The Grasshopper Picnic 2014

With Lisa working State Fair, I had our annual picnic at Whitnall Park, with its traditional search for golf balls in the tall grass of a blocks-long field. This years tally was low - a mere 8, not including one badly damaged by a mower - but I did catch and release some grasshoppers, saw and failed to capture a snake, and had a beautiful red dragonfly land on my belly! 

In addition, Smiley saw that Junie was upset that she hadn't found any balls, so he told me he would hide one in the grass and let her find it. I vetoed that (she found one on her own anyway) but told Junie about his plan, and the love in her eyes for her brother was something to see. 

Good kids, these, if you conveniently overlook the tantrums and the drain on my wallet ;)

A Beach Visit

This morning with the youngest three . . .

Yesterday with Yaya

Yesterday with YaYa . . .

Not a Grand Day

Yesterday when I picked up the kids from UWM I walked with them down Lake Drive for a mile or so, enjoying the beautiful weather. We stopped our hike at Northpoint Custard, where we met up with Lisa, and I treated the family to ice cream. 

In return, Lu mocked Junie, Smiley somehow managed to get as much ice cream on his face as in his mouth, Junie got upset over OJ's taunts, and YaYa went on and on about how she'd prefer chicken wings, because, you know, it was National Chicken Wing Day. I was so annoyed I left the table. 

When the kids and Lisa joined me at the car Yaya stepped on a bee and was stung in her bare foot. (her first ever sting). Hey, I know it makes me sound like an awful Dad - but I gotta believe there was some Old Testament smiting at work. Thanks Big Guy!

Good Job Lu

This morning Lu's plans to go to WI Dells with a friend fell through at the last moment - at 8:40 a.m, just as #TeamSlap was leaving for a 9 o'clock drop off at College for Kids. With literally no complaint she changed her clothes, grabbed a lunch Smiley made for her, and headed out the door to attend class. Kudos to her on handling the situation with maturity and calm. xxooo LuLu xxoo

Dying Order

I'm stealing the phrase "dying order" - which means getting things cleaned or organized enough so that you wouldn't be embarrassed if you dropped dead this moment and strangers walked in - from longtime AOL friend Jan Agar Combs

Bee Sting

Had my first bee sting - ever - today. Admittedly, I cried like a baby. Yaya

Lunchtime!

PD and LK eating lunch today at UWM (College for Kids)

The Grand Avenue Mall

Lunch at Grand Avenue Mall with Lisa

All Cheerleaders Die

We just finished watching "All Cheerleaders Die", a horror film that was pretty darn good. And yes, that was surprising. Bring on the sequel!

They Don't Like this Pizza

I bought a thin crust Spicy Fennel Sausage, Mushroom and Red Pepper pizza for the kids tonight from Papa Murphy's .. . . and they hate it. *I* happen to think it may be the best pizza ever, but I'm now in danger of being the victim of a coup . . .

My kids prefer supreme pizzas loaded with all of the above (well, not fennel, although I use it in my zupa toscana). . I thought they'd adore it. What I think threw them off was the white sauce.

At Gastrau's Golf Center with Lisa

Trivia Time

Where am I?

answer: a stairwell in St. Luke's parking garage. 

A Solemn Anniversary

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War, which, all hyperbole aside, completely molded the 20th century into the bloody, conflict ridden mess it was.  RIP to all who perished during its four years.

Divergent

Just finished watching "Divergent" with the middle two. Not bad. I think Hunger Games was better, and D romanticizes violence much more than HG, which I find repugnant, but overall, a decent flick. I liked it better than the book.

Grouchy

I'm having a pretty crap*py day - if I was going to give details, you'd have read them by now - and to burn off some steam I hit the pavement and walked over to Socialist's house. From there we walked over to Goodwill to scope out some golf clubs for a starter set. I picked up a driver and a great golf bag, the latter being only $4.99. As this is my life we're talking about, the cashier initially refused to sell it to me, saying it was mistakenly marked and should have been either $14.99-$24.99. OFW lady, y'all wrote the tag, not me.. A nice driver and a great bag for just over $9 - a much better way to BLAAH than by shoving food down my throat.

Watching the Ali-Chuvalo fight from '66. It's a great, grueling slugfest.

My Day

Two things, the first a little TMI: With a family history of skin cancer, I went to the dermatologist today about a nasty mole I was worried about. It turned out to be ok, but the Dr noticed and removed two others she thought were actually worthy of concern. I'm sure it's nothing and the procedure was easy. The worst part was when she said she felt the need to do a full body lookover and ordered me to strip. "Ugh," I said, as she poked around my belly. "This would be a lot less embarrassing if you were older or uglier", which inspired a good laugh from her and a blush from moi.

Second, I walked there and back (about 3.5 miles total) and took in the sights and sounds of Bay View along the way. I really love this place - it's the best part of southeastern Wisconsin, without a doubt. I was so damn proud of my hippy-dippy yuppie paradise that by the time I was at the Doc filling out my medical forms I filled in my city as "Bay View, Wisconsin". LOL

Watching the Season 13 premiere of Project Runway. I'm digging Carrie Sleutskaya, but that might just be the beautiful face and the hot blue hair. #ProjectRunway

All Is Lost

For the record, Robert Redford's "All is Lost" is a stunning, beautiful film that is a fitting finale to his acting career (if that's what it is; he is, after all, 77).

Quote

Lana Del Rey: "I have slept with a lot of guys in the industry, but none of them helped me get my record deals. Which is annoying."

"No One Has the Right to Judge"

This isn't about anyone who reads Slapinions, so fear not, you're in the clear :)

When I hear someone say, "I don't want to be judged" or "No one has the right to judge me", my mind automatically translates it - correctly - to sound like "I've done some f'ed up sh*t that falls below the minimum standards of acceptable behavior held by both society and my conscience and yeah, I know I'm wrong. But emotionally I can't handle hearing someone else say that, or admitting it out loud, so I'm going to go on the defensive and pretend that every individual exists in perfect isolation and thus is not subject to any moral or ethical standard other than what they retroactively concoct to appease their guilt". 

Or something like that LOL

Oops

Hmm. According to my phone I have pocket dialed half of Wisconsin in the last ten minutes. Humblest apologies folks.

Quotes

“Discipline, doing what you hate to do but do it like you love it.”- Mike Tyson

“I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion'." -Muhammad Ali

The difference between who you are and who you want to be is what you do - stolen from a meme on FB