Wordless Wednesday

Camrea Critters

Camera Critter #20

Land Line, Wireless or Both?

Right now, we each have our own cell phones. That is three of us! WOWZA

AND we have a land line

AND we have a fax line (I'm definately dropping that for sure)

AND we have DSL

So just for the phone bill we have $114.00's a month, we need the land line - incase my husband has to call home. I hate paying that bill every month.

So the question is.... do you have a land line and cell phones or just cell phones?

It was fine the way it was, Thank you very much!

I just hit refresh and my igoogle changed to the new and improved igoogle. The thing is, it was fine like it was. Now my layout is smaller, everything is moved around and I can't even see where to "reply to an email".

I hate it when that happens.

Random Thoughts

Saturday had some interesting moments.

The scout argued with me about going to his Den Chief training because it was four hours long. "That's almost a whole day of school for me" - he says.

When I went to pick him up, he got a "trained" patch to put on his uniform, he will be getting a Den Chief patch from his scout master as well; and he says to me, thanks for signing me up - "I had a great time and I'm sorry about this morning." hummmm

We left, went to lunch, and then shopped. It was a great afternoon.

About 7, the scout went over to babysit across the street, so my friend and I could go out for a coffee. We were able to sit outside and have a nice chat for 45 minutes. We arrived home, and walked across the street to her house. One of the neighbors was having a party and their guest had brought their Doberman Pincher. It had already charged a dog walker earlier that evening, and as I walked onto my neighbors lawn, it charged me. I calmly stood my ground, didn't move or flinch and if I had taken one giant step, we would have met. Because I didn't move, scream or run - the dog stopped. I guess that's my point. I looked it straight in the face. While it was running towards me, I was thinking I was going to get bit - I'm totally serious. In these two instances, the owner never apologized for his dog. That bothers me more, than the dog's behaviour.

I always get a venti hot coffee at Starbucks. I didn't finish on our "coffee outing" and brought it home. The scout went to a different neighbors house to play with a friend after my outing. I stopped by to talk to the dad. He noticed my Starbucks cup was now printed in one color - brown. Before it was two colors - brown and green. I know, from being a printer, that this saves money and find it interesting, as they have announced closures of 600 stores.

Well, those are my thoughts of the day.

Photo Hunt

Photo Hunt - wrinkled!

How could you not be mad?

At such a cute face?

We were sitting at lunch and my scout was telling me all about his den chief training today. We had stopped for lunch at TGI Friday's, located IN Miller Park - how cool is that?? Sorry about the bad photos, but I didn't plan on going here for lunch and guess what? I didn't bring my camera. So, you are stuck with the cell phone one..
ANYHOW, we were chatting and had a lovely lunch. I slipped into the conversation, that I picked up a DNR wrist band for my son while I was at State Fair and slyly mentioned that it would compliment his "$30" necklace he "had to have" and I bought for his birthday. We both then started laughing and laughing and laughing. Finally the scout said to me, "What are we laughing about?" and I said "I don't know, you tell me" and he says "My necklace that you probably found in the washer and we both started laughing again.


Just after we finished lunch, we were lucky enough to see the roof top of the stadium open for tonight's game - how cool is that for an impromptu lunch? Pretty cool if you are an 11 year old boy!
Hope you all are enjoying your weekend. :)

Camera Critters #19

Camera Critters

Wordless Wednesday

Ruby Tuesday

A little red for the Ruby Tuesday! I hope you all had a great day!

Back to School Traditions

It is that time of year again... you shop until you drop, and you spend a ton of time labeling school supplies. ALL OF THEM. Every pencil, crayon, marker, notebook and Kleenex box. So our "tradition" is to spread a blanket on the front lawn and spread out all of the supplies and start labeling. I made up a sheet of paper, in a handwritten font and each year I print them off - cut them into tiny strips and tape my "label" onto the school supplies. It is easy enough for the child to help and I don't have to make up a new sheet every year. (You can see the bowl in the photo... it has all our little slips in it)

So Sunday, we spread out our loot and got to work. My husband even joined in on "the fun".
When it was all done..... it was time for a bit of R & R.

Do you have any special traditions before you go back to school?

Photo Hunt

This week is color!

Sometimes you just can not get the photo

You just can't have a camera 24/7, so this morning I was out on my back deck . A female cardinal landed on the handle of our outdoor fire pit. Moments later, the male landed right next to her. They sat there a brief moment, and then parted separately. It was a brief moment in time, I didn't have my camera, but it is a memory that will last a lifetime! Sorry, I could not capture it for you.

Mood - MORE Frustrated

I was sitting at my computer sulking and a siren goes off. After several more goes, I realize it is my husband calling me on my cell phone. He of coarse had to program the whole thing for me because I am electronically and mechanically inept. He put his ring as a siren, so I will be alerted to him at any moments notice. NOT that he calls that often.

Me: "Hello"
Him: What are you doing?
Me: Sulking
Him: Why? (probably thinking what now?)
Me: Well, I can't get the carpet cleaner to work. (we have a new one) You are going to have to work it tonight for me. (side note, a strange dog was in our house Monday night and I think he is the one that pooped three times and pee'd in my office - and I never saw it until I woke up and smelled this awful smell yesterday morning. So I have very wet carpets right now. I can't get the machine to suck up the water.)
Him: hummm (obviously not looking forward to cleaning the carpets.
Me: And the cat threw up on the stairs, so those need to get cleaned too.
Him: So what are you doing, can you bring the scout out to me.
Me: NO, we are getting a hair cut.
Him: OH, you have that covered?
Me: Yes, now about the carpet cleaner.

OH GOSH, I am such an idiot. And the hair cut thing. I like the scout to have long hair, but while racing last Saturday, he couldn't see a thing. His bangs kept covering his eyes. So we have to go and get the hair cut because he is going to practice tomorrow.

Well on the bright side, at least this didn't happen next week.

mood: Frustrated

We have a gas grill, which comes in handy - even though I prefer charcol over gas. But I can NEVER seem to light it (except last Sunday). My husband always has to come and recuse me and fire it up. It isn't hard. You turn on the gas, you turn the knobs and hit a button. But it always seems to go out on me.

Now, I have to make our lunch inside....

Night at the Theater

Mark your calendars for October 16th. Once again, they will be having "Night at the Theater". Cities all across the country will be offering free tickets to a theater event. We went last year, it was enjoyable. We saw The Qulitmaker at the Children's Theater. So check the link to see if your city is on the list and then check the website on October 16th to register for your free theater tickets.

I hit the jack pot!

I set out to do something, and I was able to find what I was looking for. After months of being extremely selective, I had a job offer today and I will already start on Monday. I am very excited!

I wanted to be
1) within a five mile radius from home. At 25 MPH and many stop signs, I am less than 10 minutes. That includes getting in and out of my car. this brings me to my next point
2) I wanted to be able to bike to work. Now if you only knew the huge hill, with a stop sign right in the middle, to get to that job, you'll pity me.
3) I wanted to work no more than 37-1/2 hours a week. For most of the year, I will be working less. They honor the sabbath and close at 4:30 on Fridays.
4) I wanted to do something different than what I have been doing for the past 23 years. A little bit of what I am doing, event planning and fund-raising. Plus some administrative duties.
5) It would be nice to start at 9:00 a.m., as I am not a morning person. I will be working from 10 - 6 (except the winter, I will be working 10- 4:30 on Fridays.)
6) I wanted to be able to make a difference in this world. I will be working at a pre-school.
7) I had a set salary in mind. I will be making $7,500's less than what I had in mind; however, I will have 10 personal/sick days, (I never heard of that) 1 week of vacation that I can take whenever I want and all the Jewish Holidays.
8) I did not want to be on call 24/7 or work weekends or night. Except for closing the facility at 6:00 p.m., one board meeting a month, and an annual gala that will need extra attention, I will not be working late.

Negatives:
1) they do not have a 401K plan...... yet (but they do have the pre-taxed savings for health or day care)
2) my son will be home approximately 3 hours from after school, until I get home. Who knew, I could have taken a job back in December that did not meet one criteria and I would have had to commute 40 minutes. The earliest I would have gotten out of work would have been 5:30 and by the time I drove home, it would have been the same time my bike will be pulling in the driveway.

I am blessed! I know a bit earlier than Friday.

oh, and one last thing. The person that I am replacing was suppose to have their last day Friiday and they are staying next week to train me. I have never been trained for a job before. It was always, here is your desk - figure it out.

Off To War

When my son was born, I was shocked. I really thought I was having a girl and I really WANTED a girl.

I had a boy.

The first thing that ran through my mind was the draft and him going to war and loosing him. But why worry about that when I can just send him to a battle zone every day. Yup, that's right. Every day he goes to war and right now I am helpless. There is nothing I can do about it. You see, he is a victim of bullying. It has been a hell of a couple of years for me. The photo here was taken on May 10th and all I got was I'm sorry from the principal. No call to the parents - no suspension for the kid - nothing.

So this week we signed up for a community playground and my son was man handled by another kid. I never find these things out until bed time, like tonight; although I heard earlier today, there were some not so nice kids attending - so we already decided he wasn't going on the field trip. But before bed, he had me put some creme on his arm and as I'm covering the scrape, I get the story of the pushing and shoving. When my son retaliates - the kid says "what did you do that for".

I'm tired of my son being teased, taunted and used as a punching bag. The only two non religious schools in our communitiy are $8,000 and $16,000's annually.

Quick Quirky Meme

I got tagged by my friend Ivana. This is a Quirky Meme.

The rules are:
1. Link to the person who tagged you. (check)
2. Mention the rules. (check, check)
3. Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about myself. (check)
4. Tag six other bloggers by linking to them.
5. Go to each person’s blog and leave a comment that lets them know they’ve been tagged.

And here are my quirks:
1) I like to make up conversations, based on facial expressions, for babies and dogs.
2) I have to sleep with something against my back.
3) I eat a lot of peppermint candies.
4) I never leave the house without my camera. (when I do, I usually end up missing something)
5) I do not like butter on my sandwiches and I like ham and cheese, but not together.
6) I do not like pie.

And now for the tags. If you did not do this one yet, please consider yourself tagged :o)

ABC Wednesday

Well, better late than never.... ABC Wednesday is "C" for Climb

Camera Critters Meme: Camera-Critters #18

Camera Critters Meme: Camera-Critters #18

Photo Hunt - Dark

Check out more photos at photo hunters!

Summer Fun

This is the story behind last years fishing photo.

Friday afternoon I took my son fishing down at the lagoon by Summerfest. The dog came with us and was so excited to go fishing, he ran ahead and climbed down these huge rocks. He doesn't like to jump in the water - not knowing where the bottom is, and I was packed down like a mule. I didn't want to have to drop everything again and go get him - as he can't pull himself up the cliff like rocks. After many - Seamus jump in the water, he finally did. I walked ahead to get to the beach. I knew if he saw me there he would turn and get away from all the rocks. My son stayed on land encouraging him as he went. There were a few moments I thought I would have to jump in and save him, but he finally made it across the whole lagoon.

OK fine, we all got to the beach, the dog can swim, the kid can fish and we can all be happy - right? I forgot the bait in the car - so my son ran back for me and got it. We baited up the fishing lines and started casting. The dog started chasing after the bobbers - thinking it was a game of fetch. Now for a dog who won't give you a ball back when you want to play, I was amazed that he even thought he would even think of chasing a bobber.

Fish were flopping all around - but no bites on our line. We enjoyed listening to the African Fest musicians practicing, and about 5:00 it was time to head home. I promised we would go in the morning and try again.

Saturday morning came and I really didn't feel like going. We finally got going around 11:00. All our bait was dead. Since my son went fishing with the Urban Ecology Center and caught fish with macoronni and cheese, we decided to give that a try. We headed down to Vetran's Park - set up camp - no fish biting. The guy next to us was catching fish, but not us. We decided to change to fishing lures. I'm casting and casting and realize that the lure is probably to big for the fish that are in this pond. We pack up and head to the boat launch breakwater on Lake Michigan. We forget the chairs, just have a backpack, our tackle box and the two poles. We start fishing off the breakwater. I'm hot, tired, bored and really annoyed. I was using my husbands fishing pole and he is left handed, so to mix things up a bit, I thought I would try casting left handed. His pole, is the kind that you hold on to the line with your finger, then let go while casting. Right handed, I tried really hard to get my line farther and farther. Left handed, I pulled back and really let it rip ! Since I was doing this left handed and I'm right, I not only let go of the cast line, but the whole darn fishing pole too! Yup, it all went flinging in the air and landed straight into Lake Michigan!

I looked down and watched it sink to the bottom. I wasn't sure how deep it was, so I didn't want to jump in - I also had my swim goggles and the swim beach was just to far with the waves and all. I knew I could make it , but I know the currents are really strong- I just didn't want to risk it. I asked two fishing boats that came in to help, the Milwaukee County Parks employee working the gas area - no such luck. I even stopped a guy that had a Blood Hound rescue dog - trying to see if he could help. My son kept telling me it was really expensive. The whole time, I'm thinking a couple of hundred dollars. Frustrated - my options were gone - that was it, we were going home.

On the way back to the car, I felt a little better as my son said the pole was $50.00's. He gave me three options. 1.) we don't tell Daddy and when he goes fishing we just don't know where the pole is. 2.) we buy a new one and don't tell him or 3.) I completely blame him. I said we are just going to tell the truth.

We arrive home, my husband, mom and dad are sitting on the back patio having a lunch break and I go in the house - I had to get my contact out of my eye. My son follows. The three of them are sitting there dumbfounded. I came out, my husband asks me if my son threw a pole in the lake. I said he told you? (See child advise #3) Then the three of them all asked what happened. I relayed the story and my husband starts laughing that it was a $15.00 pole and he only got it because it was the only one available at the time he went to the store (good reason not to follow child advise #2) His whole bill came to $50.00's, including the license. (Whew) and a good lesson not to risk your life just for a fishing pole - remember no one can try to pull one over on a dad AND always tell the truth!

I think I'm done fishing for a bit!

#4

I'm not a sports fan by any means and even more so - after this Brett Farve Fiasco - otherwise known as BFF. For the last week or more, I haven't even watched the news - it is all Brett, Brett, Brett. I feel like Jan Brady.

I have my own personal opinion on this and that is Brett has behaved like a four year old not getting his way. You can't leave a job and come back and expect it back. What kind of team player, expects the replacement to loose his job just because Brett "wants to come back"? That truly isn't a BFF if you ask me.

Just curious - what do you hear in other parts of the country?

My shadow is back

(ahem, I mean Dennis the Mennis) Late last night. And remember that neat and organize pack I made for him.... well....

I have to say, I used not even ONE WHOLE ROLL of TP the whole 4 days and everything stayed neat.

Guess what he learned on the camp out? Put everything back. (hum, I said who does that sound like)


and my newly vacuumed floors? SAND already. SIGH

Wordless Wednesday

A little after the stroke of midnight... but only a face a mother could love. The Saber Tooth Tiger.

Only I get excited in a cow barn......

So my husband says to me. He didn't even want to go in. I love animals, but I wouldn't make a very good farmer because I could never sell any of them or kill anyone.

Then I tortured him in the horse barn. Yes, a man who can race motorcycles at top speeds is afraid of horse - can you believe? After taking several photos, of a whole row of horses he said "Come ON" you have a whole barn to get through.

There was a beautiful grey and white one. We were eye to eye. It was so hard not to reach out and touch this beautiful animal. I bet you'll never guess. We went to the State Fair. Everyone should go. They are always a lot of fun. The shopping - they have almost everything on "As seen on TV", food, drink, concerts games! Something for everyone. They had a milking contest, see this little girl? Prizes for the best flower arrangement and various displays. The bottom photo was NYC. I took that one for you Marinka.



My husband and I went alone this year, we held hands and walked and looked and talked. I teased "Buy me this dad", Dad, I wanna win this prize. Then we remembered the last time we were there alone. Our son was about 1-1/2. I didn't want to bring him to the fair, as I was afraid someone would snatch my precious baby.. LMAO. The whole time we were at the fair, we talked about the scout and wondered what he was doing. We didn't have as much fun as we had tonight.

Enjoy and good night!

Vehicles Owned, but NEVER Driven

I bet many of you can not say that you have owned several vehicles and have never driven them - or even sat in them. Well, that would be me. Three of them.

My first car was a RX7. My husband bought it for me, but why he would buy one that only had two front seats and no back seat, I'll never understand. Since I couldn't but the toddle car seat in the front, I am sad to say, that I never registered the vehicle - much less sat in it.

Next was the BUG CAR my husband bought me four years ago for Christmas. It was a 1971 Volkswagon Beetle that my husband completely repainted all black, but never finished. When he bought me my new car this year, I was honest and said that I really had wanted a 1967 Cherry Red Convertible and didn't think I would drive this car much and so we sold it.

Then there is the infamous boat, pictures above, that I bought sight unseen. LONG story - we had it a week. But I never sat in it either.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Messages to my neighbor

Message #1 first thing this morning.

Subject: Storm

Hey, I woke up at 5:30 thinking of Robert this
morning. (normally my son and I wake up and think of Meg)
After I checked the radar and found that all
these storms probably missed him, I then thought of
our little girl. (that's Meg - her dog, the black on in the photo)

I have an appointment at 1:30 - but if I am home for
round 2 this afternoon, I'll go get her.


Message #2
Subject: Thunder

and lightening - ooh baby!
So we got the girl at the first sound of thunder.
Fortunately, a bit of a break and we got a pee and a
poop out. Then Seamus barked to come out and they ran
around together, after Seamus took off with Megs ball
around the house. HA


So I put them in the basement after a second warning
of thunder and turned on the stereo for Meg. A CD
came on... Love Love you too (Beetles) Double HA


So Meg is on the wag bag downstairs and Seamus was
near by.....the are still listening to the Beetles CD
downstairs and I was able to have an important call
with no heavy breathing. Triple HA

(note: Meg has anxiety and breathes heavy a lot)

Sometimes I send her messages that say two poops and three pee's. I wonder what her IT department thinks


Note: Sorry about the paragraphs not lining up, I also get an error code on uploading two different photos. (throws hands up in the air) I give up on this blogger thing.

An award!

Wow how exciting. My very good blogger friend Amber, left me an award.

The rules for this award are:

The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.

1) Link to the person you received your award from.

2) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

3) Put links to those blogs on yours.

4) Leave a message on the blogs of the people you have nominated.

Boy that is a lot of work! :)

So I nominate.....

Retro Housewife

Is There Any Mommy Out There

From Grey to Green

My Sweet Life

Worn Out Woman

Between the Bars

NYC City Mom and More

This was a hard decision and you are all great bloggers, or I would not read you!! I just wanted to mention that Amber gave Ivanhoe this same award, I did not want to duplicate. Ivanhoe is another GREAT blogger friend of mine!

I'm kidless and loving it!

Who know that this is all it would take to be kidless for four days!

The scout is off to Newport State Park for three nights and four days. You can see them departing here.

My husband and I are enjoying ourselves, like before the scout was born. We got a take out breakfast, as soon as we dropped him off, and then my husband went off for his traditional Sunday afternoon nap.

Meanwhile, here I sit, wondering if he is having fun, pitching a tent, eating lunch and enjoying himself.

This is his first time going off with anybody for several days. I hope he enjoys himself for many more free weekends for myself to come.

An Important Message

I honestly have been aware of this since the 80's and do not let my son consume nutrasweet. I have personally had two side effects from this, so much so, that I can not have "light" yogurt.

The word really needs to get out. The key ingredient is Aspertame.

Click here for the youtube video by Fox in Washington DC.