Misty Monday

Rain, rain, rain. Poo. It wasn't supposed to rain until tonight. So much for Mark and his "saying it would be like this." I've turned into producive Jen today. I'm not sure where that's come from, which is why I had to stop and take a moment to blog. Can't be too productive, after all. My birthday is Saturday. If you haven't gotten me a present, you still have time. I've updated my amazon.com wishlist. If you want to go with something really thoughtful, a housecleaner is at the top of my list - right after big bottle of booze and the peace and quiet to drink it. Beerman wants to go to a Brewers game. Sounds pretty entertaining, as long as C-man cooperates and Sheets doesn't pitch. 24 is on tonight. Only 4 more episodes of Jack. I haven't been enjoying this season nearly as much, but it's still Kiefer, so how can you go wrong?

Geocaching Fun

It was a gorgeous day for geocaching in Lion's Den Gorge. We spent almost 4 hours outside running around a beautiful preserve, finding some pretty tricky caches. C-man dropping the Rose Geocoin into the new cache: Showing the Rose Compass geocoin on the beach before placing it:

Walking along the beach after geocaching fun:

Sometimes getting the caches takes a bit of (dirty) work and some long arms:

Quick, easy find with lots of fun stuff in an ammo box:

The journey was harder than the find, once we arrived:

Gorgeous Day

Went to Appleton last night for our nephew's first communion. I ate way too many Scotch-a-roo bars and am paying for it today. Now we're off to geocache. My absolute favorite blue Marquette mug. Did I mention my birthday is next Saturday? 7 days to 31!

TGIF

Wahoo! It's supposed to be beautiful, and it's Associate Shop Days (additional 15% on top of my usual 15%), so I'm going shoe shopping. Fun stuff. Official voting for C-man at http://www.therysewyks.com/CalebPhotos.html. Vote now!

Time to Build and Ark

Holy crap, it's raining sideways! We had a team lunch today, and I got soaked in just a couple of minutes outside. If it hadn't been for crappy Mexican food, I don't know if I would have done it. Another inmate is going to be executed again tonight in Texas (big shock, right?). Thoughts and prayers for the families, because he won't get a stay. Governor Perry will have executed more people in Texas already in his term than George W did in his 5 years in office. It's his #14 this year. On a lighter not, American Idol and it's charity night suck. Kick off the lowest vote getter. Don't make me wait another week! The warm, sunny (how is that going to happen?) weekend is almost here. Wahoo!

Wainy Wednesday

It's still raining. Big drag. The rain has caused everything to bloom, which causes my allergies to go CRAZY. Bigger drag. I have a couple of interviews this afternoon - not even for my team. Biggest drag. This weekend is supposed to be phenomonal though. So I've got that going for me. And my favorite day of the year - the day it rains and brings leaves out of the trees is my worst day for allergies, but one of my most hopeful days. That happened yesterday. I love seeing leaves. It's getting close to my birthday. If you haven't already done so, there's still time to purchase your present. I want a bike helmet, watch, housecleaner, jewelry sets, and new furniture. Hell, I want a new house, but that's a bit much to ask for. The cake should be golden - cupcakes are even fine. And while it's Cinco de Mayo, hold the Mexican food, please. It's overdone. Medium is on tonight, and it's a new one. Woo-hoo!

Look at my kid!

C-man got his 2-year old photos taken. Check them out and let me know which ones you think I should order:

http://www.siegmanportraits.com/Order-Page.htm

Click on "view online proofs" and then my name.

And by the way, I've got a good lookin' kid. :-)

:-(

We executed the 14th person this year this morning in our country in Ohio. (2nd outside of Texas). I don't condone what the man was convicted of doing (chasing and then executing his fiance at point-blank range). Neither, can I condone the creation of 2 new victims of violence, his 16 and 14 year old daughters. Another execution is scheduled for Thursday in Texas. Is God vengeful, demanding a death for a death? Or is God compassionate, luring souls into love so great that no one can be considered 'enemy'? -Sister Helen Prejean

Good Morning!

Nigeria held a failed election. Half of the country didn't get ballots. A truck was driven into the national headquarters responsible for elections in an attempt to blow it to bits. Chances of having the first democratically handed over government is impossible. Somalia is going on day 5 of riots and killing in the streets. A lot of it stems from our days of failed involvement. France held an election yesterday. The dollar is getting more worthless everyday, Corn ethanol will not save our world. It actually takes at minimum, 7% more fossil fuels to produce the stuff (think fertilizer, tractors to plant it, refineries to distill it). All using corn will do is to use up our food supply, thereby increasing inflation and reducing the price of our dollar. All of this happening, yet I bet you know more about Anna Nicole Smith's baby daddy. Not that this is entirely our fault, mind you, since one of today's top headlines is "J. Lo available for parties". I shit you not. No wonder our kids are so stupid.

Happy Earth Day!

What a fantastic day it is outside. 75 degrees and beautiful sunshine. After breakfast at our favorite place, we went to the Audubon Center to take part in their big Earth Day celebration. C-man danced and danced and danced to some folk singers, scooped with a net for tadpoles, touched some turtles and snakes, and got to run around and be silly. "That was fun!" was his response at the end. After nap we have to get the tire changed on our car. Damned thing is flat! I don't know how many flats I've changed on that car in the past 8 years, but it's pretty ridiculous. Tomorrow I get C-man's 2 year old pictures taken. I hope he's cooperative.

Sunny Saturday

We went to the Brewers game last night. Sheets pitched a decent game in 8 innings. Aquino blew it, giving a grand slam in the top of the 9th. We left. But it was fun anyhow, considering I got my shirt and Cecil Cooper bobblehead. It's looking like it's going to be a beautiful day for geocaching!

It can't come soon enough...

Heaven

For some reason, I just can't keep track of my week. I can't tell you the date, day of the week, or even time of the day without looking at a calendar or my computer screen. I think it's because C-man and I BOTH slept all night last night. It was beautiful! I woke up in disbelief that it happened. I can't remember the last time that happened. Heaven. We're headed to a Brewers game with some of my co-workers Friday night. It should be fun. Maybe Hall will hit another grand slam. Or maybe Weeks will hit another double-play. Who cares. It's either Suppan or Shets on the mound, it's Cecil Cooper bobblehead night, and there are hot dogs with special sauce... Heaven. Now if only Sanjaya would get his bad singing self kicked off tonight, and my sciatic nerve would stop shooting like a Chinese firing squad, things in my life would be great.

Monday, Monday - dah-dah, dah-dah-dah

Mom and Dad left this morning. It was a good weekend overall. My house is in one piece, the nasty neighbor next door hasn't complained since (he was convinced our tree coming down on our driveway was somehow going to destroy his yard), and I got more sleep last night than normal. So I've got that going for me. On the topic of sleep, I think C-man must have trained me to be a horrible sleeper now. Every night, I wake up several times. Drat. Somehow I've got to break out of that nasty habit. It's having an effect on my wrinkles... big time. And no amount of Tri-Aktiline is going to fill those in. By the way, I highly recommend the stuff if you can get your hands on some. On the topic of nasty neighbors, I've decided I like most of our neighbors. We've got Phil across the street. He's about 5' 9" and 275 lbs of sveltness that he likes to show without his shirt in the summer while mowing the lawn. I try not to throw up. But they're good people. Then we've got the next door neighbors to the south. He's Taiwanese, she's Jewish. I don't think they've ever done a home improvement project by themselves. I don't know if I'm horrified or jealous of that. But they're good people, and have a 2 1/2 year old son who is sweet. Across the street we have a couple who never speak to us. Although, Beerman plowed out their driveway this winter, so I think we've made some neighborly headway. At least we know their names and occupations. Down the street is Darryl and his wife. They're always good to stop by on their walks and complain about what the village hasn't been doing right. I enjoy it immensely. And then there's the neighbor to the north. She picks weeds out of her grass by hand, married a Texan who complains about the eco-liberals and their coal plant bashing selves (um, did he not see my yard signs during the election?), and put up a Bush-Cheney sign during the last election. I guess one bad apple isn't a nightmare, but sheesh... In good news, Gonzales goes in front of the firing squad tomorrow. I'm half considering staying home to watch the spectacle.

Tim-berrrrr!

And the trees came down. I'd be lying if I didn't say I wasn't crossing my fingers and saying every prayer I knew when it was being cut because I was sure it was going to crash on my house. The maple made such a whu-ump! on the ground that all the neighbors came out to see it. But, it's down. We took my parents geoaching this morning. It was fun. Now I'm going to take a nap.

TGIF

It's been a busy week, but I've been kickin' ass and takin' names. Yeah, baby! My parents are coming to visit and chop down a couple of trees tomorrow. It's all going to happen after I get my hair cut and highlighted. I have to get a new drivers license, so I need to look fabulous for the next 10 years! Enjoy your weekend.

Are you kidding me?

Where the Heck is Spring?

It's so cold and dark outside, the parking lot lights just went on. Come on! This is ridiculous.

Great Day

Harry-bones ate Benny. I'm not sure which one of them ate Lofty the other day. So C-man and I set out to replace them at the giraffe store. (My child can locate about 45 countries on a map, but when you ask him where giraffes live, he says "at the toy store!") Well, despite the giraffe store voicemail saying they were open, they weren't. But Baskin Robbins was. And since Easter Day was synonomous with ice cream as a child, I figured I'd continue the tradition. It was so darned sweet sitting across from my baby, who was happily swinging his legs, eating his rainbow sherbet. It's moments like this that make you almost forget all the months of post-op agony and sleepless nights. Almost. And I've just found this website: www.africam.com. You can go to the live view of the watering hole and check out some animals. It's pretty amazing. We saw some elephants today. I'm back on the diet again tomorrow. There were just too many chocolate bunnies hopping around this weekend to be concerned with eating right.

Hoppy Easter!

After seeing this, I'm pleased we decided against going to see the Easter bunny. After filling C-man's belly with chocolate treats, we went to church and then out to a great greasy breakfast. Have a happy one!

Holy Saturday

As a kid, today was second only to my birthday. I loved Easter Vigil mass with the candles. Afterward we'd go home and eat ice cream. Now, with a 2 year old, things aren't quite the same. So instead, we went in search of the Easter Bunny and an egg hunt. But being frigid cold out, we decided to go to the mall to see the Easter Bunny. That was a bust, and there was no Easter Bunny. So we went to the theater, ate pizza and watched Meet the Robinsons. It was C-man's first real movie theater experience. He did really well and made it about 3/4 of the way, then got tired and wanted to go home. I can't say I was sad... the movie pretty much blew. So all in all, not really a spiritual day for Holy Saturday, but a nice family one anyhow. What does suck is that my sciatic nerve has been bothering me. It's shooting down my left butt cheek and into my left calf. I can hardly sit, and C-man wants me to hold him all the time. It's killing me. Tomorrow's Easter. The Easter Bunny is bringing C-man lots of outdoor stuff (sidewalk chalk, sand toys), which sucks because it's colder than snot out there. Oh well. The Easter Bunny can't get them all right. At least he's got chocolate.

TGIF

I'm at work today. Bummer. I should be getting out early. So I've got that going for me. Easter is this weekend. I'm hoping I can get C-man to the zoo tomorrow for the egg hunt and other fun stuff. It is supposed to be cold, though, so we'll see. Have a Hoppy one!

3 Brownie Day

My parents left this morning. It was good to see them. I'm still sick, though. It's moved to my chest. Then I got caught in a budget meeting for my boss. The thing is, I totally wasn't prepared (not my fault, since I didn't know I'd be in the meeting having to explain line items for which I have no clue about) and hacking the whole time. Nice impression for my SVP. Since I feel like crap, I ate a brownie. Since I didn't feel any better, I had another... and then another. Now I really don't feel well. Time to go back on the wagon. I'm supposed to start yoga tonight. I don't think that's happening... I need some sleep!

Hump Day

C-man slept all night, thankfully. Somehow, I feel more tired today than I have in days. Why does that happen? We have parent-teacher conferences tonight. Okay, a bit overly dramatic. We get to sit with his new teacher and talk about his class, how he's doing, etc. I'm looking forward to it. My parents are coming to stay tonight. Beerman did some cleaning up last night because I was so dog-tired. I'm glad someone had some energy. I've got a special discount at my favorite retailer starting tomorrow... an extra 15% off my usual 15%. I feel some new shoes in my future. Enjoy your week!

Is it Friday yet?

Okay, I know, this sounds like a repeat of last week. I'm still sick and C-man was up all night due to the storm. The bags under my eyes need to go in check-in they're so heavy! Yikes. AND I have to train all damn day tomorrow. Ugh... The good news is it's a short week, right? HA! Not for me, of course. Corporate life sucks. But the good news is I get to go home at night and relax, right? HA! Our basement is flooded from the tsunami that hit last night, my house a mess, and my mother still doesn't know if she's staying tomorrow night. "We'll see where we're at," she says. Oh, come on! Do I have to sweep up the extra sheepdog on my floor and change the sheets tonight, or can I dry out my moldy basement? Please, somebody give me a break this week!

Hunka hunka burning yuk

I'm at work today, but I'm not making it until 5. I still feel like crap. I'm burning up, and work just isn't that important to me. We let C-man watch Happy Feet last night. Okay, we were dog-sick and went into his Easter basket for trinkets of fun to amuse him. He danced whenever they danced, sobbed when it was over, and talked about it in his sleep: "I watch Mumble. I need Happy Feet." Very cute. I'm sure I'll be seeing that movie another 45 billion times in the next week. It's almost my birthday month. (Since my birthday is the beginning of May, once April 5th hits, it's my birthday month). For those of you unaware, my birthday is the most important day of the year. Stay tuned.

Sick Bay

Wow, whatever this bug is, it's kicking our asses. C-man is on the rebound, of course, and going 100 mph while we stagger behind him. I'm sweating like a pig and not hungry for much. I'm sure I'll be just fine in time to go to work tomorrow, though. Perfect. So much for Easter egg hunting and Easter bunny picture taking. And note to self: do NOT go grocery shopping the day before Passover. All I wanted was some ginger ale, and I had to fight women with 2 grocery carts each. Wow! 2nd note to self: next year, figure out who will invite me over for Passover meal!