basketball shoes and huddling into little groups of friends. Sophie has never looked so tiny in her blue New Balance. So they all wait in line on this huge bench where they go individually onto the court, dribble through 4 chairs and then shoot from 10-12 different places around the key. The space was enclose by the big, long players bench, bleachers for all the parents and on the other side, a panel 10 evaluators. There were probably 75 people standing around watching each girl go out on to the court.

Her face was killing me she was scared to death! So i pulled her out of line and she was begging to go home. Part of me just wanted to whisk her away from the uncomfortable situation and the other wants her to never be afraid of anything. so i said, "even if you don't play, just stay for the evaluation, it'll be just fine." Her eyes start to get teary and I say, "i've already paid the hundred dollars, why don't you just try." The tears well up even more so I finally break and tell her that it's ok, we can go home, i understand that it's scary. But she doesn't move when i start to walk away. So i say it again. " Don't feel bad, we can go, it's not a big deal."

"But you already paid the hundred dollars." Then she heads back to the gym and sits back down at the end of the line. I asked her if she wants to go back and sit where she was before and she says. "Nope, you can go now, I'm fine."

So, i take the boys (owen and his little friend) and go out to the playground and kill time until it's her turn.
When we come back in and sit down on the bleachers, i see her nervously chatting with some girls who looked a lot more her age. They talk and then smile and giggle a little.

Soon it was Sophie's turn and the coach passes her the ball. She dribbles through the chairs and then goes and shoots around the key. She makes some, misses some and then goes and sits on another bench while she waits for the last girl to go. Then they have them play 3 on 3. She was smiling and giving me thumbs up and i was so proud I was practically sobbing like an idiot. But i couldn't help it, she was just so brave.

AFter the little 3 on 3 they have them stand in front of the panel while they take notes and then say, "we'll call you in 2 weeks."

She bounds over to me and says "That was so awesome,I want to do it again." Then she turns and waves to her new friends. Apparently, she started to gather confidence as she realized there were 2 divisions being evaluated together. The girls she sat with the second time were Minors, too. They were all trying out for the first time and all very nervous.

So now she's a basketball girl and so excited to see if any of those girls are on her team. I would have DIED if I had been in the same situation and she did just great.



Doug just worked on some Comcast commercials, you can click Here to see the photos.

For me, it's all about April. Two big travel trips where i get to unshackle the apartments and pretend they don't exist. hallelujah! First it's up to Duval, Washington and then New York City. More details to come as they get closer.

Anyway, just wanted to get something up.

Birthday

Sophie informed me yesterday that she would like to have a FOOD FIGHT for her birthday party this year. She said, can't we just rent a room for that?

uh, i don't think so.

Pics of Rossy

Ross has been sleeping on our couch for about 5 weeks now. Poor Dude. When we were talking about buying new sleeper couches for guests that come to visit, Ross really quickly chimed in, "I can go pick them up for you tonight if you want." Maybe he can have his own wing in the Chamberlain mansion i plan to buy this summer.

Anyway, here are some pics from one of the shows we worked on a while ago.

NIKES

We went to a late movie with our one celebrity friend last night.... we'll call him Famous Frank. We went to the Arclight which is the greatest theater in the world. You buy assigned seats so you don't have to get there a hour early and fight off pushy moviegoers for the seats your saving for your friends. Doug loves it because you can order a Hot Dog and they'll bring it to your seat. Ha ha, so doug. Anyway, it's down on Sunset Blvd and everyone walking around is dressed like they're going to the MTV movie awards. Just very trendy and artsy, blah blah. I knew this going into it but i had been sick all week and actually got chills that evening, took a shower and chugged some dayquil so i could go, so the very last thing on my mind was getting primped for a 2 hr 40 min movie that started at 10:35pm. All I was thinking about was being warm and being comfortable. Plus, it was just going to be a few of us so whatever. I wasn't going all Hollywood and i was aware and ok with that. Sometimes i like not trying too hard, ya know? Just comfortable.

So we head down to the Arclight and meet our friend and his girlfriend and a couple she invited... and two other couples he had invited... and 3 or 4 people that their friends had invited...and suddenly i find myself in the middle of 15 tall, beautiful actor types in skinny jeans and heels type ensambles. One of the guys next to me leaned over and asked me what i do. While mentally noting my fetching ensamble of cargos, a thermal shirt, black hoodie and nikes and said that I'm a Mom. I felt like i should have said middle school track coach. Also, i left my bag in the car so i wouldn't have to haul it around so i put a pack of gum and lip gloss in one of the cargo pockets. It didn't seem like a big deal at the time but later i bent down for a piece of gum and realized i may as well have been pulling some tots out of my tots pocket, ya know? The whole thing was really funny.