henry...

(Henry's first shower- he loves to take showers now. he digs the tile work and fancy faucets)


...we are in the throes of the "terrible two's," but i don't love him any less.

vultures.

These giant birds have been hanging out in the marsh behind our house. They are vultures, I think. When they spread their wings, the span must be at least five and a half feet. There is an old dead tree on the other side of the marsh from our yard; I call it the "Georgia O'Keefe Tree" because it reminds me of her paintings- although it is actually more Dali-esque... anyhow, the vultures have been congregating on and around this dead tree. About six of them. Every once in awhile they take turns swooping around in circles up to the deep part of the river and then back again. Mike thinks it is some sort of ominous sign, but I don't like to think this way. I like to think that this is just nature at work. It is a cycle.

portal to hell.

The kids and I are sequestered in my bedroom right now because there are three plumbers drilling holes through my kitchen floor. One thing that doesn't go with three male plumbers is 'nipples.' That's right. When you are a nursing mommy certain situations prove themselves to be a bit awkward. I just don't feel comfortable whipping my boobs out in front of just anybody. I lured Henry in from his dirt pile in the backyard with the promise of allowing him to watch one of his dvd's. He proceeded to repeat "rock garden" over and over again. I eventually figured out that this meant "motorcycle". I am slowly becoming fluent in Henry.
He loves this collection of dvds that his grammy got him for easter last year. Construction vehicles, construction sites, motorcycles, monster trucks, fire trucks. You get the idea. Testosterone type stuff. Each one is led by a "genie" that accompanies two kids on an adventure. They are all super creepy to me. I told Henry that if a man that looks like this "genie" ever approaches him, he must yell "stranger danger" and run away as fast as he can. The construction site one actually sends a chill down my spine. Something about it is just "off." I truly believe this dvd could be a portal to hell. Seriously.

kidlet update.

I must be dreaming because it is 9:39 pm and I'm sitting on the couch enjoying a glass of wine while both of the children are sleeping in their rooms. Yes. Annie is sleeping. In her crib. Amazing! It has taken a long time to get to this point, but just in the last three weeks there has been a big change in her. She started sitting up without toppling over two weeks ago. She started eating solids maybe about three and a half weeks ago. Her pediatrician gave us the go ahead, and she was so interested in what we were eating, when we were eating (to the point of emulating chewing and drooling all over herself) that we decided she was ready. I gave her the rice cereal maybe once or twice and just jumped right in to the regular first foods. Three days of one thing exclusively, beginning with pears, then applesauce, then bananas, then squash, and now we are on to green peas! She is such a good little eater, she has a meal of a veggie and a fruit once a day. She could probably do more, but for now I don't want to mess up my milk supply so for now I'm going to keep it to one meal of solids. She has never taken a bottle and seems ready for the cup (she grabs the rinsing cup when I'm bathing her and tries to sip from it), so I have a sippy cup ready to go for the next time I have to leave her during a feeding.

Henry's words have also started just spilling out. We are so thrilled! Whole sentences are coming now, complete with prepositions. He is saying the funniest things. My favorites are 'back-pack' (it sounds like 'pack-back'), 'spit ball' ('speet bawl' our new nickname for auntie beth!) and 't-ball' (sounds like 'speed ball' hmm.). He loves the Velvet Underground and tries to sing along to 'Run,Run, Run' complete with reverb and screeching guitar sounds. I love it. We started potty training last weekend and that is going pretty well. He is enrolled to start preschool in the fall at Trinity. It is a five day a week half-day program. He is so excited about this, and I can't wait for him to make some little friends. He is such a sweet little boy and just an awesome kid all-around.

Sorry to bore everyone with this stuff, but I hadn't updated in so long, and so much has happened worth noting. I love to be able to look back on Henry's first year here so I can remember when he first started sitting up and what his first foods were. I haven't updated as much with Annie because I'm so much busier now, so I had to squeeze in some news. My birthday was yesterday- I'm 32 now. And every year life just gets better and better, if that's possible.

been busy.

My brother said I needed to update this space; funny, coming from someone who updates their blog quarterly. I digress.
So I've been super busy raising two kidlets in such a way that I hope will lead them to be sympathetic, honest, fun, creative, intelligent, hard-working, inspired individuals with good ethics and excellent manners. This takes constant supervision and action on my part. It leaves me too tired to blog. Secondly, I've been busy cleaning up their messes. You wouldn't believe the amount of mess that such little people are capable of creating. It is mind-boggling. And often-times it really, really stinks. One of those kids hasn't ever taken a bottle, so I've been feeding her solely with my body for the past four and a half months. This is also tiresome. It does give me computer time, because I peruse the intranet on the old ibook when she's nursing. But it is never enough time to blog using any sort of serious thought. So I waste my time on facebook. and dlisted. She has just started solids, though, and is even sitting up! Before I know it, she'll be an angry adolescent who refuses to speak to me in any sort of meaningful capacity. I presume I'll be able to begin regular blogging at least by then. I have also been staying up late to work on new collage pieces for an art show at the New Belmont. It is in honor of women's history month. I am by no means really an historical woman, per se, but I am a feminist and I have squeezed two babies out of my vagina. Somehow this pre-qualified me to be in the show. I'm very pleased with the work- come and check it out, friends!

for my friends who are having problems with verizon... CEO's email address and phone # to his assistant.

*note- Quite some time ago Mike and I were charged by Verizon for services that we never received. After dealing with a year of total bullshit from them we had had enough. I did a bit of sleuthing online and found the verizon ceo's email address. After a year of total b.s. I sent an email to this man, and approximately a half an hour later I received an email from his assistant... needless to say, it pays to be persistent: it was all resolved within a couple of months. here is a copy of my email. The ceo's email address follows... I have never felt closer to hell than I did when dealing with this customer service nightmare...


"need customer service here!‏
From: marissa DiGirolamo (marissadigirolamo@hotmail.com)
Sent: Tue 5/20/08 4:46 PM
To: ivan.seidenberg@verizon.com; ivan.seidenberg@core.verizon.com
Cc: marissadigirolamo@hotmail.com

May 20, 2008

Mr. Seidenberg,

I am contacting you after having exhausted and re-exhausted all of the other possible
avenues of arriving at a solution to my dilemma. What I have on my hands here is to
me nothing short of a customer service nightmare in which I am sinking in the depths of
a 'no-exit' sort of purgatory, and am desperately seeking resolution. I am hoping that you
may be able to assist me and my family.

My husband and I were satisfied Verizon customers until we decided we no longer needed
our home phone (because we had our trusty Verizon Wireless). We wished to keep our Verizon
Internet service intact, but were told that this service would have to be disconnected and a "dry loop"
would have to be installed in its place to accommodate the connection lost when we cancelled our
telephone service. This was fine, however after weeks of our reconnection date being rolled back,
we decided we could no longer live happily or productively without our internet and proceeded to
terminate our relationship with your company. This was on February 6, 2007.

During the month of July in 2007 we received a letter from a debt collector stating that
they were attempting to collect a debt for Verizon in the amount of $89.85. We were shocked,
as our account was paid in full through the time of cancellation. Upon contacting your company,
Sir, to try to determine what this charge was, it was revealed that we had been charged $29.95
during the months of February, March, and April of 2007 for the dry-loop service which was
never even established! This amounted totalled $89.85, and we were told that it was a misunderstanding
and our account would be credited and the debt collector would be notified. No problem.
Except that this same exact predicament has occurred three more times, with a grand total of four
times. This amounts to At Least approximately nine hours of phone calls speaking with representatives
and being shuffled around from various Verizon company departments here and abroad. Multiply these
approximate nine hours , by oh, about 89.85 and you might understand the amount of headaches, frustration, and stress this has caused. Did I mention that I am five months pregnant? Doesn't it bother you that your fine
company is causing such stress in the lives of pregnant women? I spent an hour and a half this morning
speaking with pleasant Cheryl in Pennsylvania and quiet Ciolat and 'trying to be helpful' Mohammed in
India who told me this would be resolved. However I have heard these words before, and I am not
convinced this will ever go away.

Which is why I am writing to you. The account # in question is ********70957547. That is the account #
which was assigned to the dry loop connection that never existed. Our old telephone # at the
time was 757 *** 1785. The account # associated with that number was *********772 00Y. The
account was in my husband's name, *****l DiGirolamo. It is under that account # above that the three erroneous charges of $29.95 appear. My husband who works very hard has wasted so many of his lunch
breaks so that he could try to resolve this, because your department which handles such calls is only open
from 8am until 6pm, which are the hours of his workday. It was his name on the account, so he
has been the one who has had to call all of these times. We are about to begin construction on
our home, and it would be horrible if an error on the part of your company, sir, has blemished our
credit and endangered this endeavor. This "dry loop" which was never even created but for which we have
been charged and made to suffer for have made me feel like I am trapped in just that: a dry-loop,
Mr. Seidenberg.

Please let me know if you can be of any assistance in this matter. I have a blog that is really just a small
blog; but my stat counter reveals that I get an average of about 40 unique visitors a day. Not a lot, really,
but wouldn't it be great if you could resolve the matter and I could post your reply letter of help so that all
of my visitors could see what a great CEO you are and read about how Verizon is a fine company after all?
If this doesn't work then I will have to do the contrary, only after contacting my local state regulators.
Really, thank you in advance for any help you may be able to provide.

Regards,

Marissa DiGirolamo"


What follows is the message back I received from the CEO's assistant:


"Dear Mrs. DiGirolamo:

Thank you for your recent correspondence to Ivan Seidenberg, Chairman of Verizon. I have been asked to respond on his behalf.

I am sorry that you have had such a difficult time in resolving a billing issue related to cancelled DSL service. I will be happy to insure that it has been cared for, I would like the opportunity to discuss with you. Please call be at your earliest convenience on 1(800) 483-5288 or directly on the number below.

Thank you,
Lois O'Connor
VERIZON
Executive Customer Relations
(212) 321-8459"

Please note that it still took a couple of months for the issue to be resolved. It was obnoxiously frustrating, but I do think it is over. I hope. (if not, I think I know who to contact.)

I hope this helps anyone who is having problems with Verizon.

blahblahblahblah. I've got the winter blahs. (And btw I'm sick of facebook now- haha, go figure.) I am really ready for the spring. And some sleep would be nice, too.

a rare encounter:

My sweet babies.

unicorns!! and rainbows!!!!!!!

This reminds me of when I was a kid and collected stickers. And stuck them everywhere, much to my mom's dismay. Once I got a hello kitty stamp, and stamped a million hello kitties onto my bedroom door. It is what little girls do! Here is a grown-up version:


(hit the cornify button)

marissa is.... addicted to facebook.

i am sort of addicted to facebook. my eyes are going to roll out of my head. and i know i'm not alone on this one.

People (especially people who don't even know what it is) scoff at this, but whatever. As a
C.A.S.A.H.M. (cool ass stay at home mom) it is such a wonderful way to feel connected, socially, to the rest of the world.
It is warming my heart to reconnect with old friends whom I'd lost touch with. How in the world did C.A.S.A.H.M.'s survive
without this wonderful world wide web?? How??