Dear Diary - The Manocha Chronicles

Hill Street Blues

2009-07-07T00:33:00.005-04:00

Dear Diary,

The clothes are on the shelves.
The toys are in the dresser.
The fish is in a Jar.
The gecko is in a tank.

The beds are full of air
The chair is sometimes a bed
The windows have linens
The lights have scarves

The stairs are steep
The locked door has a curtain
The keys are in the turtle
The dog lives downstairs; the cat up

The coats are in the hamper
The shoes are on the shelves
The tv has two remotes; the other has none
The walls frame the art

The clock tells the wrong time
The microwave is on top of the fridge
The toaster and radio boast Hello Kitty
The cats food is in china

The west side is summer
The east side is winter
The south side sees beach and
The north side is partition

Three people
Three pets
Three rooms
22-2 Hill Street

Me

Fantastic Fireworks

2009-07-05T10:07:00.003-04:00

Dear Diary,

Grandpa, Bill, Arick and I went to the Renegades game at Dutchess Stadium on July 3. The tickets are very affordable for anyone looking for something to do with the family. If you look at the schedule you can see what nights they do fireworks. There is also a Rascal's kids club!

The endgame fireworks were FANTASTIC!

Arick and I were distracted easily by everything. First Arick was doing the bouncy rides. Then we were aggravated by my mis-placing our money to spend. Arick had fried dough and we all had hotdogs. Grandpa and Bill had beer. Finally we were settled and watching the game. We saw a double play! There were several attempts to steal bases by the Renegades players but they mostly were picked off. We had t-shirts and cotton candy fired at us (the crowd) and they had a bouncing lottery ball game. One of several numbered balls were bounced around randomly until the music stopped. Whoever had that ball won something. We didn't win. A friendly person in the crowd had a small beach ball that he inflated and that was tossed around in just our section. This became quite entertaining and started to draw other children. It became such a distraction I started to wonder if the players were affected. The ball started to deflate from the abusive swatting but I had sit, click, drive! stickers with me and we used them to block up the busting seams and the ball swtting continued until the fireworks started.

Did I mention that sfter the game there were FANTASTIC FIREWORKS!

In hindsight, I wish I had contacted security earlier to mention that Arick -one of the Sit, Click, Drive! kids was in attendance and ask if he could say to the audience at the end of the game to remember to wear their seatbelt. I am going to remember to do this at our next event.

Me

PS
Did I mention the fireworks were fantastic!

Definitions of Clean

2009-07-01T11:27:00.004-04:00

Dear Diary,

Definition of house clean found at Merriam Webster online" a clean house:

intransitive verb 1 : to clean a house and its furniture 2 : to get rid of unwanted or undesirable items or people transitive verb 1 : to clean the surfaces and furnishings of 2 : to improve or reform by ridding of undesirable people or practices

— house·clean·ing noun

My definitions of Clean:

Clean - when you can move any item (furniture, kitchen counter appliances) and not find a hidden treasure of crumbs, dust or other surprising items.

Surface Clean - After sweeping, vacuuming, mopping, dishes and counter wipes so that when you look but don't touch, everything appears to be clean before you really clean.

Clutter Clean - when the scattered items are in categorized piles waiting to be surface cleaned.

Food, Laundry, Garbage Clean - when you gather laundry and dirty dishes to be washed and garbage to be taken out so that you can find the clutter to clean.

Stealth Clean - when you throw blankets over piles of clutter and laundry or buy room dividers to block the view.

Adrenaline Clean - the magical ingredient that enables you to go from any degree of clean to one higher degree of cleanliness when you receive news of unexpected visitors.

Dinner Party Clean - what you do when you want to avoid Adrenaline Clean. Book a dinner party at your place to motivate you to achieve the top degree of Clean before they arrive.

Teenager Clean - "what mess, it looks fine to me"

Mother-in-Law clean - same as dinner party clean.

Baby Clean - this is the clean that is achieved only after Clean is achieved and addresses all of the tiny invisible clusters of germs that cannot be seen but are taken care of so a baby can crawl on the floor.

Me

P.S.

There is also UN-clean: when there are so many UN-identifed objects not where they belong scattered in such a manner that someone who doesn't know you might consider you have been ransacked.

Cassette?

2009-06-27T23:54:00.003-04:00

Dear Diary,

We took a leisurely drive to Margaretville today to visit a favorite store of Patrick's called Rocko's. During the drive we lost cell phone reception and radio reception. As you know, my car (cricket) is very old and it does not have a CD player but a rarely used cassette player. Patrick offerred to hook up his mini laptop to play music through the radio if we still had the old converter tape in the glove box. We asked Arick to check the glove box for the cassette adapter for us and he looked at us with big eyes and completely confused. It was not just I that felt old, but Patrick who is all of 17 years old did too as we realized Arick had no clue what a cassette looked like or what it was used for.

Cassette?

Me

Why pay for cable and internet service when you can watch cable tv online with your internet?

2009-06-26T15:47:00.004-04:00

Dear Diary,

I knew I loved the internet. I figured out how to watch oodles of my favorite shows online for FREE.

Tips

Look for FULL VIDEO or FULL LENGTH so you don't keep getting clips
Most have short (30 sec) commercials before you can click on a specific episode to watch
CBS, Discovery is the least friendly with full episodes
I don't trust any other sites other than the actual Channel's website for viewing
Some sites limit the length of time the most current episode is available. (like 2 weeks)

Just some sites I had time to make links for....

Watch ABC TV online

Watch NBC TV online

Watch CBS TV online

Watch USA TV online

Watch FOX TV online

Watch Nick TV online

Watch Disney Videos online

Watch Disney TV online

Watch Cartoon Network online

Watch Lifetime Movies or TV online

Watch Discovery TLC Animal Planet online
There is just way too much to do on the Discover Channel besides videos. Look around!

Watch CNN news videos online

Watch ABC FAMILY online

Watch TV LAND online

Watch SCI FI online

Me

Signature

2009-06-26T12:33:00.005-04:00

Dear Diary,
Today I learned how to label a hyperlink. I had so much fun with it that my signature block in my emails have oodles of my favorite links. I will probably update this list over time.

Me

Susan Manocha
845.943.8827 cell

LOSE WEIGHT NOW, ASK ME HOW!
I lost 30lbs since January....

Sit, Click, Drive! wins NYS seat belt Slogan Contest!
Saugerties kids create words to live by
Statewide seatbelt slogan winner: Sit, Click, Drive!

Arick on the Future

Opus 40 - A Monumental Vision of Half a Lifetime

188888

2009-06-25T09:18:00.002-04:00

Dear Diary,
My car odometer turned 188888 today.

I stopped at the gate as I left OPUS 40 from picking up the boys and snapped a picture.

I found it fun to look at this series of 8's but I was really thinking about how my car only had 75,000 or so miles on it when I rolled it off the lot at Friendly Honda in Kingston. Wow - I really drove over one hundred thousand miles in the last 5 years. I am happy to have had great car care over the years from Honda Repair on Broadway, Steyers in Saugerties and Bruce in Mt. Marion. Yes, laziness led me to Jiffy Lube for oil and inside and out cleanings! Many and ongoing thanks to the many rescues from AAA (keys, flats and breakdowns). New tires from Van Kleecks and of course gas from Stewarts and my buddy who pumps it in the plaza.

Top Ten Favorite Moments
10. Placing my first bumber sticker on the rear bumper.
9. Teaching Arick how to help use the sprayer and vacuum at the car wash self serve.
8. Getting stuck in the snowbank at OPUS not once but several times in one season earning the good bye chant - "Stay away from the snowbanks" from the people who have dug me out.
7. Getting rid of the car seat groves from the properly installed tightly belted car seat that could be removed permanently.
6. Watching Stephanie drive away with my car never really knowing what condition the car would come back in.
5. Watching Arick turn my car into a fort by putting the back seats down and filling it with "stuff" to play with.
4. Using Duct Tape to hide that spare key - and using it several times.
3. Getting slightly rear ended because beginner driver was reading my bumper stickers.
2. Adding Sit, Click, Drive! stickers to various locations on the outside of the car along with adding car door magnets for the Weight Loss Challenges supplementing the already tacky rear bumper stickers!
and my all time favorite -
1. Seeing my car covered in silly string at random times over the years.

Me

Duct Tape, the Key

2009-06-21T02:02:00.003-04:00

Dear Diary,
Like clockwork, I have managed to keep the predictability of one of my most annoying habits alive. My morning was uneventful until I tried to leave for my WLC class. A thorough attempt to find my keys led me to the famous deja vu destination of standing outside the driver's side car door peering inside only to obtain confirmation that I had indeed left them in the ignition yet AGAIN -and locked them inside the car. It was not enough that I found out recently (in February) that I had maxed out my AAA membership calling for help. It was not enough that I only had one spare copy left and it was not THAT convenient to have it driven to me on a semi regular basis.

I made the call, waited, thanked, and drove away heading straight for the car dealership to have more keys made. I have to admit those copies are sitting in my purse waiting to be dispersed to strategic people, but I have a back up plan and it involves duct tape.

Me

www.kellymillercircus.com

2009-06-18T22:57:00.000-04:00

Dear Diary,
It was a dreary rainy day today. The thought of going to the circus knowing that the grounds would be a muddy mess was unmotivating, however when Arick's excited voice called to finalize the evening plans there was no chance of canceling. As expected, we arrived to puddles and mud and mushy grounds seeping with brown water. Some places had layers of hay attempting to provide some coverage of the muddy ground. We paid an extra $2 for ring side seats.

I have to say the show was very exciting for a one ring circus. The opening act of Bengal Tigers was riveting. At one point the five tigers were lying on their sides on the ground to roll over in sync. One was not in sync and one tiger growled and snapped at the one in his way that moved too slow. There were awesome clowns, a cool juggler, a hula girl, some acrobatic rope girls, Flying Fernandez trapeze boys, Eskimo dogs, an elephant dog and of course performing elephants.

I have to say I have never been so close to an elephants ass before. That is what my two dollars got me with the ring side seating. The elephants went parading by doing their stunts spinning around and placing their front feet on the butt of the one in front of them. I couldn't believe how freaking close the elephants were to our seats. I was glued to my seat waiting for the slip of the elephant and the moment of getting squashed. I thought I was scared when the tiger snapped but the elephants tail swinging inches from our faces left me scared stiff and will be an image that will take some time to fade.

I am off to bed wondering what strange dreams may come after this evening at the circus.

Me

Patrick's Beard

2009-06-18T09:38:00.000-04:00

Dear Diary,
As a mother, I have reached a milestone that I was not prepared for.

My first born is growing a full beard....

I have always been fond of beards but my maternal instinct is to pluck it when he is sleeping.

Me

Sit, Click, Drive!

2009-06-17T17:02:00.001-04:00

Dear Diary,
I apologize for the lack of entries. There has been much to report, however I have been distracted with life's adventures. I have incredible news. Yesterday, Arick was on the front page of the Kingston Daily Freeman for his co-authorship of the seat belt slogan that has won the New York State slogan contest, "Get Kids to Ride Safe". It was a wonderful article and can be found at www.dailyfreeman.com under the title Saugerties Kids Create Words To Live By.

It is a proud moment for any parent and the world will be forever changed by these three words:
Sit, Click, Drive!

Me

PS
An earlier article was posted at www.examiner.com under the title Statewide seatbelt slogan winner: Sit, Click, Drive!.

Chronicle Defined

2008-12-04T11:02:00.000-05:00

Dear Diary,

Today I have decided to start a blog! A blog needs a name and I have dubbed my blog the Manocha Chronicles.

According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, the definition of chronicle is "an historical account of events arranged in order of time usually without analysis or interpretation"

The goal of this blog will be to indeed enter events that will occur in order of time as they unfold. The events will have to decide their own historical value and whether they are analyzed or interpreted.