Things are coming together around here

At least it is starting to look a little bit like an occupied building ;)

My flowers look nice out on the patio. They aren't grouped as tightly together here, so I think I am going to rearrange my planting scheme for next year. It is too late in the year to do anything about it for this year. I may put some mums out by the front door in about six weeks or so.


This is the new dining room table my parents bought for us as a house-warming gift.

Oh, I'm still alive

And you're singing a Pearl Jam song now, aren't you?

I am so exhausted! Everything fit into one truckload on Saturday, we got it all physically into the new apartment by 4:00, and we've been working fairly constantly ever since.

It feels very nice to sit down for a few minutes, even though I really am doing actual work in other windows as I type this. I hope the other windows hurry with their work, because what I really need tonight is actual sleep.

When there are a few fewer boxes sitting out, I'll upload some pictures of the new place. It is bigger. There are two bathrooms. There are two walk-in closets!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Between my new job and packing, I've had very little time to play with this big white box. So far the job is going well. There is a lot to absorb, but I think I'm getting it. It isn't that bad. Hopefully things will keep going like they have been.

We've got Chris's room all packed up, most of the living room, and nothing from the kitchen, our bedroom, or the bathroom. Eek! I feel like I've been filling up boxes for eons, and I still have soooo much to do.

The computer is going to be boxed up soon - probably tomorrow night. I haven't arranged for new internet service yet either - eek! More work to do! I guess this means that I may be offline for a while.

Pie

What do you do with eighteen cups of blackberries? Make pie, of course!

Here's my not quite as beautiful as I'd like, but delicious nonetheless blackberry pie:


(No store bought crusts for me, that's why they're not perfectly pretty.)

Farm Living Is the Life for Me

Or at least farm visiting. I didn't realize that I had not yet taken Dennis on a grand tour of my Aunt & Uncle's farm near Prairietown, Illinois. I had been telling him about picking blackberries though, and we wanted to meet up with my Mom and Chris before they left for Indiana for a few days, so we decided to kill a few birds with one stone by heading over there for the evening.

First we stood around petting Commanche and Star for a while. Dennis is a little shy around horses, but he likes them. 'Manche is too sick to ride, so we just talked to them and smashed a few horse flies. Then we headed out to the cow pasture to get blackberries. I did not realize that Dennis has never ridden a four wheeler before, so I had to teach him and remember to not run off without him.

We picked about 300 yards of brambles along the back pasture fence. There were berries everywhere. These are the serious kind, with deadly thorns that reach out and grab your arms and legs, and sometimes swing around behind you and smack you across the back. I always thought that a little bit of blood makes the berries taste sweeter. We wound up with about eighteen cups (a gallon plus a little) worth of them. (I didn't measure how many they ate before they could get into the buckets.)



The next stop was the cow herd. They've taught the cows to come when they are called by feeding them day-old bread. We hollered the secret code word ("Dolly, Dolly, Dolly") and the whole herd came rambling over, headed by the new red Limousine bull. We were hand feeding them hamburger buns for about half an hour. You can even reach out and pet the bull on the nose after he scoops the bread out of your hand with his tongue. There were two babies that were just a few days old, and as cute as can be. We got on the same side of the fence as the herd, and walked among them. It was really cool. This is a new trick, the bull they had when I was in High School would have killed you if you tried this. He ran me up onto more than one hay bale in his time. I definately like the new bull a whole lot better.

We ended the night by eating at the Village Drive In in Bunker Hill. It is right next door to the apartment my Greatgrandma used to live in with her canaries, and right down the street from the Catholic church where we used to have all of our family reunionis. The food is very good, and very cheap. *yum*

C'mon little Squishy...

Today was my first day on the job at the Squishy Place. I am fairly certain that I can do my job. It is just going to be a matter of getting the jargon, pricing structure, and details into my brain. (And getting them to stay there!) I know exactly what the difficult part is going to be, and I know that the only thing that can get me through it is time and experience. I'm allowing myself mistakes. I know they are going to happen.

I don't know if I will ever be a superstar at this. I also don't really want the job that this position ultimately grows into. Maybe I can leap-frog it ;)

Home Sweet? Home

My ten year High School Reunion was last night. I did not go. I didn't feel like paying $34 to see people I just don't really care about. Sorry.

I did go to Litchfield though. I took Dennis to Party in the Park. We rode carnival rides, ate pork patties, and had the best lemon shake-ups in the whole wide world.

Nana

I've just finished Emile Zola's Nana. It is not really shocking now, but I certainly understand how shocking it would have been in 1880. The first thought I had was that Paris must have terrified respectable ladies everywhere in the 19th century. I immediately thought of Henry James's The Ambassadors and his depiction of Parisian excess. I believe that Henry James hated Emile Zola's naturalistic style. The pairing would have made for an excellent term paper, if I were an energetic English major.

Then I thought of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. Her drive to excess and social ruin was paralleled nicely by Nana's. Two ruined women, and the incessant, moralizing social commentary of two "stodgy old men." Hrmph. Of course this made me think of Virginia Woolf's Orlando. Cross-dressing and lesbianism. Juicy! Orlando in counterpoint to the other novels. Fodder for another paper!

I was amused by the accidental placement of Moll Flanders and Nana in order on my reading list. Nana is an utterly disagreeable character in the end, devoid of any real human emotion. In stark contrast to my favorable impression of Moll Flanders. Both novels carry the question of proto-feminism with them. Is resorting to prostitution the only way for women to exhibit any power at all in a patricharcial society? Is the power of women only vested in their youth and good looks? Is it wrong for a woman to use her sexuality when it is the only card she has to play? Are the male authors wrong for refusing to give women any other power at all? Are they justified in highlighting the folly of men (society) in this way? What does it say about women? In my mind, these two are better off than the silly heroines of the Romantic period that fell squarely between the two works.

I was impressed with Zola's writing. I'm sure the novel is exceedingly beautiful in French, if I could read just it. I am interested in details like the inner workings of a Paris theater. I was enthralled by the description of the horse races. I like this style of writing because I am not distracted by the details. I think I prefer it to Henry James. I do like that it is more complex than Defoe. Of course I believe we've come around to another period of "naturalism" with our reality TV driven world.

Mom is the hardest job of all.

What children take from us, they give…We become people who feel more deeply, question more deeply, hurt more deeply, and love more deeply. -Sonia Taitz

Chris and I went to Six Flags to play at Hurricane Harbor for a while yesterday afternoon. It was our 'last day of summer' as he is gone today with his Dad (he left early this weekend for his Aunt Mary's wedding), we have plans to spend the day Monday shopping for school clothes and supplies, and I start my new job Tuesday. He's going to spend two weeks with my parents, then we are moving, then he's got a week of YMCA camp in St. Charles, then he's off to school. Already. Yesterday was the last real day of our summer off together.

Children might or might not be a blessing, but to create them and then fail them was surely damnation. -Lois McMaster Bujold

I was up so late last night in tears. Really sobbing. It was miserable. Frankly, I'm not in much better shape right now. I feel like I used to when Chris was a tiny baby, and I'd sit up with him in the middle of the night holding him and trying hard to cry silently as he nursed himself back to sleep. I knew those nights were precious and would be a distant memory all too soon. I'm immersed in a deep sense of loss. I don't just feel that yesterday was our last day of this summer. I feel the weight of the things we should have done, the weight of the days we didn't interact at all, the weight of the days we didn't set foot outside of the apartment. I don't know that I'll ever have another entire summer off to spend with my son. I don't know that he would appreciate it if I did. I hate to think that I've squandered the age of eight. I am not sure when boys make the turn into nasty adolescents, but I know it happened to me at twelve. God, what I wouldn't do to have another day, another week, a time warp - something! I wish our whole summer could have been spent in the same sense of discovery and family that we had during our camping trip.

The central struggle of parenthood is to let our hopes for our children outweigh our fears. -Ellen Goodman

This really is tough. I'm the mother of an only child, so he gets to bear all of my hopes and fears, all of my anxiety and joy, and of course, all of my maternal love.

My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it. -Mark Twain

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

I took Chris to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory this afternoon. I honestly did not expect anything other than a good movie from Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. I enjoyed seeing another of Burton's frequent flyers, Helena Bonham Carter, as Mrs. Bucket. She carried a hint of Marla Singer with her, which just added to the general oddness of the movie. (Unlike in Big Fish, where she was completely transformed.) In the end, it is a movie based on a children's book.

It Pours. (When it Rains)

I got a callback for a second interview at the place that I was certain hated me. I am not supposed to hear back from them until Tuesday of next week, the day I am scheduled to start at the Squishy place. I am torn. I hope they call, but I also hope they don't call.

I think that the not-bombed interview place would ultimately be a better employer. I think that the Squishy place will not value and respect me nearly as much. But I also think that the not-bombed place may push just a little harder than I am really ready for. If they do call, I may duck out on the Squishy place. Especially if they call sooner than Tuesday. If I've already started and signed paperwork, I don't know if I will leave or not. The day-to-day details of the two jobs are relatively similar, but I will be processing payroll at the second place as well, which is absolutely a transferable skill that I am looking to put on my resume. The second place will most likely offer the dollar I talked myself out of asking for at the Squishy place. I do not have details of their benefits package yet, so I can't compare them. It is out of my hands right now anyway. I think it is a decision I will make on the spur of the moment based on what feels right. If they call, that is.

And I shall call him Squishy

Apparently the strife of the last few days over job-hunting, and my general employability, were the birthing pains of a new career. Yesterday, I was offered a job in an entirely different department that the one I had interviewed for. It sounded like a lot more work, and more difficult work at that, for about the same amount of money.

I felt low-balled. I felt uneasy. I think a lot of it is residual burn from my last situation. I slept on it.

I told Dennis I would not take it for less than X per hour. I had revised my figure down one whole dollar by this morning, and called them with my decision.

They fudged over the number. Still. After I'd come down a whole dollar.

I think $2000 per year means a lot more to the employee than it does to the employer.

Then they offered it to me for the price I was asking. I took it.

In actuality, I do need the money - yesterday. This is a whole dollar more than I made the last time I was working full time. With benefits. And there is a company match on the 401K. And I think I was hired into the department I would have been moving up into.

What is up with the title? My new employer shall be known as "The Squishy Place." Suffice it to say the main product is something specifically designed to be squished. It is a squishy business. I hope that the nature of the product will lend itself to an enjoyable environment. I think I may already have a friend in the receptionist.

Oh Snap!

Tommy Lee and Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue were just on Fox 2 News at Noon, which is actually on at 11:00.

Tommy Lee just called John Pertzborn an asshole live on air!

John: "One last question: who rocked harder in the 80s, Motley Crue or Poison?"

Nikki: "Who?!?!??"

Akward silence, John starts a crappy segway, is in the middle of thanking them...

Tommy: "What an asshole!"

Someone has to have a clip of this...



(This post has been hit all day today. Please leave a comment to let me know where you've found the link in. I usually don't do this much traffic on a single page in one day.)

Am I unemployable?

Here's my latest bathroom mirror flash effect picture, taken while preparing for my interview today.


And here's my pity-party rant of the day:
I'm beginning to think that I am absolutely unable to secure meaningful employment for myself. I had a better go of it before I finished my degree. I had another interview that I think I bombed. The place that I was fairly confident would call hasn't. GAH! I, like an idiot, quit combing the want ads when I had a flurry of interviews. I have never had an experience where absolutely nothing panned out. It is starting to get to me. I am terrified that I am beyond the point of good judgement. I am ready to jump all over the first offer I get.


GAH!



GRRR!


At this point, I think I am giving up on finding anything meaningful or career-oriented. I am down to the last minute, I must have some source of income soon, the move is approacing so quickly. I think I am going to explore retail and resturant opportunities in the greater St. Charles area tomorrow afternoon.

Slightly Touched

There is a thin line between touching and touched. I think Dennis may be ever so slightly over that line sometimes. He asked Chris and I to accompany him while he buried his beloved pet Shelby. We made our way out into the Jefferson County woods in the middle of an all-day rain from the remnants of Hurricane Dennis. We carried with us two umbrellas, a shovel, and a small, makeshift coffin. It was, quite literally, a tropical rain forest on this particular evening. There was a gentle green haze hanging near the earth as we picked our way down to a flat-rock creek bed about half a mile into the wilderness. After navigating several healthy stands of poison ivy, we crossed the creek, and clambered up the sandstone bluff and bank on the opposite side. This was the spot Dennis had selected. This soil doesn't really facilitate actual digging per se, it is more accurate to call it "rock chopping" or "shovel destroying" - that is, of course, if you choose to classify it as soil at all. As we neared eight in the evening, the hole was finally large enough, and Shelby was laid to rest, finally. I couldn't help but wonder if the love of my life was completely freaking nuts while I stood deep in the woods in a the middle of a tropical depression watching him chip away at the hard ground completely uncovered with rainwater dripping down his face.

Moll Flanders

I've been working on the current entry on my reading list for the past five weeks. It has been slow because finding time to sit and read undisturbed has been almost impossible. I've been picking my way through my "summer reading list" for over a year now...

Moll Flanders, or "The Fortunes & Misfortunes of the famous Moll Flanders &c. Who was Born in Newgate, and during a Life of continu'd Variety for Threescore Years, besides her Childhood, was Twelve Year a Whore, five times a Wife (whereof once to her own Brother), Twelve Year a Thief, Eight Year a Transport Felon in Virginia, at last grew Rich, liv'd Honest, and died a Penitent. Written from her own Memorandums..." by Daniel Defoe, was a good, simple early novel. Depsite the absolutely reprehensible life she lived, you can't help but like the title character.

There was nothing difficult about the reading that held me up. It flows easily, and once you adjust to the verbose (almost spoken-word) style, it runs right along. It is the story of an entire lifetime, so there are pleanty of details along the way, but it is nothing overwhelming. It was a very good summer read, because no matter how many times I had to put it down, I was always able to keep up with the story along the way.

Hurricane Dennis

It is always fun when a storm shares a name with a loved one. We've been cracking "Dennis" jokes all weekend.

Current visible satellite image:


Hurricane Dennis is currently downgraded to Tropical Depression Dennis. We are just moments away from getting the first rain band here in South County. I think the drought conditions here, and severe drought conditions to our south are going to contribute to flooding. Hard, dry ground doesn't sponge up water any better than saturated ground does, so this heavy rain is likely to cause washouts and erosion. It will be like dumping a five-gallon bucket of water on your tomato plants once in the middle of summer. It may help for a few days, if the force of it doesn't kill your plants, but it isn't going to help in the long run without some regular moisture afterwards. I'm still grateful for the rain. I think the St. Louis area is going to get the fringes, which will hopefully give us enough rain, but spare us from the five-gallon bucket effect.

Goodbye to a Dear Friend

We had to put our baby rat, Shelby, to sleep this evening. She never fully recovered from her surgery and bronchitis in May. She had been stuck on her left side, unable to eat or drink, since Thursday evening. We kept thinking that “it can’t be much longer now,” but she kept hanging on, and on, and on, and on. Dennis finally asked me this afternoon to see what we could do to ease her suffering. I did some research, and found that we could do it at home with Carbon Dioxide. She went peacefully in less than eight minutes from beginning to end. All three of us are teary-eyed and quiet tonight. We are going to give her a “proper burial” tomorrow evening.

Shelby was one of nine babies my rat Belle had on December 5, 2003. We hand-raised them from day one:


We could only keep one of the babies, and Dennis chose this spunky brown-hoodie with a tiny white stripe on top of her head. Here she is at about 25 days old:


Shelby was always a silly, active, cute, and sweet pet. She also had great taste in cars:


She grew into a beautiful, sleek, friendly adult:



Rest in peace, Shelby Jane Doza - 12/5/03 – 7/10/05.

I had to twist my brain

Lifted from the-only-person-from-High-School-that-I-still-speak-to’s journal:

List ten fictional characters you would have sex with, and then tag five friends.

(No particular order.)

1. Wade “Crybaby” Walker (Johnny Depp), Crybaby
2. Batman/Bruce Wayne
3. Andrew Largeman (Zach Braff), Garden State
4. The Man With No Name / Joe (Clint Eastwood), A Fistful of Dollars/A Few Dollars More/The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
5. Lorelei Lee (Marilyn Monroe) & Dorothy Shaw (Jane Russell), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
6. Doug Heffernan (Kevin James), The King of Queens
7. Beatrix Kiddo/The Bride/ Black Mamba (Uma Thurman), Kill Bill Vols. 1 & 2
8. Aidan Shaw (John Corbett), Sex in the City
9. Bo Darville/”The Bandit” (Burt Reynolds), Smokey and the Bandit
10. Jack Skellington, The Nightmare Before Christmas

Sims

I've been trying to figure out how to decorate and arrange the furniture at the new apartment. I got tired of trial and error on paper, so I got out the Sims and tried that.



It isn't exact, but it is faster to just point and click than it is to erase and redraw. It isn't 3D Home Architect, but it is a whole lot cheaper. And you can play with the people after you're done arranging too.

The thing by the white couch is a computer armoire. I haven't found it yet, but I'm going to get one anyway. I have found a round glass-top table for the dining room. I'm not going for the blue formica, despite how good it looks in the Sim version.

Brisket and Fireworks

Mmmm, DJ barbecued a brisket yesterday. It was super yummy. Paul had Chris last night, so Dennis and I shot fireworks by ourselves. We still have leftovers. I can't believe how much we wound up with! (Brisket and fireworks...) We always seem to have a good time together on the 4th of July :-D

Last night the downstairs neighbors were shooting really large fireworks right over my car. They finally set off two car alarms in the parking lot, then packed everything away and snuck off. One of the alarms went off for about two hours straight until the owners got home from the downtown fireworks. Not everything about moving out of this apartment complex is bad...

We just lazed around for most of the day. It rained finally! (We actually had a fairly fierce severe storm blow through. There was an awesome wind shift in the middle of the storm. Very cool.) It has been cloudy and cooler since that blew through. I wanted to shop for new apartment things, but a lot of stores closed early for the Fourth. (Some of the same stores that were open on Thanksgiving???)

Can I get that in writing?

PAUL SIGNED THE PAPERWORK!

Finally, after all of that strife, he just sort of bent over and crumbled this morning and signed the Ammendment to the Joint Parenting Agreement, so Chris is officially, on paper, for real going to live with us this school year in our new apartment.

We had Chris with us last night, and went down to DJ & Cathy's to shoot fireworks. It was fun and tiring. I am worried about how dry everything is, so we've cut back on the rockets a whole bunch.

We're Moving

Dennis put down a $300.00 deposit on the apartment in St. Charles today. We are supposed to move in on August 5th. We are going to have to pay double rent for all but four days of August. Hooray, this is going to be cheap...

There's no Cheese in our Pool

The sky is blue for once! It had been browinsh-white hazy gross for a long time. It is also tolerable outside. Yea!

Better than expected is good.

Wow, I had a job interview today for a Customer Serivce / Inside Sales job that I had serious reservations about beforehand. I wound up liking the place and the opportunity a whole lot more than I had expected. I am scared to death of having terrible judgement again. My last "exciting job offer" wound up being such a nightmare in the long run.

Birthday Dinner #3

Today is my actual birthday. Dennis got home late, and I didn't feel like cooking. We're having pizza! There's nothing wrong with birthday pizza.

I got flowers from Dennis and my parents.





I saw the Birthday Ponies today too. Chris and I went up to the farm to feed the horses and give Commanche his medication. We stood in the hot barn for about an hour while they finished their hay. I brushed both of them, but Chris chickened out on taking a bareback ride around the barnlot. I didn't feel like taking them all the way down to the other house to saddle them, so I have officially managed to avoid actually riding the Birthday Pony!!!


I just realized that my birthday this year was nowhere near the quality of last year's. I guess we're both distracted with everything we've got going on right now. I am feeling very up in the air about the entire St. Charles situation. The apartment complex is trying to railroad us, and I just found out this morning that Paul isn't ready to sign the custody paperwork. I tried not to let it ruin my birthday, but I'm just generally uneasy right now. At least I didn't get a sappy birthday card to type out this year. *shrug*

Plain Ol' Hot

[I wanted a witty song title for this post, but nothing hit the nail on the head quite as well as what first came from my fingers.]

We went to the Sears Craftsman Nationals today. The new management at Gateway has gotten rid of shuttles from the back parking lots. Hooray! They've also hired a bunch of bleacher Nazis to keep us cheap seat folks out of the EMPTY expensive seats. Gateway is rapidly becoming much less fun. It was miserably hot - the sign at the entrance to the track read 99 degrees as we walked by.

Someone had the bright idea to water the track with one of the local fire department's pumper trucks right before the first round of Top Fuel. The first two sets of racers could barely peddle their cars before they lit up the tires. We saw four track-length burnouts. Hey, let's spray some more water on it, I don't think it is slick enough yet! Funny car definately outran Top Fuel that round. I think the track had time to warm back up by the time they got out there :)

Unfortunately, I got sick from the heat. I haven't had this problem for a few years - at least not since I met Dennis. He's never seen me like that. I think it was a combination of the heat and drinking too much water. I just couldn't get myself right, no matter what I tried. I wound up needing to go home by about 6:30. We only saw the first round. When we were almost to the truck stop, we heard the Top Fuels firing up again. I was not happy to have to leave. I really like the event. Nothing in the world compares to watching two Top Fuel dragsters make a full-throttle side-by-side four-second pass. The noise and heat and vibration and speed is just plain wicked cool. Seeing the final rounds at night is the only possible way it could be any cooler. I got overheated and missed out.

Before the racing got underway, they had a tribute film for Darrell Russell. I still can't believe he died at last year's event.

Birthday Dinner #2

Dennis took me out to Tequila Mexican Resturant this evening. The margarita wasn't nearly as good as last time, it was only "pretty good" instead of "perfect." Must have been a different bartender.

I've escaped the Birthday Pony yet again! The manager specifically requested not having to sing, and I enjoyed a free sopapilla with ice cream.

Apartment Hunting

Dennis and I spent the greater part of the day looking around St. Charles for an apartment. It isn't that I don't like St. Charles, it's just that I REALLY DON'T LIKE ST. CHARLES! Unfortunately, to get Chris in a supportive environment, and to avoid making him change school districts TWICE more, we have to settle for the area my ex-husband chose. (Not just the school district, but the specific elementary school as well.) I have to admit that his school is awesome!

St. Charles isn't really a place to live in an apartment with a child. The apartments are all too expensive, too nit-picky, or too damn crappy. There just aren't small, friendly complexes like we are in now. The "nice" places are all huge and full of single twenty-somethings. (I guess we are technically single twenty-somethings ourselves, but not in the O.C. kind of way I mean.)

We know for a fact that this is going to motivate us to bust ass for a home of our own. We know what we're looking at for the next two years. But we're trying to keep our chins up, because two years isn't a lifetime.

I continue to be amazed at how much Dennis is willing to give up for Chris and me. I don't think that there is a more amazing man on the face of the earth.

It is nothing at all like riding a bicycle.

Interviewing takes practice. You don't remember it all when you jump back on after a few years. I had to take a Word test and an Excel test. I did fine with the Word test (which consisted of typing a letter to the President of the company, I used the Wizard, it was all good.) The Excel test threw me for a loop. I'd forgotten that I haven't used Excel in a good long while. I know I did alright, I got all of the figures in the right place and got the formulas right, but I didn't have time to get labels on all of my data. Blah.

Then I met two women who have strong family ties to my hometown. They recalled the family name, and I know someone who went to school with someone, etc. That's the way it always goes in small towns. Hopefully that is a strong plus in my favor.

Today was just a short interview, they're hoping to cut down their stack quite a bit with the Word and Excel tests. They're doing more in depth second interviews next week. I did not hear one word about benefits or compensation. I didn't say one word either.

If I get called back, I am going to have to really brush up and cover up some of my goofiness from today. My nervous personality is incredibly silly.

Pleased to meet you, I'm sweaty.

So I've landed a job interview! I've been peppering the universe with copies of my resume. Some of the opportunities are questionable, but you never know what they're about until you get your foot in the door. This is one I've actually had my fingers crossed about. I am excited and nervous - and I'm hoping they're not going to tell me that there are no benefits or they are only willing to pay $7.00 per hour. It is only about three minutes from Dennis's job, so that would be cool.

I am set up to interview in the winter. All of my best clothes are black. Gah! I'm going to have to make up something on short notice. I always find "cool" clothes feel too "cutesy" for interviewing. I think I can get away with my black pants and a lighter colored jacket - I think?

***excited***

Birthday Dinner #1

My parents and sister came down to see us and took me out to Smokey Bones BBQ for a birthday dinner.

Nobody made me ride the Birthday Pony, there was no singing, and I got free chocolate cake on top of the doughnuts we'd already ordered.

I am SO full!

Just Eat It!

For the last few days, my son and I have been going round and round about eating lunch. He wants to play video games and crab about having to eat. He says, "I'm not hungry," until right before dinner. I am sticking to my policy of "Nothing fun until after lunch." This means I spend most of the day sitting around waiting for him to eat. He'd be more than happy to have a Fruit Roll-Up and call it a day. I am just asking for a sandwich. He's got a turkey sandwich with gouda (he loves it) on white bread (just for him, we don't eat it.) He sat at the table with me while I ate my lunch (same sandwich on whole wheat and a salad) with his head in his hands making the most pitiful face you can imagine. He chose to lose his Playstation privelages and sit in his room over eating. As soon as he has something resembling a lunch, we are free to head out to the pool. He just won't eat.

Yesterday, he refused the bagel mini-pizzas that he got out of the freezer case and put into our cart with his own hands. He finally asked for a sandwich at 4:50. I don't know how he stands to go so long with nothing in his stomach. I am going to break him though. He has to get over the idea that he can eat whatever he wants whenever he wants that he's picked up from his Dad's house. Someday I am going to write a humerous memoir called "Food and the Willful Child" and become quasi-famous.

Wierd Al Yankovich must have known my son in a past life.

"Eat It"

How come you're always such a fussy young man
Don't want no Captain Crunch, don't want no Raisin Bran
Well, don't you know that other kids are starving in Japan
So eat it, just eat it

Don't want to argue, I don't want to debate
Don't want to hear about what kind of food you hate
You won't get no dessert 'till you clean off your plate
So eat it

Don't you tell me you're full
Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it
Get yourself an egg and beat it
Have some more chicken, have some more pie
It doesn't matter if it's boiled or fried
Just eat it, eat it, just eat it, eat it
Just eat it, eat it, just eat it, eat it, ooh

Your table manners are some cryin' shame
You're playin' with your food, this ain't some kind of game
Now, if you starve to death, you'll just have yourself to blame
So eat it, just eat it

You better listen, better do what you're told
You haven't even touched your tuna casserole
You better chow down or it's gonna get cold
So eat it

I don't care if you're full
Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it
Open up your mouth and feed it
Have some more yogurt, have some more spam
It doesn't matter it it's fresh or canned
Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it
Don't you make me repeat it
Have a banana, have a whole bunch
It doesn't matter what you had for lunch
Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it
Eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it

Eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it
If it's gettin' cold, reheat it
Have a big dinner, have a light snack
If you don't like it, you can't send it back
Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it
Get yourself an egg and beat it (oh lord)
Have some more chicken, have some more pie
It doesn't matter if it's boiled or fried
Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it
Don't you make me repeat it (oh no)
Have a banana, have a whole bunch
It doesn't matter what you had for lunch
Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it

Chipper / Shredder

We spent most of the afternoon with Dennis's parents. His dad had been trimming trees in the back yard. He trimmed a couple of them all the way down to the ground. As we were pulling up, he was heading out to The Home Depot to rent a chipper / shredder. We all pulled piles of branches over to the machine and watched DJ stuff it full and clog it up a few times. LOL! What is it about Dads and power tools?

We bought DJ a mixed six for Father's Day. It was a lot of pressure on me, since he specifically said, "I don't really like that ale stuff." I got a bunch of Pilsners - Shiner Blonde, Blue Moon et. al. and one Abita Amber. I can't imagine anyone disliking that. Both DJ and Cathy seemed to like Labatt Blue that they opened first.

They have a family of Indigo Buntings coming to their backyard feeders. I am officially envious.

Six Flags

Chris and I have Six Flags season passes, thanks to Grandma Myrna!

We went out for a little while this afternoon. I rode the Tom's Twister - something I've always been terrified of doing. Geez, it was all a bunch of little kids. I don't really like spinning, but if you close your eyes and lay your head back, it feels exactly like being in a cozy bed.

Chris rode The Boss! It is arguably the biggest, baddest coaster at Six Flags St. Louis. (Mr. Freeze is a bad dude too, but the steel coaster/overhead harness experinece is entirely different than the wooden coaster/open car one, and while the magnetic launch is neat, nothing beats good old gravity!) I was so proud of Chris, and so exhilarated from the ride, that I had to wipe tears out of my eyes as we pulled back into the station at the end. He's tall enough to ride Batman too. That is my favorite rollercoaster of all time, ever. I can't wait until he gets himself psyched up for it!

I'm Burnin', I'm Burnin', I'm Burnin' for YOU

I'm sick with a fever again. Last time I had this, in April, I was down for the count for two weeks. So far it has been up to 101.3 - which is a cool radio station somewhere in the world, I'm sure. Perhaps they're a classic rock station, just finishing up BOC's song as I type this. Fevers are trippy :)

Home in the valley
Home in the city
Home isn't pretty
Ain't no home for me

Home in the darkness
Home on the highway
Home isn't my way
Home I'll never be

Burn out the day
Burn out the night
I can't see no reason to put up a fight
I'm living for givin' the devil his due
And I'm burnin', I'm burnin', I'm burnin' for you
I'm burnin', I'm burnin', I'm burnin' for you

Time is the essence
Time is the season
Time ain't no reason
Got no time to slow

Time everlasting
Time to play B-sides
Time ain't on my side
Time I'll never know

Burn out the day
Burn out the night
I'm not the one to tell you what's wrong and what's right
I've seen suns that were freezing and lives that were through
And I'm burnin', I'm burnin', I'm burnin' for you
I'm burnin', I'm burnin', I'm burnin' for you

Beer and Cookies

Dennis and I just dug into our Lemp Beer score from our expedition the other night. It is relatively unremarkable; more deeply colored than the usual local product, hoppy for a lager, I poured a good head in my glass with it. The best thing about it is that it pairs with the oatmeal raisin cookies I just made almost as well as chocolate chip and milk. Who knew?

Without cookies, it is a 6/10 (Dennis really didn't care for it at all) with cookies, it is a 7.5/10 - that's how good the pairing was.

(Of course the Local history is the biggest draw with Lemp Beer. I don't usually go for the lagers so much.)

A Very Merry UN-Anniversary to Us

June 7, 2002, is the day Dennis and I first admitted to each other that we were feeling more than just friendly feelings toward each other.

The entire text is uploaded to The Summer of 2002 Blog.

I started it with this paragraph:
"My crush on you is wearing off. Uh, a *friend crush* instead of the other kind - for a while it was like 'gotta email Dennis, gotta email Dennis' all the time. So now we've proven that we're similar and we can get along and what not. And it's like - uhhhhh - now what? Good thing it was a friend crush instead of the other kind - cause this is when the lust wears off and we'd break up :) So I'm trying to figure out where you fit - you're different because you're a digital friend, but I'll probably see you in real life at least once a month (Dennis = Aunt Flo???) So it's different - in real life you are just different somehow - more 3 dimensional maybe that's it? And I'm thinking "do I say this or not?" a little now - cause it may come back someday to make me blush - since I'm very bold with a keyboard, but very shy in the real world. :o Although I do type :o a lot :o Guh - and why does this bother me? Because I've been sitting at home with not much to do for a few days - thinking about stupid stuff that probably doesn't matter at all. You can make anything into a big deal if you concentrate on it long enough :) Well, anyway, just hit me over the head when you're ready I'm working Saturday and Sunday (w00ty w00ty woot)"

The truth is that I already loved him. I just had no idea how to deal with it, and I assumed I must have been insane to feel as passionately as I did after such a short time, not to mention the fact that I was married to someone else. Crazy!

I still love him too, at least as much as I did then.

Power Tour 05

Dennis and I went to the Hot Rod Power Tour yesterday at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. It was incredibly huge!

I have a picture album uploaded with 76 thumbnailed pictures.

Alcohol

We went out to Lukas Liquor Superstore this evening.

Dennis got some of this:


Then I got some of this:


Build your own six pack is awesome!

Oprah is my Arch-Nemesis!

I can't believe it! Oprah has chosen books that overlap my reading list yet again! Now she is reading three Faulkner novels, As I Lay Dying, The Sound and the Fury, and Light in August. I have already read two of them, and my Blog entry for As I Lay Dying is getting a lot of traffic since the book club announcement. I was not as impressed with Light in August, but I wonder if I'll start drawing hits on that page when they get closer. I hope Oprah's Book Club Website can help me gain some much needed understanding and appreciation when it comes to that book. I wanted to like it more than I did.


Speaking of reading, I've gone on an off-list adventure, and I am currently working on Salt and Saffron by Kamila Shamsie. So far it is an interesting read.

Mix Tape Radio?

I'm experimenting with the new radio station in town.

www.1065thearch.com

Yesterday they played Charlie Daniels' "Devil Went Down to Georgia" followed by Tone Loc's "Funky Cold Medina." I was amused. It seems slightly better than the 15 song play list stations. It reminds me of making mix tapes, but it also makes me feel old.

I need a vacation from my vacation!

Whew, I've finally finished uploading all of our vacation pictures to a Photobucket album, emailing the links to everyone, uploading another set of the pictures to our regular host, and Blogging back in time over the whole weekend. Now I need to rest up for a few days!

Oh, I also drove to Effingham with Chris today so he could go spend a couple of weeks with his Indiana family. I went out on I-70 and came back on US 40. I've always wanted to try traveling the National Road, so I did. There are a few benefits of not working, I guess.

I miss Chris. We had such a great time over the weekend, and we really fell into a great comfortable family feeling. I was really sorry to see him go today. I can't wait for him to get back!

Camping: Day Three

We all slept much better last night, despite having our heads downhill. Or maybe because of it. I got up when the birds started singing, and dragged everyone else out of the tent with me. We had breakfast, cleaned up, and broke camp. Chris was sad to see it all come down, and sad to take our reservation card off of the marker post. He was a little out of sorts with us for a while because he realized that we were nearing the end of our trip.

We took a “W” shaped route to get home.

Our first stop was Pomona Natural Bridge. There was no facility, so I had to hike off to pee in the woods. We hiked the short trail, then ate lunch in the parking lot. Yes, I washed my hands with an antibacterial Wet One first.


Then we drove to Bald Knob Cross.


The view from up there is great! You can see all the way into Missouri from here!


We stopped in Alto Pass for some ice cream. We wanted to go to the Root Beer Saloon, but it was closed, so we wound up right next door.

Our last stop was Devil’s Backbone Park in Grand Tower. Grand Tower has a very interesting folk history. We did not feel like making the hike across the ridge, so we settled for playing in the park and looking at the Mississippi River.




(backblogged)

Camping: Day Two

We got up at the crack of dawn, or at least the crack of the neighbor’s 8 noisy kids. I cooked bacon, scrambled eggs, and toast on the trusty old camp stove:


We drove to the Cache River State Natural Area:


We saw a lot of wildlife:






Then we headed to Ferne Clyffe State Park for a little while.

We hiked back to this 100’ Waterfall:


We had another great day. Chris loved all of the snakes, lizards, and turtles. We also saw several deer and a Bald Eagle on the nest near the Cache River Wetlands Center.

Dennis put our heads downhill in the tent, but we fell right asleep anyway.

(backblogged)

Camping: Day One

We left the house right at 7:30 this morning. My little car was stuffed to the gills:



We arrived at Giant City State Park a few hours later, only to find the campground FULL. We just happened to luck into a campsite by begging at the Visitor’s Center.

We went to set up camp, only to find one of our fellow campers had hogged up two picnic tables, leaving us with none. A Park Ranger unloaded his belongings from the extra table, and she and Dennis hauled it back into our campsite. We continued to set up camp, and awhile later, the table hogger came back to the area. He stalked around the sites for a few minutes, then started cursing. He threatened physical violence, refused to listen to reason, and caused a huge scene in front of not only Chris, but the entire campground. Dennis tried to leave the area to get the Park Ranger to step into the conflict, and the guy tried to jump in front of my car. Then he got into his truck and took off down the road after Dennis. Long story short, he was also very hot headed with the Park Rangers when they confronted him, and he managed to get himself kicked out of the campground. This is the first such conflict I’ve ever experienced in a campground. Especially in the tent camping areas. What a tool!

We didn’t let it ruin our day, even though we were very tense because of it. We hiked on the Giant City Nature Trail:


Played along the shoreline of Little Grassy Lake:


Caught itsy-bitsy froglets:


Finished getting our campsite set up:


And cooked over the campfire:


Chris loved the campfire. He also loved making S’mores. He had no trouble showering himself in the shower house, and we headed to bed by 10:00.

(backblogged)

Getting Out of Dodge

We are leaving for Southern Illinois on a camping trip tomorrow morning. I will backblog with pictures when we get back. We're staying at Giant City State Park.

Pet Surgery

Shelby had her tumor removed today. She's got quite a hole in her belly. She looks skinny now. That's saying a lot since she's always been such a fatty. She is exhausted. She's been asleep since we brought her home.

Here's to a speedy recovery!

Dennis says...

He told me that "Petroglyph-a-rific" is the silliest title he's ever heard.

Petroglyph-a-rific!

We took our weekend trip to Washington State Park down by Desoto today. We'd driven by on our way south quite a few times, but we'd never stopped before.

Like many places in this part of the country, it is pratically overrun with fence lizards. Chirs and I really like to try catching the little buggers.


He actually had this big one on his shirt for a minute, before she decided Chris was definately not a tree and bailed out fast.


There are supposed to be Eastern Collared Lizards at this park, but we didn't see any. I don't know that I've ever seen one, even though they are supposed to range into extreme Southern Illinois as well. We saw a "skink" up on top of the bluffs that wasn't a Five-lined Skink - it was a Six-Lined Racerunner. It looks absolutely identical to the ID picture in my Audubon Society Field Guide, which is saying a lot, since I always seem to find the sub-species that isn't even mentioned. They're not kidding when they say these little guys are fast!

We also saw a small snake in a pool along the Big River that we're fairly certain was a Midland Watersnake, based on internet research. It had alternating ruddy and mustard colors, and it was very vivid because it was so small (under a foot.) Dennis had the camera at the time, and I assume he didn't take a picture because he's a weenie who is afraid of snakes. It looked an awful lot like this one, even though we don't have our own picture of it.


Awww, aren't we just so gross! *love*


Of course, the big draw of Washington State Park is the Mississippian petroglyphs. This is a "family," I think. At least that is what we are calling it. There are three figures holding hands, a "Dennis" on the left, a little Chris with a pointy head in the middle, and a "Mommy" on the right.

A suspected sniper is on the loose!

The news copy tells this better than I think I can.

Jefferson Co. Police Search For Suspected Sniper Shooting At Drivers And Police
created: 5/15/2005 10:42:34 PM
(KSDK) -- A suspected sniper is on the loose and authorities in Jefferson County have a warning for residents.

The shootings happened on Highway 30 near Betty Hill Road in Byrnes Mill. Two different drivers thought they were shot at around 12:45 a.m.

Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer said at a news conference, "One of them saw what she believed to be a muzzle fire and observed sparks flying off the road."

Investigators believe the shooter or shooters were perched on a heavily wooded bluff overlooking Highway 30. Sheriff Boyer said, "He's not afraid of police and that gives me great concern."

Officers who responded were shot at during a two-hour period. Officers estimate as many as 25 shots were fired.

Sheriff Boyer said, "Any time a person is engaged in sniping a citizen on a roadway, waits for the responding officer and engages that officer and waited for assisting officers and engaged those officers, I think is a dangerous individual."

Highway 30 in that area was shut down for five hours while officers searched by ground and air. Sheriff Boyer says investigators are still looking for the bullets and shell casings from the firearm, "They were guessing it was some type of medium to heavy weapon; anywhere from a 9mm up to a heavy hunting rifle is what could have been used."

Nobody was hurt. No vehicles were struck. That's why investigators speculate the shooter intentionally missed. Byrnes Mill Police Chief Ed Locke said, "When that third volley came toward police officers, I actually heard the concrete fragments hit the hood of my car."

Sheriff Boyer is asking residents to be cautious and to report anything suspicious, "If you see somebody climbing the bluffs at 2:00 a.m., that's not normal, contact us."

A task force will be formed to work on solving this case. It will consist of a number of different police agencies and possibly the FBI.

In the meantime, investigators are asking the two drivers who were shot at to call the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office so investigators can get more information.


This is scary! They shut down the Highway, the police were "pinned down" under the bluff for a few hours, local residents were scared to death, the local school cancelled outdoor activities - several law enforcement agencies even assembled a "Sniper Response Team."


The resolution:

Police: Jefferson County Sniper Was A Group Of Drunk Teens Shooting At Tree
created: 5/18/2005 5:33:20 PM
KSDk-There is no Jefferson County Sniper. That's the word late Wednesday afternoon from investigators.

The incident happend late Saturday night. Motorists on Highway 30 near Byrnes Mill reported shots being fired from a bluff over the highway. Police responded, and more shots were fired. No one was hit. Police believed there might have been a sniper.

Wednesday, investigators announced 19-year-old Donald Christie had been charged in the shootings. Police say he was at a party with several other teens, that they were drinking, and that they were firing shots at a tree that was on a bluff above the highway.

Sick Baby

Dennis's ratty is sick. She's got some kind of bronchitis, and she has a breast tumor. She's got some antibiotics for her lungs, and she is going to have surgery on Tuesday. I am splitting the antibiotic with Belle, because she's got the same wheezing as Shelby.

The office visit today with medicine was $21. The surgery is supposed to be $40. Yes, it is a lot to spend on a $3.00 pet, but it isn't as high as we had feared.

No Stab! Grocery Shopping.

We are going to shop at the Sappington Farmers' Market for the next little while. We managed to get out at our usual price level, found everything we needed (including kale), saw some extra cool things, and Dennis even talked to a *gasp* friendly employee!

They did not have BBQ pork prepackaged (bad for you anyway), but I am going to go get some tomorrow at Johnny's Market, so it is OK.

Hooray, I feel better.

(I like Johnny's because they have the cool flip-top carts and it smells like my Grandma. I had a very strong memory of shopping at the Litchfield IGA with my Grandma Linda when I was little. I also think their bakery is going to kick ass if we get there while the department is still open. Baked goods!!!)

I Couldn't Have Said it Better Myself

Last night we could not accomplish our grocery shopping at our usual Shop N Save. Nothing was in stock at 9:00 on a Sunday night. This has been a pattern at this store recently, but last night was definately the worst. I threw a fit and left a cart full of groceries in the back of the store after a stockboy told us that the Grape Nuts we were looking for were, "on sale all week, you can come back another day and get them" when we asked if he could help us find some. Today I am researching independent grocers and green grocers. I love this website fuckcorporategroceries.net.

We were just at the Sappington Farmers' Market last week, and now we are going to go out exploring some more of our local resources. I'm tired of getting the Wal-Mart treatment from the grocery store.

Missouri Loves Company

Would it be too strange for a Missouri resident to wear this?

"High Five, Illinois!"

Sunday Sunday Sunday!

We spent most of the day at Gateway watching the Mustangs at the World Ford Challenge. It was a fun event as always. The biggest story of the day was the temperature. It was COLD! We were wearing jackets and long pants, and we weren't even racing. I wore capris, and I spent most of the day wishing for those 8 extra inches of fabric. I also managed to sunburn my ankles. Ouch!

Unbelievably, this was our first trip to the track this year. Chris seems to enjoy it more this year, finally. He didn't complain about being bored once, and actually asked to go back to the grandstand to watch racing. Dennis loves poking his head around all of the cool turbo cars. The Mustang guys really have their heads on straight with the technology. They've got them on inlet restrictions this year, so lots of crews have switched over from the huge thumper turbos to twin setups. This makes the engine bays look very wicked. It is kinda hard to decide which is cooler, one giant turbo in the center of the grille, or two on the sides with all of the associated snaking pipes.

We saw an 8 second truck that launched as hard as anything I've ever seen, a very cool front engine dragster, an 11 second cargo van, and a 7 second pass in Wild Street, where the cars must make a 30 mile cruise before making their three qualifying passes. Remind me to stay far away from that silver Mustang!

Farmers' Market

We went up to the Soulard Farmers' Market this morning.





Chris was highly entertained trying to imitate these artsy-fartsy bike racks :)


We bought a fresh pineapple for $1.50. They want almost $6.00 for them in the grocery stores. It is very sweet. Chris doesn't like it because it doesn't taste like the pineapple he's used to. Glad I didn't spring for the $6.00 ones he always begged for.

School Picnic

I went out to Chris's 3rd Grade AR Picnic today.

He didn't seem too interested in me being there. He played with his friends, and didn't want a whole lot to do with me. Frankly, I got a little bored. None of the other parents ate anything, so I was also starving. I went home early. I didn't see the next two hours of picnic picking up any for me. He said he wasn't upset, and I went out of my way to assure him that he was supposed to play with his friends. He said it was fine, but he is being a little obstinate this evening. Letting go / holding on is tricky!

Three Years

It is time to start reading old emails again. Today is the one year anniversary of the first post of the whole affair; the three year anniversary since Dennis and I started talking to each other.

We don't keep track of the real first time we met, which was sometime in the fall of 2001. I only had a passing thought of the meeting that prompted the emails to begin - which was May 4th, 2002. We date things by the first message Dennis sent me. I'm making an official post today because this is where the record keeping starts. We don't have a date for when our relationship actually started. It is split between today and August 7, 2002, when we moved in together.

To tell the truth, I didn't put two and two together when I got that first message from Dennis. I didn't know exactly who was asking, I didn't realize he was even a local. I just figured he was someone who had either seen a picture of my car with license plate, or he had tried to contact me via AIM and seen my screen name there. It wasn't the first random private message I'd received on Neons.org, but it did wind up being the only one that lead to the love of my life.

Amazing how random life can be, isn't it?

And that stands for pool!

I took Chris and Dennis up to Litchfield to see my Mom, and to watch my sister in her High School's production of The Music Man. They tore down the auditorium where we used to put on plays, so they have to have them at the community college's tiny one now. It isn't anywhere near as good this way. They're also using mics now. Blah. What ever happened to enunciation and projection?

I saw lots of people I did not wish to speak with. I haven't been back to any High School functions since I graduated. I didn't see any of the people I really hated, but I didn't see anyone worth nodding at either. I am extremely depressed to know that some babies I remember holding and was responsible enough to babysit are juniors and seniors in High School now. Eeeek! I am pretty sure I do not want to go to my 10 year reunion, if they even have one. It was a little bit stressful hoping nobody recognized me.

We stopped and got Mom some fuscia Ivy Geraniums from Rural King. They're really pretty! We also picked up a rhodedendron for Cathy that we're taking down there in a little while.

Is it Spring?

The National Weather Service issued Frost Advisories again late in the day yesterday, so my flowers spent three nights in the apartment. FINALLY everything is back outside and it is supposed to be warm all week. Surely this is Spring at last.

This is where they belong :)




As soon as I find the zip-ties I know I just bought, I'm putting up the hummingbird feeder too.

It is not supposed to be this cold

We had frost advisories again last night. I've had my flowers out since right around the 15th of April. I've had to bring them in three times. It is supposed to be cold again tonight, so I'm just leaving them in.

It is nice having the apartment filled with flowers :)


...but wait, there's more! There are the two baskets that hang over the porch rail.


This pink petunia was begging to have it's picture taken.


I'll have to upload some new pictures when they finally get to go back outside.

Cupcakes

Chris and I made cupcakes for Paul's birthday. We took them out to him at work today. I didn't have enough colored sugars, so I had to hand dye some. We wound up with five colors! It is an odd feeling to bake something for your ex-husband. At least something non-toxic...

Sadly, I think these turned out a little bit prettier than Dennis's Birthday Cake. (It was tasty though!)


Here's a closer picture of the sugar. I was a little proud of it :)



After that trip, Chris and I went to Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center. The center itself is really awesome! There is a nice bird garden that reminds me a lot of Turkey Run in Indiana. The hiking is citified - all of the trails are paved. We took the longest one, and were almost eaten alive by wild inch worms! There was a fishing demonstration with the Mobile Aquarium. We saw several goldfish get gulped down, a turtle tear off a crayfish claw, and finally a crayfish swallowed whole. I think Chris liked it. :)

Proof!

Love by ruby mae
Your name
Your partner
You two are	In love
Your meeting was by	Chance
They are your	Hero
You are their	Shining star
Your love will	Stay alive

Yeah, so it is a lame Quiz. But it is proof that we were meant to be, right? meepmeep

Now I must sing, "You're a shinig star, no matter who you are."

Me, Excited?

Yeah, so today I found something to be excited about.

The entire new Nine Inch Nails album is up on MySpace. Now I am not one of those aging Goths, but I do enjoy my Trent. I got excited when we were in New Orleans, standing in front of his house, and I saw that he had those solid brass turtle lawn sprinklers. Admitting this makes me feel like a stalker!

I do not enjoy listening to streaming audio on our dial-up connection. I wish I could download it in my spare time. Haha! That's a great reason to get back to work - free high speed access to the net.

Up to Date

Everything back to Wednesday, March 23, 2005 (Southpark pictures) was updated today. I didn't take any pictures of anything that happened in the past month. I spent two weeks under the weather.

Neglecting my Blog

I have not been Blogging. I've been (am) really depressed. I don't want to say how depressed, but suffice it to say that I've got absolutely nothing positive to Blog about whatsoever. I didn't see much point in turning this into a huge seething pit of misery.

I'm going to go back and fill in a few things though. Hooray!

Shrooming

I went up to Litchfield this morning to mushroom hunt with my parents. We ate some lunch, then took all three dogs out to the lake. After not too long looking, we found a really big cache of morels. I also found a box turtle who may have been mushroom hunting too. S/he was closed up tightly when I found her/him. I bet the dogs scared her/him.

We found a few more after that, then I ran out of gas. My lungs were burning after we walked up the hill to the parking lot. Ouch. The cold I had kicked my butt.

I got home and sauteed some mushrooms for Dennis. He says they're "good", but he's "not crazy about them." I think they need to grow on him.

Angry Fishing

Dennis took us out to Busch Wildlife today to fish. Everything made me extremely angry, and I refused to enjoy myself until after we'd eaten lunch and only had about 20 minutes left to fish. Blah.

We still have not caught a damn thing. We are not good at fishing!

Sick

I've been sick. I had a fever starting on Saturday afternoon and lasting right through Monday evening. I still don't feel good.

Fishing

I took Chris fishing yesterday at Suson Park. We didn't catch a darn thing. I started to feel kinda gross in the afternoon, so I brought us home to rest. Dennis spent the whole day at a NRA pistol course. I feel like crap, but we are going out to Suson Park again in a few minutes to take Dennis fishing.