Super Hero 

head 'em up, move 'em out

We are getting ready to go out of town again. We leave for our annual North Carolina trip tomorrow. I am looking forward to heading south again. We are supposed to get more snow today. I am done bitching about the weather. It obviously does no good. It will break soon.

Not looking forward to packing for this trip. It will be fun once we are there. The drive is long, but we break it up. Ohio is really not fun to drive through, flat and boring.

The picture of Brooke is a couple of months old. This photo just cracks me up. She put this outfit on and I asked if I could take a picture of her. She was agreeable and even posed! Check out the sweet superhero uniform. I particularly love the hello kitty underpants. Kids slay me.

I think this was created by Brooke. It looks like her work. Since she is miss sassypants lately, I think it reflects the artists state of mind. Look for this artist to make a serious splash in future posts.

sassy shamrock

The sassy shamrock

update

Update! I found my card this morning. It was in the pocket of my pants that I was wearing the other day. Typical. I could have sworn that I looked in those pants the other day, but alas....

I'm just glad that I found it. It is now in my wallet where it belongs.

i'm just so frustrated!

All day long I have been pulling my hair out and driving myself crazy. I can't find my ATM card!

About 4 weeks ago, I went to the bank to make a deposit. While I was there I figured I would make a quick withdrawl because we were going to Florida and we were going to need some cash. I put my ATM card in the machine at the bank and it was promptly eaten. I go in and tell my story figuring they will open it up and retreive my card. Somehow it had DISAPPEARED! So I cancel the card, order a new one and head off on vacation. I return from Florida, flip through the mail that had accumulated while we were away expecting to find my newly pressed card. No such luck. I wait a couple of days and finally call the bank. They check their records, and it shows that in fact, they didn't issue me a new card yet. I amend the situation and tell them to bust their asses and get me my %#$#@ new card.

So finally yesterday, the Fed Ex man arrives with a package. New cards! Huzzah! I open the envelope, call the handy 1-800 number and activate my new card. Mark comes home, I give him his, and ........I can't remember what I did with mine. After 4 weeks of waiting, I somehow lose it in my house. I have searched EVERYWHERE! I interrogated my kids and neither of them seems to know anything ( I think they may be covering for one another). I am exasperated. I am freaking! I hate when I do stupid stuff like this. And yes, I did look in my wallet and it is not there.

Jack Handy Deep Thought of the day

And now, here is the Jack Handy Deep Thought of the day:

"I think a good gift for the President would be a chocolate revolver. And since he is so busy, you'd probably have to run up to him real quick and give it to him."



Guess what I spent $49.01 on yesterday? Give up? A TANK OF GAS!!!! Do you think that is as outrageous as I do?!??!! Un-freaking believable. I know I have a minivan that has a 22 gallon tank, but for pity's sake!

Here it is!

crazy ass aloe plant

this is my aloe plant

This aloe plant is out of control. The thing is the heartiest plant I have ever owned. Check out the asparagus bloom coming out of it! It bloomed a couple of years ago too.

I bought this thing at a local grocery store about 8 or 9 years ago. After I had Andrew I actually tried to kill it by sticking it in my basement. My thought was that I had a new baby I didn't need to take care of a plant too. Needless to say it refused to die and after we moved into our new house I transplanted. It was so happy! It had babies and bloomed. Now after much neglect over the past 2 years, it blooms again. I have had less luck with some other household plants. (photo to be posted later)

the legend of wally sims

My husband has an excellent sense of humor. His wit is smart and dry and I love it. A couple of years ago we attended the wedding of a friend and former colleague of his. Jon and Angela were marriend in January of 2003 in a lovely chapel in Charlotte, NC. and had a very nice reception at a cozy Bed and Breakfast. Before going to the wedding, Mark had this grand idea to get Jon and Angela a gift and sign the card from Wally Sims. It was an inside joke from his days in Minneapolis working with Jon. Trouble is for the last 2 years Jon and Angela have been racking their brains trying to figure out who Wally Sims was and why he attended their wedding. Mark explains:

Jon,

When I first joined the Deluxe project, you and I sat next to each
other in a crappy zone of cubicles that was poorly laid out.

A few months later, a construction crew came in and re-built all of
the cubicles, gave us nice desks, directors moved offices, etc. In
order to prepare for the move, our technical team had to box up all of
our stuff.

In boxing up all of our stuff, there was a bunch of left over crap
that you, me , Baker, Krause, Lovie, Helgeson, etc. had and didn't
want. We dumped all of this stuff into a box. Since Paula
wanted everything to have a label on it, I wrote "Wally Sims" on the
box.

Wally Sims was a friend of mine from high school that me and a bunch
of guys were very good friends with, but he moved in 10th grade and
nobody ever heard from him again.

I thought having a box with Wally Sims on it would be hilarious, and
it was. That box had no place to go , as it migrated from conference
room to conference room for a few years with everyone totally
clueless.

Many years later, I thought that it would be equally hilarious to
leave a card for you and Angela at your wedding from Waly Sims.

I originally pictured this scene:

Newlyweds Jon and Angela in their house, a few days after the wedding,
opening cards and gifts. Angela opens a card and says "Who's Wally
Sims?" Jon then remembers the whole Wally Sims thing and proceeds to
laugh his ass off, then send me an e-mail.

Oops. Didn't happen that way. At least you guys had something to
think about for the last few years.

Hope you enjoyed the card. Thanks to Dennis for keeping the joke
under wraps all this time.

Love,
Mark

So now the cat is finally out of the bag, and the mystery is solved. I had a big laugh about it. In fact I thought that it was revealed not long after the wedding. I was feeling a little guilty because all this time they probably thought all we got them was a lousy lamp!

Life with no boob toob

So March is reading month at Andrew's school. During the month they are having lots of cool reading activities, book fair and such. This week is "turn off your TV week". So far so good. Andrew got up this morning and remembered that there was no television watching and as long as he is prepared for something, he is cool with it. The tougher challenge might be Brooke. But so far she is handling it well also. But we are only on day one. I will let you know how it goes.

I signed up for a photography class through the local art center. I went last Tuesday night for my first class. There were three other women there as well. We waited (in uncomfortable silence) for about 10 minutes when I looked around and tried to crack a joke. "So, what is the college rule? Wait 20 minutes and if the teacher doesn't show we get to leave right?" No smiles, one slight giggle. Jeeze this was a tough room. We weren't sure if there was some miscommunication, or if it was because of the six inches of snow that fell during the day, but something was amiss. I know that artists are scattered, unorganized people ( I am guilty also) but it was a little lame. They just called a few minutes ago and cancelled the class. Oh, and as a side note, they had Brooke signed up for the class instead of me.

Had a prenatal visit with my April client. She is due April 14th and we talked today about her fears and concerns. She is having her 4th baby and all have been around 10 lbs. Her smallest was over 8 lbs. Her main concern is having someone (midwife in this case) come in and "take over" her birth. That happened at her last birth, so she is aware that it can happen. She is under the care of different midwives than her last birth and has hired a doula (me) to help advocate and have the kind of birth she wants.

What is the deal with all the GBS tests these days? Can any midwives or midwifery apprentices help me out here? When I had my kids (only 6 and 4 years ago) I never even had this test done? Now it seems all my recent clients are tested and concerned about it. I had one mom want to labor at home as long as possible so she could go to the hospital and just push the baby out so she wouldn't have to have the antibiotics during labor. It just seems like another trend I am seeing.