Tie goes to the runner?

OK, maybe this isn't an official rule, but Walker was safe!

And we all know DLee woulda hit a grannie outta da park!

Woulda, woulda, woulda! Sure.

Oh well.

Dairy air?

My neighborhood smells like chocolate. It's a "good thing", & I'm sure Martha Stewart herself would approve. We can thank the Blommer Chocolate Factory for this. Not everybody, however, finds this appealing.

Apparently, some killjoy wants to put the kaibosh on the whole scene. This tattletale called the EPA to complain that the factory was spewing cocoa powder into the atmosphere...poisoning our air! What kind of a person would do such a thing? I imagine he (or she) lives in a little cave far above our fair city, with a little dog named Max & has lots of greenish fur.

OK, I suppose there could be downfalls to the choco-riffic fumes. What if you were on a diet? What if you were diabetic & couldn't eat sweets? It would be torturous, perhaps.

But today, as on most days (in summer especially) the air smelled so sweet. I sat in the park with baby, sliding down the slides that are riddled with gang graffiti, pushing her on the one swing that hasn't been destroyed yet. Tried to shield her little ears to all the cursing being spewed by the other parents & kids. But I took a deep, delicious breath and thought, "At least in my neighborhood, it doesn't smell like pee."

Hey!

I told you that you were fired, like, um, a long ass time ago. Why are you still here?

I want his head on a platter. I think it would look festive as a centerpiece on my dining room table. Perhaps with some baby's breath tucked into his ear? Yes?

OK some people might say it's not fair to blame the manager (THE LEADER) of the team. But he's not playing with a full team, Hendry & MacFail say. The frickin' Cardinals are playing without Poo-hole & they seem to be getting by. They act like the Cubs are the only team in baseball ever to have players on the DH.

Maybe I'm alone in thinking that somebody must pay for this. Did you see Sunday's game????? My nephew's little league team looks better....

GRRRR, GRRRR, GRRRRR, GRRRRRR.

Did I tell you we're going to the game tonight? So far I haven't been to a winner yet all year. Fourth one's a charm?

Wiggleworm

This weekend we took our Tiny E. to her first ever music class. It's called Wiggleworms, at the Old Town School of Folk Music. It was so much fun.

I don't mean to braaaag or anything (yeah, right), but our little Squiggles paid attention the whole time! We sang lots of songs & she shook her little maraca like it was going out of style. Our teacher, Fred, is very nice & also teaches 2nd grade on the South Side, just like me!

The only downside to the experience is that there were some Lincoln Park Trixies over in the corner that thought it would be appropriate if they just sat and talked the whole time. I thought it was quite rude. They all came late, didn't sing & just sat there holding their babies & gabbing. One of the little guys was even wearing a Ralph Lauren sweater vest, button down shirt & khakis. Come on... (just me being jealous that the kid's outfit cost more than mine)

I guess I should get used to dealing with other parents as we start bringing the baby to different classes. We will probably encounter the scream-at-the-kids type during sporting events and whatnot. I should probably be more accepting & cordial, but that's not really my style anyways. I guess I'll have to learn to be a good example & not crap-talk the other parents in front of E. It's going to be challenging...

I've got issues

Well, issue.

Yesterday, I watched the news. Yeah, bad idea, I know. They did a story on how the Porter County Indiana library system made a new policy stating they would no longer allow children living in homeless shelters to check out books. They stated that they have lost nearly $4,000 in books in recent years as the reason.

This pisses me off to no end. I know that living in a shelter can be stressful, shameful & hard on children. Each school year I have at least one, if not several, students that live in shelters. They have no toys, no school supplies, no clean clothes. They are not well-rested, often falling asleep in school, and often suffer from depression.

And now they have no books.

In the library system's defense, I'm sure they are strapped for cash; they probably are working with a meager budget and are just trying to protect their assets. But I have to wonder, how many books do they lose to people who live in homes? I often think there should be limits on the number of children's books one can check out because they are usually small, & it's hard to keep track of them in a busy household. Is the reason for the missing books solely due to transient children? I doubt it.

I've always tried to get parents to bring their child to the library. I always get a positive response from the parents, but when asked, the children always tell me they've never set foot in the local library. I'd be willing to bet that the majority of people checking out books are from "stable" homes, probably not low income. Granted, I have no research to back this up; I'm just judging from my 8 years in the CPS system.

Each year we, as teachers, spend a lot of cash on our classroom libraries. Of course it's something we love to do, but in Chicago it's also a requirement. Each year I lose countless books. I've probably lost close to a grand in books over the years at least. Most of the nice, new, hardcover picture books go for $12-$18 each on average. But I'll be damned if I'm going to deprive a child that's willing to read of a book.

Seems like a small price to pay to foster a love of reading. Plop (falling drunkenly off my soapbox now....)

Six months and

what the heck happened to my house? It's like Babies-R-Us had diarrhea all over my living room. It's just that they have really neat-o stuff for babies nowadays, and one does want to stimulate the child's brain and all...

That aside, I can't believe it's been half a year since we've been blessed with our Squiggles. She's doin' all sorts of crazy stuff now. She says, "Baa, Daa & Laa" (not at the same time usually) & moves around using her legs & head as some sort of appendage. Guess it will be time to baby-proof the homestead shortly.

She also has these moments when she sees something cool, or figures something out & she gets all pumped up and does this little "WhoooAHHHH!" noise. It's the greatest sound ever.

Stay cool,
L

Beer

Oh beer, why do you have to be so delicious?

I told myself that I wasn't going to drink any more beer. I came upon this revelation after I ***eeek*** stepped on the scale today. Last time I weighed in was some time ago, and I was within 7 lbs. of my pre-baby fighting weight. Then beer-drinking-season came upon us, and the rest is history. Today I was 17 pounds over goal weight. Whaaa????

I tried, I really did. I even bought some diet tonic water today at the grocery store. Thought I would make myself a cocktail if I felt like imbibing. Have you ever had diet tonic water? No, have you ever had generic diet tonic water? It's liquid crap. Two sips ( I gave it a chance) and I had to dump it.

So here I am again, with my trusty beer. I had to resort to the last of the baby shower beers. The ole' MGD floating around in semi-cold, semi- dirty water out in the cooler on the porch. Nice. A few sips & I immediately had to poop. Coincidence???? How could you not love it?

Dentists are evil

Days like this make me wonder who chooses this career path? Sadists, surely. How can you inflict this type of pain on others and then sleep at night?

I thought my dentist reminded me of Corky St. Clair. I was wrong. He's actually Orin Scrivello from Little Shop of Horrors. I think he was actually laughing with glee as he drilled my chompers today. And I have to go back again. For a nightguard. Five hundred dollars for a piece of plastic that will supposedly stop me from grinding my teeth to dust. I told him I thought I mostly grind my teeth when I'm riding in the car while D. drives. He just laughed.

I hope everyone had a good weekend. We did a lot of reuniting at the family reunion in Michigan. We spent the night in a hotel near Saugatuck. Surprisingly, it wasn't very luxurious! Huh! So D. & I just grabbed a 6 pack, ate Doritos & watched the Food Network while the baby slept in the Pack-n-play. It was still like a vacation to us.
D. asked the desk clerk if the Kalico Kitchen (where we had eaten before) would be too crowded for breakfast. She told us that she "didn't care for the service" there, & promptly steered us to the creepiest townie eatery on the planet. Devin thinks she meant that the Kalico Kitchen was a "gay-friendly" place, & that she was some sort of a-hole. You see, Saugatuck has a large gay tourist population, which to me means it's just that much cooler of a town. Apparently though, some locals don't appreciate that aspect of it. Who knows if that's what she meant. If it is, then I would like to send her a replica of the english muffin & crusty american cheese sandwich from the place she recommended. By the time it gets to her, it will be really smelly. That ought to teach her a lesson!


The baby shower was a success, & fun was had by all. Check out our cool monkey diaper cake that Kim & I made. OK, it looked a lot cuter before we had to move it several times. Oh thee diaper cake, why art thou so fragile?

Anyhow, it was great to get together and catch up with some peeps. DeKalb was represented by the Gorlewski & Robinson families. Dang, there was a lot of babies there. Slightly less smoking, just as much beer & a lot more babies. That's what I call a good time.

Cheers!

Weekend fun 2- Electric Boogaloo

Sorry I had to be the wet blanket (again!) & have Dev cancel band practice. Things are really hectic around here. Looks like he might not have made it anyhow, seeing as though it's 9:23 and he's still at work.

We're fixin' to launch tomorrow at around 1 for our family reunion in Michigan (D's Dad's side). Hopefully we'll have time to stop off in New Buffalo for a Redamack's burger. Have you been? If not, you must go.

It'll be an interesting time; first time for tiny E in a hotel. The luxurious, spa-like AmericInn. Aren't you jealous? We'll be so pampered. (Well, at least E. will be pampered, yuk yuk).

Then Sunday we're throwin' down Baby Shower Style here at Casa de Huron. The highly anticipated baby Gorman has us all in a tither. Should be very fun & very cute. Will post pics next week of our crafty stylings... don't want to ruin the surprise for the mama-to-be in case she's reading...

I better get a'packin'. I'm one of those people that has a hard time throwing crap in a suitcase until the last moment possible. I'm also one of those people that needs to bring 8 pairs of shoes for an overnight trip. Tryin' to get better about that.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Hugs & smooches,
L

Oh my!

Oh. I guess it's just a regular ole baby. I half expected her to have sunbeams radiating from her pores. Cute, but aren't all babies? What a rough life this little one's gonna have.

Dilemma

When I left the grocery store this afternoon, it was raining & baby was cranky. I threw the stuff in the car and beat it. On the way home I pulled out the receipt to check how much I saved in coupons, as I am wont to do (it was $17 by the way, and yes I am crazy).

I realized that they didn't charge me for the six 12-packs of Diet Coke I had on the bottom of my cart. The check-out lady was one of those non-stop talkers & was obviously distracted throughout the transaction. She was telling me all about how her aunt used to baby-sit, but then she got sick of it, then she.... etc.

I could have turned back, parked, gone out in the rain with the crying baby, put the soda in the cart, brought it back & paid for it. (Notice how I've documented all the steps here to show how difficult it would have been for me to do this). I don't feel right about not taking it back. I figured the next time I was in there I would tell them at the service desk & then I could pay for it there. Should I bother? Will they think I am crazy?

Just curious as to how many people would go back & pay. Or does this make up for all the times I've bought stuff & they haven't put it in my bag. Whaddya think?