THE GREEN(wald) HOUSE … (growing rosemary & raising a little wolf)

…..FORTUNE!!!!

I am so excited! I am going to be a contestant on WHEEL OF FORTUNE!

For those that know me, I have said for a long time that I needed to go on WOF because I knew I would be so good and I would win lots of money. Though I was kind of half-joking when I talked about it in the past, my wonderful husband cut out a notice in the local paper when the “Wheelmobile” was coming to town around Mother’s Day this year. I knew I HAD to show up to at least see about becoming a contestant. It was a wet and rainy day, and I stood in line outside (with Sammy in a sling) for 3 hours while Joe and Rosie waited in the car and ran errands.

There were about 200 people in the auditorium once I finally got inside for the auditions (and this was the third round that day), and they were randomly drawing names out of a barrel to see who would make it up on stage to play a practice game. After about an hour, my name was drawn and Sammy and I went up on stage to play. We got our picture taken, and did a short interview with the fake Pat Sajak before taking turns calling letters and trying to solve a puzzle. I didn’t solve a puzzle, but I think I made a good impression. I was enthusiastic and loud when calling letters (as they instructed) and after my turn ended and I collected my swag (WOF fanny pack, duffel bag, t-shirt, baseball hat, and a talking Vanna keychain) I went home to wait and see if I would be invited to a final round of auditions to be held in Detroit in the near future.

After returning home from our France vacation, I was excited to check my email and see that I was indeed invited to the final round of auditions - 2 days after we got home (thank god our trip wasn’t longer). This time I went solo - and there was only about 60-70 people in the room. One at a time, we were randomly called and had a chance to call a letter to try to solve a puzzle. The first time, I called a letter that was the first one revealed in the puzzle, but then my second letter was not there so I lost my turn. The second time I was called, I solved the puzzle - a “same name” puzzle that was “Mickey and wireless mouse” - I won another WOF t-shirt. After everyone had been called at least once - we took a written “test”. We had 5 minutes to solve as many puzzles as we could - each puzzle had only a couple letters filled in. I think I got about 60% filled in and I was a little disappointed in myself, until I saw the guy next to me had not completed a single one.

We then waited for our “tests” to be scored, and then they made a final cut, and about 25 of us were kept for a final practice round. Yes, I made the cut. We were called up to the front of the room in groups of 5 - we had to introduce ourselves (like we would on the show) and we had to pretend to spin the wheel before calling out letters this time. We were told the wheel is really heavy, like 1000 lbs, and were instructed to lean over and really give it a good pull. Since there was no real wheel there, one of the audition coordinators was spinning a small fake wheel on our behalf, and she would purposely make it land on “bankrupt” or “lose a turn” occasionally to keep the game moving and give everyone a chance to play. On my turns, I called great letters, bought a few vowels, and then my spin would land on “lose a turn” before I could solve the puzzle - I think they knew I was pretty good. After we were all on stage at least once, the day was over and we were told that within 2-3 weeks we would receive a letter in the mail if we were chosen to be a contestant. The whole day lasted about 3 hours, and my hands were so sore from clapping basically the entire time.

I got my letter a couple weeks ago! I don’t know what day I will be on the show yet, as they said it could be anytime in the next 18 months. But I am definitely going to be on the show - I am so excited! They have a $1,000,000 prize on the wheel this year, and I am planning on winning it!

I have nightmares about ending up like one of these poor people though…

check out Pat’s face, he can’t believe it - “Seriously? You couldn’t get that, you idiot?”

I have to remember to take my time and speak slowly and carefully and not add in any extra letters and make sure I know the answer before I solve….

Wish me luck!!!!

We got back last week from an 11 day - 2 wedding - 2 continent trip, and we are all still recovering from the fun, stress and jetlag.

First was NYC and cousin Jeffrey’s wedding.

NY was HOT - we didn’t do much sightseeing there as stepping outside the hotel resulted in us all being drenched with sweat. We did walk all the way to Central Park on the first day and had fun playing in the water sprinkler playscape.

Rosie was fighting some sort of bug and was running a bit of a fever on Saturday and Sunday. So we spent a lot of time just hanging out in the hotel room with GiGi (my mom - who came to town especially to hang out with the kids while we went to the adults-only wedding) and playing with GiGi and ordering room service was just as fun (probably moreso) for the kids anyway.

Then, off to France with Bubby (Joe’s mom) for cousin Neil’s wedding in the Loire valley - and sightseeing in Paris on the way there. That leg of the trip started off on a sour note when we got to the airport (at 7pm) and found out that our 10pm flight was delayed until 11:30pm - ugh! We were not happy about it - but resigned to the fact and settled down for a long wait. The wait became a lot longer as the flight continually got delayed later and later, and we ended up not leaving JFK until 3 in the morning. With 2 EXTREMELY tired and cranky and screaming and crying children and having waited at the airport for 8 hours - it was not a fun way to start the trip. We arrived in Amsterdam tired and hungry and of course missed our connecting flight - but hopped on the next flight out to Paris - and got a second wind and renewed energy once we finally arrived.

We spent 3 days exploring Paris - the parks and playgrounds mostly - though we did do some typical touristy stuff like take a trip down the Seine River and we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower (only to the 2nd level - the 3rd was closed for some reason when we were there).

Joe and I went to the top of the Arc de Triomphe during naptime one day, saw great views of the city, the Eiffel Tower and Champs Elysses.


Joe and his mom also got to go to the Musee d’Orsay on the first morning there - while I met up with a mommy friend that I met via the internet for a park playdate with her 2 adorable kids.


Our last night in Paris, we walked down and had a picnic along the Seine as the sun set, and it was so relaxing and unbelievable, like something out of a movie, with a group of guys playing guitar to add more ambiance to the scene.

After Paris, we took the TGV (high speed train) to Vendome in the Loire Valley for cousin Neil’s wedding.

We rented a car and drove with Uncle Bob and Aunt Judy to the small town of Troo (known for its caves and troglodyte dwellings).

We explored around the Loire Valley for a couple days, went to Vendome - which was one of the larger towns in the area - and saw a really beautiful church and went to a couple restaurants there.

We went to the small town of Montoire for a couple meals and grocery shopping - and we drove to Amboise and saw the royal castle where Leonardo da Vinci is buried -

and Rosie got a princess crown

Neil and Annabelle’s wedding was beautiful and fun. The ceremony was in a field of wildflowers outside Annabelle’s family home, and the reception was in a castle (moat and all).

There were a lot of other kids at the wedding, so Rosie and Sammy had lots of playmates, and everyone and everything was so well thought out and accommodating and family oriented. It was great, there was so much love evident everywhere!

It was a lot of work with the kids, and I joked to Joe (more than once) that it wasn’t fair that he actually got a vacation from his job, but I had to work overtime on my job for the length of the trip. Aside from a few episodes of extreme tiredness and crankiness resulting in both kids screaming at once, I think both Rosie and Sammy did really well, considering all the traveling and moving around and changes to the schedule they had to endure. We tried to make time each day to cater to the kids and find a park or someplace fun for them to play and run around and just relax and be kids (thus most of the photos of the trip are of playgrounds).

We are blessed and lucky to have been able to have that experience and share it with our kids. There were probably a lot more practical ways we could have spent our tax return this year, but how often do you get a chance to go to a wedding in the countryside in France? The photos and memories are priceless, and I hope that these early trips will foster a love of travel and adventure in both Rosie and Sammy. Even if the best part about traveling sometimes is coming home and sleeping in your own bed.

For most of my teenage years, the weekends and after school hours from April to October were spent at the lake or in someone’s backyard - trying to achieve a perfect tan. This was a serious task. One could not make alternate plans during the hours of 10 and 2 (prime tanning hours) and there was a specific method of rotation to ensure even sides. My entire plans for a weekend could be nothing but “laying out”. My friend Holly (hey Sis H!) and I would actually climb up to her black shingled rooftop and bake our bodies with baby oil. The thinking was, that we would get tan faster if we could be even closer to the sun. My peachy complexion would always, always turn pink and burn before I could achieve a golden glow. I remember comparing my shade of “tan” to that of a fire-engine or lobster on more than one occasion. Luckily, I was also blessed (?) with oily skin, so the sun damage and sunburns usually would heal up pretty quickly with the extra oil and moisture my skin would produce.

Even today, I have very sensitive skin, even moreso than my kids. We can all be at a playdate at a park for a couple hours, sans sunscreen, and I am the only one who goes home with red shoulders and pink cheeks. Needless to say, my days of just lying in the sun for hours is over. So are my days of comparing tan lines with my girlfriends. That is, unless you count my feet.

In my new mommy life, I now have a sweet farmer tan. Or to be more precise, a mommy-playgroup tan. My face, shoulders, and arms are nice and brown, as are my feet - except for the lovely flip flop tan lines. My legs and mid-section are lily-white. If you looked at me naked in the dark and squinted - I am sure it would look like I was wearing a white tank top jumpsuit - capri length. Am I hot or what?
Hmm - maybe I need to branch out and wear something other than flip-flops on my feet one of these days…

Oh, and Happy Fourth of July y’all!

Check out the Greenwald family on the news at the Obama rally in Detroit.

I was kind of flustered and felt very unprepared. The Fox News anchor approached me first with the microphone asking me what I thought about Obama and I stuttered “um - ask him” - gesturing to my intelligent, well-spoken, and very political husband who (whom?) I knew would have some good stuff to say. She didn’t give up on me though and kept coming back and asking what I thought and finally I gave my halting “I think….” response…
Not my proudest public speaking moment, but Rosie loved seeing herself on the news…

She had such a great time, she would clap and scream everytime the crowd cheered. It was unrestricted loudness for her and she loved it!
And, she was super cute in her Obama Girl t-shirt.

Took the kids to the Obama rally in Detroit last night - it was pretty amazing. “Detroit - Rock City” is now known as “Detroit - Barack City”. You would have thought the Rolling Stones were in town with the crowds and the bootleg t-shirts, buttons, and bumper stickers being sold everywhere. I mean, come on, who ever heard of a bootleg t-shirt for a politician before? We were on the local news too - more on that later…

We took a trip to Florida at the end of February to visit my family and celebrate my mom’s 55th birthday and my brother’s 30th birthday. More on that in the monthly update to come… but I wanted to share these photos now of all us kids (the first time we have taken a photo with all of us together in about 10 years) and we FINALLY got one of all the grandkids together too! - Seven kids 4 and under all looking at the camera at the same time - and nobody crying or throwing a tantrum - it’s a miracle!

top row - Emily, Jackie - middle - Rochelle, Ryan, Me - front - Renee

And here are all the kids:

back row - Stephen (2.5 - Rochelle’s son) Ella (4 - Emily’s daughter) Kylie (4 - Renee’s daugher) Rosie (2.5)
in stroller Joey (1.5 - Renee’s son)
on ground Anthony (1.5 - Renee’s son) and Sammy (8 months)

So, I have finally started a business as an outlet for all my craftiness and things I have been making for myself. My new business name is Sea-Green Designs LLC. I have a store set up on etsy - and might even get my own website up and running soon, depending on how fast my sales take off…

Right now I am making:
Cozy Dolls.
Made of 100% recycled cashmere and filled with a rice/lavender blend. You just heat up in the microwave and put in bed with your kids to keep them cozy and warm on cold nights, or to soothe tummy aches, or just in lieu of a warm body in bed when kids are transitioning from co-sleeping to their own bed. The lavender scent is soothing and aids sleeping too…

Nursing Necklaces: Stylish, yet functional. Keep those little hands busy (and keep them from scratching or pinching you) while nursing.

Sea-Green Wraps:
A stretchy baby wrap (similar to a moby wrap) with style. Made from a cotton blend, with a little stretch, and with a super cute design on the front middle panel. I realized with 2 kids that babywearing is SUCH a necessity - since I am wearing Sam pretty much every day - I made several different wraps to wear with every outfit and wanted to be cute at the same time, so I came up with the idea of putting a design on the front - and I have gotten so many compliments on them!

Check out my etsy store and let me know what you think…

Custom orders available too….

Well, thanks to McMama at Quintessential Quentin - I have been tagged for my first Meme.

First off, for anyone who is thinking “what the heck is a meme?” - here is some info from The Daily Meme.

” I pronounce it so it’s rhymes with ‘dream’; some pronounce it so it sounds like ‘mem’ (from mem-ory). In the context of web logs / ‘blogs / blogging and other kinds of personal web sites it’s some kind of list of questions that you saw somewhere else and you decided to answer the questions. Then someone else sees them and does them and so on and so on.”

Also,

A meme is:
An idea that, like a gene, can replicate and evolve.
A unit of cultural information that represents a basic idea that can be transferred from one individual to another, and subjected to mutation, crossover and adaptation.
A cultural unit (an idea or value or pattern of behavior) that is passed from one generation to another by nongenetic means (as by imitation); “memes are the cultural counterpart of genes”.

The Rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share five random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog. Share the five top places on your “want to see or want to see again” list.
3. Tag a minimum of five random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment in their blog.

So, here goes….

5 things:

1. I grew up on a bug farm. Yes, we raised bugs (and an array of “regular” farm animals) for biological pest control. Primarily the fly parasite, the natural enemy of the fly. My school actually took a field trip to my house when studying biology and the life cycle of the fly. My parents ran this business until they divorced when I was 12 and we sold it and moved to “town”. I used to gross out my friends by holding maggots and putting them on my tongue.

2. I eat methodically (kind of OCD) and have to leave one perfect bite with a little bit of everything on my plate for the very last bite. For example, Thanksgiving dinner always has to end with one bite with a little turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry, green bean casserole, sweet potato etc. (one BIG bite). I also eat M&M’s (and Skittles and any other candy in an array of colors) the same way, I make sure there are the same amount of each color (eating the extras first) then eat one of each color until I finish them - ending with green.

3. When I was younger, I used to want to have my own talk show - it was going to be called “Chatting with Chelsea”. This was way before he days of Oprah, Maury, Ricki, etc.

4. I used to be a clown and do singing telegrams with my sister when we were in college. I still make balloon animals for fun, and I have my clown costume, but sadly can’t ever wear it as Joe is afraid of clowns (I threaten him occasionally that I will dress up one day just to REALLY freak him out).

5. You know that smell that your earrings have after you have worn them a long time, that kinda funky, sweet, sour smell? I like that smell and sometimes take my earrings out just to smell them, then put them back in. Same with the smell of the stuff you clean out from under your toenails. Gross, I know…

5 places:

Ooh - this one was hard because I really want to travel EVERYWHERE. Joe and I both love going new places - even with kids, it hasn’t put a damper on our travel life. We took Rosie on a Europe trip 2 years ago, and we are taking both kids to France for a wedding this July too… Here’s what sits at the top of my list right now…

1. Australia - though I might have to wait until they invent a plane that can fly there in way less time, because I seriously cannot imagine spending 20+ hours on a plane…

2. Spain - I was in Barcelona for a couple days at the end of a month long backpacking trip with my sister during college. We were so burnt out on churches and sight-seeing by then that we didn’t do much except go to the beach and drink sangria - I want to go back and really see the place…

3. Peru - Machu Picchu - This place just looks so mysterious and spiritual and awesome, I have to go there one day…

4. Italy - I have been there a couple times - just a few days each time, and Joe and I went there for our honeymoon (Rome and the Amalfi coast), and I would really love to go back and see the entire country, especially Tuscany and the southern parts…

5. Any island/tropical/exotic place - Fiji, Bali, Costa Rica, anywhere in the Caribbean, etc. Hawaii is beautiful, I have been a few times, but Joe has never been so I want to go back and take the kids too…Basically anyplace warm and with a beach - yeah, I want to go there…

and as an aside - my ideal family vacation - that I really want to plan in about 5 more years - once the kids are 6 and 8 or so… I want to rent an RV and travel all over the country for one month in the summer (maybe longer)…

OK - now the hard part, who to tag…. Most of my mommy blogging friends have already done the meme thing a ton, so I am going to tag…..

YOU!

yeah, you - if you are reading this, consider yourself tagged… if you haven’t already done a meme in the recent past - do one now… If you have done one, link to it in the comments, and if you are reading this and you don’t have a blog - leave your meme in my comments section….