living with squirrels

Merry, Merry Christmastime?

nobody@vox.com(julieb) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:28:52 -0500

Sorry for the long pause between blogs, but we've been busy (our perpetual state of being anymore)... We wrapped up soccer season some time ago, had about a month's break, now we're on to basketball season. At least Alex decided on Upwards basketball, which is a VERY rec league with just one practice and one game per month. Totally doable, especially when compared to the wretched baseball season of hell (which thanks to Aidan wanting to play again, we'll be thrown back into once Spring is here).

So, here we are at Christmastime again. Doesn't seem possible that it's here AGAIN. Every year I go out the day after Thanksgiving with my friend, Jyl (yes we are part of the crazies that you see interviewed on TV- up at 4am, standing in lines that stretch from here to Canada and back, just so we can save $5 on that DS game we know will be played twice, then promptly lost in between the seats of the backseat of the car). We've made this a ritual of sorts for the past 4 years. I think we go more for the entertainment and sheer adrenalin rush it gives us than for the "deals" (which really aren't that great, most of the time).

This year, I decided a couple months prior that I would budget for a TV for our room. We've been watching the same 19" TV for years and it's, well, sort of pitaful to have to squint to see what's on the screen, while scrolling through the Uverse Guide.

So, at 4:30, there I was, standing in the 20-mile line at Walmart, ticket for my 42"Plasma TV in hand; Jyl was across the street at Meijer, waiting in 5-mile long lines (she said that Meijer had it together much better than our Walmart did) for $5 Barbies. We met up after a couple hours, loaded my bigass TV into her minivan and then, much to my dismay, headed to the nearest mall. I really didn't want to go, but I did because she promised we wouldn't really be there that long. And we weren't. And I did actually get some gifts bought pretty cheaply (like the Hickory Farms gift pack, complete with 2 summer sausages and 2 varieties of cheese, for my older son. Trust me, that will be a BIG hit with him- his own supply of summer sausage that HE WON'T HAVE TO SHARE). Upon arriving back to the minivan, though, we discovered something very heartbreakingly devastating that shaped my attitude towards Christmas shopping for probably FOREVER (I'm not really exaggerating). We lifted the back hatch of her van and discovered EVERYTHING had been taken. The TV, the gifts she'd bought for her kids. Everything except for one Barbie doll.

Yes, I know that it was stupid to leave a TV in the van. Yes, I know that I should have taken it home first. I've learned my lesson, so PLEASE don't tell me "I told you so". That doesn't bring the TV back. Or the gifts that my friend had very limited funds to replace. And so, for almost three weeks, I didn't shop. At all. And if you knew me and how much I prize myself on finishing Christmas shopping at least 1 month early, you'd know that is NOT me.

BUT, it finally hit me last week that oh crap, I have TWO weeks till Christmas and I haven't bought anything yet and I'd better get to it now or the kids are gonna be unwrapping summer sausage and that's it. So, I went out Saturday and knocked out all the shopping in one day. I think I've discovered my strategy from now on; wait and then head out in a panicked, hurried state at the last minute.

I spent 3 hours yesterday wrapping gifts; it felt really good once I finished the last gift. Now we're set- except for the TV, which I'm not in a big hurry to replace. I feel in a way that it taught me a very valuable lessson (other than not leaving expensive items in the van while shopping in a mall); it made me appreciate my blessings- not just my material things, but especially my kids and husband- much more. People who do this are the lowest of the lowest- they're desperate people who usually aren't going to sit around, watching that TV they lifted. No, they turn around and sell in on the streets for $50 so they can get a fix. And I know deep down that karma is going to bite them in the ass, so I won't let it ruin my Christmas season, fretting over what's lost. Instead, I'll let it make me more thankful for everything I have.

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FINALLY A Chance to Breathe Again

nobody@vox.com(julieb) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:04:25 -0400

This past weekend marked a moment in history- we FINALLY had a reprieve from the chaos that rules our world. Yes, we've become that family that is gone every spare waking not-at-work moment. The family that is overly-comsumed with kids and all the activities revolving around them. Last weekend marked the end of soccer season, so now for the next month or so we have NO sports practices or games to have to worry about. HOORAY!!!

We spent Saturday morning in our jammies. Haven't had a chance to do that in oh, FOREVER. Then around noon, we had some company and I went shopping and it was just a glorious feeling, not having to interrupt anything for sports or cub scouts or whatever activity the boys currently are signed up for... Alex had a friend over (who eventually spent the night at our house) and Aidan spent unlimited time on the Playstation/ Wii/ computer-- something he hasn't gotten to do in forever.

After a great homecooked meal (something else that has been neglected lately; a chance to cook a good meal from scatch), we went over to the elementary school for the Haunted Woods. The kids had a great time, walking through the woods behind the school, being "scared" (not really) by the parents/ kids dressed up. After that, our friends, Kevin and Jyl, came over with a bottle of wine and we ordered pizza (bad, very bad, for us).

Sunday we finally made it to church (it'd been probably 3 weeks for me and the kids). After lunch, we went to Lowe's and bought all necessary items for weather-proofing the deck. Then we took a good hour and a half long nap (unheard of usually). After I studied for my upcoming very-important exam for a good hour or so, I walked down to my neighbors' house and joined them in watching some football (well, I didn't really pay attention to the games, but I did enjoy me a nice Captain and diet). Steve called around 4:30 to say that our boys were invited to a friend's house for dinner and we were kid-free till 7:30 (!). So, we went on an impromptue date to Muldoon's; a haunt from our kid-free past.

I can only HOPE that we have many, many more of these kinds of weekends to come. This-coming weekend is Halloween and Fall Break. I'm taking off work on Thursday and Friday to hang out with the boys. We have some things on the calendar, but thankfully, it's pretty sporatic... and none of it starts before 2:00 in the afternoon, which is even better...

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What Have I Been Up To? Where to Start...

nobody@vox.com(julieb) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:03:59 -0400

Wow, so our first month of school has flown by! I really don't know what happened to it; it's all this blurry mess... I remember there being lots and lots of ortho doc visits in there.... and lots ot time spent on the soccer field... Can't remember much more than that...

So, update on Aidan first: He was able to get his cast off last Thursday. Hooray! I can't believe how quickly kids heal; it was just a month ago that he broke his arm, but after several more xrays (we won't go there about how much these are costing. Let's just say it would've bought us a really kick-ass foozball table.), the doctor determined that Aidan's arm had healed completely. Amazing! Must have been all the milk and vitamins I shoved down him during that month. Now, we have another month for Aidan to get range of motion back in his arm. For the first three days or so after getting the cast off, he really favored his left arm, but we reassured him (over and over again) that yes, he could use his right arm again and that he'd better start getting the strength back or else he was going to end up with physical therapy. Also, the doctor wants to make sure the growth plate is growing like it should be; I really don't want to think about the "what ifs" on if it isn't growing like it should... I heard a horror story from a mom last night, while sitting at the soccer field. She works in a doctor's office and this 15 yr-old patient had broken her arm and the doctor who set it didn't set it right and a muscle in her arm died and so the girl ended up having surgery to have some sort of spacers or extenders or whatever the mom called them put into her arm. Lovely... That's JUST what I needed to hear so I could fixate on the worst case scenarios till Aidan's appointment, which is 3 weeks away... I think he'll be okay, though. Little by little each day he's doing more and more with his right arm again. It's probably a great thing that he's taking drum lessons; I'm sure that's going to help build up those muscles again...

The second part of our busy, craziness is Alex's soccer. I've always encouraged the kids to play sports; especially because by nature, they are lazy slugs. These are the kids who you FORCE to go outside and God-forbid they not be able to play their beloved Wii/ playstation/ computer games every day. That would just be the end of the world, you know?! So, Alex's team this year has two practices a week and one to two games a weekend. That's fine; we expect it and are actually glad it's not the suck-ass schedule he had when playing baseball this past Spring. HOWEVER (there's always that), because there are only three teams in his age group, they are being forced to travel and play teams from neighboring towns. It's not that bad, really. The farthest we have to drive is a town that's 30 minutes from us and the games are at least later in the morning, so we aren't heading out before daybreak. But it's just that when you aren't prepared for this, when you thought that it was just going to mean he'd have games on the soccer field a mile from your house every Saturday, it sort of blows. So, Saturday is Alex's first away game; thankfully, I've skirted out of that one because I'd already commited to studying with a co-worker for the upcoming Asthma Educator Exam I'm taking next month...

Leading up to the third chapter to my Book of Craziness... My work requires me to get credentialed in Asthma Education; it doesn't sound like that big of a deal, right? Except that the test is a bear and there's only a 68% national pass rate. Still not that big of a deal, really... Except that part of your brain that is used for studying and retaining information needed for this sort of thing? Yeah, mine hasn't been accessed in oh, about 15 years. And that was pre-children... and pre-many, many martinis... So, trying to juggle studying with the massive piles of crap at work, and being my children's chauffer when not dealing with the massive piles of work hasn't left much time (or energy) for me to use towards tapping into that part of my grey matter... So THANK GOD Kathy, my co-worker is in the same boat. Hopefully we can pull our brains together and come up with one complete brain and get going on studying... My goal is to take this beast-of-an-exam and get it over with next month (while still driving my children all over creation for their miscelanious things)... as soon as work reemburses me for the test (all $300 of it) and I have the official "green light" from the Powers That Be that I can sign up for it...

So, yeah... That's how we've spent the first month... Oh, and did I mention Aidan's now a cub scout? So now we have all his Wolf cub scout meetings and activities every weekend to do (that's okay, though. I actually really like all the little things we're getting to do as a family)... I'm HOPING that soon (maybe in a month, or year, or 20 years) we'll have a less-full schedule again so we can finally get to go see friends in neighboring states who just moved (Ang, I'm talking about you). Or have friends from neighboring states, who just had twins (Tammy, I'm talking to you), come to our place for the weekend... Or just take a day and do NOTHING (what's that like? I can't even phathom that)... I'll try to continue keeping up (and maybe even post some pictures- that would be nice, huh?). It may be every month or two, but I'll try...

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Wow, What an Exciting First Week of School!

nobody@vox.com(julieb) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:46:02 -0400

Yeah, you could say that's an understatement... It does not seem fair that kids are now required to go back to school this early. I mean, c'mon-- when I was growing up, we never went back till at least the last week of August, giving us a good three solid months to drive our parents and siblings/ neighbors/ anyone within a mile's proximity crazy. Nope, not nowadays. No, now kids go back after 2 short months because they're required to start in on those 5 million standardized tests required by the educational system. Bitter? You could say that...

We started out the week with ice cream social after ice cream social. First was Alex's; we went to the mammoth (but beautiful) intermediate school he's now attending (since he's all grown up and too big for elementary school)-- the thing's three times the size of my high school. We found his class room (no small feat), met his homeroom teacher (very nice), and found the cafeteria, where we enjoyed (meaning Hubby and kids, since I'm lactose-intolerant) ice cream yummies provided by the PTO.

Monday, I knocked off work so I could take the kids and go do something fun, one last time before school started the next day. We ended up going to a water park, located in a town about an hour from us. We've been there before, but it's been about a year. We had a blast, but had to leave a little early to come home and get ready for Aidan's ice cream social.

It's amazing how different my two boys are. Where Alex is all shy and quiet and to himself, Aidan's Mr. Social Butterfly (I don't know where he got that from). Where we were done with Alex's ice cream social in about 30 minutes, we spent a good hour at Aidan's, while he went around visiting all his past teachers (and there are quite a few, considering he's been at that school for the past 4 years now- between preschool and elementary).

The next day was the first day of school and the boys seemed to be getting off to a great start... But then I got the phone call- the damned, dreaded phone call from the school nurse. And another from my husband, while he was driving Aidan to the immediate care center because you know, isn't it funny that Aidan probably broke him arm... AGAIN... for the second time in 1 1/2 years??? I'm not laughing. I hurried through the last of my work and flew out of there, in hopes of meeting Steve at the immediate care center. But by then, they were done and heading home. Aidan's arm splinted and in a sling. Appointment set for the following day with an orthopedic doctor who would evaluate the xrays and decide what to do.

Let me tell you how much torture it is on a 7 year-old to send them home without a cast. Especially a 7 year-old who FIXATES on everything... especially why they didn't put a cast on his arm... By 9:00 that night, it was pretty hairy in our house; Aidan very tired, hurting, and afraid of "breaking his arm more" because it wasn't in a freakin' cast...

So, off to the ortho doctor's office the next morning for probably the worst doctor's visit I've ever had to endure. If the doctor wasn't so nice, I'd probably have punched him in the face for manuevering and realigning my child's arm WITHOUT SEDATION. Aidan was soooo brave; but he still screamed and cried and yelled-- I don't blame him. And all I could do was hold his free hand and tell him he could squeeze it as hard as he needed and even flap it around if he needed to (because that's how he comforts himself; by flapping his hands)... Then back for more xrays because the doctor wanted to make sure the elbow didn't misalign more by all the cast/ manuevering/ torture. And the xray actually looked better, believe it or not. BUT we aren't out of the woods yet...

Apparently, breaking your elbow is the worst place you can break your arm and usually warrants immediate surgery, but since his was not misaligned enough, he didn't qualify for the immediate surgery, do not pass go before heading to jail card. No, we get to suffer through all weekend before taking him back Tuesday to see if the bone moved over the weekend; which we were assured can certainly happen even through something like involuntary muscle movement (like we can help THAT!)... I guess we're in a holding pattern till Tuesday.

If there is a surgery, then it'll happen Tuesday night and we'll spend the night in the hospital before getting to take him home and pampering him with as much pop and junk as we can fill him up with. Surgery itself is only around an hour long (the longest hour of my life, I'm sure), so it's not as bad as it could be...

So, that concludes our very exciting first week of school. You know, I frequently ask myself WHY do we always have to have something constantly going on? I really hope this is the most excitement we encounter for this school year... Any and all prayers and positive thoughts you can send our way will be greatly appreciated over the next few days, while we're in the holding pattern of whether or not Aidan has to undergo surgery.

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He's Growing Up Too Quickly

nobody@vox.com(julieb) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:36:54 -0400

Within the past year, my now-eleven year-old (as of Tuesday) has figured out (in his words) "all the world's mysteries". He figured out the tooth fairy, then that Santa Claus "was the same thing"; after he started asking questions about sex, we had to set the record straight and break that down to him in great length and detail. Not too long ago, he informed me of certain "changes" physically he's noticed lately... *Sigh* WHY?! WHY does he have to be in a hurry to grow up, I ask you all???

I loved it when he'd sit on my lap as a toddler; for hours we'd watch Blues Clues and The Wiggles. Now he's all about manga and violent, stupid crap-TV.

We played laser tag as part of his birthday festivities this year. At one point, he shot me before I could shoot him and I went to give him a hug and, no joke, he backed away, hands up, and said, "Not in public, Mom". It felt like someone took a knife, jabbed it into my heart, then just for good measure, ground it around a little, just to make sure it was in there nice and deep. Once again, *Sigh*.

I've had a hard time this past year, adjusting to the fact that Alex is NOT a little boy anymore. Besides discovering all the world's greatest secrets, he's also been busy growing like a weed. At the end of the school year, his tennis shoes were a mess- they were literally falling apart and smelled so God-awful that the second you opened the closet door, this stench blasted you in the face. So I threw them out and told him he could wear sandles all summer until it was time to buy new shoes again. Last weekend, I took him to Kohl's to start school shopping (since school starts in less than three weeks- sad, sad, sad...). He picked out a couple different shoes he liked (because he's also now at that age when Heaven forbid you try to buy him something without he being there)-- I couldn't believe what size his foot is now. He's now up to an 8 1/2 mens'. So that means in one summer his foot grew 2 1/2 shoe sizes. I've also started the tradition of measuring the boys against the wall in the pantry and marking where they are. He's now at five foot, one inch. If he keeps growing like this, he's going to pass up his father and I in about, oh a couple years. GEAAWD...

The latest episode of "salt in the wound" for me happened last night. My in-laws want to start taking all the grandsons one-by-one overnight for a couple nights at a time, just so they can spend "quality time" with each of them. My mother-in-law asked us if Alex could spend a few days with them this week, one of the nights he gets to go to an Indians' game with his grandpa and cousin, Zach. Since we paid for the boys to take swim lessons a while back, we said that he could at least go over tonight and tomorrow and hang out. I kept all this from Alex till last night so he wouldn't rub it in his brother's face (because that's what siblings do); he was very excited because 1) he gets to go to a baseball game, 2) he gets to play with Grandma and Grandpa's new dog, 3) his cousin's going to be there, and 4) they're going swimming in the neighborhood pool tomorrow. No joke; he literally was jumping up and down. When I made the comment that I was sorry we hadn't really hung out and had quality time last night (because he and Aidan asked my friend's three kids over for dinner), he said, "Really, Mom, it's okay". Man, keep driving that knife in farther, Alex.

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Bringing Back Memories

nobody@vox.com(julieb) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:08:55 -0400

Our county's 4H fair is going on right now. I really didn't feel like trapsing around in the animal manure again this year, however a couple friends of mine convinced me that I should meet them there. Because I'm such a sucker for peer pressure, I agreed.

We had beautiful weather (partly sunny and in the 60s- go figure for July!) and the manure exposure was pretty minimal, considering all the livestock barns we walked through. And of course there was the food- fair food really does kick ass, there's no doubt about it.

Throughout the whole afternoon there, smells and sounds reminded me of memories of when I was a girl, growing up in BFE- nowhere and how much I always looked forward to our 4H fair. I never was in 4H, but I enjoyed running around the fair every year with my friends; I'm sure that I would've felt the fair was more than a social event if I HAD been in 4H, but joining 4H was too much work, in my book (God forbid I exerted myself any more than I had to). I remember trying to look my best, in hopes of running into some miscelanious boy that was my crush-of-the-hour. And a couple summers I actually had a real, live boyfriend at the time of the fair; I remember walking around the fair with boyfriend-of-the minute and feeling so "cool" because I was with my big, grown-up boyfriend (I now look back on that and think how stupid that thinking really was).

I remember riding the bullet and gunny-sack slides and the scrambler (all of which I would never let my kids ride now, because of fear of the rides falling apart). I remember eating cotton candy and elephant ears and all the candy I could collect from the exhibition barn (and the memories of being smacked with the free yard sticks Mom collected from there).

I remember the fair back home being this big, exciting event. Ours here, not so much. Maybe it's the sad reality of how urbanization is taking over everywhere. I know that up until about 10 years ago, the town we live in presently was pretty small; now it's just another suburb.

The classic lesson learned by my kids this year is that too much sugar will cause a belly ache (in a BIG way). Both kids snarfed down elephant ear, followed by funnel cake, and some cotton candy to wash it all down with. Now, my proud parenting moment is that I really wasn't paying too close attention to what all they were injesting- I was busy being social (what I do best), and they ate all this within 5 minutes. About an hour after we got home, one was complaining his stomach hurt, followed closely by the other also complaining his hurt. Then they both had one episode of diarrhea and felt immediately better. I really wanted to tell them, "And SEE?! I TOLD you that this would happen if you eat too much sugar!", but I couldn't (since it really was my fault more than theirs).

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A Rough Start Back

nobody@vox.com(julieb) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 09:36:29 -0400

Monday was my first day back after a long break from the real world; a break filled with baking myself in the sun, where the biggest question of the day was when was high tide. 6:00 came way too early and I very groggily found myself trying to pull together something to wear and try to apply makeup and look semi-presentable...

Once at work, I found myself looking at a slew of emails (thanks to me forgetting to turn on my out-of-office message before leaving for vacation) and voicemails and (in theory) patient appointments... *Sigh* Back to work, I guess.

I find that every time I take off more than a day or two, the first week back is almost unbearable. I do enjoy my job (for the most part). I'm very thankful for having a job at all right now (considering what a mess the economy is and the ever-rising unemployment rate in my state). It's allowed me opportunities we'd otherwise not have (i.e. new house, vacations, paying bills on time)... Is this a normal feeling after vacation to absolutely loathe getting up and going to work? I'd vote "yes"...

Another not-so-welcome back to reality is that for the next two days, we will be living with the dust cloud associated with having our kitchen floor replaced again- for the third time. After talking with neighbors, though, I think that we've (so far) come off pretty lucky- many of them have had far-worse things that needed replaced or repaired. The thought of dust EVERYWHERE again, does send my OCD into overload, though. Thank God the cleaning lady's coming Friday to clean up the piles of dust I'm sure will be everywhere (that sounded really bad, I know- the thought of someone else cleaning up my mess- but that's another thing I'm thankful for: being able to afford some help in the housecleaning section)- I should pay her extra for dealing with the mess.

I'm sure the after-product will be well-worth the short-term mess we're going to have to look at. The floor still was bumpy after the last time they tried fixing it. Not to mention the huge gaps between planks... This is par for course when you build, I guess.

I'll post about vacation hopefully tonight; every night I've come home this week, cooked dinner, then collapsed on the couch by 9. The thought of getting on the computer is the LAST thing I've wanted to do. But I'll try to get some pics up tonight. My tan's already fading; I so miss the beach...

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Common Phrases Overheard on Our Vacation (so far)

nobody@vox.com(julieb) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:02:16 -0400

Here is a highlight of our vacation in Delaware so far- keep in mind that we're staying in a beach house about the size of our last apartment with our friends and their four kids...
"What time is it?" (because there are no clocks anywhere in not just our house, but anywhere in the town.
"Where did I put my (fill in the blank)?" (because it's inevitable that no matter where you put something originally, it's not there five minutes later)
"HOW many times have we told you to close the door when you're changing?!" (because there are members of my family who have no concept of what modesty is)
"HOW many times have we told you guys to spray after you go to the bathroom?!" (because there are many children who don't get that concept, either)
"What time is high tide?" (everyone seems to be fascinated by this "phenomenon"-- not sure why, but I think the kids think this means the water turns purple or something once high tide hits... Maybe I should tell them this and see how many buy it...
"What day is it?" (somehow I managed to skip over Tuesday without realizing it)
"My God, how much sand can you dump out of your swim suit onto the floor?!" (no need for explanation)
"Aidan! Personal space, Dude!" (once again, no explanation needed)

I will post at a later time more details (and pictures) from our vacation, as well as why I will never visit DC again (because every time I've gone there, something awful has happened). But now I'm off to the boardwalk or to walk the beach at night with my kids...

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Finally, I Can Catch My Breath

nobody@vox.com(julieb) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:05:12 -0400

Aw, I finally see the light at the end of a very long, very hectic trip that we've been on since... I don't remember how long it's been, but it feels like about 100 year now. The past year has overall been one big blur, filled with move after move (after move), mixed in with kids' sports season after season, and throw into it a touch of home decorating...

I feel that I have become a horrible friend to many of you; not intentionally, but because by the time I finally can catch my breath, it's usually around 11-11:30 and I don't think it very "friendlike" to call that late. BUT I think we're finally calming down (even if it may be short-lived).

Last night, my son's baseball team lost their tournament game, which brought on mixed feelings for my family. We were sad for them, since they lost it in the last 5 minutes of the game, but also relieved because it meant NO SPORTS for the next month or so. Whatever will we do with having every night back again??? (Maybe get to know each other again, after a long absence?)

This week is the last of the crazy after-work commitments (I'm being carefully optimistic, as I write that). The boys have a birthday party tonight and I have a hair appointment (where I'm sure I will get a "talkin' to" for waiting so long). Tomorrow we have to finish packing, then Friday we are leaving at 3:00am (UGH- NOT my idea) to drive out to Delaware and spend a very relaxing week away from everything that gives me grey hair here in good ole' Indiana (work, life, work...). I am DETERMINED come hell or high water (which, you never know, may happen, since we're staying right on the ocean) that I WILL relax, dammit!

Then, starting after we're back, I want to have get-togethers again. We have this nice, big house that is great for hosting stuff and we have yet to use it for that. I've missed having people over- we used to get together with everyone often in the old house. But, once we put it on the market, the get-togethers ended (in fear of getting a last-minute call for a showing)... And we haven't picked it back up again because of all the crazy, hectic schedules we've led.

I'll try to post while on vacation, but please understand if it doesn't happen... Relaxing also means NO ELECTRONICS for me; I feel I'm glued to the computer all day at work, so I'll see how it goes while at the beach (sand and computers don't mix)...

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Been a Very Busy Summer So Far

nobody@vox.com(julieb) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:00:40 -0400

So, what explains my very long absence from Blogworld? Did I fall off the Earth? No. Did I spend the last two-ish months trying to escape from aliens who abducted me? No, not really. Did my children lock me in my room, with no possible way of escaping? Ha, I WISH... No, the only way of explaining why I've been MIA for so long can be summed up quite well by three words: Little League Baseball. And I know that if there are any parents out there who have fallen prey to this hellish nightmare, they will immediately understand why I fell into a black hole for so long.

The boys begged and begged us incessantly to sign them up for this so-called "recreational league" and against my better intentions, I caved and let them play. I too played baseball (and mostly softball) for a few years while growing up. And even though I'm sure my schedule was not nearly as horrific as their's turned out to be, I still remember spending alot of time at the ball field.

Well, because this year the weather wasn't nice to us and many of the games were rained out, the powers that be within the Little League decided they should reschedule the rain games. BUT instead of say, extending the schedule a week or so, they came up with the ingenious idea of cramming several games into the same week, with double-headers galore... not to mention the 8-9:45pm games scheduled for the first graders (because that's when seven year-olds are really on their game, right?).

You can't tell I'm slightly bitter, can you? Yeah, I thought it was a bit obvious...

For the past two months now, baseball has consumed 97% of our waking lives (the other 3% going towards work). We've spent up to 5 days/ nights (any combo of the two) a week living at the ball fields. Most nights, I find myself rushing out of work, cussing my way through rush hour traffic, so I can meet up with the rest of the Fam at the fields, where we spend the next 2-4 hours.

Besides living my own personal hell (otherwise known as baseball), we have been up to a couple fun things, as well.

My nephew, Eric, was married over Memorial Day weekend. Aidan was ring bearer and looked oh-so dashing in his tux. He milked his GQ style for all it was worth, too. He had committed to the goal of dancing with each woman at the reception ONLY ONCE, and managed to work his way around to a good majority of the ladies there. I got my ONE dance with my little man, and that was it- cut off after that.

Aidan and Nicole

Aidan and Kyra

Aidan and Jenny

Aidan loved dressing up (this from the boy who went through a phase of wanting to wear a shirt and tie everywhere)-- he thought he looked like Indiana Jones in his tux and was terribly disappointed when he found out that no, the tux was not his to keep, and yes, it would be going back the next day.

Aidan looking very dapper

The other bright spot to the summer so far was Babypalooza 2009 in Chicago. My college roommate, Tammy, found me a while back (thanks to Crackbook, I mean Facebook) and we've been corresponding ever since. Soon after we reconnected I found out that she and her husband, Chad, were expecting TWINS (!!!) and Conni (my other college roommate and close friend) and I were invited to her shower.

Last Saturday, we drove up (and then back same-day) to her shower, which was held in this very quaint restaurant, La Crepery, where we then spent all afternoon stuffing ourselves full of some really great food (and I drank quite an impressive amount of mimosa). It was so great to see her again after 15 years, and to meet her hubby and friends. Made me want to move to Chicago, actually... until Conni and I hit the traffic from the Blues Fest.

College Roommates

So, please excuse me if there aren't very many postings until the dust clears (which Thank God it's starting to)-- I feel like for now I am just in survival mode until we get done with baseball and then off to our vacation... Hopefully I can post some great vacation pics once home again...

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