The Big White Van and The Funny Little Man Cont'd...

Hi Everyone!  So last time I was telling you about the day when Ma told Pops that she had quit her job and bought that big van right? And that guy who was in the van came into our house, Ma introduced him to us as Stuart and said that he was one of the guys she takes care of at The Independent Living Centre where she now worked, it was one of those group homes for mentally and physically challenged people who are able to go out on daytrips and stuff. Pops just stood there looking dumbfounded. I could tell right away that he and Stuart were not going to be best buddies by the way they looked at each other. Stuart stuck his tongue out at Pops and Pops snarled at him in response.  "Barney, be nice!" Ma told him.  Stuart asked Ma if he could go get the others and she told him certainly.  Now Pops started questioning Ma,"Others? What others? Babe, where did you get the money for that thing in the driveway?"  Ma told him "Well Barn, I put aside some of the money from Papa and I had some saved up too. I really need the van Barney, for the "special guys".  "Special guys?" Pops asked with a kind of creeped out tone to his voice, "What is so special about them may I ask, Babe?"  Ma smiled a knowing smile, "Oh, you'll see Barney, you'll see."   "I don't like the sound of that!" Pops grunted.  "So Babe, I hope this job pays better than the hair salon?"  Ma looked uncomfortable, "Actually Barney it pays just a little, tiny bit less..."  Pops looked pissed now, "Oh just how much is a little bit Babe?"  Before Ma could answer, Stuart came back in only this time he wasn't alone, 4 other guys piled in after him. Bruno started to giggle and Ma shot him a look. Two were in motorized wheelchairs and the other ones could walk but were all what we called back then, "handicapped". Sorry if I am not being politically correct-Ma liked to call them "differently-abled". :)  Pops looked as though someone had pulled his pants down. My father has never been someone who is comfortable with "different" people so this was too much for him!  Ma introduced the rest of the guys to us as Eddy, Arnold, Bobby, and Larry.  They were actually pretty cool as it turned out, but Pops didn't think so  It also turned out that Ma was making $4 an hour less, which to Pops was a big deal, especially since he had lost his job. He also announced that day his plans to open up his own barber shop in the basement, that was the story he told Ma to explain the barber pole he "found". Of course he had to listen to Nonna lecturing him about how he would never be a success and that he was a fool who...."ruined my daughter's life" once again. My little Italian grandmother with the big mouth-I will tell you about her next time.....ciao

The Big White Van and The Funny Little Man....

Ma's New Ride

Hey Guys-today I wanted to share a funny little story about my Ma.  Since I told you all about Pops last time, I thought today I would tell you about Ma. My mother, Babetta Bonzerelli Baffilini is the most loving person I know. Everyone calls her "Babe" by the way. She looks something like Ginny Sacramento on the Sopranos (I'm hoping you know who that is).  Ma is the type of nurturing soul who just loves to look after anyone and anything.  She really never got angry, instead she is more of a crier and always tries to make peace. I don't know how many time I heard "Now we are all friends here.." when I was growing up. Ma is a proud Italian-American, we had both flags outside our house...and a devout Catholic, we even had the statues of saints in our garden!  She loved to knit us stuff and once she even sent us to school wearing matching "Kiss Me, I'm Italian" t-shirts, my bro Tony beat up some geeks and stole their shirts just so we could ditch those things!  Anyhow, remember the story about Pops? Well, it just so happened that on that same day Ma had some news of her own. Nonna arrived, and was now busy telling Pops he was no good and "ruined my daughter's life" a phrase we had heard just about every time she and Pops were anywhere near each other.  Just then, Tony came in from out front and said, "Hey whose big white van is that parked outside?"  Pops, who was already livid stormed to look out and started cursing saying "Ah, bugger! If they think they can just use my drive as a &%$# parking lot, then I'll just...."  Then Ma stepped in sheepishly, blushing and said "It's my van, Barney."  Pops kept going on and then fell silent.  "Whoa, back up Babe. I must be imagining things because I could have sworn you said that van was YOURS."  Ma nodded guiltily,"Yes Barney, it is mine. I bought it because I need it, I need it for my...new job."  Pops exploded "New job? What the hell happened to your old job Babe?"  Ma had been a hairstylist, but hated it.  "I quit my job Barn, and now I have a job I love." Just then the horn from the van honked outside. We all went to the window to look. There in the passenger's seat sat a funny little man. "Do you know that guy, Ma?" Tony asked her. Ma gestured to the man to come in. He hopped out of the car and headed to our front door, we noticed he walked kind of funny. Anyhow, I will tell you what happens next time.......

JBTW-Do You Know Someone Who is a "Scentaholic"? Check this out. From The Desk of ROSALIE

Hey Guys-I'm back!  I was real busy yesterday since it was my little sister's bridal shower, I can't believe she is getting married!  I remember the day she was born-I had just started high school, I feel so old!   Anyhow one thing about me is I don't like shopping.  Call me strange because all women are supposed to love it blah blah blah....but I don't.  I hate the crowded shops full of rude people and the long line-ups. Just not my thing!  That is why I love to shop online!  My sis Baretta is what I call a "scentaholic", that is she just loves perfume and collects them-she has more scents than the fragrance counter at Macy's!  Rather than buy her the typical kind of shower gift like a blender or a frying pan like everyone else gave her, I knew what she really wanted so I went online to PERFUME EMPORIUM after a friend of mine told me about it and ordered a couple of her favorite scents that I knew she wanted.  I received my order after only 4 days and everything was nicely and safely wrapped- I was impresed!  Everything they sell is real too, no knock-offs that smell like bug spray!  Anyhow, if you are like me and are an online shopping junkie like me you need to
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My Pops and the Case of the missing Barber Pole...

So last time I was talking about when we moved into our house and some of the nasty little surprises that came with the place....yeah it had its share of decomposing furniture and handles that fall off in your hand etc. but it gradually shaped up.  That is, once Ma got her entire plastic collection moved in...my Ma had it all: the plastic flowers, fruits, lampshade and couch covers!  Anyhow I have mentioned my parents a lot so far and I know that you don't know them so here is a brief description(I will talk about Pops for now and do Ma next time) My Pops -Barnaba Baffilini, but everyone calls him Barney (he hates Barnaba). He really always reminded me of Dom Deluise (RIP), but just a bit scruffier. Pops always wore until sometime in the 90's, brown leather workboots.  The thing is, none of us kids can remember him ever taking them off!  Even in the summer! It's like they were fused to his feet or something. He was(he's retired now) a barber and opened up his own shop in the basement of our house because he lost his job shortly after we moved which brings me to a funny little story.....You see, Pops had worked for 15 years for a man we will call "Rocco", he was his best friend's uncle and a long-time mentor. Well, the day came when Rocco had to let an employee go because he just couldn't afford to pay so many barbers, and Pops who has always been rather blunt with people was not the most popular, so in spite of his seniority, Rocco fired him.  Pops was so furious on his way out he pulled down Rocco's barber pole-you know the striped, swirly thing and took off.  Shortly after he arrived home, barber pole in toe, Ma showed up and he knew she would be very upset that he took it, so his solution was to clumsily stuff it under the living room couch. At first he thought Ma would not notice, but then Bruno, my little brother went digging under the couch because his matchbox car rolled under there and he unwittingly ratted Pops out.  Pops spluttered trying to say it was broken and someone had put it out for trash and he was going to fix it, but then Bruno had the bright idea to plug it in and the thing lit up and started spinning! Ma was not impressed. Just then, practically on cue, the phone rang and Ma answered-it was Rocco asking if Pops knew anything about the whereabouts of his barber pole!  Then Pops had no choice but to come clean and admit to Ma he had lost his job.  The icing on the cake was when the doorbell rang (if you could call that farting sound a ring) and there stood Nonna, who Bruno proudly announced to that Pops had lost his job and stolen a barber pole! Poor Pops had this "just shoot me" look on his face.....I'll never forget it!  This was one of those classic "hand in cookie jar" moments, any of you guys have any embarrassing tales like that?

JBTW- Trying to Lose that Stubborn Fat? Try HCG!!- From the Desk of ROSALIE....

Hey guys-anyone still struggling to lose weight? Are you continually fighting the battle of the bulge?  I have been chunky my whole life basically, so at Christmas last year I promised myself I would lose weight for the new year.  Well, I actually lost 15 pounds!  I tried the HCG Diet, and to be honest didn't have much faith in it at first but once I started to see the numbers on my scale drop-I started to think twice! 
It is so simple to use too-you just put the drops under your tongue, no meals that taste like paper or anything like that! It is all-natural and homeopathic and is FDA approved. It also involves modifying the way you eat, so no McDonalds guys-sorry!  But you will get results, I'm sure!  I lost a lot of weight from my arms, belly, thighs, face etc. and got so many compliments at work....anyhow check them out folks
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A New House and Memories of Freddy....

Hey-how was your Friday?  Anyhow, I wanted to write something about where I left off last time so here it goes....so we pull up to our new(well kinda old really) house, this is on Fleet St., it looked a bit creepy to me at first...it turned out actually there had been some guy there before us named "Solomon" who was a dope dealer and there had been a murder there!! The real estate agent that sold it to Ma and Pops was a real sleazeball, saying the house had quite a "history" and all. But we didn't know that back then, although the white outline of a body on the floor upstairs did seem a bit suspicious...I remember me and Tony wanted that room but we were pissed at Ma when she said I had to sleep alone and Tony had to share with Bruno! My room had this hideous painted wallpaper and smelled like socks!  We had slept in the same room ever since we were born too (we are twins after all!), and Tony could not stand poor Bruno back then!  Mostly because he was allergic to everything and wet the bed and had a disgusting habit of sticking boogers all over our stuff-that was his revenge for us ditching him all the time!  He was terrified of Freddy Kreuger from "A Nightmare on Elm Street", and Tony used to torment him with stories about Freddy I remember.  He even bought the glove with the blades on it....remember those?   Anyone else terrified of Freddy like my poor little brother was?  (I still tease him about that, sorry Bruno :) )

A Big Hello and Welcome to my Blog!!! The Story starts......

back in 1984....

Remember the 80's?  Big hair, Pac-Man, Ghetto-blasters, Cabbage-Patch Dolls?  Fun times! I was 11 years old.  My Nonno(grandfather) had just passed away from a heart attack, so this meant that the bakery he owned with my Nonna, got sold because she could not run it alone and the money from the sale was divided up between my Ma and her two younger siblings, so she received and inheritance. Until then, we had lived in a little tiny apartment above a 24-hr laundromat in Bensonhurst. Ma somehow talked Pops into moving to a better place so that is how we ended up moving to Middle Village. 
Pops was not thrilled though, you know why?  two reasons really, A. He didn't want to spend the money on a house, I love my Pops but he was and is kinda cheap-sorry Pops.   B. My Nonna lived on the next block over-she and Pops were and still are mortal enemies since the day my Ma brought him home! This meant they would be seeing a lot more of each other, much to both of their disliking!  Anyhow, we packed up all our stuff and moved the week before Labor Day. We loaded up my Pops' old brown Chevy pickup and piled in as Pops, Ma, Me, twin bro Tony and little brother Bruno headed over the Queensboro Bridge with Joe Jackson's "Steppn' Out" playing on the radio and  left the streets of the 'hurst behind forever.....
Anyone here from Middle Village?  Anyone grow up in the 80's like I did?  I would love to hear your own memories and stories, my story will continue next time when I tell you all about our big move.....