Changes: From Wide Ranging Views to Staring At My Bellybutton

A welcome alternative to the coin operated rides on Broadway, and which Little Joe enjoyed just as much, despite the lack of music and paint.

Perhaps in need of a major overhaul, but for esthetics, give me an old fashioned carriage anyday over a luxury Bugaboo. It even comes with its own diaper bag.

So it must be clear to anyone who has followed my blog for any length of time that I am currently unable to blog more than once or twice a week now that I am employed full-time. And for this I feel truly guilty. Like I'm letting people down. Although it's not like my blog fills a need in the neighbourhood - residents have Bed Stuy Blog for events and reviews of local businesses and new blogs like I Love Franklin Avenue for historical info and interviews. But I miss writing about and photographing our hood after our weekly family walk, which Big Joe no longer has time to do with me, plus the energy and free time I have on the weekends only allows me to traverse the few blocks surrounding our brownstone.

Which is funny because when I started this blog, just under two years ago, that's all that I was interested in blogging about - our subway station, the neighbours on our block, the laundromat, the playground, the school our son is zoned for, the nearby supermarket. And now after walking every street in the neighbourhood, here I am once again, my world of Bed-Stuy reduced to a couple of square miles. Not that I have any less to say, I'm still as verbose as ever, it's just that it may be more personal and less Bed-Stuy related. And a lot less frequent. Hopefully in the fall, we'll be back to our weekly walks, once Big Joe is working only one job. But until then we're on summer programming lite without the re-runs. So stay tuned if you want to hear the completely subjective and possibly mundane details of my life, or see if we're back to the neighbourhood programming when the leaves change colour and fall off the trees.

And with that rousing intro, here's this weekend's post:

After last year's birthday fiasco when my trauma over turning 40 made everyone around me miserable - this year's birthday was a welcome relief. First of all, Little and Big Joe made me a beautiful birthday card and then I worked all day at my new job followed by my new workslot at the Park Slope Food Co-op which was gloriously empty as everyone must have been enjoying the balmy summer evening. Work - that's the answer to ridiculous birthday expectations. And besides, we'd been celebrating all week - last weekend it was my 'fake birthday' as Little Joe called it where he made Big Joe buy me more flowers since the last bouquet in celebration of my new job made me so happy. And then we had an impromptu dinner at a vegan restaurant after a successful round of couples therapy - our first session in which neither of us felt like murdering the other or bursting into tears directly after.

And then today we had a perfect belated birthday celebration going to see the new Harry Potter. After NY Magazine called this film, 'this summer's Batman' in regards to what they thought was a ridiculously inappropriate rating for this film (PG) considering the scary imagery, I was having second thoughts about bringing along our four year old. And when I saw that every single person in line was an adult, even though it was 3pm on a Saturday, it was too late because Little Joe was wildly excited - he's only watched all the previous Harry Potter films a quazillion times and we'd paid nine bucks for his ticket.

However we had nothing to worry about. He wasn't scared in the least. But what I hadn't bargained on was that he'd find the film so confusing and demand to have just about every detail of the film explained to him. Big Joe and I missed at least half the movie whispering the a truncated version of the story into our son's ears and the people surrounding us must have been ready to strangle us. But the three of us still had a great time, eating the organic popcorn I'd made at home and smuggled in. And then after, we caught the train to Williamsburg, had a yummy $3 falafel dinner followed by equally cheap and amazing Peter Pan donuts in Greenpoint for dessert. I was completely and utterly content. If we can manage to have so much fun on so little (minus the incredibly expensive movie tickets which are a once in a blue moon treat), surely we'll be able to save money for our son's college education - something we hadn't even considered possible until this point in time.

And besides, while we were tightening our belts this winter, we appreciated the occasional treat like a slice of pizza or a dollar toy at Pearl River all the more. Things we'd taken for granted when on a larger budget. Or a romantic date being a thermos of tea from home and stroll and chat by the Hudson River. The money makes things easier for sure but it's the simple pleasures like making toys out of cardboard, gardening, exploring our neighbourhood, and just spending quality time together that we value the most.