A Danny Quote

One night last month a small group of our friends was sitting in my living room. Everyone was a little tipsy, and the mood grew melancholy. One by one folks started voicing their biggest regrets: that they never finished college, that they 'wasted' years on John Doe, that this error happened or that opportunity wasn't taken.

And then it was my turn. I sat there woefully underemployed, with a van that doesn't run, a gutter that needs replacement and a degree I don't use. And I thought, I really truly thought "Don't blow this off. Think hard and be honest. Deep down what's my one, most troubling regret of the last 35 years?"

After a moment it came to me, this deepest, most painful, most honest regret. And so I voiced it:

"I wish" I said, and sighed. "I wish I could rap."

 Feb 22nd, the day I met my husband....15 years ago. Still feel blessed for that day. - Lisa

 At ~ 3 AM this morning Lisa and I will mark the 15th anniversary of the first day we met. Feb 22nd 1995 remains the luckiest damn day of my life, and I wouldn't change a thing. Happy anniversary baby.

A special anniversary

At ~ 3 AM this morning Lisa and I will mark the 15th anniversary of the first day we met. Feb 22nd 1995 remains the luckiest damn day of my life, and I wouldn't change a thing. Happy anniversary baby!

For our anniversary we were granted 2 1/2 hr w/out children, all in the middle of the day. Long enough to stop and buy some needed pet food, wait for a table at Olive Garden, and scarf down some food. I'm grateful 4 the break, but 4 the record: on my bday, if I don't find a babysitter, I'm locking the kids in the shed with a water bottle, a loaf of bread, and a harmonica. Ok, 2 bottles of water. Maybe 3.

Cart Surfing

I'm on Club Penguin cart surfing to earn coins for Grace's penguin. Ain't nobody can top me in the mines, N-O-B-O-D-Y. If you think different, step on up pardner. I'm the penguin in the purple gown and the long brown hair racking up the points. Bring your A game and prepare to recognize!

"Activ-iaaaa"

 Proof that advertising seeps into the brain: I took my two oldest to the grocery store to look for plain yogurt. No luck, but there was plenty of Activia. As soon as they saw it on the shelves both girls pointed and sang, in harmony, the Activia jingle.😁

Smiley Breaks his Foot

Allright, I have another Smiley post planned but let's get this out of the way. Quoting my FB status at 7:51 PM this past Thursday:

Just back from wrestling w/ the kids, and Smiley hurt his foot goofing around w/ me. Now it looks like we're on our way to the urgent care. Lisa is furious @ me, I think they're both over-reacting. We'll see.

He and I ventured alone to St. Francis Hospital, where we spent a good two hours. All but five minutes of that was spent waiting in one place or another, and I must say the face-time with medical personnel was very limited. Two good things: they brought the X-Ray machine to the ER room, rather than make the little guy move. And two, the nurse was a dead ringer of Kendra from The Girls Next Door. Seriously.

Here was the result from 10:19 that night:

We're back. Smiley has a fracture of the 2nd metatarsal (sp?) of his left foot and was given a boot to wear. Officially its 'questionable'(?) and he has to see a specialist after this wknd. Lis is still mad at me & it will be a long night, but Smiley & I r cool. Most of Lisa's ire comes from my initial reaction - but yo...u know, Smiley is 4 & can be dramatic, and he was already moody in the hour leading up to the mishap.

The next morning at 11:19 AM:

Smiley's a mess. No complaining, but he can't put weight on the foot and he doesn't understand why, unlike his other booboos, this one isn't better in the morning. Plus he's wizzing all over the bathroom because he's hopping on one foot.

Lisa then took him to a follow up appt. At 1:33 PM:

Lisa's at the bone doc with Smiley. In her absence I should clean the house b4 work . . . but uh, yeah, no.

Finally, at 2:19 PM (I must really like sitting in front of the comp at 19 minutes past the hour):

Damn damn damn. Word from Lisa: the ER doc was full of sh*t. Smiley has not one 'questionable' fracture, but *three* clear broken bones that run up quite a-ways in his foot. He's gotten a cast, bright orange at his request. I'll have full details later.






The details are this: breaks in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th metaparsal, halfway up the bone, running straight across the foot. The doc expects them to heal well and not need any extensive follow-up. This is the first broken bone among any of my kids.

So, Smiley is at times quite annoyed with me, but usually only when other people *cough* my sisters *cough* are instigating him to rebellion. It was clearly an accident. While seated I put my palms up, and he placed his palms down on mine and locked his elbows. I then lifted him straight in the air - 'levitated' him - just as I have 1500X with the kids. On the way down he got wibbly-wobbly and bent his arm, falling all of about 2 feet and landing on his feet. He just landed too hard on his feet, or twisted his foot on impact, I'm not sure. And yes, since this took place during a sports team practice where he'd already been moody and cried I assumed he was exaggerating for effect. I do feel bad for that.

Sorry Smiley :(

Cart Surfer Extreme

I'm on Club Penguin cart surfing to earn coins for YaYa's penguin. Ain't nobody can top me in the mines, N-O-B-O-D-Y. If you think different, step on up pardner. I'm the penguin in the purple gown and the long brown hair racking up the points. Bring your A game and prepare to recognize!

Our Visit with TJ

Back on December 10th my friend Tre and his wife had their first child, a boy named Theodore John, or TJ. More than two months premature, he spent a month in the hospital before going home.





Today I took YaYa and LuLu to visit the little guy. It was their first time meeting him, although YaYa made a Christmas stocking for him that hung in the hospital over the holiday.

First tho', I finished feeding and burping the little guy.







Then it was YaYa's turn.









Now obviously, the little guy has a problem around his left eye. It's a hemangioma that's put pressure on his optic nerves and threatened his vision. It's been treated with steroids and has retreated internally. The last-ditch option of chemotherapy has been discussed but has been shelved, and yay for that.





Then it was LuLu's turn to hold him.







Here's TJ high-fiving YaYa:



A few minutes later, while distracted by talking to Tre, I looked over and found both of my girls talking to one another on the couch, their arms on each other's shoulders like the best of friends. Naturally, as soon as I drew attention to the fact they turned on one another, but they *tried* to pose for this shot:





Whatever problems he may or may not have with his eye, the boy seemed chubby, content, alert, and glad to be doted on. He's a great big blessing, and we're glad to have him in our lives.

Welcome TJ!

ISO

I'm looking for marbles to replace missing pieces from Smiley's Hungry Hungry Hippo game. None of Milwaukee's grand and varied Dollar stores carries marbles, or at least had them in stock. Any (really cheap) ideas on where I can find some? I don't want to spend $6 to restock a $9 game that's already well worn.

A Wrestler?

Aside from breaking my son's foot the day went well. I have pics from the wrestling practice, so hopefully a blog post will follow. The coach went gaga for LuLu; his eyes just sparkled. He said she was a natural, that her body instinctively reacted w/ the right moves as if trained; that right NOW she would do well in a tourney and be near the top of the food chain in her age bracket.

Wow. My LuLu, a wrestler?

 It'll be 4 years since I quit smoking and Newport still sends me coupons. If you smoke Newports, and would like $1 off/pack on the delicious, relaxing yumminess that is a menthol cigarette enjoyed with a cup of coffee in the dead of winter then [slap!]. Whoa. Maybe that's y they still send them, to tempt you. Anyhow, ur welcome to the coupons.

RE: Smiley's Foot

Smiley has a "questionable" fracture in his 2nd metatarsal. How can be questionable when they can name the bone? I'm not sure. Sees the specialist in 5 days. He doesn't whine, but crawls around the house instead of putting any weight on it all...my poor baby. I'm convinced it is not a questionable break at all and he needs a cast so he can walk instead of crawl!

And for those worried about my other baby, I'm not mad at him. I was mad for a minute by his less-then-sympathetic initial reaction, things are fine now. Shit happens.

Update 5:03pm: Smiley has three broken metatarsals (bones on the top of the foot). He now has a BRIGHT orange cast, and is much happier now that he can walk around (albeit slow).

- Lisa

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is posting FB messages in Arabic. Odd, and a wee disturbing, to see my 'wall' decorated by 3 posts in Arabic, w/ no English translation on hand.

Parent Teacher Conferences

Went right from work to YaYas parent-teacher conference. It went much better than I feared, w/ her teacher heaping praise and compliments on her. Still, she rightly pointed out that YaYa, if we can speak plainly here, rarely gives more than a half-ass effort in math and anything she finds 'boring'. Time to break her of that before it gets too ingrained (sp?) in her personality.

This week's Lost

Lost: Excellent episode, u can really feel the season picking up steam. So in alt. timeline Locke is happy; he has his woman, comes to grips w/ his paralysis, and is fufilled @ wrk - all by abandoning faith, making him a true opp. of his 'old' self. Will Jack be equally fulfilled by *embracing* faith in that timeline? Yin/Yang, etc?

God Bless Her

 God bless my mom. She took YaYa, LuLu, and Smiley swimming! Junie is resisting a nap pretty hard core, but hopefully she'll settle down and peace will occur. At least for a little while! Happy Thursday....later today, YaYa's conferences.... - Lisa

Facebook Feb 6th - 9th

Feb 6th: MacMillan books are now back on Amazon. Correct me if I'm wrong, but BN and Borders did little to push that publisher's titles during the drama. It seems to me like waste of a golden opportunity to profit at Amazon's expense.

* Cases of whisky left behind by explorer Ernest Shackleton were found in the Antarctic

* LuLu is cute as can be, asleep on the couch, Ginger is coloring at the dining room table, and I can hear YaYa singing along upstairs to the soundtrack of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. Me? I'm sitting here with a smile on my face because it's the little moments that make the day worthwhile.

* Re: the Super Bowl. I have no dog in this fight, so I'm good with either team getting the W. NO's a better story, no question, but as a Favre basher I recognize that another ring for Manning - one more than Brett - gives him even more ammo in 'best of' discussions. So . . . slight nod towards Indy.

* (re: a tazering at Southridge Mall) Screw the crime and tasering. They lost me when they lost Cinnabon's.

Feb 7th: Worked all day, didn't even know the outcome of the SB until minutes ago. Congrats N.O.! Meanwhile, my Dad took Grace rollerskating. On the bus trip back a drunk woman got on, stumbled, fell, and then began vomitting blood. The bus was evac'd by police and they stood in the cold for an hour until a replacement bus arrived. I guess the woman was only 16 or 17, so just a girl. My Dad and Grace said a 'friend' of the girl literally pushed her aboard. She spoke no English, and within a mile was doing her Ebola impersonation.

Feb 8th: Tonight we watched the Black Eyed Peas concert from Malta. What a crowd!








Feb 9th: The poster above Grace's bed reads: "School prepares you for the real world . . . which also sucks"

Lisa's take on the poster: Is it wrong that when I saw a picture tacked above my daughter's bed that said "school prepares you for the real world....which also bites" I kinda was proud that she's got the gist of life down? LOL....I mean the resignation that things will be hard but you keep going anyway? Or should I be worried that at 8 she's alr...eady showing signs of my "glass is half empty" genetics? hmmmm....

* On our way out the door to go to Ginger's playgroup, snowstorm be damned. But I still can't believe MPS chose to stay open, not with 14 inches expected to fall.

* MPS cxl'd school halfway through the day for @ least the 2nd x this yr. WTH - either have the foresight to close in the AM or the courage to ride it out. Even tho' the girls attend Catholic school, I went & picked them up. I think we're housebound for the rest of Tuesday.

Valentines Pics

I Salute U

To the unknown person who donated the coffee maker to the Value Village, which I purchased 2day for $3: Sir/Madam, I salute u. No castoff this, no 'best fit for the rubbage heap but donate it 4 the write-off'. I can see the love u had for it, the care u took in maintaining it. Even on the shelf it shone like a glimpse into the Hereafter, so spotless my efforts to 'clean' it were superfluous @ best. Well done.

A 3rd Grade Photo from 1983

An old classmate posted this picture, dated June 7th 1983, on Facebook. I'd completely forgotten about this get-together in the intervening years.

I'm in the second row from the top, wearing a lovely red-white-and blue shirt with horizontal stripes. In those days I wore a newsboy hat, or a white leather cap that my Grandpa gave me, so the Brewers hat doesn't jibe with my memory. It's a shame I didn't recognize the value of my fantastic hair at that age. I would never have worn a hat and wasted the God-given gift.

The woman in the picture was Mrs. Kusch (sp?), my 3rd grade teacher, and at the end of the year she invited the entire class to her home. It was certainly a more innocent time, as I can't imagine a teacher risking the liability today. I don't remember much of the day. I have a flash of hurrying through her kitchen, and of actually posing for the picture, but that's about it.

Man, its 27 years later and I have a third grader of my own -yikes!

Proud Dad

[wipes tears of pride from my eyes] Smiley just brought me a copy of Dr. Who magazine and asked me to read it to him while he ate lunch. "umtimes I 'ared, umtimes I not" he said. The other day the family watched "Lazarus Experiment" (great underated ep.) and he was petrified but stuck it out, even as he said to me "I ave night'ares tonight, it your 'ault"

It's Paczki Day!

Today is Fat Tuesday, the last hurrah before the solemnity of Lent, and here in Milwaukee Fat Tuesday means Paczki.

Although they look like a jelly donut, the Polish treat* is made from a very rich dough that contains eggs, fat, sugar and (sometimes) milk. A small amount of grain alcohol is added to the dough to prevent the oil from soaking in when it's deep fried. While certainly denser than a traditional donut, the influence of French chefs during the reign of Poland's August III made the dough much lighter than it reads in print.



Inside the paczki a fruit filling - prune, raspberry, apple, lemon, cream, etc - and the outside is sprinkled with sugar or iced.



This morning I stopped at the neighborhood bakery - an Italian one, but Milwaukee-fied enough to promote paczki's. I picked up two dozen, with 18 of those being shipped off to my parent's apartment.

Enjoy your Fat Tuesday!



* (pronounced PAWNCH-kee or PONCH-kee but some speakers pronounce the word as POONCH-kee, PUNCH-kee or PANCH-kee)

Sleeping LuLu

Aren't you supposed to sleep on a sleepover? I guess not. Just a few hours after her sleepover ended, Lu was fast asleep on the loveseat.

Beans and Rice and No Nightlights

Red beans & rice + sausage for dinner, then an hr of the most scuffles ever recorded among the kids. It was like Wrestlemania Slapczynski.

But good can come from bad.

As they were all nuts anyhow, we picked today to break Junie of sleeping w/ the room light on. She slept in the dark from birth to 2, then picked up the habit when she moved 2 her own rm. 2night: darkness. & a lot of crying. It might be a long one