Orion LoBiondo, the Blogger Dog: Welcome to Spring 2016!

ORION, THE BLOGGER DOG - Hellooooo Humans!  It’s me, Orion LoBiondo, the only 4-legged member of the LoBiondo Family.  As you know, my mom (you guys know her as “Mrs. Lo”) only lets me blog at the beginning of every season.  Well, guess what, Mom?  That’s right, it’s SPRING, so it’s my turn to blog this week!  Spring is my very favorite season, along with Summer, Winter and Fall.  More than anything else, I really enjoy my spring sports:  tennis and swimming.

I don’t wanna brag but I happen to be one RAD tennis player!  What?  No, Mom, please this is my blog, you get to do your own blog every week, let me do it my way.  Sooooo, my Mom says I am not really a tennis player because I don’t use a RACK-it, whatever that is.  Who would want to use that stupid thing when the pure joy of tennis is running as fast as I can, leaping in the air and catching the tennis ball in my mouth when my brothers throw it to me!  Tennis balls oh boy oh boy oh boy!!  I am so excited thinking about it I am starting to drool!  Literally!!  I WILL clean it up, Mom, chillax.  

Anyway, my brothers have started throwing the tennis ball to me already and I must say I have not lost my touch.  No matter how far they throw it or how high I pretty much always catch that tennis ball.  Who invented this game anyway, it’s the best?!  

There’s only one thing that makes me happier than playing tennis and that is swimming!  I love it when we go to our favorite (NAME DELETED) and I jump in the (ALSO DELETED) and swim out as far as I …. Um, Mom, why are you deleting stuff from my Blog?!  What do you mean I’m not really supposed to be swimming in there, all the dogs do it!  Well, that’s a stupid rule.  And you and Poppa are lawyers, you should change that rule.

So I would like a new rule:  dogs who are really good swimmers should be able to go swimming in any watering hole that we want!!  Get to work on that, Mom and Poppa.  (Humans, I don’t know what kind of law they are doing all day long but if they are not making the world a more fun place for dogs, they are probably just wasting their time.)  But I digress …

The absolute BESTest of the Bestiest is when we combine swimming AND tennis!  We go to the (DELETED BY MY LAWYER MOM), my family gets their fishing poles out, and then they throw the tennis ball into the water and I swim out and fetch it.  Did I just use the words tennis ball, swim, and fetch in the same sentence?!  Drooling all over Mom’s rug again, sorry, Mom!  You can use my allowance to buy more paper towels.

So I am starting to be a teenager, I’m not a little pup anymore.  In addition to being a varsity sports athlete and a great scholar (OK, I guard the backpacks on the way to school but you know, close enough), I am starting to notice the other, the um, how do I say …. OK I’ll just say it, I have a girlfriend!  (Sorry, Mom I’m just drooling a lot today).  She is sooooo beautiful and adorable with those long beagle ears and that sassy bark of hers!  Her name is Abigail and she lives up the street from me.  We face-bark each other all the time.  Nooooo we don’t use iPhones!

I go to the edge of my yard and bark up a storm and she goes to the edge of her yard and howls back at me.  It’s awesome.  We could do that all day long and all night long.  Until those vermin arrive, you know who I mean, those evil squirrels!  The bain of my existence!  You should see when Abigail’s family brings her to my house and we team up and chase the squirrels away together!  We are such a dynamic duo, we are like Batman and Robin!  What’s that?  Oh, ha ha, Mom says we are more like Grammy and Grampy.  Cuz we like to roll on our backs and smell the sweet grass the clover and gaze up at the sky!  Hey, it’s important to enjoy the time we have together, isn’t that what you always say, Mom?  Awwww, I love you too, Momma, and while you’re scratching my head can you get me behind the ears??!!

Isn’t life just grand, everyone?!  Spring is here, time to enjoy my family and my sports, and team up with Abigail to chase squirrels, Life is Good!

Signing off for now, have a great Spring, I will blog again when Summer starts!  Your friend -- Orion the Dog (Oh, and Momma says to have a great day and to Remember to Count Your Blessings!!!)

(Photo of Me guarding my brother Michael)

 

The Best Place to Hide Stuff

This is the sad but true story of how moms have to hide certain things from their families.  No, I’m not talking about the Neiman Marcus bill for a pair of Manolo Blahniks.  Maybe 15 years ago.  This is much more serious.  I am talking about the home office supplies.  

It’s not just moms, this is for any household member who suffers from “I buy lots of pens but my family takes them all, leaving me with nothing to write with” syndrome.  You know that moment -- when you go to write out a check for the kids’ sports fees, sign a school permission slip or engage in the basic act of writing a Thank You letter -- and you discover that, despite having literally bought dozens of pens from Target recently, there is NOT ONE PEN in the house!  You go to cut a permission slip in half -- but there is not a pair of scissors anywhere (Yes, I did just buy a 3-pack of scissors, but even as I handed it over to the cashier I had a sinking feeling I would never see them again after I left the store).  Scotchtape -- what do they even need it for?  Is there a secret bunker in the house somewhere with all my home office supplies?

Really.  I know I’m not alone here.  It’s not quite serious enough to form a support group but it’s annyoing enough for me to feel the need to blog about it.  Will this shame my family into leaving me ONE pen, ONE pair of scissors or ONE roll of scotch tape?  I doubt it.  I am looking at my “pencil cup” right now.  Just recently I stocked up on beautiful pink pens, pink highlighters, and pink scissors.  Thinking this would deter the three men/ men-in-training in my home from walking off with them.  Au contraire.  Do you know what is in there now?  Two STUBBY pencils, one of which has no eraser.  A dried out highlighter.  A pencil sliced in half LENGTHWISE (who does this to a poor defenseless pencil? How does one even accomplish this?).  And some weird thing that I cannot identify -- maybe a dry board eraser?

It goes something like this.  The kids need a pen, so they grab one from what seems to be the UNLIMITED bucket-o-pens, use it for homework once, and toss it somewhere.  Or take it to school and trade it for tater tots.  Actually, I have no idea.  Maybe I have pen gremlins.  Apparently, the pen gremlins have gremlin friends who like scissors and scotch tape.  I note that the gremlins never venture into the laundry room but that’s another story for another day.

At the time of this blog, one of my kids would like me to write out a check for some crew team stuff.  Luckily for him, I do have ONE pen.  It’s in my Mickey Mouse fanny pack -- you know, the one that is SOOOO embarrassing, Mom.  Fortunately, it’s so embarrassing that no one will unzip it and take anything out.  Thus, that is the one place I can find chapstick, sunscreen, hand sanitizer, tissues, spare change, a ponytail holder, a spare phone charger, a PEN, and two 7/16 wrenches.  You know, all the essentials in life. At least for this Rower and Crew Mom.  

They’re scalliwags, these men/ men in training of mine.  But I love them dearly and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  (Wait til they go to find a pair of matching socks -- wink wink)

Have a great day, everyone and, as always, Remember to Count Your Blessings! <3 Mrs. Lo

My Obsession with Food -- and Price Chopper

MY OBSESSION WITH FOOD - More specifically, with groceries.  The first step is admitting you have a problem.  All those who know me, know that I am obsessed with grocery shopping.  I must have, not just enough food in the house, but MORE than enough.  I have dedicated an inordinate amount of space in my house to just that goal.  I have two refrigerators and a deep freezer.  I have converted normal spaces into food storage.  Coat closet?  With a call to my carpenter, it’s now a PANTRY!  Downstairs office?  What a waste of space, with some hard work from my kids and shelving, it’s now a WALK IN PANTRY!  I have more bring-your-own grocery bags than any human should have.  When normal people buy souvenirs on vacation -- I buy the grocery bags so it can think about my vacations while grocery shopping.

So how often do I go to the grocery store?  Umm, well, ok, truth be told -- pretty much every day.  Monday after work is my BIG SHOP DAY!!  All the other days I go to pick up all the other little things I might need for a dinner, or someone’s lunch, or my luxurious fruit smoothy in the morning.

But I don’t just go to any grocery store, my particular obsession is with Price Chopper, specifically, the Price Chopper in Newburgh.  Go ahead, ask me anything!  Where are the capers?  Get the Goya capers in the Hispanic aisle.  Pomegranate Juice?  They just moved it to the center aisle in produce.  Kind bars?  They’re next to the Ensure in the pharmacy aisle, not with the other granola bars.  If they had a Price Chopper trivia game I would be champion.

When I walk up to seafood, my buddy there automatically says, “Hello my friend, you didn’t call in your salmon today, let me steam it.  Two pounds, farm raised, no seasonings, right?”  Of course, he’s right.  

One time after a particularly long vacation, one of the cashiers walked up to me and said, “Oh thank God, we haven’t seen you in two weeks, we were worried about you!”  My younger son just looked at me and shook his head.  “Come here much, Mom?”  

You know, when I was a little girl, I always knew I would be successful.  I always thought how nice it would be to have some extra disposable income.  I thought I would use that extra income for baubles -- perhaps diamonds or rubies, something from Tiffany’s.  Maybe shoes or makeup or handbags  Something fancy.  It turns out -- not so much.  I donated my mink coat to PETA and stored my Louboutins.  Jewelry -- never got into it.  

I feel RICHEST when the refrigerators are full of fresh fruit, vegetables and cheese.  When I cook several trays of lasagna and they are in the downstairs freezer, I feel lightheaded with SUCCESS.  The moment I put the crockpot on in the morning before work, or stuff a roaster chicken on my lunch hour, I am giddy with achievement.  Making Christian’s lunches (four sandwiches, lots of fruit, granola bars, protein bars and Goldfish) every night makes me feel connected to a son who is 38 miles south of me all day at Don Bosco Prep, followed by crew practice.  I know he dips into those bags all day over the course of 12 hours.  When my younger son writes an essay about his favorite things and it turns out that one of them is Mom’s meatballs, I am complete.  And when my husband thanks me for getting 3 fresh meals into the family while working all day, I am a happy wife.

What can I say?  My grandmother always told me -- Food is Love.  I love making food, my family loves food, and Price Chopper is the temple of good fresh food.  Therefore, I visit it it daily.  (No, they didn’t pay me to write this blog LOL).

Have a great day everyone and, as always, Remember to Count your Blessings! <3 Mrs. Lo www.LoBiondoPage.Blogpsot.com  (Photo of one of my Sunday dinners)

THE BEST SATURDAY NIGHTS and THE LOVEBOAT

THE LOVEBOAT TAUGHT ME everything I needed to know about social life.  That’s because my best Saturday nights were spent watching the Mary Tyler Moore Show and eating cake at my grandmother’s big Victorian house in Cold Spring, along with my little brother.  There was a lot of “screen time” involved but it was quality screen time.  First up was “All in the Family,” followed by “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” (is there anyone over 45 who doesn’t get choked up when you hear that theme song?), and the Bob Newhart Show (“No way, Mom, you mean Poppa Elf had his own TV show??”)

Later on,  All in the Family was replaced by “The Jeffersons” (yes, I am doing this from memory).  Soon thereafter, “Rhoda” got her spinoff and “Good Times” came on the air.  Then in middle school, the Loveboat, possibly my favorite show of all time, came on the air, which was followed by Fantasy Island (if you don’t know who said, “De Plane, De Plane,” we probably can’t be friends).  We switched between Fantasy Island and Dallas, since there was no way to record shows back then (“Jeez, Mom, did you guys make pictures of cows on the walls of your cave too?”)

“Prime Time” on ABC in the 70’s really was prime time.  As kids, we  lived for Saturday nights.  Because it wasn’t just TV (or even great TV), it was time that we spent with our grandmother.  (Who wasn’t actually our grandmother, she was our great aunt but we didn’t know that for a long time -- and by then it didn’t matter).  And she didn’t so much spend Saturday nights with us as spoil the heck out of us.  Which was great because our parents both worked and liked to have a night off.  And Nellen (our grandma), also a former principal in Harlem, knew that “school can be stressful” and we needed a night where we could relax and unwind and be the stars of our own show.

We started off with trip to her library.  Yes, she had a full on real library with floor to ceiling shelves built into her home.  We absolutely loved it, it’s where I developed my love of books.  We could take out any book we wanted (she had tons of children’s books) and even take it home, as long as we brought it back because it was, after all, a library.  Then we could have whatever we wanted for dinner.  We generally chose steak and potatoes with jello or pudding.  The catch was we had to go into the kitchen and help her make it, which is where I developed my love of cooking.  Then we took tiny little cake pans and made tiny little cakes with frosting, which is where I developed my love of baked goods.

Finally, after eating and cleaning the kitchen, we headed upstairs to the big recliners where we tuned in for the first of our many shows.  We were allowed to watch until we fell asleep, something we were NOT allowed to do at home.  If 11 pm came and somehow we still weren’t asleep, we got to read a book until we fell asleep.

Saturday nights at Nellen’s were the most wonderful, magical evenings ever.  Those were the original “binge watching” sprees.  But we didn’t just watch, we talked about the shows and the commercials and laughed together.  Growing up, my ideas about marriage came from the Bunkers (each spouse must have their own armchair) and the Jeffersons (marry a man with a great mom so you can have a great mother in law, you don’t want to end up like Weezy).  My ideas about teen romance came from the Loveboat (you never know, the right fella could be in the next stateroom!).  Mary Tyler Moore gave me self confidence and taught me that I could be a reporter or anything else I wanted to be.  And I could turn the world on with a smile.

There weren’t really any families I wanted to emulate.  But that was okay because I had my own family.  And on Saturday nights we had our own super special family ritual.  I learned that all you need for a great family night was a steak, tiny frosted cakes, and a really great TV lineup.  Hey, ABC, isn’t it time to bring back the Loveboat?

Until then, have a great day everyone and, as always, Remember to Count Your Blessings! <3 Mrs. Lo  

My Son the Lifeguard?

Christian, my 15 year old son, recently got his Lifeguard Certification so that he could help me out at the free learn to swim clinic that I run at the Union Avenue pool, for underserved youth.  But wait, how did this happen?  Wasn’t it just yesterday I was giving him a bath in the kitchen sink?  Why do I still have little hooded bath towels and rubber duckies in my linen closet?

And Michael, my 12 year old, is one of our many volunteer swim helpers, they get in the pool and guide the younger pollywogs as Big Coach calls out the instructions.  I know that time flies when you’re just trying to make it from Point A to Point B, which is usually from Monday morning to Friday afternoon; or from breakfast dishes to getting dinner on the table.  

But nothing puts it in perspective like printing out your kid’s American Red Cross Lifeguard certificate.  And remembering all the times I took him to Mommy and Me water classes and little boy swim lessons.  All the times I took him to the Y just to swim laps.  All the rubber duckies I threw in the water time after time to get both my kids to go after them and learn to swim.  

And now my oldest is a lifeguard and my youngest is a swim helper, in a program that I founded with Coach Kennedy to teach underserved kids and kids with differing abilities to swim.   And the kids we taught to swim 3 years ago, who couldn’t even put their face in the water at first, are now swimming laps and helping instruct the younger kids.  Coach and I started the program so that we could help kids to pass the USRowing swim test, and learn the sport of rowing.  But the swim program has taken on a life of its own.  

Childhood drowning has been declared an epidemic by the Center for Disease Control.  The only way to eradicate it, is one  stroke at a time.

The program is run by America Rows and Swims Newburgh -- it’s not the family “business”, because it’s a not for profit, and the funds come from grants that I write to foundations.  But it is the family volunteer job, and we love it.  Learning to swim is a lifesaving skill.  To think that our family has had a little part in making the water safe for these children is a really gratifying feeling.  

As I walk around the pool and see my older son lifeguarding, so many kids volunteering in the water; Big Coach teaching the basics of swim safety skills, and other coaches teaching the 4 basic strokes; I see kids learning to swim whether they have Down Syndrome, autism, or a lack of funds, I am completely humbled to be the driving force, along with Coach Kennedy, behind this program.  I hope my kids will see what I see:  doing good is its own reward.  And I guess yeah, we don’t need the hooded bath towel or the rubber duckies anymore.

Have a great day, everyone and, as always Remember to Count Your Blessings!  <3 Mrs. Lo www.LoBiondoPage.Blogspot.com

Kidani Village Disney Vacation Club Review by Mrs. Lo

We LOVED the Disney Vacation Club’s Kidani Village Resort at Animal Kingdom! Our mid winter break included a 5 day stay at Kidani Village and 5 days at DVC’s Vero Beach resort, it was the perfect blend of Disney FUN and lying on the beach doing nothing.

We are Disney Vacation Club members; our home resorts are the Grand Floridian (Orlando) and Aulani (Hawaii).  This means we stay for free at any Disney Vacation Club resort for 50 years.  We have stayed at many DVC resorts, including Animal Kingdom Lodge, this was our first time at Kidani Village.  Kidani is located next to Jambo House, the big, beautiful towering structure known as Animal Kingdom Lodge.

There is a shuttle going back and forth between Jambo House and the Village about every 10 minutes, or you could walk it’s about 10 minutes. We like one bedroom DVC villas because they are so spacious.  One bedroom villas have a full kitchen, 2 bathrooms and easily sleeps 4 people.  Like the Grand Floridian villas, Kidani has its own lobby (styled after Jambo house); concierge; grocery and souveneir store, and Animal viewing area.

In the morning, you can bring your refillable mug down to the grocery store and get free coffee, tea or fountain drinks.  You can also purchase bagels, muffins or breakfast sandwiches.  That’s only in the morning, after that, you have to go up to Jambo house for refills and quick service meals.  There is a fabulous (but expensive) restaurant at Kidani Village, called Sanaa, it is mostly Indian cuisine, with some African dishes.

We like to stop at a major grocery store like Publix on the way in from the airport and stock up on groceries.  As DVC members, you can go online and order groceries which will then be stocked when you arrive in your room.  However, selection is limited and you will pay Disney prices for your groceries.  We always eat breakfast in our DVC villa and often I make sandwiches or salads for lunch.  One of the reasons we bought into the DVC was so that we could have more space and I could have a kitchen and laundry machines.  Kitchns are fully stocked with plates and cooking items.  Kidani also has a cute little member lounge in addition to the lobby.

I loved waking up early and coming down to the Animal viewing area to have my coffee.  The animals roam free around the property and there are scientists there to take care of them and answer your questions.  There is also a campfire in the viewing area at night.

There are two Savannahs where the animals roam:  Sunset and Pembe.  Sunset is bordered by Jambo House but the Pembe Savannah is just at Kidani Village.  I believe all one bedrooms and up have a Savannah view.

The pools at Kidani are especially beautiful.  However, the best pools in the DVC system are far and away at Aulani in Hawaii.  The next best would be Beach Club Villas.  At the Kidani resort, you can see Anikole Cattle, Giraffes,

Zebra, Wildebeest, Ostriches, and the African Crane, and sometimes the Okape.   There are both day tours and night tours for guests, you go in the back of a jeep with caretakers.  During the night tour, you wear night goggles.

While at Kidani, we were easily able to visit all 4 parks, plus Disney Springs.  We have annual passes.  As DVC members, we are offered hefty discounts on annual passes, to the point where an annual pass, good for all

365 days of the year, to Disney World costs less than the retail price of one full day in the Disney parks.  We went to Animal Kingdom by Disney bus our first day.  The second day we took a bus to the Magic Kingdom, then a monorail to Epcot.  We drove to Disney Springs (formerly Downtown Disney) in our rental car.  And we also ended up driving to Hollywood Studios, just to change it up a bit.

The food at Sanaa was delicious but our absolute favorite in the Animal Kindgdom resorts area remains Boma.  The most delicious African inspired cuising you could ask for, and it is all served in unlimited buffet style.  Boma is located at Jambo House.

All in all, I give Kidani Village 4.5 stars.  The only reason I can’t give it 5 stars is because I have to reserve that for the Grand Floridian and Aulani.

Next week, my review of the DVC in Vero Beach.

We stayed for free as DVC members but the front desk advised that Studio Villas rent for about $700 per night and one bedrooms for about $900 per night that time of the year.

I should add there is also a gym (which my son used and said was “OK”), tennis courts, basketball, an arcade, and lots of fun activities for the kids scheduled throughout the day and night.  By far the best part was sitting there and watching the animals roam.

Have a great day, everyone and, as always remember to Count Your Blessings!  <3 Mrs. Lo

Mrs. Lo's Musings on Motherhood

My husband recently made a mini-grocery run for me, knowing I would be coming back late from Salsa class with our older son.  “Look,” he said beaming, “I got you cold cuts for the week!”  It was such a sweet gesture and he was so proud I didn’t have the heart to tell my loving husband that one pound of turkey would be gone in less than 24 hours.  But he’s right, there was a time when a pound of turkey and a package of cheese would get us through the week.  When our kids were infants.

Feeding active children is similar to being the chief engine operator on a locomotive train.  Not that I have ever been in a locomotive train but in all the movies, there is some guy shoveling coal into an engine pit on a regular basis.  That is how I imagine my job as a mother, at least as it pertains to food.  

It all starts the night before.  I make the lunches for the kids, with Christian needing 4 sandwiches -- two with cold cuts, and two PB and J’s.  Michael prefers wraps (bye pound of turkey!).  I then shove any dinner leftovers into the cleanest tupperware I can find so Anthony and I can split lunch the next day (yes, we are frugal and proud of it!).  Then I defrost something I can throw into the crockpot or the deep covered baker the next day.  My life is a constant shape shifting of defrosting and cooking.  One misstep and we are all coming come to frozen beef cubes instead of a pot of beef stew.  

It seems like just yesterday I was mashing up bananas for my babies and MARVELING that they could eat half a banana.  Or paying the extra dollar for “Yo-Baby” organic yogurt (totally not worth it by the way).  My theory was, the kids will eat whatever we eat, so I would mash fruit and vegetables, then fish and chicken with my little hand blender, and feed it to them.  No baby food.  I was just so proud of myself.  This system worked great.  Until it didn’t.

Michael, my youngest, was 5 months old when I mashed up some tilipia and gave it to him for dinner.  He took a spoonful and smiled at me.  Then he turned pink.  Then red splotches broke out all over.  Then he simply blew up to twice his size and with his little overblown rolls of fat looked like a baby Michelin man.  Thank God we are 5 minutes from a major hospital.  We blew into St. Luke’s on Dubois Street and didn’t even have to stop at admissions.  The nurse took one look at us and said “JUST GO!”  The wonderful doctors and nurses got the epi in him and with some benadryl and a promise to never feed him whitefish without medical clearance, we were back home in a few hours.  Anthony and I were stressed out of our minds, but not Baby Michael.  He didn’t even cry.  He just laughed and cooed even when he was getting stuck with needles.  Such a happy baby.  He still is a happy go lucky kid.

And, hard to believe, my happy baby will be turning 12 on Wednesday.  All parents say the same thing, but really, where does the time go?  It just went.  And I will continue to defrost and shovel -- I mean feed -- my kids for as long as they’re under my roof.  And even then I think I’ll find a way to mail them dinner.  Because -- if you haven’t figure out my theory on life yet -- Food is Love.  Have a great day everyone and as always Remember to Count Your Blessings! <3 Mrs. Lo    

(photo from Kennebunkport Maine 2008, Boys ages 4 and 8)