Kevin is a ROCKSTAR

Our family has more talent than anyone knew....

Merry Christmas!

Peace and love and lots of food and ... drink....to you all...

Brain teaser

Okay, so I don't know where, exactly I stumbled onto this today or how. I really don't....but I found it, solved it and decided to post it here. I don't know if it's true that only 2% of the population can solve it, I don't think I'm all THAT bright...but it's a fun brain exercise....

The story behind Einstein's riddle is that Albert Einstein created it in the late 1800s, and claimed that 98% of the world population couldn't solve it. I am not sure of the true origin, but I have seen this one floating around the internet, and it is a good brain exercise. Here it is:

- In a street there are five houses, painted five different colors.

- In each house lives a person of different nationality.

- These five homeowners each drink a different kind of beverage, smoke different brand of cigar and keep a different pet.

Einstein's riddle is: Who owns the fish?

Necessary clues:

1. The British man lives in a red house.
2. The Swedish man keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Danish man drinks tea.
4. The Green house is next to, and on the left of the White house.
5. The owner of the Green house drinks coffee.
6. The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
7. The owner of the Yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8. The man living in the center house drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
12. The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
13. The German smokes Prince.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The Blends smoker lives next to the one who drinks water.

NO CHEATING.
Enjoy!

In the cold November rain....er, snow?!

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

I know not all of my 30something readership is in Indiana, or even in the same parts of Indiana...and I personally didn't get any snow....BUT Chesterton got 9 inches today...my parents a little further south got about 5...seriously??? When was the last time we had a huge snowfall in November. My dad swears this happens...I honestly cannot remember anymore than a light dusting or maybe an inch around Thanksgiving.

It was the strangest.thing.ever to see delays and cancellations on the news already! Julie says it's going to get her in the Christmas spirit. I say bah humbug to that - it makes ME realize I need new tires. That and the Kev-head drove my car to St. Louis this past weekend to hang with friends and was complaining about my tires. Oy. I know I need them, I know winter is coming, OBVIOUSLY if it's already snowing...but to spend money on tires right before Christmas. Ew. Kat mat just had to do it and I said ew when she did it. Now here I am, looking up phone numbers for all the local tire places...calling to get estimates. Ew. Ew. Ew. I HATE car repair stuff. Hate it. HATE IT.

Speaking of cars...should we bail out the big 3? Bleeding heart democrat liberal that I am...I gotta tell ya...all these bailouts? Yeah, not so sure about all that. And I know my guy supports it, but where does it end? First AIG, then the banks, now the auto manufacturers. Who's next? And how do we (and by "we" I mean Congress) decide who gets money and who doesn't when they ask? And why?

No...I don't like this one bit. I'm not saying I want to live like my grandma saving every napkin and ziploc bag because of the depression....but I'm sayin' this country could use a good come uppance....

Just a quickie...

Hey guys...

Just a quick note to give you the link to the abbreviated version of the story on Owen that was in the paper...

Enterprise article

More later...

The "with love" movement...

I don't know how many of you have ever watched ze frank...have I talked about him here before? I love the guy...

Well, since the ze frank show ended, frank is still blogging and doing his thing...but now he's started a new project...from 52 to 48 with love. I find it terribly interesting and I'm sitting here pondering the ways I'd like to contribute to the project.

I'm amazed at the outpouring, not just from the blue, but from the red as well. I have feared for a long time that this country would never unite after the "hanging chads" and the vote that would be counted and recounted...and then the whole negative rampage with the swift boat deal...ugh. Let's face it, our politics lately have sounded more like elementary school playgrounds than educated adults. But this year? We sunk to new lows. Truly. And I'm frightened and horrified by the continuing outpouring of hatred. Is this really what we've become? Red state, blue state, he said, she said, socialism, anarchism, terrorism..."it's not that I condone fascism, or any ism for that matter. In my opinion, isms are not good. A person should not believe in an ism, he should believe in himself."

The response to this project from the right wing (yes, I do read right wing blogs, kiddies...I'm always interested in what they have to say)...is alarming at best. They are basically telling the lefties...no deal. Rather than at least concede that both sides said a lot of things that they shouldn't have, like ADULTS...they would rather tell us to kindly go fuck ourselves and take our blue crayons with us. They refuse to hold themselves accountable for fanning the flames of division for the last 8 years as well, and would rather perpetuate an attitude of hatred and accusation than change the rhetoric, change the tension, and start working together.

There are civil minded conservatives out there who insist that this drama is not what the conservatives are about. They insist that the right wing is supposed to be about state's rights and preservation of civil liberties. But all I can see out there right now are hate mongering, war mongering, Bible thumping, grandstanding right wing nut jobs. And I feel like their numbers have increased since the election.

So I ask you...will we ever recover from this? Does Obama have any idea, ANY idea the job he has before him? Are we just setting him up for failure? He needs an advisory committee including MLK, Ghandi, Churchill, FDR and Lincoln for pete's sake, because right now he has to be all of them in one to look at the huddled masses and say "Shhhhhhhh...enough now" and have them actually listen.

Can we possibly recover from this?

It's been a crazy week...

What a big week! Election week...AND I guess I kinda sorta went on a "double date" with my son and his 'girlfriend'???? Julie had tickets to the symphony last night at CHS (the NWIN symphony plays there on occasion)....so Julie and I took Alex and Mary. We went to dinner first....hence the "double date" classification in a non-traditional sense of the word.

Really? REALLY? I don't know if I'm ready for this whole girlfriend thing. It kind of sneaks up on you as your kids age.

On a completely different note...the video is posted on youtube from the debate. Not so timely, with the election being over and all, but you if you have an interest in viewing it, you can go here:

Rebecca's YouTube

Not to favor one child over another, you can also see videos of Alex's band from all sorts of gigs on my google video account here:

Rebecca's Google Video

All right - that's all for now.

Remind me to tell you all the "caw"-ing story....it's a doozy. Maybe I'll save that little nugget for Monday when we all need a laugh.

Yes we can! Yes we can!

I am moved beyond words. I am excited to see where we can go from here. I haven't seen a president elect look more presidential. The speech moved me to tears...and I can't listen to sound clips today without welling up.

Indiana looks DAMN good in blue.

I'm curious, as I usually am, to know who wrote his speech...I'm guessing most if not all of it was written by him, which is also amazing. I know he wrote his DNC speech.

Red States, Blue States, United States...anyone else want to join hands and grab Michael Jackson and Diana Ross and sing "We are the World?" no? that's just me? oh.

My bad.

Didja vote? Didja?

Get your butt out there and exercise your patriotic duty, people. Men and women have died for this right of ours, and I think some people treat it as a privelege to be wasted. It's not. Go VOTE. This might have been one of the first years I could have voted straight ticket, I never vote straight ticket. But this year I could have, but I didn't, because I really, really wanted to fill in that circle next to Obama's name.

Speaking of voting...I'm posting some pictures of Owen as Barack Obama from the debate on Friday. Remember to click on any image to enlarge it!
The set up at the school (see the laptop and the camera that put us live on the internet??):


The candidates and their running mates (And Mrs. K, who made the whole thing happen):


Barack telling us all about it:

I'd love to post the pictures of he and Senator Biden walking the line and shaking the hands of their constituents...but I know we have at least 12-15 kids at Lincoln who absolutely cannot appear on the internet, but I don't know who they are, so I can't post them here.

She's baaaaaaack....

Did any of you catch the feed on live.yahoo.com? That's the same link you can use every Sunday to tune into the blues jam, btw...every Sunday after 5:30 you can go to http://live.yahoo.com/thespotstudio and at some point, you just might see me do my thing.

Did you see my "little Obama"?? How cool was that? Sorry about the beginning...The video feed locked and all you had was the principal's behind and the boys' audio. Whoops. We corrected it pretty easily. I hope to have a DVD soon and I'll post what I can out on google video for you all to see.

The funnest part - after the debate ended, the candidates shook hands, they came into the audience and shook hands with the principal and then my little Obama "walked the line" - he walked down the bleachers shaking hands with all of the students...it was so sweet to see...the kids were climbing over each other to shake his hand shouting "Obama! over here! Obama!"

I, of course, had my promo gear out and ready - I had signs from the campaign, buttons - and stickers that I handed out to Owen's classmates.

The vote, however, is skewed at the elementary school level. People who like Owen will be voting for Owen and people who like Noah will be voting for Noah. A Republican friend of mine revealed to me that at their dinner table the other night - she asked her son who he would be voting for...he said "I'm voting for Owen - I don't like Noah." "So you're voting for Obama??" she asked in shock. "Yeah, I'm voting for Obama."

Awesome.

Everyone thought Owen did very well - he knew his answers well, he didn't speed talk, he made eye contact....so very proud. One teacher was talking to my parents afterwards and told them that he believes there isn't anything can't do. Fantastic. Love it.

I think Alex has a girlfriend and I don't know what to think about that. And I think he's getting even taller. I think he'll be pushing 6 ft by his junior year. Oy. More money to spend on pants. He's finally taking his mother's advice and listening to more Rush these days - the brilliance of Neal Peart is something I've been trying to tune him into for years...but now one of his friends said it was cool and YYZ was on Guitar Hero, therefore he downloads Moving Pictures immediately. Asshat.

More to come. I swear.

See Owen live on Friday morning!

Mock debate at Owen's school...we're airing it live on the internet because that's the way I roll.

9:30am, CST, on Friday 10/31:

http://live.yahoo.com/thespotstudio

If you have a yahoo account you'll be able to post comments and chat while the debate is going on -but keep it clean, folks - it's an elementary school for pete's sake.

Owen has been in debate prep all week. We've camera tested the tie (think The West Wing) and we've alerted both the Obama campaign and the press.

Good times! Game on! Tune in!

A new record!

At the rate you people have been griping at me...you'd think I hadn't blogged for a month!

Oh wait...almoooooost....

It's not that I haven't had anything interesting to say, we all know I totally have...I just haven't had the time to make any of it truly interesting AND funny. Which I guess implies that I have been either a) interesting or b) funny in the past...and we'll just go with that.

So how 'bout this water? For those of you not living in NWIN, we're doing are own little Katrina impersonation literally riding on the tail of Ike. And we all know Ike was a bastard. 1.63 inches of rain in Houston, 10.5 inches of rain in Lake of the Four Seasons here in NWIN. And we all know what a JOY it's been to drive around here anyway with all of the fucking construction...109th closed, 101st closed, the exit ramps to the toll road closed, exit ramps off of 94 to 65 closed...as if that wasn't all so much fun we needed balloons, now any roadway you actually could access is closed due to flooding.

I've lived here a long time and I've never seen it like this...can anyone remember a time when 94 and 65 were closed this long? And the INDOT doesn't show any indication of re-opening anytime soon...I know, I called.

On Sunday we enjoyed the rain the way I'm sure most of you did...cooking, eating, drinking some beer and watching football. Oh happy day in my house that the Bears lost and the Colts won and of course the black and gold were triumphant as well. I don't really have it out for the Bears...I don't...but it's just fun because my husband likes to pretend he's a Bears fan. He's so not. You know how I know? The only jersey he owns is Grossman. Where's your Grossman now???

Sunday was literally the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat in my house...not just because of the football scores...
Owen had some friends over to enjoy the rain and puddles with a little football of their own:

Kev-head was the all-time quarterback and the boys were out there for a good hour or so, sometimes in the pouring rain, taking breaks to jump in the pool fully clothed...why? who knows. boys.

One boy needed a sweatshirt...so I went upstairs to get that and some towels for when they were done and I put my camera down.

I put my camera down.

I put my new, expensive, love it like I would marry it camera down.

On the air hockey table.

And forgot that I didn't put it away.

And when the wet, cold boys came in from their thrills of victory...thus began my agony of defeat. Because they decided to play air hockey.

Did it occur to them to move the camera? No. So my camera, my new, wonderful camera was launched from the air hockey table during play and was sent crashing to the floor. Where the new wonderful quite large lens, was cracked in two.

Did they tell me that this happened? No. Owen was not playing air hockey and did not witness the event. And the boys who were playing either, didn't notice or were too freaked to say anything, because I hear a panicked "Mom, is this your camera? What happened to your camera?" shouted from the basement.

I never buy the extended warranties, the replacement warranties or whatever. But in this instance, this time I did. I actually spent the $149 because I was fearful that I would do something stupid and break my camera on vacation...you know...like hike up Cathedral Rock with it strapped to me. I took it to Best Buy-they've sent it in to be repaired or replaced and now I am camera-less and praying that they just replace it because really...will it ever be the same??

Keep your fingers crossed.

The Dark Knight...

Have you seen it yet?? Have you? HAVE YOU?

Holy mother - it's fantastic. I mean really, really fantastic. We took the boys last night and I have to say I was a little concerned because I'd heard about all of the darkness of it and the violence and whatnot...but it did land the PG-13 rating and I felt mostly okay about taking Owen. Unlike Wanted, which was a total piece of shit and there's no way I would let Owen see it.

Heath Ledger - wow. just wow. I can see why they are talking Oscar for him. And I'm not just saying that because he's dead.

This past weekend was the Kev-head's birthday. I took him away to the Herrington for some R&R. We celebrated his birthday weekend with massages - oh yeah, me too! Which cracked the Kev-head up. His birthday and I got spa treatments. He said for my birthday he's getting me a purse and a chainsaw or something like that. Good one.

I've picked up a new skill-set since we last chatted. It's almost a superpower. Just all me Water Woman. I am retaining water like it was my job. Seriously. Puncture me and I'm pretty sure I could end a drought or put out a large brush fire. I still have visible DENTS in my ankles from the socks I slept in last night, people. Sock dents from socks that I haven't had on my feet in almost 4 hours. Kill.me.now. A couple of days ago I was so bloated I seriously looked like I could give birth any moment. I LOVE being a woman. LOVE it. LOVE it. LOVE it. And I'm so foul I can't even stand my own self. I just want to climb out of myself and leave my me-skin sitting in a bar somewhere to drink it off. Bitter, bloated party of one, please. I'm trying to listen to the Black Eyed Peas and pull myself out of the dredges of rumpiness into funkiness, but it's just not happening. Note to yourselves...stay the fuck away from me until further notice. I'm not responsible for anything I say or do. Last night I almost backhanded Alex because the sound of his mouth moving as he lip-synced along with his ipod almost made my head explode.

Other than that I'm great. And the movie really was killer. Stop what you're doing and go see it immediately. Heath would want it that way.

Olympic Fever...catch it!

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The Dilly Bar story

So last night I worked late because Alex had to work. Just as well, there were phone upgrades to be done. Totally geeky things happening over here, lemme tell ya.

I get over to the DQ about 9:15 and Alex is still working. I have no problem with this as there are the usual 57 voicemail messages on my cell phone to answer and return. Yes, at 9:15 at night. Ridiculous, I know, but true nonetheless. While I'm pacing around outside chatting (a trait I inherited from my dad, who is a hopeless helpless pacer while on the phone...and I'm happy to say that my youngest has the same annoying habit) some kids are also outside happily, or so I thought, munching on their ice cream cones.

Two girls in the car, two boys outside the car. The next thing I know, the tallest boy is saying "back this car out, we're fixin' to go wreck some shit! C'mon...we're goin to wreck some shit..."

Ummmm, what? Is this new lingo I'm unaware of? Does this mean you're leaving to go party? Like you're gonna get wrecked? I'm barely paying attention to them until the car starts backing out and the boys go back into the DQ. In a flash they are running out, the manager is yelling "Don't come back!" and the boys are trying to jump into the car. Well by now my spidey sense is tingling, so I start walking towards the back of the car to get a plate number.

And this is where my age kicks in...not only did I NOT recognize trouble when they were talking about wrecking some shit, I have TERRIBLE night vision that takes my already horrible near-sightedness to a disgustingly bad level. So I can't really focus on the number. Besides which, the blue plates with the white numbers that the state of Indiana has instituted? NOT GOOD FOR NIGHT. With the license plate lights reflecting off the white, I think it was like 43567 or maybe 45637? Yeah, I'm old

So they take off, with the back door still open and one of the boys stranded at the DQ.

I go inside and find out that their apparent high as hell "gangsta" version of wreckin some shit s to open the freezer, take out a box of cherry dilly bars and throw them on the ground.

ooooooooohhhhhhhhhh no you di'int!

Seriously? Really? Assaulting dilly bars? That's what constitutes fun and rebellion on a Tuesday night in the summer? At least we were more creative than that. Clearly walking around and randomly removing Christmas bulbs from someone's porch was WAY cooler. As Alex put it, what's next, going to MickeyD's and spilling pop?!

They take off down Broadway and their abandoned dilly bar assaulter is left on foot hiking down 68th. They circle Broadway for a bit until realizing I'm watching for them, still trying to get the plate number. Yeah...shut it.

Now they ditch the car and the girls are on foot trying to find their friend when the police show up. I talk to the cop, tell her basically nothing, it's a silver toyota camry with a license plate number that might be any combination of those numbers...I'm SO Rebecca Crum, Dilly Bar Detective. Alllllllllllll-righty then...but I did describe the girls and what they were wearing.

They never found the miscreants, but it was a bit of excitement for the DQ at closing time. Alex and I are thinking about going out and starting some trouble tonight...maybe we'll throw some napkins around a Wendy's or take all the straw wrappers off the straws at a Burger King. We're rebels and cannot be contained. Who's driving the getaway car? Anyone? Anyone?

C'mon lemme see ya shake a tailfeather....

Happy Friday one and all! Well, both my boys are gone, gone, gone. We safely stuffed Owen away at Indiana State Troopers Camp yesterday. I think the boy was honestly nervous. I could have left Alex at the curb of Loyola University with all of his gear and he would have just waved good-bye. Owen needed a little more hand-holding. You'd think, with him being the seemingly more outgoing one, that he would just bolt from the car and be done with us...not so. He's typically a little leary of new situations, wants nothing to do with recognition (he's MORTIFIED that I sent the press release on him winning the essay contest to the paper), and won't actually choose to talk to people he doesn't know. Who's his mother???? Crazy talk.

I had to force him to go over and meet his roommate..."I'll just meet him when we get up to the room, mom" he said through gritted teeth and much eye rolling. He was concerned about wearing a sleeveless shirt to camp because he didn't know what kind of impression that would make. He was worried that he would be hanging out with "all smart people, and I don't know how smart people act!" Ummmm, Owen, the camp isn't ONLY for essay winners...it's just that we didn't have to PAY for camp because you're an essay winner. And if you're definition of smart people is kids who write essays...guess what? YOU'RE in fact a SMART PERSON.

Holy mother.....
So much worry in my little one.

So we went and talked to the roommate anyway, didn't really give him a choice, and I'm glad we did, and I think he was, too. They had quite a bit in common...they both play lots of sports, like watching wrestling on TV, have the same uniform (long basketball style shorts and under armor)...I predict that he's having a good time. He hasn't called for me to come get him yet, which is encouraging...not that I really expected him to. Once he got in the mix, I'm sure he took a firm hold on his heritage of having friends before other people have seats. He'll probably want to have his roommate over to the house (they live in Southern Indiana now, but are moving to LaPorte soon)

The name of Alex's band at camp is Sideshow. He said he's having a good time, learning stuff, playing a ton, and that his guitar players are lazy...well, only two of them. His roommate is like he is...play and play and play. The other two are good for a couple of runs, and then they want to take breaks. Ummmmm....for $1800, you can break when you sleep, baybees...until then, shut up and play.

I pick him up tomorrow and I'm excited to see the concert. There's a concert tonight where the bands will be playing songs they've learned to cover, I guess. I've ordered the DVD of tonight's concert as well as the concert they're giving tomorrow with their original music. Very exciting!

I'm already tired of the heat...even as I sit here in my air conditioned office....

It's been one week since you looked at me

threw your arms in the air and said you're crazy....

Hello Bloggers...anyone still with me. So many stories to tell, so little time. I'll start with this weekend and hopefully I'll find some breathing room this week to fill you kiddies in on the nuttiness that is my life from the past couple of weeks. It's been a doozy, lemme tell ya. I literally JUST unpacked on SATURDAY from fabulous desert vacay, if that tells you anything, and the only reason I unpacked then was because Alex needed the suitcase to go to Power Chord Academy.

First:
Owen's all star team played in a local Morocco tournament all last week. Our league got tired of participating in the official little league all star tournament and getting spanked. We have great kids, good ball players, but when you play against the bigger towns/cities where their all stars literally play together all year long, we just don't stand a chance. So we played teams that are more in our demographic to give our kids a fighting shot. And fighting shot they had. They swept every game, and it wasn't even close. 18-2 on Monday, 11-1 on Tues, 14-3 on Thurs and the championship game on Friday? A 17-0 blowout in 4 innings. In fact, we didn't have one game in the tourney that went past 4 innings. As you can see, the boys were thrilled with their win:
Nut jobs, all of them, and so much fun. Owen and Coach Kevin are actually undefeated on the year...Owen looked awesome on the mound on Friday night. The Watseka coach told Kevin that his kids were afraid of Owen - he pitches faster than their 11/12 pitchers...he was constantly on his team to "stay in the box! he's not going to hit you!" "Don't worry, just swing the bat! Don't close your eyes!" It was actually kind of comical.

Saturday found me at the market and on the beach with Julie and Hayden. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIE!! It was her birthday weekend! I got stinky cheese and a slight sunburn in the places where my sunscreen spray didn't quite make. Whoops. Because the air show was going on in Gary, we had a stealth bomber slowly creep right over top of us. And creep it did...it was ooky. Julie said it looked like a giant lego piece flying overhead and she was right. All big and black and quiet and OOKY, I tell ya, OOKY.

Sunday we moved Alex into PCA. It's going to be such an awesome experience for him. There are 6 kids in his band: 3 15 year old guitar players, a 13 year old bass player, and...wait for it...a 16-year-old chick lead singer. Yeah, that's right, my son has a GIRL singer!! ROCK on! I can't wait to see what happens with this...Alex says she's got a Christina Aguilera style voice, but I wonder if she can rock that voice. And I quote him: "I heard a little edge in her voice like you get a couple of times, but not a lot. She might be able to rock like you..." yeah, that's right, not only am I TOTALLY screwing my son for the future with my cooking, and the fact that he'll never understand a woman that actually puts her make-up on IN THE HOUSE instead of IN THE CAR...now, now apparently I've benchmarked what a chick rocker should be. Oy yoy. Heaven help his future wife. Heaven help me this week as I fight the urge to call him 52 times a day to find out what's happening. And I'm also fighting the urge to drive over there an listen outside the door!! AGH!! Can't wait for the concert on Saturday!!! His roommate is one of his guitar players and they are two peas in a pod already. Totally hit it off in the brief time I saw them together. Kevin thinks they had already worked out a secret handshake before we left. oh my.


Stay tuned...I've got a coyote story, the Dan Toler story and much, much more!!

C'mon baby light me on fire....

Seriously....I need sleep. In a baaaaaaaaaad way. I'm crabby. I have bags under my eyes. My eyelids are feeling very heavy....heavy....heavy....

I feel like I could sleep standing up. I need a vacation from my vacation! We really did pack it in, but hey, it took me 37 years to get that far west of the Mississippi...who knows when it will happen again!!

I must share with you all one of my favorite pictures snapped on the vacay...
These monks were cracking me up that day. Something about a guy sitting on a blanket, eating fruit and dressed like a monk talking on a cell phone while snapping pictures with his digital camera...it was just...funny. But then I caught this as I was taking a pic of the fam and I just cracked up. Too fun, too fun.

Owen's baseball season ended with Coach Kevin and the boys having a 14-0 season. We missed two games due to weather, but we would have beat them, too.

Alex's band had a gig over the weekend at a graduation party. Their first encounter with a) the drunk family member who cannot be controlled (and no, it wasn't me...it was a party-goer) and b) the guy in the audience who is so jealous of what you're doing that he feels the need to draw attention to himself by being the most obnoxious thing walking. It shook their confidence a bit, but they took it all in stride. Alex may be starting another side project, too...and power chord academy is happening soon. Good thing he's working every single day this week. He actually had to put his hair in a pony tail for work today. Oy vay.

Mama..mama I'm coming home......

So sad, so sad...and a little relieved. I've had more exercise on this vacation than I have in the past 5 years....

And let's put this to rest right now...me...in shorts...
This was taken when we were on the pink jeep tour Sunday morning...bouncing around the red rocks...awesome good fun, awesome good pics....










This is one of my favorite pics...click on it to make it large and check out the hummingbird feeding on this agave plant...I don't know how they do it without getting drunk!! (Agave plants make tequila, babies....)
More pics and details on the way....Petrified Forest, hiking Cathedral Rock, the Grand Canyon...and that's just the last three days...we haven't talked about our Harley rides where we got to see the ghost town taken over by the flower children, and all the swimming in the creek behind the house, and just how completely wonderful this house is. Honestly...I hit it out of the park again on finding a great vacay house.

Overall I would highly, highly recommend coming here on vacation, and I would highly recommend this house...

Leavin' on a jet plane........

I'm standin on a corner in Winslow Arizona....

it's such a fine sight to see.....

GREETINGS bloggers...still with me? I'm out here in sunny, sunny, sunny Sedona (high temps have ranged from 95-115) with the fam. We've done so many things....

let's see...

Flight on Friday was uneventful. Car rental was smooth, getting out of Phoenix was a breeze. We even took in Montezuma's Castle on the way up...
It didn't get bad until we got to our first house...

A little house in Clarkdale, AZ - the plan was to check out Jerome and generally relax....sounds great yes? NO. We walk into the house and ... covered in powder. A crystally yellow/white powder. On the floor, on the furniture, on the bedding, on every exposed surface. Ummmmmmm....whodawa?? Ummm, yeah...a fire extinguisher had exploded in the place before our arrival. Are you eff-ing kidding me??

So we have to find another place to stay. Now I'm hot, I'm tired, I've been up since 4am and my relaxation mecca is covered in a substance I can hardly breathe...

WHAT?

So we find a hotel in Sedona - basically the only hotel pamphlet I had in my little vacay folder (yes, I'm that gay), and it turned out just fine. Hell, I slept Friday night away. Two beers some pizza and a pillow.

Saturday was 115 degrees, people. Even the lizards are staying under rocks...but us? We hike West Fork. And pick up the Harley...

Now I could recount every nook and cranny of this vacation ... but I refuse to be that relative we all have showing the slides on the living room wall at grandma's....no, that's not me (well, not yet...I'm so subjecting you to all the details....like dinner with Colleen and Michael...hooray!)

But so far, the most important part of this trip...was when we were literally standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona....
The kids didn't find this nearly as entertaining as the kev-head and I did....but I can tell you this... we bought more souvenirs here than any other stop on the trip...and we've hiked and biked and hung out with hippies...we've fished and swam and come home to the electric company on our rental property because beavers took out an oak tree that took out power lines and snapped the electrical pole right outside Alex's bedroom.

Okay...what???

First a fire extinguisher....now beavers???

Who does this happen?? The good news is that we were hangin' at the Petrified Forest when the power was out for hours...the bad news was that we had the electric company outside our windows and in the woods cutting up the beaver disaster for the evening. Whoops...no naked hot tubbing that night.

NOT.

Seriously...we did what we would have done anyway - sat outside, drank wine, ignored the children until they begged for dinner....

More later...Grand Canyon tomorrow....more pics, more info....all to come. We're having a blast...

King's Island trip...

Because I'm a glutton for punishment and CLEARLY not busy enough, we took off after Owen's game on Tuesday night (they won - we're 11-0) ...and drove to Indy to my sister's house. We were taking off for King's Island bright and early Wednesday morning. Me, the boys, Jen, Charles and Gavin and my parents....

we actually left the house on time, which is a miracle in and of itself. The ride there was fairly quick and uneventful. King's Island has a wonderful feature called preferred parking. It's only $5 more than regular parking, and quite frankly I can't figure out why EVERYONE isn't doing it. We were literally right outside the entrance to the park which was fantastic, because my sister bought enough food for an army and we were able to bounce out of the park for a bit and eat lunch. Considering the bottle of water I bought inside the park was $3.50 - not having to feed my two growing boys at an inflated rate was quite a savings!! (if you click on the pics they'll enlarge for you!)
Fun in the sun was had by all and no sunburns - why? Oh yeah, I bought sunscreen all right - SPF 70. My sister was totally making fun of me, of course, but we are leaving for the desert next Friday, and I don't need me or Alex peeling away or still suffering burns from a one-day trip to King's Island. It was very hot but not unbearable - and it made the water rides and the water park all the more necessary and fun. I managed to hide my feet under the seat so my shoes weren't squishy and stinky all day...you know you're old when THAT's your main concern about the water rides. Kev-head was just disappointed I wasn't braless wearing a white tank top. Good ole' Kev-head....

My parents took off earlier than we did - we of course closed the park down. I got to do one of those lay down roller coasters - I've never done one before. It was pretty cool....I actually liked it better than a lot of the others. Some of those wooden coasters - holy mother. They should be giving you some sort of muscle relaxer before you get on and then whisking you off to a masseuse or chiropractor table when you're done. I was seriously adjusted in ways that I shouldn't be. If I can scan in the pics that they take while you're on the coaster I'll post them hear. The look on my face isn't fear, folks, it's pain. Utter and complete PAIN. Again, you know you're old when.

Another fun part of the day was that the cicada's were out in force. You'd just be standing there minding your own business and one of them would "buzz the tower" and you'd see people everywhere ducking and dodging. People everywhere were invading the personal space of perfect strangers to pluck the orange-eyed suckers off unsuspecting victims who were just standing in line minding their own business. One landed on my leg and got halfway through Delirium with me before bailing. Sissy. That's the only ride I've ever seen with a height MAXIMUM.

Fun day, got back to my sister's late and came to work this morning at a relatively decent hour all things considered.

Highly recommend the park, but anyone under 30 should stay away from the wooden coasters...unless you're really in shape or have a physician or masseuse on hand.

Holy busy schedule batman!

OMG

Seriously? Seriously....mama has been working her fanny off both at work and at home. I've been getting complaints about my absence, but there's nothing I can do...I've just not had it in me lately folks, and I didn't want to bring too much lameness to the blog. I've been so geeky these days I'm *pretty sure* my cool card (what little coolness I had to begin with) has been revoked. The things that have been fun or cool to me lately - you guys would go cross-eyed over. It's not fun and it's not cool and if I don't snap out of my geek stupor soon, I may never recover. Ever.

But we did upgrade our database this weekend and it totally worked except that I had to hunch over computers for 6.5 hours and manually uninstall and reinstall the old client for the new. THAT is definitely NOT FUN. But it's done and it works and it wasn't seamless...some hiccups here and there but mostly good stuff...cool stuff...geeky cool stuff. And now I'm working on another upgrade that is very uncool but sooooooo cool if you're a geek, involving things like yum and mono and bzipping stuff. Very uncool...do you see what's happening to me?

And next week? Next week I'm going to move the whole network to a gig backbone which is the coolest.thing.ever if you know what a gig backbone is, and I'll be dual teaming my nic's and omg someone please make it stop. I try to listen to cool music while I do my geek stuff but I don't think that's bringing back my coolness anytime soon. I'm in a quicksand pit of geekiness and no one is throwing me a rope, or a stick or a vine or anything so I can pull myself out.

And I was so busy I started this on Tuesday and didn't get to finish!! Oy yoy. Update on King's Island coming...and Carol's in town...hooray!!!

Time makes you bolder, children get older...

I'm getting older too.....
Oh yes, I'm getting older. I have never been more painfully (and I use that word quite literally) aware of my age than I am today.

Seriously.

The weekend was good....Friday night Sox game - Owen's name in lights. That was fun. I had to talk to the peeps at guest services to find out when his name would be up there so we wouldn't be in the bathroom or buying churros or something. We weren't. Thanks guest service ladies. They not only told me the inning (the 3rd) but the message number he was in the line-up (18). We had fans there cheering for Owen, but unfortunately they were above us and we never heard them. Bummer. Thanks cheering fans!

Saturday found us gardening and doing housework and general stuff...I got to sleep in a little which was nice.

Sunday Kev-head and I took the motorcycle to church. We have a contemporary service and jeans are appropriate attire, so we assumed bike leather was too. It's a fun thing, to walk out to the parking lot after the service and fire up the hog. Good times.

That night was the blues extravaganza at Bozley's. 13 headliners in as many hours. It was crazy insane. All of my favorite people were there! I got to see Jon & Laura, and jam with Killer Ray and Pistol Pete. Love, love, loved jamming that night. Weather was fine - even Owen came out to hang out for awhile. Of course, he was more interested in playing bean bags and eating a sundae...but hey, he was there!

Yesterday...well yesterday is what sunk my battleship. We knocked out some long overdue house chores (I filled 4 garbage bags with old clothes from Owen's dressers) and I called some friends to meet at the ball field for a little parent/child softball game. The kids of course wanted it to be parents vs. kids...oy yoy. I'm no spring chicken, lemme tell ya. And somewhere with my age came this fear - this fear of getting hit in the face with the ball. I was playing 3rd and shortstop at first...and every time I'd try to field a grounder I was *pretty sure* that thing was going to take a bad hop and square me in the face. I'd be a version of Marcia Brady coming to work with my nose all huge...would Davy Jones come and take me to the dance?? I don't think so. I didn't play completely horribly. I had at least one nice hit. But boy am I paying for it all today. My legs are sore. My shoulder is sore. My fingers are swollen like little sausages. It's not pretty. I was never an athlete in my younger days, and I'm sure not one now. But I tried! And we had fun. We're definitely going to have to do that again. A couple more families added and we'll have full teams. I better start practicing. We ended the game in a tie...13-13. The kids wanted extra innings, but we parents? We were licked. We didn't have the extra innings left in us.

So here I sit, very aware of my nearness to 40. Trying to pretend that I don't have to live on anti-inflammatories today.

I think I like it better when I'm just screaming from the stands...

Trying to save you all some feedback...

So I probably emailed a lot of you the links to my videos out on google video...I'm posting the least offensive of the set here. Unfortunately it's the same song from them that I previously posted. So to offer a little variety, I've also posted a vid that includes a snippet of war pigs....good stuff...seriously....

Liiiiiiiiiive from the Andrean Battle of the Bands...



And War Pigs:



ENJOY!!

And the winner iiiiiiiiiiiissssssssss....

Circe Media.

Which, for those of you paying attention, does not look anything like That's Right.

It was a good night for the boys. They took a MORE than respectable second place finish. I had kind of suspected as the night progressed that it would go down like that. The t-shirts were a HUGE success and I have more on order. Anyone interested in a That's Right T-shirt, please let me know. They are $20 and all proceeds benefit That's Right.

The boys went on 4th out of 6th - a good place to be. The first 3 bands...well...let's just say they did a fine job for what they were doing and leave it at that.

Our boys? Completely rocked the house. Had the crowd jumping and clapping from note one...I'm not even remotely exaggerating. And then...the gig simulator kicked in. Bobby's microphone stopped working, feedback all over the place, Josway's amp intermittently cutting out. Stuff that was completely out of their control (as there were sound guys, but whatevs)...considering all of the tech difficulties, and there were PLENTY...they still came out fucking fantastic. I was so proud of them. Alex turned in one hell of a personal performance, I might add. His response after the gig? "Ummmm, yeah...girls are talking to me now."

Yes, dear...yes they are. And so continues the circle of musicians getting the babes. It's fun to see the musical baton (and I mean that figuratively folks, don't turn it into something DIRTY) passed from one generation to the next. The band that won was good, I guess, they did all original stuff that was kind of like a cross between Linkin Park and System of a Down - lots of slow build into screamy something-or-other...I dunno, not for me...Alex LOVED them and the mosh pit was a good time. They were the seniors, they were the favorites, and it's better to walk out having everyone tell you that you got robbed than to walk out with everyone telling you that you don't deserve it.

But between you and me? They TOTALLY got robbed and I swear someone was sabotaging their young talented asses...no one else had the tech problems they had, and Circe Media went on RIGHT after them and had not ONE problem....

hmmmmmm...

Saturday Owen had a personal best, too...another inside the park grand slam and an excellent pitching performance. The other team gave him the game ball...pretty good stuff.

I'm now an honorary member of a biker gang, I think. We had a gig for the grand opening of the new 'clubhouse' for the scorpions. If I'da spent 15 more minutes with those guys, I'm pretty sure I would have had a jacket and a new tat. You guys know me - I'll chat it up with anyone, even scary looking guys with names like Redbeard and Cowboy and Killer...they're my new supergay best friends and I'm welcome at the club anytime. Such nice boys. Like Kev-head said....they're just misunderstood.

Don't you know that you are a shooting star....

So tonight's the night...I'm sitting at my desk typing away wearing my "That's Right" t-shirt...fanastic. Can't wait to see the boys do their thing tonight. The set list is good...they're more than ready.

Owen's baseball team is 4-0 - starting to look like last year. Owen is kicking it hard on the mound. The last two games he's had at least one inning with 3 up, 3 down and something like 11 pitches. He really hasn't pitched more than 2, 2.5 innings per game. Kevin's keeping him under 40 due to some new rules. So far it's working out.

He also got to go on a field trip to Amish Acres with the "high ability" student program. They used to call it gifted and talented, but apparently not anymore. He loved the trip, especially since he got to room with his best friend...but the cutest part? When we were packing, he told me he was not packing anything with buttons, because buttons are a high commodity for the Amish and he didn't want them to think he was bragging by wearing buttons. Are you kidding me? How compassionate is this kid...he's worried about offending the Amish. Adorable.

Kev-head shot some video of me last weekend at a gig. It's not great, because I'm dying from allergies this season. Seriously, I haven't worn make-up at all this week, my nose is stuffy, my eyes are watery and my vocal chords are shot from the drainage? The inflammation? I don't know, but I sound hoarse all the time. I was better for about a day...and now, not so much.

For better for worse, here's a little clip:



Have a great weekend everyone!

That's Right, baby, that's right...

So the boys had their first official gig on Thursday night...they did so well it literally brought a tear to my eye.

I told them they can't post the vids to their myspace, because I don't want them to shoot their wad too early if you know what I mean. :)

But I can post them here, because I'm *pretty sure* no one at their school is reading my blog...

If you want to see the rest of them, click on the "go to google video" button in the bottom right hand corner, that will take to you to the google video website for the vid and you can click on "more from this user" or something and see them all. Happy viewing....wish the boys luck on Friday....

Hello my (stranger) friend, hello....

So I got to meet some of my stranger-friends last night live and in person...I mean, we're all friends here, right, but a lot of us have never actually met, so technically we're like strangers, too...but not anymore!!

I had dinner last night with Eileen from Oregon, Colleen from Arizona and Kristen from Canada last night - all of whom regularly read this little blog...and some others who will hopefully START reading this blog: Sue from Houston, Amy from DC and Joanie from Alaska. Smart, beautiful, funny women who are so much fun it hurt to leave them. The night was definitely too short, and we all connected out of the box because, well, they know everything about me, despite the fact that I'm so timid and guarded on this blog, and because we all communicate here and on some other "professional" networking sites. (and I use that term very loosely!)

Upon arriving at Socca - a wonderful restaurant in Wrigleyville, I walk in and see a familiar face. Yeah, that's right, sitting there having a glass of wine is someone I KNOW!! I had the pleasure of meeting Jackie and her husband Kevin the previous week at the Toast of the Town last week and there they were, sipping a nice red in the window. Unbelievable!!

The evening was filled with so much laughter and cross-talk and multiple conversations...it was just fantastic. I introduce you to...the "Women of Like Mind":


Eileen my adorable 'surly' BBFF, Kristen (her hair is even MORE fabulous in person) Katie (yes, my bowling girl) and Colleen (who found me through BUMPTIOUS!!)




Amy and Sue




The peach crostada dance (the mood lighting in the restaurant did not make for good video...)
Eileen actually offered to pay me off for this video and all copies...which just cemented it's addition to the blog....Come on Eileen! What did you expect??)

So much to say, so much to say, so much to say....

OMG - There's so much to tell since Friday - went out for Tigger's birthday on Friday night - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIGGER!!! A good time was had by all - there are flip videos of the evening that I'm pretty sure people will bribe me not to put here...not that we were doing anything horrible, mind you...just funny...

But prior to that was Thursday...the Wine Entusiast magazine Toast of the Town...or as my children call it..."Christmas for Mom". It was brilliant as always...but this time, for the first time, Kevin and I got a hotel room and stayed downtown. So I *think* we indulged a bit more than we usually would. Oy yoy. I used priceline.com to find the hotel - it was awesome!! I got a 4-star downtown Chicago hotel for $125...with taxes I paid HALF! Hooray me!

Saturday was opening day. I rocked the national anthem Tina Turner style and Owen's team won their game in 4 innings. They won last night, too - in 4 innings. Owen looks GREAT on the mound. So very proud.

Yesterday was Alex's first day on the job at DQ...he seemed to like it and said the people were nice. He learned how to make waffle bowls and arctic rushes and whatnot...good times. He's looking forward to going back tomorrow.

Tonight I'm going to the city to hook up with Eileen, Colleen and Kristen who check in on this blog!! We've never actually met face to face, we've only ever been bbff (blogging best friends forever)...we're going to the house of blues - I can't wait!!!! I should have a lot to report tomorrow, kids....

I can't even talk about election day...how exciting that Indiana actually MATTERED...and I went to the Hillary rally that was behind my building...and interesting experience to say the least. I still don't like her, or trust her...but it was still cool to go....

Did you vote? Didja??

ya-ya's of the world, unite!!

Okay, okay, okay, Suz - I'm on it...I've been busy, dammit. I clearly have to write this blog or Suzi will drive out here from Wichita and beat my ass. Her words, not mine.

Last weekend Suz came into town from KS...she was supposed to be here on Friday...ummmmmm...notsomuch. Instead she got drunk...and by drunk I mean blotto'd in the Wichita airport and listened to my son's band compose a song for her over the phone. It really sucked, too, because when I found out her flight was delayed, I hatched a fantastic plan where Julie, Sher and I would hop hook up in Mville and jump into one car and drive out to fetch Suz from ORD. Ahhhh, the best laid plans....

shit.

So she ended up getting here Saturday morning and CLEARLY needed a break from her mother by Saturday night, so we arranged to all get together at the Village. Because Alex had a birthday party in Winfield and Kevin was living at the baseball field all weekend, I had to pick him up on my way out there and tuck him away at Jul's while we went out. As long as he has his laptop, he could care less....

Al and I picked up Suzi at her ma's and trucked on over to Julie's house. When we pull up, Julie and Chris are replacing the storm door. The storms last week did major damage to the existing one. The problem was that it had no handle. Apparently that's something you add later, and Chris hadn't gotten to that part yet, so they had to leave the top window down so you could grab the thing and open it. In hindsight it's really not that funny - but in the moment it was hysterical. We started thinking that maybe he shouldn't put the handle on, and that we should devise some sort of remote control....or maybe they could rig it like those commercials..."Door OPEN" and of course it wouldn't and we'd all go crashing into it accordion style. Again, hilarious last weekend...as was the fact that the arm thingy that is supposed to a) keep the door from flying off and b) bring the door back to closed slowly...well, it brought it back slowly all right. So slowly that we were pretty sure if we didn't push it closed that it still would have been sloooooowly closing when we got back from the Village.

While at the Village, something very strange happened. I've seen less than favorable men try to pick up women in bars before, but this guy took the cake. Now keep in mind that Suz was hot-flashing her ass off, so she's sitting in the Village in her tank top, bra straps a flyin. This guy walks by our table and gives Suzi the up and down...visibly, noticeably and then stands not too far away just STARING. It was creepy. Creepier yet was when Suzi got up to go to the bathroom and creepy guy comes back, sits in her seat and says to me...
Drunk Guy: "You're friend here...is she single?"
You gotta give the guy credit for being direct, I guess.
Me: "Um, no"...
DG: "Oh, really"
Me: "Yeah, she's very married"
Julie: "And she's not even from here"
Me: "She's not remotely single and she's not remotely from here"
DG: "Well, I guess that happens."
Me: "I guess it does."
And off he goes.

It was weird, and creepy and ....ew.

We were supposed to leave at a decent time...because Suzi made me promise...and we weren't out too terribly late, but it was late enough, and Suzi was a little intoxicated...which made the car ride with Alex hilarious. Alex LOVES laughing at my friends when they're drunk. And Suzi gave him lots of great material that night - like asking FIFTY-TWO TIMES if we could go to McDonald's to get cheeseburgers, to which I responded yes every.single.time. but it didn't stop the question. And telling me and Alex that she was going to beat some ass...and I can't remember all of the ass-beating reasons, but I do remember this: Suzi was talking about how she's really at the top of her game and says "Right now, I'm the most intelligent I've ever been" and my response? "Really? Right NOW? Maybe right now in general but not...maybe not right NOW" as Alex cackles from the back seat in response and Suzi blames HIM for her drunkenness because if Alex had just come WITH us...he would have stopped her from drinking so many beers. Ummmm, yeah...

There were so many fun things from that night - but I can't type anymore...I have to get some work done...this will have to do for now, Suz - the sunflower story will have to wait....

Memories....like the corners of my mind....

So the Alex dropping the f-bomb story never stops being funny, and has actually INCREASED our use over the past week or so. Because of course we're torturing Alex's life with this. He never did get called to the office...which is a good thing...but maybe it just hasn't happened yet.

Alex had an interview at DQ the other day - he got the job and that's his ticket into the power chord academy - AWESOME. I had a conversation with my ex about it and said "any words of wisdom for your son before the interview?" his response? tell him not to say fuck.

Awesome...Alex is getting it from all sides.

Julie was laughing about this today and reminded me that I have actually blogged about a) my kids not cussing at inopportune times and b) Alex's comments on my frequent use of the f-bomb.

Hilarious.
Your trip down memory lane:
a) Interesting question - it's all there, in the last paragraph. What a difference a year makes.

b) *#$%&*& - yeah...I knew I was responsible for this...even back then...

Kids...aren't they great? er...great!

And you need to say that both ways...aren't they great?? with loaded sarcasm and then again aren't they GREAT!!

Alex got in trouble at school. I haven't heard from the school on this issue - he told me. Completely forthcoming, because he knows that if I hear about stuff like this from say...the principal...blindsided, if you will, that I'm going to lose it. But now if the principal calls, I'll at least be prepared. Apparently he was jacking around in the parking lot after school with his band-mates. And for whatever reason was sitting on top of his friend's car. Why? No idea...don't really care. It was time for them to leave so they could meet me here and we could caravan down to my house for band rehearsal bonanza...so he leans over the side, knocks on the window to talk to them. The boys inside would put down the window a crack, but when Al would start to talk, they would put it back up. hahahahahahaha from the inside of the car. rmph from Alex. knock-knock-knock again...window down...alex starts to talk...window up. hahahahahaha. So this continues again, and now Alex is beating on the window shouting "Hey, guys...open the window! It's time to go!" (how he thought they were going to leave with him still ON TOP of the car is beyond me. a sane person would have gotten off the car but whatevs.) Still no open window. So now Alex pounds on the window, completely frustrated and shouts "OPEN THE FUCKING WINDOW!" Ummmmm, yeah, that's right - that's my teenager dropping the f-bomb in the parking lot of his private Catholic high school. Sweet. And of course, because it's my son, the athletic director just so happened to be in the parking lot and heard him. Awesome. He comes over, orders Alex off the car, asks him his name and what the difference between a window and an eff-ing window is. (A friend of mine found this question ridiculous, as it was very clear that a window is open and a fucking window is closed. HA!) Alex, I'm sure, was stammering and red-faced and speaking in octaves only dogs can hear...gave the guy his name and muttered some sort of inaudible response. The guy told them to basically get the heck out of dodge and told Alex he could expect to be called down to the office. Whoops. This happened on Friday, and I never did ask him if the office called him down for a counseling session on swearing...they haven't called me, so it can't be all bad.

My husband did not react as badly to this as I had thought. A part of him was relieved to see our good-natured teenage boy actually get into some kind of trouble, as my husband has his own troubled high school past...I think the asshole-puckering that ensued after the incident was enough to teach him his first lesson on swearing awareness.

On the flip side there's Owen. He wrote an essay a couple of months ago for school "What Being a Good Citizen Means to Me." He told me about it, but I didn't really think much of it - until yesterday. He apparently won the essay contest for our county. I didn't even realize this was a county-wide competition. Oh yes...and it went down to be evaluated for State recognition as well. Whodawa??? He won the county, but didn't place as high in the state. For his county winner status he gets to go to the Indiana State House and visit the governor, get an engraved plaque, a $500 savings bond, a certificate from the governor, other prizes from the Indiana State Trooper's Association including a scholarship to their "Respect the Law" camp over the summer..and then then troopers will come to his school's end of the year awards ceremony and make a presentation there, as well.... WOW. Owen is amazed. Julie emailed him to congratulate him on his honors and his response? "I didn't really think about it, I just wrote." He can't believe he won something just for writing an essay. I haven't even seen it...so no, I don't know what he said. He wrote it in school and the teacher submitted it. He's not even sure what he wrote. He remembers that he was studying the Scout law for his Arrow of Light and wrote some things about being loyal and helpful and friendly, but he really doesn't remember what he wrote or even how long the essay was. Oy vay. Not helpful. Hopefully we'll actually get to see a copy at some point during the process.

So it's been a parenting up and down for us in the past couple of days.

We got to enjoy our outdoor living room set this weekend...love, love, love it. Hopefully it stays warm through the weekend so we can sit out there some more. Must.buy.more.wine.

Last dance...last chance....

So let's dance, the last dance...toniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight....

It's the last night of bowling, folks. LAST NIGHT. 33 weeks of trying to knock down those crazy pins...33 weeks of beers and disappointment. I'm always so happy when bowling season starts. And even happier when it ends....it's just such a long.damn.commitment...especially for me when my family is busy and involved. Maybe it will get easier when Alex drives. Maybe I should just throw in the towel. Kev-head and I have talked about finding a couples league - I don't think their season is as long. That would be nice...

That grass that started growing out back? It's really filling in...the other areas are still a week or two behind it, but if it looks anything like that - we should have a nice green yard again by summer.

BATTER UP!!! Baseball season has started my friends...yes it has....so far not tooooooo involved, but the game schedule hasn't come out yet. Opening day May 3rd...very excited. I do love watching Owen play baseball. Of course, the stress of watching him pitch is a stomach turning experience, but every year it gets better.

We took the boys to Wrigley the other night for the Cubs game...I do love Wrigley field...and Wrigleyville - I really do. I've only ever held one sports team close to my heart...the beloved Steelers (moment of silence, please....) and now I really think I am...a CUBS FAN. I hate the Cell, for starters...sorry, Jimmer.

The weekend found us busy as usual...Alex's band came over on Friday night, and Saturday we had our family portraits done by...JULIE BRAVEMAN PHOTOGRAPHY of course!! She sent me a little tidbit of what she shot and it's all great stuff! (like I expected anything different). It's so fun to see all of her new equipment that she's built up over the years...and all of the knowledge...so good, so good. Have you booked your family portrait yet? No???? Well get out to www.juliebraveman.com and a representative will contact you shortly!

And I have to say this out loud...I went shopping for new jeans. I'm a size 8 again. BRILLIANT. I haven't worn a size 8 since before Owen was born. After Alex and before Owen...that was a long time ago. It's fun to be back there again!!

How are you guys?

It's all about the grass, man...the grass...

I am so tired of having conversations about grass seed and weather I could choke someone. Seriously - I know that my husband really wanted to get the project done. The grass seed project that followed the excavation project that trashed my perfectly healthy, wonderful grassy back yard. Do you have any idea how difficult it was to look out my back door and see nothing but black dirt again? I had flashbacks to filthy kids coming in from playing outside and staining every article of clothing they owned. That dirt never comes out. Bleach it, wash it 52 times, it doesn't matter. Once that dirt gets in, it's not getting out.

This weekend he and the boys busted hump getting all of it planted...at least a couple of acres that had to be turned, leveled, seeded, raked and seeded some more. Oy. I'm tired just thinking about it.

And yesterday, a little teeny tiny morsel of a payoff - some of the grass is already coming up - the stuff they did around Easter and the week following. A light green haze over the muddy muddy exterior. I thought my hubby was going to need a moment, if you know what I mean.

I, on the other hand, am completely thrilled with the handrail, my new living room tables, and my outdoor sitting area. It's awesome. I found an outdoor rug to go with the set, so now I really do feel like I have an outdoor living room. We spent some nice time out there over the weekend sipping wine and waiting for the grass to grow. Grow, grass, GROW! The view from my awesome patio furniture will be much better when it's green instead of brown and mucky. Ew.

Next up, the front porch project. This one I could actually lose sleep over, I think. I just don't know where to start. I think I need a landscape company - anyone know of anyone that could come to my house in the boonies and make some sort of stone walkway to my front porch and stairs to match? Help?

Lovely, lovely bloggers...where is the dear Eileen? CCC is coming, m'dear ... we need to make PLANS!

I'm special (*special*) so special....

Did you all get the memo? The one that says how important I am? I have an ASSISTANT. Seriously? How cool is that??

Well, she's not really just MY assistant...she's going to be doing a lot of the stuff I really shouldn't be doing geek-wise (like ordering paper...seriously? no....I'm done tracking paper) and then she's also going to be doing general filing and office stuff for the people who actually ARE important around here. Interviewing this gal was hilarious, she had to think I was a big freak. I haven't interviewed anyone since my Burger King management days, and back then for that job all I cared about was if you showed up and could actually bag fries.

She comes to me with zip, zero, zilch computer experience, but for the types of things I need her for, that's not so troubling. Plus - she's a lefty AND she's a gamer AND her favorite band is "The Cure"... that's all I needed to know. (yes, that was an interview question, along with how many pairs of Chucks do you own - the answer was 2, and she added that they are vintage and beat to hell because she wears them so often) Does all of that mean anything to you? No? Well - it means she's smart, creative, self-learning, and old school...as in she's not a myspace junkie who's going to be texting her friends every minute of the day. Cure fans don't do that. Chuck fans don't do that.

It's so liberating having someone who is going to field supply requests and copier jams and printer malfunctions and hopefully, eventually, some even geekier stuff...HOORAY!

And to add even more good stuff? She's easy to talk to, has picked up on everything very quickly, asks for more to do and doesn't care that I talk like a truckdriver...seriously, that's important. I don't want to be dropping f-bombs in front of the religious chick, or the chick that takes offense - I can hold my tongue. If I have to. But there better be a good fucking reason.

So I'm a very happy geek today....
and I'm trying a new meatloaf recipe tonight, too. It's already in the frig just waiting for Owen to get off the bus and put it in the oven. I've never felt more like the Janet than I did last night when I was leaving a note for Owen with instructions on what to do with the meatloaf when he gets home. I mixed in ranch dressing and ketchup, those fried onions that you put in green bean casserole in place of grated onion and the dry stuffing mix in place of bread crumbs. Mmmmmmm....I'll let you know how it goes....
Happy Wednesday!

well happy birthday to ME

What a fantabulous birthday month it's been...well, other than the weather.

Friday mama took the day off and slept a little and ate a little and shopped a little. Very happy with my Menard's purchases...some outdoor furniture...yay furniture!

My handrail is done...done...done. Okay, not done...installed. We still have to paint it and stain it but STILL! So excited...check it out:
And while you guys might not be as thrilled as I am - I've been waiting almost 8 YEARS for that puppy...so I'm pretty excited.

Saturday night's gig was a blast, and I actually made money because the Kev-head didn't go...for those of you that don't realize what that means, it means no bar tab, which means I actually PROFIT from one of my gigs. Whoo-dee-whoo, babies.

Sunday's jam, my birthday jam was awesome. The place was packed, my family and friends were there, and I think I rocked it pretty good....pretty well....pretty good...whatever. Thanks to everyone who helped me celebrate (and brought gifts...that part was cool, too!)

Peace out - me and my new iPod touch got some bidness to take care of....

yo shawty, it's my birthday!!

Yay me!

Day of food, dinner at the ranch, bowling with my girls, day off tomorrow. Love it all like I would marry it.

Julie's last day at her job in Chicago...hooray! Gooooooo Julie!

I have a HANDRAIL on my staircase...yay handrail!

3 day weekend, 3 day weekend...

Remember - Sunday blues jam starring me at Bozley's just off of I-65 at exit 230 - 5pm start time
OR you can come to the Hideaway in Blue Island on Saturday
OR you can check out the feed on http://live.yahoo.com/thespotstudio

Happy Thursday!

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii...i'm hooked on a feeling...

Well - there comes a time in every parent's life when you have to do it...you have to give your kid the hook.

I didn't mean to do it...it was completely a reaction. Alex's band was practicing at the house last night - and I was recording it with my flip so they could submit a demo. It was a good practice for them and they came up with a name...

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...

THAT'S RIGHT.

**video removed**


OMG - please tell me you're laughing. I almost died. Poor Bobby - I'm forcing that kid to sing as it is, and I just need one decent take...ONE DECENT TAKE...and we were in the middle of a GREAT take, and here comes Owie...so I hooked him. When the guys saw it they cracked up, so that's the video they submitted for their demo, Owie and the hook and all. They figured the teacher who will be reviewing the vids would get a big kick out of it. I hope he has a good sense of humor.

I've got to work on the sound coming out of that old PA. With two mics and a bass hooked it and all of them trying to play over Alex's drumming (didja know drums don't come with a damn VOLUME KNOB?? Sonsabitches)

More fun jam vids to come, I'm sure....
Happy Wednesday...

Another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody...

I got some money cuz I just got paid...

Well happy Monday to everyone...how was the weekend? Good, good...
Mine was...well, busy. Friday night found us in Cheesetown for Chris's birthday - Village Burgers...mmmmmmmmmmmmm. It didn't help that I ate my weight in onion rings, either. Whoops. That's seriously a problem. IU lost - and based on that performance on Friday night, lemme tell you all - PICK ARKANSAS. If you don't know what I'm talking about - then you haven't printed your NCAA bracket yet - and that's just wrong. Get it together, people!

Saturday found my head cold descending into my chest and I felt like someone was sitting on me when I woke up. Stop. Rewind. Kev-head, Jimmer - don't go there. I take that statement back. I spent the morning doing laundry and really...REALLY...why do I have SO MANY SOCKS WITHOUT MATCHES???? I know this isn't exactly exciting blog material, but seriously - what is going on? Even when I make sure I put them in the wash IN PAIRS - this is how bad it's gotten. I counted 1, 2, 3,4,5,6,7,8 socks - 4 pairs - in my hand - and put them in the wash. And when I folded that VERY FUCKING LOAD - I only had 7. 7 socks. 3.5 pairs. Can someone please, please explain THAT to me before I launch myself into a pit of angry alligators??

Saturday night Alex's band came over to practice. We set them up in the basement...which was fine, but just plan on doing nothing else for those 3.5 hours...because there's no escaping teenagers with amps. Not even with earplugs, a couple of beers and a box of benadryl, believe me, Kev-head tried. They actually sound really good - but a 20 minute version of "Hey Joe" - that could grate on anyone's nerves, and I like my Hendrix.

Sunday was so busy I thought my head would literally spin off my neck. Sent Kev-head off to the airport at 4 in the morning...got up and went to 8:00 church, then confirmation class, then we had to drive back home so I could drop Owen off with a friend to go to Rensseltucky - he had art on display at the college. Why didn't I go, you ask? Well, because I had to drop him off, head to my nephew's birthday party in Portage and then to Alex's concert in Valpo. aaarrrrrgggh. Before I dropped Owie off I wanted to stop at the pharmacy to get him a disposable camera to take with him - but alas - there was a squad car in the parking lot and a big poorly written sign on the door that said "Close due to Roberry, investigation in progress." ummmmmm, okay, so you can spell investigation but not ROBBERY??? I love my town.

Alex's concert was good - I'm sure my dad thoroughly enjoyed the 3 bands that performed before his, considering their musical repertoire consisted of Ozzy, Metallica, Black Sabbath, more Ozzy, more Sabbath, Pink Floyd...oh and Sabbath. Talk about someone wanting to light themselves on fire...

Something totally cool happened at the blues jam last night - someone brought in a video camera and a laptop and put us live on the internet!! How cool is that?? So here's the deal...I think he's coming back for my birthday bash on March 30th. You have two choices - the first one being the best...
1. BE THERE! It starts at 5pm
2. WATCH FROM HOME!! Bookmark this site: http://live.yahoo.com/thespotstudio

You can comment and he'll tell us about it and it will be *almost* as good as being there!

What a long strange trip it's been

Happy birthday to Chris! This is exciting for me because it means I'll get to see my Julie tonight...hip hip hooray!!!

BIG NEWS on the Julie front - she's finally unveiled the website! www.juliebraveman.com for the best.portrait.photography.EVAH. Stop what you're doing immediately and call her to schedule your family sitting. DO IT.

The hubby is off to Arizona on Sunday, lucky bastard.

Alex is now not only in a garage band, but he's in a band for his school's battle of the bands. He's totally stoked about it. But even MORE important than that, is that we've discovered the Power Chord Academy. It's not your every day band camp, kiddies - and thanks to Jul, she gave me an idea that helped me sell this plan to both my hubby and the ex. It's not cheap to go and be a rockstar for a week - so we're splitting it 3 ways. Now we have to figure out where and how to get Alex a job. We're going to DQ after work/school to get an app. I know they hire 15-year-olds. or if a friendly benefactor would like to anonymously drop $1800 my way - I certainly wouldn't argue. Neither would Al. :)

Owen finished up baseball camp, thank heavens. And spring break is on the horizon. I need spring break not because we're going anywhere or even that I'm taking time off, I'm not - but I'm guaranteed NOT to have to attend any meetings, run kids anywhere or do ANYTHING EXTRACURRICULAR. Hooray spring break!

What's new with you?

What a long strange trip it's been...

I have never been so happy to see a Friday in my life. What a week, folks, what a week...emotional ups and downs, arguments, drama...and that was just on Monday and Tuesday dealing with Cub Scouts!! Seriously? Seriously. A mom is very upset about an award her son did not receive at the banquet on Monday night...so she was going to conduct an investigation to see whether or not anyone should have received their awards. INVESTIGATION?? Are you kidding me? I'll make sure that when the cub scout police come to arrest me I'll have internet access in cub scout county jail. I can tell you all about life on the inside. What would that sentence be like? Would they ban me from being a cub scout leader forever?? Really? PLEASE! Would then tie me up with neckerchiefs and stone me with neck slides? Would they make me write the cub scout promise 500 times?

It's cub scouts, people...and bottom line, her son didn't even come close to the requirements. Shut up, angry cub mom.

Then I saw something I've never seen...I was picking Alex up from school on Wednesday and as I'm turning the corner onto Broadway an officer is walking through the Walgreen's parking lot, gun drawn, pointing and yelling at a man in a van. Ummmmm. freaky! I've never seen a cop with his gun drawn other than television. When I passed by that same Walgreen's on the way home, the parking lot was full of cop cars and officers with 3 "perps" (don't I sound cool) face down on the ground. I still haven't found anything in the paper that tells me what in the hell was going on there.

Last night - I bowled a 188 in my second game and won the side pot. HOORAY ME! The other two games weren't bad, and my team won the 3 game series, so that's cool.

Tonight finds me sleeping in the hallway of a middle school - fear not lovely bloggers - I'm not homeless. It's the annual lock-in down in Monticello. The rest of the weekend holds work and housework and church and of course...the blues! Happy Friday!