What a dick.

Did anyone see this story in the Lincoln, NE Journal Star?

My friend Nicole linked to the article on Facebook, and it seriously broke my heart.

Someone witnessed a guy pull up in a truck, let his dog out of the truck, throw a ball for the dog to fetch, and when the dog ran for the ball, the guy hopped in his truck and took off, leaving the dog alone and bewildered.

That is just about the saddest thing I've read in a long, long time.

Don't you want to play Oregon Trail? Like it is 1988?!?

Much like in grammar school, apparently I kill off my whole party and die from something stupid on The Oregon Trail (I had to open it in Firefox to get it to work, it wasn't happening in Explorer).

Remember this game? In the late 1980s, our "computer lab" was up two or three flights of stairs in a strange tower near the gym and office. Let's say like 6th grade or so, we'd go there once or twice a week, maybe? We'd hop on those Apple IIEs and go to town!

Making the turtle follow our commands.

Creating pictures and animating them and using music to complement the animation. I feel like Debbie Gibson music was awesome then. Or at least the sheet music was readily available because our friend Allison played piano (sorry, keyboard) and had some of Debbie Gibson's songs. Ergo, the slackers in the group who didn't find their own music could pore through Allison's collection. I believe I opted for the lesser-known "Red Hot" for my picture of The Red Planet and maybe an alien dancing on it? Or stars flickering? I think Allison used Kokomo. Remember when the Tanners met The Beach Boys on Full House and all sang Kokomo on stage at a concert? Rock on, DJ!!!

Ahem, I digress.

Anyway, hop on the stick and play yourself some Oregon Trail. I played one game tonight with the following results (My party was me, Michael, Ellie, Charlotte, and Millie*):

1) Charlotte drowned when I tried to cross a river that was like 3.5 feet deep. What a pussy wagon I have. And not like the one in Kill Bill, either!

2) Lost all our oxen in the same river crossing. And Michael has a fever.

3) Ellie breaks her arm.

4) Michael breaks his leg.

5) Fire in the wagon. Lose all our ammo and 2 sets of clothing.

6) Michael dies.

7) "You have passed a gravesite. Care to take a look?" Sure! "Here lies Andy. Peperony and chease."

8) Ellie has the measles. Of COURSE she does.

9) Inadequate grass. Bad water. C'mon folks, you know what's coming!

10) Millie has a fever

11) Ellie has dysentery (atta girl!)

12) Ellie's dead.

13) Millie's dead.

14) I have typhoid.

15) Amy dies.

16) My epitaph? "Here lies Amy. Please don't blame me."

Have fun, folks!!

* I think next game I will make up names. Typing these horrible outcomes for my loved ones makes me feel awful, just awful.

Just need to balance it out...

I feel like Ellie keeps getting lost in the shuffle here...

She continues to crack us up. It's like she hit her stride and is totally her own person, now. She wants so badly to be one of the big kids. They'll ride their bikes up and down the sidewalk and around the corner to the library. Next thing you know, there goes Ellie, dragging her big wheel across the field to the sidewalk, and then trailing them on their ride. She thinks she's people!

She also loves jamming on the harmonica at Jill & Jaime's house:


Sometimes Char will ease up and be nice/play with Ellie, once in a while. A great while. The other day, when my eyeball was killing me, they were playing in the bed, watching Spongebob, and doing artwork. Not a great pic, but you get the point.


She loves playing with the animal masks when we take Char to tot time in the morning. Especially the tiger mask. She just cracks us up, pretty consistently.

GREAT America

We went on the park district field trip to Great America, and Char and Jack were hanging together the whole day, hitting all the rides and roller coasters.

It cinched it for me that I would love for them to continue this summer friendship and then, in about 7 or 8 years, for Jack to move to Chicago and he and Char can go to every dance together. When he got a new bike, he rode her on the pegs (come on! Adorable!).

Without further adieu, the Great America pictures:

Hot Air Balloon ride They both dug keeping their hoods on and seeing how long they'd stay on during the faster/wilder rides.

Obligatory cut-out picture

Old timey cars with the wonderful diesel gasoline smell. MMMMMMM

They definitely needed a foot massage after all their hard work, walking around and eating snacks...

Then they met Robin. Who they stalked for about 45 minutes. Going back to him time and again with more questions...Where's Batman? -on a mission. How can you be so close to Riddler if he's a bad guy? Why is he standing there? -I'm making sure he doesn't get away. Robin was super cool, very nice, very patient and answered EVERY question these two came up with.

Then there was the Riddler, who was not as nice or fun as Robin. I guess it didn't help when Char told him a joke that he can "feel free to use, anytime" which went as follows: Knock knock (who's there?) Moo (Moo who?) Moo-ba-choo-ka-bow-poo-poo!

Summer of Kids

I keep talking about the "summer of kids" we have going on here. It pretty much rocks.

Here we have the triplets, Jack, and Char and Ellie, in the drizzly weather at the Independence Day Parade. They are just cute and nice and a blast to have around.

Garden Goodies

Onions that I plucked on July 3rd to make chipped beef dip


And tomatoes (cherry and grape) that I picked yesterday because they are finally tasty and ripe and ready to roll.


Beans and snap peas continue to flourish, peppers continue to flounder.

Lettuce is done (romaine, one set of iceberg) though we still have some loose leaf-ish butter lettuce. Cauliflower retained its mildew issue, so we yanked it yesterday. Nuts to you, cauliflower. Maybe I'll try it again for fall.

The berries, oh my, the berries. Not like we're picking them by the quart or anything, but the kids and I are all digging grabbing 'em here and there and just popping them in our mouths as we go about our day.

Teethers!!!

So if your 5 year old approached you and told you she had a loose tooth, would you believe her?

I mean, 5 is awfully early to be losing teeth, right? And she had been hanging with all these 7 and 8 year olds, the 7 year old had just lost a tooth last week, maybe she's inspired by that to fake a loose tooth?

And then, after her saying it for a couple days, I finally look, and, well, she sure had a loose tooth. Leaning all the way to the side.


So Char now has one less tooth, and a little more credibility.


I am not even going to speculate on how much the tooth-losing process may have been accelerated by the insane consumption of sweets and candy this summer. Most is under the radar, but, well, you know, it's summer, after all.

Hey guys! Long time, no talk!

Been MIA for a full week. FULL WEEK!

I wish I could say it is because we went on some whirlwind vacation. Or there was some total excitement happening 'round here. Totally not the case.

So what HAS been going on, you ask? Well...

* Gramma Rosie has been in and out of the hospital again. She is home now, at my aunt's, and seems to be in pretty good spirits, but it is day-to-day on her mood there. My brother Joey, who is NEVER the one with breaking scoop, called to let me know that last Monday he went over to drop off a nutroll and they had just taken her to the hospital by ambulance. Scary, right? Until you realize it was because her blood pressure was super low, and the nurse called the doctor who said to bring her in, and wouldn't let my aunt drive her, so my aunt called her village's fire department and asked if they'd drive her to her hospital, and they said sure. My aunt: "OK, thanks. Just pull into the driveway, we're all sitting in the kitchen. Don't use the lights or anything." A little anticlimatic. Love her and her ability to stay calm, cool, and collected at all times. It is pretty impressive, and I wish I had a quarter of her reasonable-ness.

* We had a Ribfest/BBQ at our house for the 4th. Michael's nephew Christopher is home (FINALLY!) safe and sound from his last deployment to Afghanistan, so he, his wife Kassy and daughter Kali, and Kassy's mom Lori were able to join us for the festivities. What a great reason to celebrate this year, right? Kassy's dad is still in Afghanistan, and due back in early September, so we'll have some more celebrating to do when he gets back, safe and sound. More to come on the 4th stuff in another post. I think. Maybe. No promises.

* Summer of Kids continues to rock. The triplets are next door most days, and our friends Jill & Jaime's little brother is in town until the end of July. So we have 3 eight year olds, 1 seven year old, 1 five year old, 1 almost-two year old. Needless to say, it's been a blast. We ride around town about 800 times a day. Stop at Jill and Jaime's for some freezee pops and slip-n-slide. Zoom a few blocks away and visit the trips' gram and aunt. Mosey to the park district to visit Jill and play in the gym or play-park. Amble on home, hop in the pool (the patch is holding nicely, thankyouverymuch), have a bite to eat, and repeat. I could not ask for a nicer group of kids who play really well together, share pretty nicely, and just get along. I will be really sad when July is over and the kids trickle away. And, yes, this is all from the woman who doesn't like kids.

* I learned a few days ago that I am apparently some terrifying menace. All of us were playing down the block, the kids on the slip-n-slide and then playing Spud in the field, and one of the neighborhood kids was riding back and forth. Usually she just comes on back and joins us. So one of the girls asks why she isn't coming back and she says, in front of my kid, that she "cannot go into the backyard if Charlotte's mom is there." Say whaaaaa? Now. I am the first to admit that I may give off a decent first impression which will inevitably disappoint people if they expect any further interaction/follow-up. Because I don't want to meet new people, and don't want to make new friends, really. And I think the mom took it very personally that I don't want to be best friends forever with her. But our kids like each other. A lot. And see each other. A lot. And I would never allow my relationship/non-relationship/begrudging feelings with another adult preclude my daughter from being friends with another kid. So to hear a kid say she can't play because I'm there? WOW is all I can say to that one. It's better to let your kid ride back and forth for hours watching a group of 6 kids play like crazy and have fun and have to be totally left out? Really? My favorite part about it is that the kid said her mom was sleeping, and later went home to ask if she can come over even with me being there, and the mom said "yes." So apparently my evilness is off-set by mom's need for a nap. (Frankly, I can get on board with that, there are days when I NEED to get a nap in...) So that was fun, and not at all something for me to ruminate over for the past few days. Whatever.

* Thanks to Kelly, again, being the Jiminy Cricket in my ear, I'm hyper-aware of the budget cuts affecting social services in Illinois. People, make yourselves aware of what's going on down there. Kelly's agency had to shut down one of their homes that provided temporary care/respite for people with disabilities. Other agencies are shutting down altogether. So look up your state rep , find out how they voted, and let them know if they are properly representing you. Just raise hell, in general.

* Ellie's vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds. My concerns have been greatly alleviated about her speech development, and I have postponed the speech therapy until next week. She's up to about 25 words and a couple of phrases. Still not where she should be for her age, but worlds away from where she was a month ago. It's already bordering on getting old, like on the 4th when we went on a bike ride and she dozed off in her trailer, and I took her out, and she woke up, and was super pissed that I woke her and moved her, and she demands, "BIKE RIDE!" Oh, hey, there's two new words! That's great! Oh, wait...that's also annoying...high pitched "BIIIKKKKEEEE RIIIIIIDEEEEESSSSSS!!!" from the kid who is super overtired? Totally didn't get old fast. Jokes, all jokes (mostly). I'm super excited for her, and for us, and it's been a trip seeing what else she'll come up with.

* The garden is flourishing, for the most part. Peppers are blowing chunks (WTF?) but peas and beans, broccoli, onions, strawberries and raspberries, all growing like gangbusters and coming along nicely, despite the erratic weather we've been having. I suspect we'll have some tasty cukes in the next week, too. OH, and the tomatoes were started to get red and delicious looking. Mmm mmm mmm...

* My eyes are super jacked up. I wish Lasik were completely covered by my insurance, because I'd do it in a heartbeat. For real. I had semi-old contacts in, scratched up my left eye (already the one that winks) and have spent the past two days in darkness like Phantom of the Opera (CHRISTINE!!!!!!). Seriously, had an eye patch on all day yesterday and appreciated that Charlotte was a total jerkwad yesterday morning and Sunday night so I could justify forcing her to stay inside all morning while I hid from the sunlight. An eye patch, folks. Arrgh. So anyway, have to go pick up my scrip and order contacts and glasses today, but the eye is still pretty light sensitive. I look glazy and stoned. Oh, and my glasses are held together with a band-aid. And they are about 12 years old. I am soooo not an adult.

So that's the wrap-up for the past week. Hope you've all had great days and are enjoying summer...Can you believe we're already a week into July?!!?!

If this is just Monday...then what the hell am I in for tomorrow?!

Ahhh, a cooldown from last week's sauna from God...Ahhh, so many plans! Trim the hedges over my fence...make my shopping list for Fourth of July party supplies...dig up the overgrown weedy paths through the garden and lay brick pavers down...set up some fun for the kids, a bike ride or whatever. Ahhh. Just Ahhh.

OR THIS!

Dead rat!! In the yard! Where I am setting up work camp. No one around. I have to handle it myself. Plastic bag smooshed up so I can hopefully not feel the actual creature. But I did...I did still feel it. All ratty and stiff and gross-out-ish...No layers of plastic bag can disguise that feeling.


But that's okay. Whew. Rat removed. OK, let's move on to my magic on digging up a path to lay pavers. This'll be fun. No drama. Perfect. For a few moments anyway.



Oh, hey kids! You guys love the pool? Great. I'll just sit here holding my little El and then "HOLY SHIT!! God damn it Millie, what are you doing!? AAAAHHHHH Tracy! Take the baby." I throw El at Tracy. She and I both want to hop up on the tables to hide from the RAT IN MILLIE'S MOUTH. She dropped it, the kids in the pool were cheering for us, Char hollering for me to get my gun (?!?!). The rat just kind of ambled away, likely poisoned already, likely to crawl off to our coal room to die in hiding. YUM!

What's that, kids? time for a bike ride? Sure! Ellie - hop into the trailer. And away we go. Totally JUST enough room between the pool and slide for me and the bike/trailer to scoosh through. OR totally NOT enough room, and the nut on the trailer wheel went ahead and snagged a big chunk of the pool side, so it's been slashed. DAMNIT. Slash a long as my hand. Off to Menards for a patch kiy.



And ugly bugs

So, yeah

I've apparently been having some issues and regressing to poor choices/behavior...I'm talking in EPIC proportions.

Gram seems to be doing better, at least that's the report from the trenches. She was out of bed a bit and moving around today, so I'm saying, for now, a great big WHEW.

I had tweaked my meds a little bit, and I think that is part of the random binge/bender I've been on and the erratic insane behavior that came along with said binge/bender. Sooo....things are back in good order, and I think my posts should resume their more "normal" tone. And if not "normal" at least slightly more appropriate for a 33 year old mother of two. EEK!

Hope y'all had a great weekend. We got to visit with my aunt and uncle from NJ today at Jill's house, and yesterday we had date night (um...and a few drinks). Looking forward to a great week with good weather so I can get some yard/garden things done before our big bash on the 4th.

Later skaters!