How Was School?

How was school? "it sucked, my shirt was wrong, my shorts too short, and the other girls mom's don't get their deodorant at the dollar store!".....ugh.....just once can what I do be good enough for this child? And.....I'm not buying top of the line deodorant for an 8 year old who doesn't need bleeping deodorant in the first place~!  Lisa

Awwww

True story: As you know Grace is my oldest, but her younger brother doesn't quite grasp the dictionary meaning of her name. When I said the Hail Mary with Parker the other day, he balked at the traditional wording and came back with "Hail Mary, full of Parker . . . "

The Automatic Detective by A Lee Martinez

Finished " The Automatic Detective" by A Lee Martinez; a fun read. I finished it here in a dr's waiting rm on a Nook. Answered several ?'s about the unit. Think I sold one, actually.

The First Day of School 2010

The kids leaving for the first day of the 2010/11 school year yest - Smiley's first day of K5 & his first day at his new school.

OMG....our kids are soooooooo cute! LOL - Lisa

AW soooo sweet, Smiley looks kind of scared. Was he?

Is it the picture or is he almost as tall as LuLu? - Grandma Jeanne 

No, he wasn't scared at all. This was the second or third shot I took, and he was getting antsy. He is less than an inch shorter than Lu, according to their last Dr. visit. 

As proof he wasn't scared, here's a pic ofSmiley on his first day of K5:

Drinking

It is now 403 am. If I am not hungover in teh morning, then I did something wrong.

No More Toddler Beds!

Lisa purchased, transported, and set up a twin bed set for Junie today while I was at work. [thanks!] That means we have a) no more bottles b) no more diapers c) no more cribs [the last of which was converted to a toddler bed for LK a year and a half ago]. All milestones, & all good news - but I must admit I got nostalgic walking thru the baby aisle at Pick 'N Save today.

It's a Wonderful World

I have come to the conclusion that the sight of a woman wearing capri's and open toed sandals is a gift from God on par with sunsets, kittens, and Oreos. Well done Lord, well done.

OMG

OMG.....bedtime could not come quick enough tonight, it's like they are all possessed! - Lisa

A Rough Night

For no good reason I was up until 5 a.m., then woke up for good at 9:30. It is now just shy of 1 p.m., and I am already a right mean ba**ard. It's gonna be a doozy of a day.

Two Movies

Ok, saw the Percy Jackson movie and thought it was top notch. The kids enjoyed it a lot but I don't dig PJ murdering his step-dad after the credits rolled (WTF??- glad my kids had already left the room; don't need them getting [more] ideas). Also saw JLO in "Back Up Plan", which was entertaining and featured a fine supporting cast. Easily her best rom-com since "Maid . . ."

So Excited!

So excited to drop off school supplies tomorrow.....can't wait to have my dining room back! - Lisa

Hair Dye

Lisa's mildly p.o.'d at me (what a novelty, eh?) because she dyed her hair a deep, dark red at my request. Uh, a) she doesn't listen to me about anything else, so y start now? b) it's not *half* as dark as I had hoped, so it's not like she 'caved' to my demands c) it looks hot against her pale skin. C'mon - I work hard to look THIS freakin' hot for her, it's only fair she returns the favor. ;)

A Lemonade Stand Visit

YaYa  and I stopped at a lemonade stand out of sympathy for the kids - no one ever stops and buys any from my kids, may all the passerby's rot in hell. Anywho, it turns out it was run by Quinten, the son of a friend of ours. I greeted him with "Well if it ain't Gracie's little boyfriend" and thereby ensured me bitter stares & silence from YaYa the rest of the way home.

LOL - I was just watching a music video and a fine lady shook her ass to the camera. Smiley had just walked into the room, and seeing the woman on the screen he tugged on my shirt, & with a huge grin on his face and a twinkle in his eye said "Me like that a lot. Play it again."

Weirdo

These kids are weird. Junie keeps trying to play leapfrog but insists on saying 'oink', and Smiley is eating a hoagie roll stuffed with summer sausage, cheese, and whole strawberries.

update: I should mention that within minutes of this post Junie was in the backyard pool in a bikini . . and bicycle helmet. 

lol.... at least she's  finally over the winter boots!!  - Lisa

Quote

"He was looking anxious & worried, like a man who has done the murder all right but can't think what the deuce to do with the body."  - PG Wodehouse

Lisa takes the Kids to the Mall

While I was at work today Lisa brought the kids by to visit, then took them to the mall and treated them to lotion, necklaces & amusement rides before going out to dinner w/ them w/ some of her State Fair earnings. Since Park was excluded from the lotion/necklace party, he got a dollar store snake that will grow to 6X its size when left in water.

So cool...felt good to waste some money for a change. They were really good at the mall, all 4 of them. I heart them. - Lisa

A Wonderful Moment

Driving w/ the family on  dark country road near Union Grove, returning from an errand in Burlington. Justin Beiber's "Baby" on the radio & everyone singing along.

.

Watching 'Dating in the Dark' on ABC. Man I love reality tv!

A Summer Weekend

We had a busy/great weekend. On Sat we drove up to Red Granite WI for a corn roast at a tavern owned by the parents of a friend; my girls got up and did karaoke for the crowd- they're a lot braver/better kids than I was @ their age. Afterwards we drove 3.5 hours in the other direction and spent the night at my buddy Erv's house in IL, arriving at 10 pm and leaving ~ 7pm Sunday. A great last summer hurrah.

The Ghosts of Cannae by Robert L O'Connell

I just finished 'The Ghosts of Cannae' by Robert L O'Connell, a GREAT non-fiction work on the famous battle. Having read it, I say screw Hannibal; give me Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus any ol' day.

"Nooo. . . No u may not use the term 'finger-bang' in your status. Do not make me hit you." - Lisa, minutes ago.

The Killers

Watching The Killers in concert on Palladia. I miss cable.

I love the killers ! Have you seen the KILLERS in london ? That one is one of the best :) =- mu sister K

Yeah, this was at Royal Albert Hall. It was very good. :)

A close friends grandma's funeral was today. What an amazing and blessed family. Her influence on them was palpable. RIP June.  - Lisa

I use Google Chrome as a browser but use Bing for searches. Go figure.

The Searchers by Alan LeMay

My Dad's always said The Searchers is the best western ever made, and I've never found a film that proved him wrong. I just finished the book that inspired it (by Alan LeMay) and it was just as good - in some ways better. Many of the quotes you've seen here recently are from the text, and I think the ending (while more or less the same) is more powerful in print. Very highly recommended.

How Times Change

An episode of The Cosby Show was just on, one from a later season where Theo was already in college. Within the first ten minutes the characters used a typewriter, a record player (!) and had to rush home to use the phone. Savages.

A Mishap of a Burger at Kopps

off work and at Kopp's, waiting on a do-over of a burger that was served bloody.

update: Yeah, it wasn't the best. They made sure the do-over was cooked way past the point of yumminess.

update: The original burger itself was brown on the outside, bright pink inside. I'd say medium-rare most of the way, rare in the corner I chose for the first nibble. They said they'd closed their grill down too early and it hadn't reheated properly by the time my order came in (1/2 hr to close) no, I didn't ask or get anything free. Shit happens. 

The Slap Chop Rap

I love the slap chop rap....anyone else?

lol.....ok....the "slap chop" is a chopper, on a late night informercial. Recently, I've noticed they've made a new commercial, using the old one but doing it like a rap, w/ a man in a bunny costume that does the hammer. I laugh everytime, I'm mesmerized watching it....everytime. you must see the slap chop rap, lol.

- Lisa

FAME

We just finished watching the remake of 'Fame'. I don't remember the original film enough to compare, but it was a pretty fair flick by its lonesome. There wasn't nearly enough dance, not by a longshot, but the 'Black and Gold' Fosse-ish number was hot.

I'm sitting in the kiddie pool w/ Pdiddy & LK, reading a bk & soaking up the sun. 'seems the possum is again residing in our yrd, judging by the poop pile & a fat chipmunk just ran up 2 me, realized his booboo & did a 180.

Congrats!

My niece Caitlin made the freshman volleyball team!! It's been proven that High school athletes:* make higher grades* get into less trouble* graduate at a higher rate* drop out less often* have higher GPAs than non-athletes. Now she is a high school athlete, and I couldn't be prouder of you Kay kay!! - Lisa, with a monster 'ditto!' from me!

her Dad: Great stuff, Kay Kay is what Ryan used to call you right?

Caitlin: [Yaya} started it!

YaYa: That's right, give props, lol....Ahem....Actually I consider myself partially responsible for the solidified use of the name when I branded it your rapper/hood name, remember??? LOL  

Yaya: ;D lol oh yes.

Stop the Nonsense!

A local station chopped Snoop's rap out of Katy Perry's "California Gurls" & I mean CHOPPED - as abrupt a change as you''ll ever hear. Another station edited out  'crackhead' in "You're Love is my Drug" - presumably because the Crackhead community might take offense. I suppose these r the same yahoo's that flip over the cover of Rolling Stone on newsstands to protect our fragile little eyes. G'damn morality police.

Gizmo steals our ham!

Gizmo, the cat we inherited from my wife's Aunt when she passed away in June, stole a 2# bag of shaved ham Lisa had just put on the table. I recovered the torn/chewed bag from the basement floor a few minutes later. Ghetto little beast. 

In other news, something you don't see every day: two dragonflies bumping nasties in the backyard. It was quite the sight for the kids.

Quote

Study, drill and technique do not stifle talent - they free it.

G'damn I look good tonight. It's times like this I wish I had a twin brother, just so I'd know what it's like to stand alongside true beauty.

Extract

We watched the movie "Extract" last night, starring Justin Bateman, Ben Affleck, and the hot brunette from 'That '70's Show". It was a pretty good comedy, and certainly worth a Redbox rental.

I rented 'Furry Vengence' w/ Brendan Fraser & Brooke Shields for the kids. They luv it, & I admit LOL'ing when the racoon peed in Fraser's mouth.

Hungarian Goulash

I'm making traditional Hungarian Goulash for dinner. It's the first time I'll ever eat it, much less create it from scratch. I saw the recipe on 'America's Test Kitchen' & had to try it. Beef, paprika, bay leaves, vinegar, 2.5 hrs in a dutch oven, etc - I hope I didn't take on too large of a task.

update: The goulash? Good sh*t Maynard.

Yum! - Lisa

On Prescription Drug and Litigation

During today's trash TV (Maury, etc) there were many ads encouraging people to sue drug companies for X, Y & Z. Here's my 2 cents: if a drug is tested & approved by the FDA, then drug companies should be exempt from litigation related to side effects. Sound harsh? Then make the approval process tougher. 'Course, folks already think the process is too long, but the public always finds *something* to whine about.

Or at least make advertising the class action suits on tv illegal. People don't even realize whatever symptoms they are having are related to a past prescribed med until they realize they can cash in....ridiculous, especially for the people that need the prescriptions to be affordable! - Lisa

WOT fans: Brandon Sanderson reports that the last draft of Towers of Midnight is ready for the printer. Release date: November 2nd, exactly one wk before I pick up my deluxe copy of Dubya's memoir. Gonna be a fine November for readers :)

@ the barber w/ Smiley (who is 5) and there's a ten yr old crying during his haircut. Nut up dude.

Quote

 "You don't see your own children grow unless there's a new one to remind you how tiny they come." - quote from The Searchers, by Alan LeMay

A Quote

Never trust a traitor, even one that you create

That's a line I read back when I was 12 or so, in Avon by Paul Darrow (a novel of Blakes 7). It's stuck with me since that day. 

BIG News!

@ emissions testing, waiting to renew Lisa's plates.

Oh! And big news today: the Never Ending Pasta Bowl is back at the O. G. Life is complete.

K-Mart

Not that it matters to anyone, but K-Mart truly is the place where lousy customer service goes to flourish and multiply.

I've found some decent deals there lately, and the only place left w/ layaway....my kids only hope for a decent Christmas, lol. But customer service there is still as much of a joke as always. - Lisa

Still more Farmville

So . . . is the mammoth statue too much?

FV friends - please help in 'raising' my expanded chicken coop. I'm also in need of Topaz, horseshoes, bees, and a life. Thank you in advance.

UP

We just finished watching Pixar's "Up". I'm not sure why the kids (who watched it earlier in the day) loved it as much as they did, as balloon/house/talking dog silliness aside, it's very much a movie about adult themes. The montage of Fredrickson's marriage? It said more in 90 seconds, without a single line of dialogue, than most movies do in 90 minutes. Well done.

The Stone Sword

@ The Stone Sword, a medieval theme restaurant, w/ the kids and mee lady.

It was a huge disappointment. Nothing "themed" except the walls. No one talked funny or wore costumes, what a bummer. And my meal was so bad I didn't eat it and asked them to take it off the bill....and I NEVER do that. - Lisa

It's on Layton, in the old Sizzler building. It wasn't *that* bad, although Lisa's meal sucked. I like mine, and the sweet potato fries were da bomb. Overall, I'd give the place a C- as a restaurant, an F as a themed place, and a lifespan of less than 6 months. 

Date Night

w/ the kids at sleepovers, we began a 20 hr childless period (of which 1/3 was devoted to sleep, 1/3 to work). It was more of a tease than an actual respite, but we did get good & drunk on tequila at El Fuego, then returned home to watch 'Date Night'. A good movie, and appropriate, but dragged down by Tina Fey. One more time: she's a writer, not an actress. She sucks in front of the camera.

True story: I stumbled across Jeeves and Wooster on PBS and told Lisa how I used to love watching the show before I met her. "Yeah," she said. "You and every other virgin shut-in".

Junie raids the fridge

How much can a twenty pounder eat? Corn dogs, carrots, a granola bar, some salad, an apple, cereal, waffles . . now she just raided the fridge and brought me a jar of peanut butter and cream cheese. YOU ARE TWO. YOU DO NOT HAVE A TAPEWORM. GO WATCH ELMO. Ugh.

Update: she just walked in wearing a bagel around each wrist like a bracelet.

I wish I could flee but Lisa has the oldest three at a waterpark. I'm trapped, trapped I say!

Not Me

Man, my kids sucked this morning. Here's a new rule I'm enforcing: if even one of them says "not me" when I ask who left the fridge open all night or who moved my bleepin' phone charger, "not me" will translate to: "Only one of us is probably guilty, but just on principle Dad's gonna make all four of us regret the day we were born"

Clash of the Titans

Lisa wimped out on me early, so I headed over to Blockbuster and rented the new 'Clash of the Titans'. I'm not sure why every modern movie hero needs to sound as if they have a bad sore throat, but aside from that it was a fine action film. I do worry that as CGI continues to improve movies risk becoming expensive cartoons, but that's a topic for another day.

A Pediatrician Visit

W Lisa @ work yest.it was up to me to take all 4 kids for physicals. Immunizations for the two little ones, blood work & urine tests for all. All the kids (knock on wood) are very healthy and ht/wt proportionate, except Lu, who is only @ the 25th percentile for height. I bred with a Swedish-German because I value size, and what does Lisa give me? A 7 yr old only an 1 1/4th taller than my 5yr old.  ;)

Want

Among the dozens and dozens of things relegated to the mythical "When we're back on our feet": a compost tumbler.

My Thoughts

The same people who preach the 'value of hard work, regardless of pay' are the folks who sit on their a**s earning $80G while they pay their workers a subsistence wage- & then act smug when their employees can't pay their rent. Bullsh*t - the value of a job is in the standard of living it allows you to maintain. A hard days work for a fair wage, and nothing less.

More Farmville

My FV home. I love the clothesline and cat, I think they're just the right touch.

Random Fact of the Day

Random fact of the day: A third-class ticket on Titanic cost $40, which is approximately $900 in today’s currency.

Someone rifled through my car last night, which I don't understand at all. It's pretty damn obvious there's nothing there of any value, besides the car itself (and the nekked pic of me I hang from the mirror. Oddly, they left that in place. No accounting for taste). I would have appreciated it if they'd closed my door tho', rather than drain my battery.

Did You Hear About the Morgans?

'Did u hear about the Morgan's?' was an average romantic comedy w/ quite a bit of genuine warmth. Tho as a Hugh Grant fan someone needs to explain to me how we're supposed to believe he'd marry a bow wow like SJP.

We're watching the hand model/low talker/pirate shirt episode of Seinfeld. Truly LOL

Tooth Fairy

We're watching The Rock in 'Tooth Fairy'. It's actually pretty dang funny.

The Demise of Bella's Fat Cat and Villa Roma

I tried treating the kids to a pizza yesterday only to find out Villa Roma has gone under; last week Bella's Fat Cat shut its doors too. 

update: Hey - a neighborhood resident/manager at BN is the one who came to me with news that Bella's had folded. He said his wife went there herself & discovered it was OOB, and I'm 100% sure I heard him right. Still, I just got a Facebook note saying it seemed to be open today. I'll stop by tomorrow and find out what's going on. Meanwhile, I can personally confirm Villa is gone, w/ the inside empty and a note on the door.

update 2: OK, so I went to Bella's myself this morning and it *IS* closed. There's a sign on the door promising they'll be open again soon, but what Milwaukee hamburger/custard stand chooses to close its doors in the middle of a 90 degree week? I fear they're kaput.

Babysitter Wanted

Watching 'Babysitter Wanted' an unexpectedly good horror film starring a talented Jennifer Garner lookalike. Cannibals, Satan, some dark humor & a decent script - well worth a rental.

Gremlins 2

I rented 'Gremlins 2' for the kids from Blockbuster. I wanted Space Camp (taken out of inventory and sold), Howard the Duck (missing from the shelf) or Short Circuit (unavailable in any Milwaukee Blockbuster), but whatcha gonna do? The kids wound up loving it almost as much as the original, and actually *thanked* me for renting it. Be still my shocked heart.

A Busy if relaxed day

I heard a radio interview this morning with Tim Gunn. I wish I hadn't, because now I miss Project Runway something fierce. Anyhow, I love Tim Gunn - uh, you know, in a manly, largely platonic way.

After I dropped Lisa off at the Fair I rented "Batteries Not Included" for the kids. Against all their (very vocal) expectations, they liked it. LuLu adored it actually, and peppered me with questions throughout. It really is as good as I remember.

And our Good Samaritan has struck again. This time they left a bag of school uniforms, and a brand new backpack filled with supplies on our porch. Whoever you are, thank you.

ISO

Yo - does anyone have a copy of *any* of the following DVD's: Howard the Duck, Space Camp, Short Circuit, or Batteries Not Included?

Yuck

Nothing better than the smell of burnt popcorn in a breakroom as big as my closet

I disagree with this potential sentence

WTMJ just ran an story about a marijuana growing operation in a Brookfield house that was located right across the street from a school. Egads & gasps! The guy is facing *40 YEARS* for growing a bleepin' plant, but I guarantee you could chop me to bits right where I sit & be out in 20. You know who should get 40 yrs? The narc who phoned in the tip, and a culture that devotes so much time, effort and $ to this crap.

WTH? Someone anonymously dropped off a box of hardcover mysteries & some nail products. That's 2 donations in 2 wks. It would seem 2b someone we know, or a Good Samaritan w/ great intuition.

Yesterday evening I spent an hour doing yardwork sans shirt - in part because of the heat, but also so the neighborhood ladies could swoon as the sweat dripped seductively down my back hair. Bay View chicks are freaky -what can I say? Anyhow, in return for my selfless act the mosquito population scored a couple dozen direct hits, so the last 16 hours have SUCKED.

Farmville

My new farmhouse

Don McKay and Afterlife

Raided Redbox and watched "Don McKay", then 'Afterlife' w/ Christina Ricci and Liam Neeson. Both were good, but I'd give the nod to 'Afterlife'. It wasn't scary, but it sure was creepy.

YaYa Has Her Tonsils Out

YaYa had her tonsils & adenoids (?) removed today. The surgery was quick, but w/ the wait and recovery it was a 7 hr day. She was in good spirits b4, in agony right after, & seemingly back to (nearly) normal now. 

Here's a good sign of her overall  health: when I took her pain med script into Walgreens they had *NO* record of her having meds filled with them in the last several years - so long she was no longer in their system. Knock on wood.

On TV and Crowes

"Broadcast TV sucks donkey balls" - Lisa, after sitting through Leno only to be rewarded with Jimmy Fallon. OTOH, The Black Crowes were Leno's musical guest. A bit of trivia: I drove their drummer to the airport in the middle of the night after his wife called to say she'd gone into labor back home.

#1 Thing

#1 Thing you don't want to see when you walk into a Chinese restaurant to pick up your order: Not one, but *two* health inspectors berating the owner.

Still, I paid for the food and went home. Deeeee-lish! :)

30 Rock

Alec Baldwin's whirlwind impersonation of Redd Foxx in an episode of 30 Rock (s2 ep. 4 "Rosemary's Baby")? Priceless. Absolute comedy gold.

Not the Best Quote

"Damnit Smiley go to the bathroom and wipe your butt! Yes, now! Because you've got a big chunk of poop hanging from your a**, that's why!" - Lisa

Another Day of Demo for Alys

 Another morning of demo work, with me ripping up 3 layers of flooring to expose the subfloor. The bad? I'm sore head to toe. The good? Hang on, I'm thinking.