Too Wonderful

So many of us vow never to become our parents.  We promise ourselves we’ll be better. We’ll do things differently.  It seems to be part of growing up to believe you are wiser than the people who clothed you, sent you to school, fed you, hugged you, spanked you, and loved you the best way they knew how.  The sad truth is that so many children live in homes with no love or support.  Some kids have not known parental love. I've only been doing this whole “mom” bit for 9 months.  There is no way I am( or ever will be) an expert.  I luckily have quite the example in my parents.   My father is a maintenance man and has been for over 30 years.  My mother worked the graveyard shift when we were little.  She was home when we woke up, there to pick us up from school, made and served dinner, put us to bed, THEN went to work.  Mom and Dad made it happen.  Not only did they provide wonderfully, they loved us. They loved us. ...

On a leisurely stroll to Sweetness 7 yesterday I was elated to come across the full circle.  Honestly I was a bit embarrassed at just how excited I became.  Miles doesn't seem to understand when I suddenly stop the stroller, drop the leash, quietly talk to myself, and stare at the ground.  Here it is, in all it's complete glory.  You're welcome- HA! The walk home brought even more discoveries.  From what I've read there are over 2000 of these markers and they reside on about 250 streets.  The bulk of them are on Buffalo's west side.  We were further west yesterday so it makes perfect sense we found new plates.   I just love these!  They are such an amazing piece of history.  Thinking I might make a collage to frame and hang in the apartment.  Look at me being all crafty and stuff:)

Buffalo’s west side is gorgeous. The houses have wonderful character and no two are exactly alike.   The place we are renting now was built in 1890.  When you first walk in you may experience a bit of vertigo as over the years it’s begun to slouch.  Seriously, put a marble in my kitchen and it rolls directly to the front porch.  Miles, Leo, and I go on two or three long walks a day.  On one of our very first, I promised myself I would take photos of the steel markers in the sidewalks and make some sort of art out of them. I am not very artsy fartsy but we have decent camera that’s been sitting unused so we went out the other day and made some “art”.  My hope was to give you a historic blurb on each marker, sadly there  is not a wealth of information out there.  The plates date between 1885 and were used by cement paving companies through the 1920s.  "Our studies of the local sidewalk pavement industry have not yet turn...

Our breaks went out last week and the car was in the shop over the weekend.  My parents rock and mom made sure we got to Target on Saturday for baby formula, supplies for Leo the dog, Drano, and other non-necessity items that I thought we just had to have.  That always happens to me at Target!  Dad was kind enough to drive me to the shop to pick the fixed car up and while I was in the hood I figured I’d invite myself over for dinner at my sisters.  No shame!  And no groceries! The kids greeted me in their usual adorable way and we hung out for a bit before dinner was ready.  Delicious chicken burritos were on the menu and served on the back porch.  Theresa was leaving soon for a meeting at her kids school so she caught up a bit with her hubby while we ate.  Sadly, one of her friends recently miscarried and she let Russ know quietly.  Aaron has super hearing so he immediately asked “what was that mom, what happened?!”  Theresa, in h...