Rain, rain, go away...

Had a decent weekend. I played a lot of baseball. Our first Brewers tickets don't start until June, and it's KILLING C-man. I should get some April tickets for him. Poor thing almost convulses when you tell him we don't have any tickets. We went to IHOP. We're officially regulars, because when we walked in, a server said, "There's my favorite family!" Either that, or we're obviously the only ones who don't live in that neighborhood... Whatever, I love IHOP pancakes. After IHOP, we went to Trader Joe's. Another Sunday tradition at the house, apparently. C-man likes getting the balloon when we check out. Only problem was that they didn't have any this time. We avoided calamity because I had an uninflated one in my purse leftover from the previous weekend with the Easter Bunny. Thank God for small favors. Beerman continued painting the infamous bathroom. We've decided against a texture technique, which I'm okay with, because instead of covering up the crappy, uneven walls, it actually accentuates their crappiness (who knew THAT was possible?). So one flat color it is. It's good to see real progress! We also watched Dan in Real Life. I laughed out loud through a lot of it. Beerman did too. It's been a really long time since I've seen a movie I've really enjoyed. (Or one that didn't have animated characters or talking dogs, for that matter.) Steve Carrell does some really smart stuff. So 4 stars from me. Well, off to enjoy the start to my week. Woo-hoo.

Spring Fever

I spent so much time outside pitching (Mommy, you be Turnbow/Gagne/Sheets/Gallardo) to my little hitter (and I'll be JJ) today, my hands are raw. Where is spring?!? Beerman is re-painting the bathroom. He got a color I didn't like before, and is now redoing it. This color is much nicer. I got C-man some Omega 3 chewables that are strawberry flavored. I spent $23 for a pack because everyone raves about them and C-man doesn't eat anything that has O3 in it. So, true to form, hewon't eat them. When Beerman said, "Jennifer, try one, they taste like strawberries," I said, "Nope, I bet they taste like fish." Well, at least C-man comes by it honestly. Off to go build a "big bad bridge" and watch a move with some popcorn... Enjoy your weekend.

I almost killed spring...

So I'm driving to work today, and there are a bunch of robins flying together. (I don't think I ever noticed them flocking together before, so it might be a conspiracy against me, a la Birds, but whatever). I had to swerve to not hit them. In that instantaneous "blink" as Malcolm Gladwell calls it, I thought "DON'T KILL SPRING!" After I successfully missed them, I laughed all the way to work. I'm such a moron. ************** My bracket is successfully toast. I know that there's a Marquette-Louisville rivalry and that might play into my hatred, but now that they've killed my bracket, I really hate Louisville! **************

Words of Wisdom: C-man was playing the other day, stopped and said, "You know what, Mommy?" "What, C-man?" "Sometimes... you need to look out for sharks." "C-man, you are more profound than you know."

And, it's a little cleaner than the similar advice my mentor always says... "Jennifer, there are MFs everywhere." :-)

They're Baa-ck

Okay, so it's just an exhibition game. But ladies and gentlemen, Miller Park has a game today. Thank God for the roof, or they'd have to shovel out. Unbelievable. Anyhow, Go, Brewers, Go!

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In what I think is absolutely hilarious news, Beerman has to report for jury duty next month. I've never been on jury duty, and actually think he's the luckiest thing around to get called, but whatever. Me showing up at the courthouse proclaiming my deep desire to fulfill a civic responsibility and be a juror is probably going to get me thrown in the nuthouse. So, I'll just make fun of Beerman instead.

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This low pressure system NEEDS to move through. I can barely stand it, it hurts so much. Who knew I'd be praying for snow so bad?

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I used to work for this guy at the Boy Scouts:

http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/15895702.html

C-Man's Growth

C-man went for his 3-year old checkup today. After tearing him away from the 3' tall Bob the Builder toy in the hallway, we discovered that he's completely proportional, and on track to be bigger than both of us. So much for worrying about him not eating his vegetables...

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I continue to be so stiff, I can barely type. I've been reading a lot, avoiding some things I need to get done, because I can't stand to type them out. Ugh...

One Day at a Time

I don't know if it's a combination of the 8 hours of driving this weekend, the impending snow of doom (I know, a bit melodramatic, but come on... it's Spring!), or my complete exhaustion, but I hurt. Bad. I have to move constantly to keep from hurting more, but don't want to move because it hurts. So my day has gone something like this: my head: Time to move my body: Screw you At least I'm back on the coffee, so I haven't lost all of my life's joy.

Birthday Wishes

C-man got his first bike for his birthday. Oh, to be 3 again...

Weekend Wrap-up

We spent the weekend in Chippewa Falls. Thankfully we went Thursday night, because 14" of snow dumped on our house Friday. In-between feeding my child (he's GOT to be growing, because about every 30 minutes he says, "My belly is STARVING!") we spent the weekend watching movies and basketball on the 90" screen TV (I'm running 4th in my pool, but with Georgetown gone, that'll change), celebrating C-man's 3rd birthday (note the orange frosting), and visiting what might be the ugliest Easter Bunny ever known. (C-man said, "Well, Easter bunnies are white!): The drive back was brutal on my body, and I'm paying very dearly for it today.

The good news is that despite 14" being dumped on our house, and our dogwalker getting stuck in our driveway (he had to use our snowblower to get himself out), the 43 degree weather melted almost all of it away. Beerman had to clear a little bit out, but didn't snowblow at all! Very nice.

The bad news is C-man now knows about chocolate Easter bunnies, thanks to his Nana, and has learned to eat them properly (before breakfast, starting with the ears). This morning he thought he should do that again. We told him otherwise. The drive to school wasn't a great one...

C-Falls

On my way up nort' for C-man's birthday and Easter. I'm so feverish, I can barely see straight. Happy first day of spring.

Whew

C-man's going through a growth spurt. I have no other way to account for his latest behavior. Happy one second, whiny the next, and in our bed in the middle of the night. I made him eat a baby carrot the other night. It took 30 minutes of arguing over it. 30 minutes later, I asked what he was chewing on, and he said, "Carrot". Oh boy. Add in this weather, and needless to say, I'm exhausted. I'm getting my hair cut tonight. Well, I hope I am. I'm hunting for a new place. Last week I tried to get to a new place, and got stopped for speeding on the way. She wouldn't take me because I was 12 minutes late. Hag. Anyhow, we'll see how "Alan" is at cutting hair, because this bush needs a whackin'.

March Madness

So when I win, you can't say I cheated... I have Tennessee going all the way because when I asked C-man who would win and showed him pictures, he picked the orange guys. And I figured since Pearl used to be our neighbor, it wasn't a bad team to cheer on. All I have to say is, good thing Syracuse isn't in it!

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We went to see Horton Hears a Who last night. Wow, a lot of good press for "I meant what I said, and I said what I meant" and "A person is a person no matter how small." Vlad the vulture scared C-man, but other than that, it was fine. I'd say it gets a B, definite rental. ****************

This week will be getting ready for C-man's birthday. A Good Friday birthday, what a drag.

As the Snow Melts...A groundling follow-up

I can't quite explain why this whole groundling thing facinates me, but it does. Sort of like "Secret Lives of Moles": ********

I've been knitting some a lot of different stuff lately. I need to go get some buttons to finish my latest project off, and then it'll be ready to wrap up and give away. I'll post photos after I've given it, but want to wait to not spoil any surprises. Here's a cute one I made a couple of weeks ago that I can show:

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Horton Hears a Who is on the agenda for the day AFTER we: build a road, dig for treasure, and play golf. Ahh, lfe dictated by C-man.

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This was yesterday's fun after we cleaned him up from dumping paint everywhere:

Dream

If only... http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/12/world.bikers.irpt/index.html

Dr. Death Goes to Washington

Seriously? What's his slogan... Joe Black for Congress? Or how about "Death and Taxes, now I can make them both worse!" http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

Where is Thumbkin?

C-man keeps singing that song, and I can't get it out of my head. But it got me thinking. "How are you today, sir?" Does anyone ever care? I mean, "How are you?" shouldn't be a rhetorical question, yet when someone answers truthfully, you sit there and think, "Come on, just answer 'fine' already!" I've noticed this most recently when people ask me, because I have absolutely NOT been fine. But nobody wants to hear that crap. So how do you tell someone your life's been sucking wind when nobody really cares anyway? In most of Eastern Asia, the greeting is, "Have you had your rice yet?" I'd love to translate that to our culture. "Hey, eaten your donut, McDonalds and pizza yet?" HA! ***************** One Mississippi, two Mississippi... Come on give us 33 Mississippi! ***************** I had my Stitch n Bitch group last night. It's so nice to get out with different people. Because there's usually more bitching than stitching going on, I started a pair of mindless baby booties. In 2 hours, I only got one done! So I now currently have 3 projects going, and was coveting a new sweater pattern beforehand. Thankfully, the teensy-weensy yarn store on my way to the SNB didn't have enough skeins to do the sweater, or I totally would have started a 4th project. So I vow to finish the other bootie, and one of the other projects before starting on a new one. Thank God I have a birthday coming up, because I'm so asking for these.

This makes me giggle...

What doesn't make me giggle? Re-dos in Florida and Michigan. If they do that, I'm through with this whole thing.

Dorky Things I've Learned

So I'm starting to embrace my dorkhood. This morning while listening to NPR (can you hear the dorkometer buzzing?) a horticulturalist was discussing the effects of the snow on perennials. He said that the enormous amount of snow is great because it will have kept the roots unfrozen and healthy. However, the enormous amount of snow helps the groundlings. What's that, you ask? Groundlings are mice, moles, rodents, etc. And get this, they live under the snow. There is a layer that melts just above the ground from the warmth of the ground. So they're fat and happy down there, eating our perennials, and not getting eaten by the hawks because they have such tremendous snow cover. Now maybe you know these things, but I didn't. And for some reason, it never occurred to me that rodents lived anywhere other than some nest in my garage during the winter. So, I'll put that in my "what I learned today" book. Another dorky thing I've learned is that silk makes great yarn to knit with. I'm doing a fabulous little pattern right now that is SO cute. Maybe I'll post it when I'm done. I've been quite a knitting machine lately, referring to it as my therapy. Hey, we all have to have something to prove we're not crazy. Right now, mine just happens to be in the forms of knits, purls and yarnovers.

Winners, Losers, and Retirements

I get that the press wants to have something to report, but really? Hillary got 6 total delegates closer to Obama. Hardly a "sweep" if you know what I mean. Anyhow, this is kind of fun: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/29/delegate.counter/index.html *************************** Brett Favre retired. I get it. But the man isn't dead. Can we please just move on now? After all, it's baseball season! *************************** 5 hours of training to go yet today. 5 hours on my feet. Ugh. I'm going to sleep early tonight. Well, not that it's that unusual these days, but I think this is going to suck.

Junior-Almost-But-Not-Quite-Super Tuesday

At least Huckabee will be done, right? Then again, he did say, "I have nothing else to do." Come on Obama... ______________________ Since I'm one of the grammar militants at work, I almost fell off my chair with this one: To The Coca-Cola Company, The slogan for Dasani mineral water contains an egregious error. The tag line is “Treat yourself well. Everyday.” The word “everyday” is an adjective that is used to describe things that are routine or ordinary. “Everyday concerns” or “everyday life” would be two examples. Your slogan should read: “Treat yourself well. Every day.” In this case “every” is an adjective modifying the noun “day.” This is a popular construction which is also used in such phrases as “every week,” “every time,” “every breath I take,” etc. [… ] Respectfully submitted, David Armstrong Thank you for contacting The Coca-Cola Company, Mr. Armstrong. We appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns regarding our new slogan for DASANI, “Treat yourself well. Everyday.” Advertising slogans aren’t always constrained by the traditional conventions of formal writing; compromises are quite often made to develop a more effective message. When forming the new slogan for DASANI, we considered both “Everyday” and “Every day.” After subjecting both versions to testing, we decided to use the more impactful adjective form, rather than the adjective-noun phrase. […] Joy Industry and Consumer Affairs The Coca-Cola Company Dear Joy, Thank you for your prompt and informative response to my email message. I do appreciate you taking the time. I must confess, however, that I am not completely satisfied with your answer. I fail to see how the adjective “everyday,” which has a completely different meaning than the phrase “every day,” is more “impactful.” (By the way, “impactful” is not listed as a word in any dictionary that I am aware of. Was this neologism spawned by the person who hatched your Dasani slogan?) You say you chose the “adjective form,” as if you were choosing between two versions of the same thing – but the similarity is purely superficial. Your slogan may as well read “Treat yourself well. Ordinary,” or “Treat yourself well. Commonplace,” because that is what it means, given the error. [… ] Are we then to assume that poor grammar and abuse of the English language make for more effective marketing? If this is the case I have a couple of suggestions for future slogans you may wish to consider: “Coke. Its the real thing.”“All ways Coca-Cola.”“Coke add’s life.” [… ] Best regards, David Armstrong Thank you for your reply. We truly appreciate your feedback regarding our slogan for DASANI, and I will share it with the appropriate management. As for the word “impactful,” this is simply the noun form of “impact” with the suffix “-ful” added to the end in order for it to be used as an adjective. Words with suffixes are typically not in the dictionary. Rich Robinson Advertising Specialist The Coca-Cola Company Dear Rich, It has been a few days since our email exchange and I have yet to hear from your executives. [… ] Your fine and reputable firm needs to act swiftly to repair this grievous attack on the English language, one which I have now seen plastered on the sides of buses, on billboards, and in numerous other public locations. Have you considered the effect of your nonsensical “Treat yourself well. Everyday” campaign on the nation’s schoolchildren? [… ] In closing, although I appreciate the creativity of your comments that “Words without suffixes are typically not in the dictionary,” I believe that if you research this further you will find that many words with suffixes are in fact in the dictionary, and that words that are not words are not. Warm regards, David Armstrong

Spring Training Fever