Archive for November, 2009

Thanksgiving 2009

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

The past few days have been a total delight.  The kids are home and all seems right in my little world. 

I bet you already know the things I’m thankful for, so I won’t bore everyone by listing them all here.

However, there is one item too important to neglect listing.  The single thing I am thankful for that stands out above all the rest this Thanksgiving is:

  • Slaughtering SweetGuy 150 – 90 in Fantasy Football this week.

All else pales in comparison.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.  As the famous Singing Sally once eloquently said in her Facebook status:  I am thankful for YOU.  Yes, YOU!!

Posted in Family | 7 Comments »

Refurbed Site

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

I thought I’d try my techie hand at creating a blog theme of my own.  So, here you have it. 

I have no design savvy whatsoever, but there were a few things I wanted to make part of this new design:  1) wider pages, thus bigger pictures and 2) a Recent Comments roll in the sidebar to the right that shows the latest post comments.

I would give Singing Sally credit for the second suggestion, except she habitually takes credit for my photos on her Facebook, so hear this:  the comments section idea was ALL MINE.

And, I like the idea, because people say great stuff in the comments all the time, but other’s don’t necessarily see them or have the chance to respond since no one realizes they are there.  For instance, my England-based nephew Jake just commented on the ELVES post from a few days ago.  It says just this:

My wonderful elf sent me an e-mail message with the subject “From Your Elf.”  When I opened it there was a video in which she said, “Bang.  Your Dead.”  And that was it.

Or there was this comment on the same post from stinking FavoriteChild:

Dearest Sister – come next month, and the revealing of the Elfees, be prepared to “be seriously pissed” (see line 7) That’s all I have to say.  – Someone’s elfee

Hilarious (well, Jake’s anyway… Favorite’s is just irritating).  But, comments easily missed if not for the NEW DESIGN that was all my idea, thank you very much.

So, do me a favor, and let me know if you experience any problems with the blog, because there very well might be errors that I haven’t discovered.

Posted in Blogging | 1 Comment »

Appalachian Trail – Check

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

So, I have a life list.  There’s a link to it over there ——>

One of my items on the list was to hike a portion of the Appalachian Trail.

Mind you, I love the outdoors, but I am not a camper.  I like indoor plumbing.  No, I love indoor plumbing.  In my opinion, it is a necessity, not a luxury.  So, when I said I wanted to hike a portion of the Appalachian Trail, I mostly just meant that I wanted to take at least two steps on it so I could say I HIKED THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL – no matter if said statement was grossly misleading.  I liked it that way.

Whilst we were in Tennessee on vacation last August, SweetGuy, Magoo and I drove into the Rocky Mountain National Park looking for a particular trail.  We pretty much got lost, and ended up driving a lot farther into the park than we intended.

Score! 

We ended up reaching the border of Tennessee/North Caroline and THIS:

Yes, we stumbled our way onto a portion of the Appalachian Trail.  And, would you believe just this moment I actually read that whole sign for the first time.   What the HECK?  Hello, I was going to post all arrogantly about hiking the App Trail when I now notice the portion of the trail we hiked is named Sweat Heifer  –  as in PERSPIRING COW trail. 

You have got to be kidding me.  We hiked the PERSPIRING COW trail???  I can just hear my brother’s teasing now.  “Hey Sis, how cool is that, they named a trail after you!!”

Perhaps, rather than check this off my life list, I should just delete the item altogether and pretend this never happened.

The air has definitely gone out of this post for me.

So, appalachian trail, check.

Posted in Travel | 1 Comment »

Bye Bye Bud

Monday, November 16th, 2009

It’s November.  No one ever accused me of being timely.   When our nest started emptying in August I knew I wanted to post about the process of each child departing.  So yeah, I already wrote about DustMeister leaving and about Magoo leaving. 

Let’s see, I think there was one more…

Don’t tell me.  It will come to me. 

Oh YES – who’s the MAN – I remember!!  Bud.  The first born.  He’s quiet, you know.  I can’t be expected to IMMEDIATELY remember everyone I’ve given birth to, can I?

So, Bud, was the next to go. 

Singing Sally and I made the trip to SIUE to drop off AUBS! and the Bud-man.  He’s a Senior so he’s got the moving into college routine down, right.

We found his apartment, unloaded his stuff, and offered to help him unpack and cozy up his place a bit.  He gladly took us up on the offer.  I don’t think I was 30 seconds into unpacking when I inquired “Bud, you did bring bedding, right?”

Bud:  “Oops”

Me:  “Sheets… blankets… anything?”

Bud:  “Not so much”

Me:  “What other essentials have you forgotten?”

Bud:  “I have my laptop, my X-box, my phone, and all associated power cords.  So see, I have forgotten no other essentials.”

Me:  “I have a headache.”

Sally and I gussied up his room as much as possible with one poster and a thumbtack.

We meticulously organized his kitchen, placing his PLATE in one cupboard, and his BOWL in another, and the GLASS in a third.  I hope he was able to find everything.

Aren’t guys awesome in their minimalism?  Girls (MAGOO and AUBS!), take note.

Here’s a quick picture I snapped of his apartment:

Look at how laid back he is.  Bud was moving into an apartment with two strangers from a foreign land, and was as relaxed as could be.  And, yes, literally a foreign land.  His roommates are from Istanbul (not Constantinople — sing it with me!). 

I definitely miss having this big lug around — taking walks, Rock Band, forcing him to play Mario Kart with me, cooking his favorite foods, and using him as my personal slave when I needed a little muscle on one of my many projects.  Really, the kid needs to learn how to complain from time to time.  If he doesn’t his mother people will continue to take advantage of his generosity and gentle spirit. 

Oh my gosh, Bud is a Senior!  He just signed up for his last semester of college courses and is on track to graduate in four years with a degree in geekery.  Smart choice Bud, us geeks rule the world, you know. 

We miss him, and we are EXTRAORDINARILY proud of who he is and what he is doing.

Now, Bud, come home.  I cannot go another day without blasting your first place Mario Kart behind with a blue shell.

Love,

Mom

Posted in Bud's Body Tricks | 3 Comments »

Goof-Dog

Saturday, November 14th, 2009

Some people think we are empty nesters now.  When, in fact, we are not. 

We will not be empty nesters until we are minus approximately four animals.  They still selfishly demand to be fed and generally cared for.  And Bud’s dog, Berzerker, NEEDS SO MUCH ATTENTION.  He is starved, STARVED I tell you, for human interaction.  It’s killing him that he’s left alone for some 10 hours every weekday. 

This dog has always had a lot of nervous energy.  When we brought him home from the pound, he was somewhere around 6 months old.  We would keep him closed in our front room when we had to leave.  He methodically destroyed every shred of anything in that room, including one entire couch.  It was a bad-dog deed of epic proportions. 

He’s matured since then.  Now, when we are gone, he just paces back and forth across our jacuzzi cover, and watches out the window for us to come home.  Often times, he moans and cries.  I mean it.  He sounds as if he is crying, even sobbing.  It’s a bit pathetic if you ask me.

All that to say that SweetGuy and I actually try really hard to give Berzerker attention when we are around.  And, if we can get him outside to run off his energy, all the better.

A few weekends ago, we were working on our barn.  Shocker, eh?

We brought Berzerker out with us to run and get some fresh air.  Over the course of the afternoon, the bizarre animal picked up and ran with every random item we laid on the ground.  Check this out:

A grill brush that we were cleverly using to scrape paint.  Magoo LOVES it when we use kitchen items as tools.  (She still hasn’t forgiven me for using our mixer to stir cement.  Silly girl.)

Hey Goof, bring that back right now!

Eh, that’s just a cap.  Go ahead and release a little aggression on it, dog.

Hello, that is my broom, thank you very much.  And, where is the handle, dude?  (Check out the total look of guilt on his face.  Yet, apparently he didn’t feel guilty enough to actually leave my stuff alone.)

Oh my GOSH.  Bring back that mallet!!  Don’t you know, SweetGuy, can NOT accomplish any fine demolition carpentry work without his refined set of tools.

The clepto grabbed various objects and ran with them for the entire day.  The dog is eight years old and has never done this before in his life.  He is certifiable. 

We were close to finishing our task for the day.  The barn just needed a little touch up paint, so we banished Berzerker to the house because we did not need him grabbing anything laden with paint.  (He soon started wailing.  What a wimp.)

Not more than 10 minutes after we got rid of the dog, here is what greeted SweetGuy from the ROOF as he was painting.  The cat cried and whined until SweetGuy got her down.  Doofus.  The cat, not SweetGuy.  Hey CAT, you managed to get up there, can’t you get yourself down?

I rest my case.  We are not empty nesters.  And, I just don’t see these animals scoring high enough on their standardized tests to follow the kids off to college.  I think we are stuck with them.

 

 

 

 

 

.

Posted in Animals | 5 Comments »

Has anyone seen Magoo?

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

As a parent, I balance on a thin rope concerning how I feel about various aspects of my children’s lives.  For instance, on the one hand, I want Magoo to be happy and content at school. 

But, and I say this knowing it’s very selfish, I don’t want her to be SO happy and content that she abandons cares less about home (read: Mom).  

I try to give her space so she has the chance to fully invest herself in the college experience.  Thus, I don’t call often and I survive missing her by nibbling up the text or two we exchange every few days.

After texting her without response a number of times over a two day period, I got a little desperate.  Here is the sum total of our text conversation:

 

[Andi] Nov 6, 2009 9:57:25 PM:  Please respond y/n if you are alive.

[Magoo Mobile] Nov 6, 2009 9:58:03 PM:  y

 

Well, there you have it.   I think she’s adjusting.  Either that, or she’s been kidnapped and  tied up, yet risked life and limb to type her one character reply with her nose just so her Mama wouldn’t worry so much. 

That’s my Magoo.  She loves me THAT much.

Posted in The Many Faces of Magoo | 8 Comments »

Cal

Friday, November 6th, 2009

Happy Birthday today to TheOldest sister!

She always shared a birthday with my grandfather (and get this – he was her grandfather too!), which I used to be a bit jealous of for some unknown childish reason.

Of the many impressive men I’ve met in my life, the one I hold on the highest pedestal is my grandfather, Cal.  He was the real deal:  humble, sweet, patient, funny, loyal, inclusive, steady, unselfish, and honest.  100% of the time.  He was also SENSITIVE – in an era where sensitivity in men was definitely not considered cool.  I LOVE that the most about him.

Warning, TANGENT:  SweetGuy shared with me the other day that his mother told him once when he was young that he was Sensitive.  This ticked him off to no end.  Really, no end, it still clearly bothers him to this day.  Me, not having been blessed with the Sensitive, told him to get over it because he is the very DEFINITION OF SENSITIVE.

Now, back on track.

If I had the power to mess with the whole space/time continuum thing the first thing I would do, besides somehow rig a Cubs World Series Win in my lifetime, would be to have my children spend a day with my grandfather.  I KNOW they would adore him, and he them. 

On a related odd note.  I looked up a little genealogy history on Grandpa today because I was trying to remember what year he died.  I was able to find records that were definitely his, but they all stated his date of birth as June 11, 1892.  Not November 6th. 

For any relatives out there reading this blog… what’s up with the birthday thing?  I realize my mind is like a steel sieve these days, but birthdays don’t change, and I know today was Grandpa’s.  Right?

Posted in Family | No Comments »

The Elves are in the Building

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

My Mom had this quirky idea last Christmas.  Come to think of it, she has quirky ideas every Christmas.  But, I won’t go there, as her quirky ideas could be an ENTIRE category on this blog.  This particular idea was going to be the gift that keeps on giving for the whole year.  We all drew each other’s names out of a hat and became a secret “Elf” for one other person in the family.  As elves, our job was to anonymously do nice things for our designated person – I shall call this person the Elfee – throughout the year.

Her idea has met with limited success.

It turns out there are Good Elves and there are Bad Elves.  I have a Good Elf.  Just two days ago, I discovered this in a tupperware container in a seldom accessed storage area of our house:

Is that not awesome?!

And, yesterday I received a hilarious Halloween gift in the mail.  I love my elf.

Other elves have done a fine job too.  There was the generous lazy Elf who wrapped a $50 bill around Emmy’s phone.  I LOVE lazy and generous.  Wait, it’s not lazy, it’s EFFICIENT.

There’s Mom’s Elf who manages to do something thoughtful for her at least once a month (and if her Elf turns out to be FavoriteChild – I’m going to be seriously pissed – Mom thinks her anonymous elf is the best elf ever).

And then there are Bad Elves.  Let’s be forthright here.  Hello, younger generation, you guys make sucky elves!

I can say with a fair amount of certainty that all the kids of the family, and I use kids loosely as the youngest is about to turn 18 (yay!), have done very little elfing.

As a matter of fact, AUBS! went so far as to complain and whine and complain about how hard it was for her to be a good elf because her elf LIVED IN ANOTHER COUNTRY! 

Firstly, there goes the whole anonymous thing.

Secondly, ah, AUBS?  We all know you must be referring to Jake.  And, well, he’s sitting RIGHT NEXT TO YOU!

AUBS! argument might have held a little more weight had she chosen to make it at a time when Jake was actually in England, and not at home, two feet away from AUBS as she professed her Elfee problem.  Just sayin.

So, all you loser Elves out there, it’s time to step up to the toy workbench and start elfing like true elves should!!

Ask not what your elf can do for you, ask what you can do for your elfee. 

Wow, that was lame.  The end.

Posted in Family | 4 Comments »

FFL & SweetGuy

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

saboteur [sab-uh-tur]–noun

a person who commits or practices sabotage.

 

Oh yes, yes, SweetGuy is one.

Last Saturday evening he and I were discussing our Fantasy Football Teams and I noted that I had my lineup already set for the next day.  (Lineups have to be decided in advance of the start of the games.)

In short, he was CONVINCED I needed to start Calvin Johnson at wide receiver instead of Roy Williams.  I was all “I don’t know.  Are you suuuurreee?”  And, yes, as a matter of fact he was SURE, POSTIVE, NOT A DOUBT IN MY MIND kind of sure.

I was still nervous.  I’ve had a terrible run of bad luck in FFL and this move just didn’t feel right.  But, I listened to my husband and changed my lineup.

And, I’m positive you all know EXACTLY what happened, don’t you?  Roy Williams, who I had originally slated to start, WOULD HAVE gained me 8 points.  And, Calvin Johnson, SweetGuy’s can’t miss player, did not even PLAY in the game.  He scored ZERO. 

And yes, I lost by six points.  I’ll do the math for you once again because I know it’s a lot of work.  Had I not listened to SweetGuy I would have won by two points, but by listening to him I lost by six points.  The TWO and SIX don’t really matter so much.  But, that whole WIN vs. LOSE?  That sorta matters.

Oh well, as SweetGuy well knows, I refer to this kind of situation as a Win-Win proposition for me.  Either I win — as in my team wins — or I win — as in I get to harass him for the rest of his life. 

And, so it goes.

Posted in Sports | 5 Comments »