What a workout...

Well, we never did make it to Sam's Club.  We went to my parents' first, and I shoveled for over an hour.  Stud had come with me, but one of my parents' shovels was broken, so I sent him back to our house to get our shovel.  By the time he came back, I was almost finished.  He took care of the back driveway while I did the sidewalk in front of my parents' and both of their neighbors.  The snow was still coming down pretty hard, so by the time we finished, it needed to be done again.  I'm contemplating going back later.  Or, I'll just go in the morning.  We'll see. 

I made another goofy ass video for Suz.  Man, I wish I knew how to dub over my annoying voice!!

Check this out.  As I was shoveling, a couple of my parents' neighbors went by on cross country skis!

Only in Chicago!  We're cool like that!

After we shoveled at my parents' driveway, we were going to head to Sam's Club.  But then, instead, we went to Bestest Friend's house, and shoveled there, too.  I figured it would be a nice surprise for her when she got home from her LONG day of hell at work.  (Just to refresh your memory, she's also a CPS teacher!)  Luckily her driveway is much smaller than my parents' and Stud helped, so it only took us about 35 minutes.  THEN we were going to go to Sam's Club, but as we were getting in the car, Magnum called to say he was on his way to the house to shovel.  I decided to go back to the house so the three of us could shovel together, and just knock it out.  It was nice to have some help, and we finished in about a half hour. 

By then, I was wiped.  So, needless to say, I never made it to Sam's Club.  Guess I'm going to have to dig around the freezer and pantry and see what I can scrape together for dinner.  For once I'm not feeling guilty about not making it to the gym, since I shoveled for over 2 hours today.  I know I'll be feeling that later in my back.  Maybe after dinner I'll fill the tub and take a long, hot soak.

Oh, and just as I started shoveling at home, Bestest Friend called.  I had been talking to her on the phone while I drove from her house to mine, but didn't tell her we shoveled.  I was laughing to myself as she told me how she was going to leave earlier than usual (most nights she stays at school until 6 or 6:30!) because she didn't want to drive in the storm, and besides, she had to shovel when she got home, and she was already tired from her long day.  Tee hee!!  About 2 minutes after we hung up, my phone rang.  "DID YOU SHOVEL AT MY HOUSE?!"  I swear she sounded on the verge of tears!  She's so cute.  I hope she's already sitting with her feet up, relaxing.

Ok, NOW I'm off to make dinner!

Monkey Monday

Monday, February 25, 2013
Do you think you would enjoy being a "sex symbol?"

Yes, I enjoy it very much, thank you!!

I got to spend the morning with my Monkey again!!  But, unfortunately, it's because something was wrong with my brother's car.  He called just as I was leaving for the gym to see if I could meet him at the mechanic.  From there we went to our parents' to pick them up and go to breakfast.  We went back to the place Bestest Friend and I went to yesterday.  None of them had been there before, either.  We were NOT disappointed!  Monkey kept us in stitches the whole time, of course.

The other day I met my brother and Monkey for breakfast near his house.  (Yeah, can you tell my brother LOVES to go out for breakfast!?  It's an almost everyday thing with him!)  Since I swapped out my hash browns for fresh fruit with my omelet, as usual, I had lots of fruit to share with her.  I introduced her to honeydew, which she LOVED!  She was doing the funniest thing, and I so wish I had taken a video!!  Every time I gave her a piece, I'd say something like, "Mmm, honeydew!" in a silly voice, which she then repeated, of course.  But, in addition to the silly voice she was using, she was making this hilarious, scrunched up face!  Man, I wish I had a picture, of better yet, video of it.  Then, at one point, every time she said "Honeydew!" for me, my brother would say, "Honey, don't!" and she repeated that, too.  She's just too cute.  This morning she, once again, ate all my honeydew, and loved every bite!

After we left the restaurant this morning, we went back to my parents' house.  Monkey was MORE than ready for a nap, so I didn't stay.  I'm thinking about going back there now, since her mommy is working late tonight, so my brother will be there for a while still.  Then again, I should probably think about making something for dinner, since Stud will be home from school in about an hour.  Decisions, decisions....Go play with Monkey, or make dinner?  Hmmmm.....This is gonna be tough.....

2/20/13

Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Erich Fromm said, "Immature love says: 'I love you because I need you.' Mature love says 'I need you because I love you'." How do you define mature love?

I'm gonna go with Erich on this one.  That is all.

Today was a busy, and expensive, day.  I'll try and keep it short, as to not bore you with all the details.

I bought 4 new tires for my car, and had an alignment done.

Alright, I hear you, here are a few details.  Some of you are going to want to just skip the next few paragraphs.  You've been warned.

My brother needed to have all the same done to his car, so we made plans last night to go to Sam's Club early this morning for the tires.  The plan was to drop his car off first, then go to breakfast, then go back and get his car and drop off mine.  Well, apparently, we're idiots because we ended up shopping for a while.  The car was finished before we left.  We should have had BOTH cars done while we were there!!

We took my brother's car to the alignment place, then went to breakfast.  While we were there, our parents called.  My brother had originally asked my dad to meet him in the morning, but Daddy told him he had to go to the social security office today, so he made plans with me.  When Daddy finished at the SS office, he called, and they came and met us at the restaurant.  After we all finished eating, they took Monkey back to my brother's because she desperately needed a nap, and my brother and I went to get his car at the alignment place.  THEN we went BACK to Sam's Club to get my tires.  We dropped my car off, and ran a few errands for my brother.  We went back to Sam's, got my car and went BACK to the alignment place and dropped it off.  Then, we went back to my brother's place and hung out until the alignment place called.  Thankfully they called right when my parents needed to leave, so they drove me there on there way home.

So, we basically spent 8 hours on tasks we could have accomplished in about 3.  >:(

If we had known our parents were going to come out, we would have done both cars at the same time at both Sam's and the alignment place.  Instead, we spent about 8 hours waiting and going back and forth between both places.  Eh, whatever.  I got to spend LOTS of time with my Monkey, which is NEVER a waste of time!!!  The only downside to all this "wasted" time was that I didn't get to the gym.  I'm going to try and have a date with my boy, Billy Blanks.

Oh, I just thought of another bright side.  My brother paid for everything, toward some money he owes me, so even though it was an expensive day, I didn't have to foot the bill.  Yay for me!

Sunday Funday

Did a bunch of running around today taking care of this phone nonsense for Magnum.  Let's just say, it was not a great day.  Once again, none of MY errands were accomplished.  But, his phone needed to be taken care of because today was the last day of his contract with his current provider.  He had it out with them on the phone a couple of weeks ago, and told them to just cancel his service when his contract expired.  Anyway, I took care of it, and he has a new phone now.

I was supposed to have lunch with Bestest Friend today, whom I haven't seen in almost a freakin' month.  I had to cancel at the last minute (I'm not even kidding, I was literally walking out the door to meet her!) because Magnum called and he had a chunk of time to do this phone crap.  Even though I totally blew her off for lunch, she still wanted to do dinner.  She's awesome like that.  We went to a place that's kinda becoming one of our favorites.  This was only the 4th time I've ever been there, and,  I've been really happy every time.

While we were at dinner, my mother called to see what I was doing, and if I wanted to come over for dinner.  I told you yesterday that my daddy retired Friday.  His friends at his gun club threw a huge surprise party for him this afternoon.  Then, they sent all the leftovers home with him!!  My mother was freaking out a bit.  "There are trays and trays of food here!  Who's going to eat it!?"  Like I said, I had already eaten, and for some reason, she couldn't get a hold of Magnum or Stud.  But, I told her I'd come by anyway, and at least take some of it home for them.

When I got to my parents' house, my sister and her boyfriend were there.  That's a good thing, as her boyfriend can EAT!  He's 6'6", about 350lbs.  He seriously looks exactly like this:

Wait, I think I might actually have a nice picture of them saved on this computer.  I'll be right back.

SEE!  I wasn't kidding!  And, what about that gorgeous sister of mine, huh?  I think I hate her.

Anyhoodles, I ended up staying at my parents' way too late, visiting with the gang.  I almost forgot to come here for my NaBloPoMo obligation!!  But, now I have GOT to hit the sack.  I'm exhausted.  Good thing tomorrow is a holiday, huh, so I don't have to go to work.  Oh, wait, EVERYDAY is a holiday for me these days!  Bwahahahahaha!!  Yes, I know, I'm a dork.  Good night!

What happened to my Saturday?

I had a list as long as my arm of errands I needed to run today.  Guess how many I got done.  Yep, you guessed it, none.

Thankfully, I DID get to the gym, though.  I went later than usual, but I was still there by 8am.  After my two hour workout, I went to my parents' house to try and help them with a problem they've been having all week with their phone.  I won't bore you with the whole story, but suffice it to say, I didn't get home until 7pm.  LONG day, let me tell ya.

I think I may have mentioned a few weeks ago that my Daddy was retiring.  Well, yesterday was his last day.  Woo hoo!!!  There'll be more about that later.

I'm ready to put my jammies on and hit the sack.  We're actually watching Harry Potter as I sit here and type.  It came on at 7, and we watched it while we ate dinner.  I think I'll watch the rest from the comfort of my bed, while snuggling up under my blankies.  More than likely, I'll be asleep within 10 minutes, which is fine, since I now have a list as long as my arm of errands to run tomorrow.

~~sigh~~

 

2/7/13

Thursday, February 7, 2013
Describe your ideal date night.

I think I have two.

1. Nice dinner at a spectacular restaurant that serves decadent food, followed by a heavenly dessert, then back home for some cuddles and whatever might happen after that...

2. Nice dinner that I've cooked at home, followed by a yummy dessert, then maybe some snuggling while we watch a movie and whatever might happen after that...

Really, ANY date night is usually pretty great.  We had a "family date night" tonight, which was nice.  We waited for Stud to get home from school, then all went to dinner at our favorite place.  It's just a Greek diner, but we love it.  Back when we had JOBS, we would end up there 3 or 4 times a week.  (Wow, I should be embarrassed to even admit that, shouldn't I?)  We would usually meet my parents there at least once a week, then maybe another night would be just Magnum and I, and Stud and I usually would go there for breakfast on either Saturday or Sunday.  Well, ok, some weeks it was Saturday AND Sunday.  Shut up.  Many breakfast were shared with one or both of my nieces, and/or Bestest Friend, so that's how we sometimes ended up there both Sat. and Sun.

Like almost all Greek diners around here, this place is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  (Do you all have places like this where you live, or is it a Chicago thing?)  So, we've been there at all different times on all different days.  Back when I was working at the bar, my brother and I would sometimes find ourselves there at 5am, after a long night of slingin' drinks.  Bestest Friend and I tend to make it our go-to place to meet for whatever.  Breakfast on the weekends, lunch on the weekends or when she's on break from school, or dinner anytime.  There's something on the menu to make everyone happy, which is why we go there so often. 

It's definitely my parents' go-to place, as well.  My dad was friends with the former owner, and has since become friends with the current owner.  My parents probably have dinner there a minimum of once a week, but sometimes it's more depending on what they have going on in their schedule.  My mom has been cooking less and less as they've gotten older, so this place is perfect for them.  It's close to their home, it's fast, delicious, and reasonably priced. 

Sheesh, how the hell did this turn into a giant commercial?!?!  I never even told you the name of this place, did I?  Well, it's called The View, and we all love it!!  (FYI, it was The View LONG before the show was ever around)

The spinning is coming to a halt...

Just got home from my parents' house. Mom is doing MUCH better today. She actually made the appointment with her regular doctor for a follow-up. In the meantime, he prescribed some kind of medication (which of course, she couldn't remember the name of!) for the dizziness, and wants her to take it everyday for a week, then stop the next week, and see if it makes any difference. He said that she can then take it as needed.

Did I ever tell you about my parent's GP? Actually, he's also my mother & father-in-law's doctor, and my friend's parents also go to him. EVERYONE loves him. Well, Joe, their doctor, actually went to high school with me!!! How hilarious is that?! My parents were the last of this group to start seeing him. When I told my mom we went to high school together, she says, "Well, we can't go to this kid!" Um...yeah...mom? I'm OLD!! Trust me, he's a full-fledged doctor!!

She got over it pretty quickly. He's a VERY successful physician, and I'm really happy for him. He actually runs the rehab facility that my father-in-law is in right now. He's a big-wig in the Adult Medicine dept at the hospital. In a nutshell, he's done pretty damn well for himself!

Another one of my friends from high school became a neurosurgeon. Way to make me feel like a loser, guys!! The three of us had almost every class together for 4 years. I'm a disgrace to my fellow nerds. :(

This nerd is so ready for bed. CSJ has to work all night, so I'm going to curl up with a good book, and enjoy having my bed all to myself tonight. (Is that bad?)

Day 11

Monday, June 11, 2012
What makes you jump for joy?

These two are celebrating their 46th Anniversary today!
Just some random shots....











I know these are totally random shots, and not the best photos, but I'm very short on time tonight. My FIL was rushed by ambulance to the hospital today, so it's been a long day. He's had a really rough couple of months now, and it just seems to keep going down hill. I hope things start looking up soon.

Basically, what makes me jump for joy is my family!

Simple Sunday

Mom and Dad came over for dinner again tonight. I made big, fat, juicy pub burgers on the grill, caprese salad (using fresh basil from the pot on my window sill. YUM!) and bacon & brown sugar baked beans. I also made a skillet-full of caramelized onions, so my parents and I could smother our burgers with them, along with some bleu cheese. Oh, happy day!!

It was WAY too hot for me today, and it's only going to get worse. I'm already getting cranky just thinking about it. Time to go take a cold shower.

Aren't Sundays supposed to be for relaxing?

This was a very busy Sunday. Really, I'm not complaining. The reason I was so busy is because my sister and parents came over for dinner, so I spent the day preparing. I'm kicking myself for not taking any pictures for you guys. I'm sorry. I'll go straight to my room.

I tried a new crock pot recipe. (I can see the shocked look on your faces from here, ya know.) It was a recipe for 'crock pot barbeque chicken,' and it was pretty good. The finished dish is shredded chicken in a yummy sauce, similar to pulled pork. After I put everything in the crock pot, I made a trip to the grocery store this morning to get fresh rolls from the bakery to make sandwiches. I was pleasantly surprised to see that my grocery store's bakery had pretzel rolls. YUM! I bought some of those, and then some big, soft, almost fluffy rolls that are intended to be used to make tortas. I picked up a couple of other things for dinner, as well as some ingredients for a recipe I've been wanting to try all week.

Well, I got home, did some cleaning up, did some laundry, made a homemade spinach artichoke dip, and put it in my small crock pot (g'head, giggle. You know you wanna.) I then screamed at Stud to clean up his crap in the basement so we could eat down there (MUCH cooler in the basement) and finally decided it was time to get started on the dessert. Well, hell's bells, it needed to be put in the freezer for EIGHT HOURS. It would have been fine if we wanted to eat dessert at 11PM, but since that wasn't gonna happen, I needed a Plan B. Which meant ANOTHER trip to the grocery store!

Plan B turned out to be a dessert that my brother and his girlfriend introduced us to several years ago. I'm not sure what it's really called, but I decided tonight that we'll be calling it Ice Cream Lasagna. I'm sure some of you have made it before. Here's one version of the recipe that I found online. I tweaked it a bit, adding caramel topping, and then studding the top with maraschino cherries. You pretty much can't go wrong with this one, no matter what changes you make to the 'recipe.' Again, I wish I had taken a freakin' picture for you. But, then again, it would have just made you jealous, and you probably would have shorted out your computer with the drool that would have been running down your chin. ;-)

Dinner was yummy. We started out by gorging ourselves on the spinach artichoke dip. I made a tossed salad with baby spring greens, red and yellow cherry tomatoes and Gorgonzola, dressed with olive oil & red wine vinegar, salt, pepper and garlic (all emulsified in a jar) and corn on the cob to round out our meal. We were all so full, we had to wait quite a while before bringing out our Ice Cream Lasagna.

We had an amusing evening of chit-chat and LOTS of laughs. Stud kept my mom and sister in stitches, mostly by making fun of me, the little shit! He's got an entire stand-up routine now based on my crock pot obsession. My mom and sister were rolling on the floor. My daddy, of course, was NOT participating in the mommy-bashing my son was doing. (What do you mean that's because he was asleep on the couch?!)

Well, the gang just left, I finished the last of the clean up in the basement, the dishwasher is running, I've changed into my jammies and crawled into bed, and now I'm going to check in on all my Bloggy Buddies. I hope your Sunday was half as enjoyable as mine was. Nighty night!

A little peek...

...into how my awesome family likes to party.

This past Sunday, my sister had a graduation party for my youngest niece, who graduated from 8th Grade a few weeks ago. At one point, my dad was handed a guitar (which happens at EVERY family gathering) and I decided to try and capture a bit of his performance. It actually hit me like a ton of bricks - why have I never taped him before?! So, I grabbed my camera. The first video I made was so dark, you couldn't even see him, so I made him move to where there was more light. This is the second video. It still isn't the best, but that probably has to do with the fact that a) I have a cheap, crappy camera and b) there was a party going on around him! The sound is awful. And, on top of all that, my daddy has been fighting a cold, so please excuse the coughing. I took more video, but none of it turned out all that great, so I won't bore you with it all. This is already probably longer than you want to watch, anyway.


My uncle, who brought the guitar, eventually took it back to play a little more. My parents decided to get up and dance a little. Back in the day, these two were referred to as "Fred and Ginger" because they were SO incredible at dancing together. Now, they're both older, and my dad has some serious issues with his legs (bad circulation, probably due to his diabetes) so they don't quite move the way they used to. But, hell, for an almost-70 year-old man, I think he still does pretty well, don't you? (again, the video's not the greatest because I need a real camera!)


(I just rewatched these videos, and I started laughing because of what's going on in the background. I love how nobody is paying attention to the "performers" because it's so common-place at our gatherings. I told you my family is nuts!! But, I wouldn't trade 'em for the world!!)

Looking for a little more musical entertainment? Go check out this video posted over at my buddy Ricochet's blog.

Today's the day!!***UPDATED***

Click HERE to donate to St. Baldrick's.
In about 4 1/2 hours, all this curly goodness will be gone.If you've been meaning to make a donation to St. Baldrick's, now's the time! I know how easy it is to put things off, despite the best intentions. Life, and it's craziness, has a tendency to get in the way, doesn't it? Hell, I haven't even put my donation online yet!! I'm doing it as soon as I hit "publish."

Stud's time slot for getting shaved is 1:00 pm. It's only 8:30 here, so you KNOW he's still asleep! I did kiss him up a bit when I went down to make my coffee a little while ago, and he was starting to stir. I think I'm going to give him until 9 before I start screaming at him. tee hee!
We (I) had a VERY long day yesterday. I had to drive Stud to school, which my 'regular' readers know means almost an extra hour added to my morning. Or should I say subtracted? Whatever, all I know is CSJ has gotten me really spoiled this year by driving him just about everyday. It just seems so inconvenient when I have to do it now, despite having handled
it by myself for the past 12 years!! Stupid, right?

Anyway, after a LONG Friday with my rugrats, I had to rush home because Dorky Dog had a vet appointment. I sped to Stud's school, snatched him up and rushed home. Stud ran in to change out of his school clothes while I cleared some stuff out of the back of the car, then loaded Buster in with his ramp. That poor old thing! I don't think I've ever mentioned his ramp before, but he's so old now, that he can't make the jump/climb into the car. Thankfully, one of my dad's friends gave me this really cool ramp a while ago for him, otherwise, I'd have to literally pick him up and put him in the car. Um, hello, he's still a big boy, weighing about 70 lbs. THAT'S not a viable option! (Holy crap! I just Googled 'dog ramps' so I could put that link here, and not only found the exact ramp, but I had NO idea how expensive it was. Wow, the kindness of others never ceases to amaze me. My daddy has great friends, which I'm sure is directly related to the fact that he's freakin' AWESOME himself!)

Anyhoodles, after Buster's vet appointment, he had an appointment at the doggie spa for a bath and FURminator treatment. (LOVE the FURminator!!) Because the grooming session takes a few hours, I figured I'd try and run some errands out in that area instead of driving all the way home. (My vet and groomer are both located inside of a PetSmart that, mostly thanks to traffic, is about 45 minutes from home. It didn't make sense to drive all the way home to just turn around and drive back.) Stud and I ended up driving out to the bar, picking up dinner for us and my brother on the way. It was nice to visit for a bit, but he was pretty busy, so we didn't stay long.

After we ate we went shopping for a little bit before the groomer called to say Buster was ready. And, wow, did he look adorable when I picked him up. I really should have taken some before and after photos so you could see the magic of the FURminator! From there, we drove over to my parents' because I had to drop some things off from my brother, and we visited there for a while. Finally, around 10, we HAD to go because I just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, despite having a few espressos with my mother. That stuff has absolutely NO effect on me. If anything, it puts me to sleep. Weird, right?

When I got home, there was a message on my machine from the niece of my neighbor, letting me know that she had taken a fall down her basement stairs and was in the hospital. I was devastated. I haven't been able to shake the anxious feeling I've had ever since I heard the news. Actually, the burst of adrenaline that occurred after hearing the news and talking to her niece snapped me awake and kept me up for hours.

I know logically, there is NO way I could have known she fell, but I can't stop feeling like I could have done something. No one really knows how long she was lying at the bottom of the stairs, bleeding, because she had absolutely no recollection of the fall, or even being up out of bed. She just remembers waking up and literally crawling up the stairs to call 911. They put 12 staples in her head, so it's a pretty large gash. Her other niece told me that she's basically in pain all over, which makes sense after falling down a flight of stairs. I just feel so terrible for her. I'm actually kinda sitting here typing to kill time before visiting hours start at the hospital.

Well, it's 9 now, so I can go bother Stud until he gets up out of bed. Yay! As soon as he showers and gets dressed, we're going to hit the florist, then the hospital, then we're off to get shaved! Well, HE'S getting shaved, I'm going to stand around taking pictures and video for you guys. You're welcome!

***UPDATE***

Here's our little pumpkin right before the shave. There was a woman standing next to me, watching her own son get shaved, and she immediately commented on Stud's beautiful hair.
As promised, I took video. I'll warn you now, it's a little long, and pretty boring.

Brushing off the hairs.

And, there he is! The hairdresser left it pretty long. If I remember correctly, she's the same woman who shaved him the first year, and left it long then,too.
I told him it's just the right length to make him look like a little gang banger. Don't you agree?
When we went to buy a plant to bring to our neighbor, he spied this little guy, and went nuts. He HAD to have him!
How hilarious is this kid?! He even took pictures of it and texted them to his best friend. I don't get it, but whatever, it made him SO happy, I couldn't stop laughing!!


He's trying to make them look tough here. Did it work?He was cracking me up with this thing. I finally had to bust out the camera in the car and capture some of the nuttiness! Again, these are kind of long, and probably boring to everyone but me.