Coolness

That's how often I roll.

Yes, I am totally doing it again this weekend!

Spring Sting 04.26.08

Saturday morning we dropped Ella off and Grandma’s and picked up three derby girls and a referee and drove to Des Moines. Road trips with derby girls are the best, the excitement was palpable and the junk food and the conversation are never ending. We passed our three other caravans on the highway and I now have butt prints on the back window on my minivan (that’s all I’m saying.) We dropped my derby sisters off at their hotel and Dan and I went to ours. We used up our points and stayed at the Sheridan and so when I walked into the lobby and saw a six story waterfall I had to call Tally Turmoil and ask her what her room was like. She said their bed was 6 inches from the bed next to it and then she told me to put a sock in it about the waterfall. So that’s all I’m saying about the hotel (except maybe the shrimp cocktail sucked, but that’s what we get for ordering shell fish in a land locked state.)

Soon enough we were at the rink suiting up and checking out the digs. Their floor was very similar to ours and so that was nice that I didn’t have to change wheels or anything. We played a very tough game, and in the end lost by a few points (115 to 87) but the crowd was very lively and the band was great. We found our way down to the after bout party where we drank cheap beer and I liberated a piece of chicken from Liberty Bella’s plate (thanks again) and did birthday shots with Chuck You - Mid Iowa’s announcer. I also got to meet and talk to the Cedar Rapids Rollers who are just starting out and super nice and have the best Myspace song called "Cedar Rapids Roller Girls" by Hyperfuzz, too cool.

At about 11:30 we bid our derby pals goodbye and Dan and I wandered over to the casino and played black jack for a couple hours before heading back to the hotel $20.00 richer (Yay for free breakfast.) So after we slept in and picked our pals back up we hit the local Perkins and gorged ourselves on pancakes and corned beef hash. On the way home we talked about roller skating, passed around a Mad magazine and ate circus peanuts (um no, we are not 15.)

Counting to 35

I was the third caller to the radio station and won tickets to THIS! My Grandma sent me a gift certificate to one of my favorite restaurants and Ella made me a purple card with a heart on it. Dan gave me some really comfy jammies and let me sleep in and my skatey ladies bought me tacos and beer last night. It rained super hard this morning and now the sun is out warming up the dirt, my sunflowers are likely to raise their little green heads soon. We had a nice little walk up to the park where we helped plant a tree in the park for Arbor Day today and I have a new DVD to watch tonight. I found five summer dresses that fit perfectly for five dollars apiece on Wednesday and I finished the crossword in less than 20 minutes. I had some fantastic sushi yesterday with a very dear friend. Ella didn't have any snarls in her hair this morning when we were in a hurry. Red Robin sent me a free burger (a coupon, not an actual burger), Vitoria's Secret sent me $10.00 and JC Penny's sent me $15.00. It's official as of Monday, we reached our fund raising goal for the library this year and I'm still inspired to gate more artwork done. The Skate Rink gave us glow in the dark necklaces to throw out this weekend at the bout, we play Mid Iowa Roller Girls tomorrow night. Dan and I used our points to stay at the fancy hotel, Grandma & Grandpa are watching Ella for the weekend and our dear neighbor is comming to watch the dog. Ella picked up all of her cootie game without being asked. Coffee was ready before I even woke up this morning and I'm having a great hair day. Today is my 35th Birthday.

Somewhere Over the Sidewalk

Yesterday after breakfast and sesame street/e-mail time and playing in the yard Ella announced that she needed to go somewhere and rolled her trike out of the back porch onto the sidewalk. We fastened her new basket to the front and I pulled her hair back into a pony so it wouldn’t get into her eyes and we proceeded to “go somewhere.” Ella in her little patchwork dress peddling as fast as she could with me in tow walking at a brisk pace found our way up to the local One Stop and spent a dollar on an ice cream. As we walked out of the shop with change jingling in our pcockets I was thinking about how much we looked like a Normal Rockwell painting. Ella climbed back on her trike with ice cream cone in hand and I told her to slow down as there was a car entering the parking lot. We stopped at the edge of the handicap parking spot and waited for the little old lady in her caddy to park somewhere, but alas the little old lady in the caddy didn’t see Ella or me for that matter and instead f parking somwhere she parked in the handicap spot we were standing in. Just as I hustled my child and her little red tricycle to safety, I resisted the urge to bang on her hood and scream “You must park in the handicap ‘cause you’re blind! You old bat!” I didn’t think it would be good to teach my four year old to bang on the hoods of cars that get in her way while chewing them a new one, instead we just talked about the dangers of riding in the street.

Just What I Always Wanted!

- After a trip to the grocery store with Dad: "I want my strawberry stretch curlies, please."

- When I flipped the classical station on in the car "No slow music, I want a song with saxerphone [sic] in it."


- Hanging around the house playing dress up" I'm gonna pretend I'm older - like 15 and my name is gonna be Katrina Taffy."

***

Conversation via phone:

Me: We just finished up at practice, I'm going to get a beer and a burger with the girls and then I'll be home.

Dan: Ok, what time... hang on...

Ella half singing half shouting in the background: Dad! Dad! Dad I got you a present! It's a present for yooou!

Dan: I think Ella just wrapped a Cheeto up in your dirty pajamas for me.

My Two Dollars!

It really chaps my hide when companies offer to give to charities only after you stand on your head and send in your pink yogurt lids and used shoe laces while telling five friends about their products. Shut up and just donate the money already!

"...Receive a complimentary fitting in a Wacoal, DKNY Underwear or Donna Karan Intimates bra from a Wacoal fit specialist ... For every woman that participates *Wacoal will donate $2 to Susan G Komen for the Cure for breast cancer research and outreach programs. Wacoal will also donate an additional $2 for every Wacoal, DKNY Underwear or Donna Karan Intimates bra purchased at these events... "

Make it out to My Best Pal Jenny

I charged up my battery and then forgot to put it in my camera and so I have no pictures from last night (until my pals send me some). All the art sold for quite a good amount and I think we hit our goal again this year without ordering too much wine or food so I can without a doubt say last night was a success. Yes, my Mom bought the second painting but she had to bid against some people to get it so I feel pretty good about that. The first (pictured below) was bought by the bank to go next to the one they bought last year.

The caterer who swooped in last minute and put together hor'devoures in a week’s time after the first caterer fell through was incredible. Next to the award winning Eichman’s sausage tray and the wonderful cheese squares and fruit our local grocer donated AACE Catering did a nice little smoked salmon with a cream cheese mousse on a cracker and chicken salad with cucumber and grapes on a little crustini followed by the most beautiful petit fours in five different flavors and little tiny bite sized cheese cakes! BITE SIZED CHEESE CAKES!

I think next year I want to add in some autographed books for auction. I just need to start writting letters and asking. Ahhh, a fun summer project.

Do I hear $200.00?

Yay, the Library fundraiser is here! Tonight we get to dress up, sip wine, munch smoked salmon on a cracker and auction some art. I did two paintings this year and totaly forgot to take a picture of the other one, so I'll have to post it tomorrow. This is the first one, it's a view of down town - tiny town. The second is a countryside view of flat farmland. I know it sounds boring but made a very pleasing painting, it has a little bit of a modern feel with it's sweeping horizontal lines. I'm sure they'll get bids as I make my Mom promise to attend and bid if no one else does (I'm such a dork.) I'm hoping to pick up a stained glass Sock Monkey sun catcher made by our friend Hidden Dragon's Dad. Hopefully everyone will think it's terribly silly and I'll get it for a song, but I doubt it as it's generated quite alot of comments already by the people volunteering.

The Earth Moved

We had an earthquake this morning and it isn't the only one in the last 10 years. People describe the feeling of a heavy truck driving by and we have lots of heavy trucks driving by so I didn't notice (plus I was sleeping at 4:30 this morning.) I looked around to see if any plaster fell off the ceiling and it seems our old house danced with it just fine.

Earthquakes make me think of tornadoes and I just flashed back to the tornadoes we've had and the very traumatic moment we realized we were on the freeway in a traffic jam six cars wide driving through seven inches of water heading into a tornado. The radio was telling people to immediately get into the basement and we were in a minivan with glass on all sides driving towards it. I shudder still just remembering it.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

We saw 21 last night. It was alright, turns out it's kinda hard to make an interesting movie out of counting cards. Counting cards IS a little boring in itself. What I really don't get is why card counters don't win 40 and then loose 15 and still walk out with 25 and not get busted. It doesn't seem like it's that hard of an equation

Greedy = broken face

Win lots loose some = lucky

If you can remember what is happening with 8 decks on three different tables it seems that you should be able to just win 65% of the time putting your money making abilities at 15% and that is far better than and CD or money market fund right now.

Ok, I know, movies aren't supposed to make total sense - it's drama, but really come on! I'm in a crabby mood anyway, somebody should know this and make movies that make some sense so that I don't get all pissy and have to wonder why the dude didn't get a safety deposit box for $10.00 dollars instead of hiding $350,000.00 in his dorm ceiling tiles, it's just plain annoying. It's supposed to be a true story but somehow I don't think it went down quite like that.

From what I understand it's more likely a card counting winner gets taken by muggers while staying in a seedy hotel off the strip. That may have been a good addition to this story but instead we got exactly the ending we predicted. Dan said he tried to nap but 10,000 BC was playing next door and the base was rumbling through the wall keeping him up. Dang... that was my pick. Wish we would've caught Bank Job instead but it moved on. Maybe it'll resurface at the dollar theatre next week.

Liberty

After reading this "The French parliament's lower house adopted a groundbreaking bill Tuesday that would make it illegal for anyone - including fashion magazines, advertisers and Web sites - to publicly incite extreme thinness... "

and then this "French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday left open the possibility that he might not attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics because of the way China has handled unrest in Tibet..."

and then this "...Parental leave* France was the most generous with parental leave: All women workers get a fully paid, job-protected, mandatory maternity leave six weeks before and ten weeks after birth (with increasing amounts of time for twins and multiple births). After this period, paid leave is available to either parent until the child's third birthday, or as long as at least two children at home need care..."

and finally reflecting on this "...From the outbreak of armed rebellion in 1775, many in France sympathized with the colonists. Young, idealistic French officers like the Marquis de Lafayette volunteered their services and in many cases their personal wealth to help equip, train and lead the fledgling Continental army..."

I just don't understand why Americans (especially Democrats) dislike the French. The more I read and pay attention the more I love them. Did the love affair end after Viet Nam? Was it their lack of participation in NATO? Why Freedom Fries? I mean, really, what am I missing?

Why did we break up with France? Why don't we hang out anymore and what's with all the snarkieness between the two of us?

Parts

Ella got her first haircut yesterday, nothing major just a little trim to make brushing it out easier in the morning. She's playing' in the tub right now and soon I will get do the first brushing of the new do. When we got in the car after getting it cut we asked her how she liked it and she said "It didn't even hurt." (Thanks KJ for being so wonderful and gentle with Ella and for that matter all of our heads. We all love the new cuts.)

I saved a little lock of Ella's hair to put in the little silver box that Auntie N. gave Ella before she was born and now I'm not sure what to do with the box. Should I keep it on my nightstand? Put it in with the family photos? Keep it in my jewelry box? Should I give it to Ella later? Is that something you take with you when you grow up in your hope chest or is it something I will to her after I'm gone, do I put her first baby tooth in there too? What's the custom?

The Daughter of Man

Link

Idol

that stinks, I guess that's what I get for recording it and not voting.

I Work Well Under Pressure

I am just stuck in procrastination mode. The list of things I should be getting done is ridiculous and the list of things I am actually getting done is ridiculously frivolous, um yeah I totally sorted the department store coupons sitting on my desk today into two piles, one's I'll use and one's I should walk over to the garbage and throw away. No, I didn't actually walk over to the garbage and throw them away I've penciled that in on tomorrow's schedule, it just seems too arduous right now to accomplish considering what I am actually supposed to be doing. I just need Richard Simmons to come on over and and help me run errands and do chores to the oldies or something.

He Was A Quiet Man

I ordered this movie at the hotel over the weekend and I would just like to say I am still enamored with Christian Slater even when he's slouchy, bald, wearing bad shirts and talking to his Goldfish.



I was a decent movie in that "odd rainy afternoon need something more thoughtful than 'The Devil Wears Prada' on HBO" sort of way. I kinda wished the ending was a little more developed or perahps I had watched it with someone that was ready to discuss it beyond just muttering "wierd."

Chicago April 2008

(Ella & Little Fox look at Lake Michigan & the Chicago Skyline 2008)













We just came back from our long weekend away and it was wonderful, no, phones, no computers, and almost no camera. Ok, ok, I couldn't help myself when we arrived at the Shedd Aquarium, so many cool things to take pictures of. We paid for the Premium Day passes that included all the shows and all the 4-D movies.

We saw Sponge Bob in 4-D which included getting sprayed, rattled, poked and holding our terrified children in our laps. When Plankton came at our heads wielding a cartoon saw, Ella screamed so loud I'm pretty sure she has a very secure future dubbing horror movies.

Our very good friends Little Fox and Foxy Momma came with and it was nice to have someone to hang with while we waited for the dolphin show.

And later at the hotel it was especially nice soaking in the not so hot tub where Little Fox spent the evening guarding the perimeter of the jacuzzi from five of the tiniest ants ever seen and Ella sang "the song that never ends" ad nasueum and Foxy Momma and I soaked until we all shriveled up into happy relaxed raisins while our husbands played toy soldiers.

(Ella checks out a King Kong diorama)

As always the Sushi at Wakaba was very fresh and the hotel was wonderful. We shopped out at the mall where I really can't afford anything and people felt free to wear silk leopard print suits




















and they have a giant tree for the kids to snub each other while pretending to text on play cell phones play on. (It's not the first time Ella and I have been puzzled by children in this area's lack of ability to interact with each other - odd little well dressed kids.)

Of course our country-ness spilled over when we gawked in awe at the ipod vending machine at Macy's and then we asked the Clinique lady if she had a cup we could spit our chewin' tabaccy in.

Here's a picture of us showing off our matching smiles

Dreaming

I'm going out again to search for swimsuit bottoms. I really just want some new boy shorts that don't flash my crack when bend over for under $75.00.

Let's Do lunch

I started researching our trip to Disney World yesterday. Yes, yes, we have been swallowed up by the marketing monster and wallowing in pink princesses and sparkly happiness where employees cast members are required to end every interaction with me by saying "Have a magical day" seems like a perfect way to invest our vacation. I spent hours reading everything about the Magic Kingdom. Where to park, what buses run where, what Cinderella eats for lunch, when the extra special don't you dare miss it "magic hours" are and which resorts are attached to what chlorinated waterslide. Dan thinks we should spend five days exploring all the theme parks and I'm pretty sure that one day of plastic happiness is all I can or should tolerate so we settled on two days at Mickey's followed by an attempt to balance out all that paid for happiness with some found seashells. We're going to trek out to the gulf shore and beach comb for two days, make sand castles, get up early to find shells, loose our sunglasses in the surf, poke dead things in the sand with a stick, go to dinner in a bikini and visit relatives. While I can't seem to book the flight from our local airport for another month I do have to make reservations for lunch with Cinderella this week. My people called her people and her royal disney-ness needs 180 days notice to receive guests from the Midwest. That chick is just too popular, seriously.