history buff

yes, i am a college graduate. i got decent grades. i even enjoyed history. but despite all that, i truly didn't realize that samuel adams is/was so much more than just a beer...



i am truly ashamed. however, in my defense, when you google "samuel adams"... the first listing that comes up? it's for the beer.

what's in a name?

When I tucked her into bed tonight, my daughter Ky informed me that she thinks it might be nice to change her name.

Ky: "Mom, I think it would be nice to change my name to Cherry Cheetah. Seadolphin. Cherry Cheetah Seadolphin. Seadolphin would be my last name. Or else maybe Strawberry Cheetah. Or Raspberry Cheetah would be good too."

Me: (trying desparetly not to laugh) "Really? Cherry Cheetah Seadolphin, huh? Where did you get that name from?"

Ky: (very seriously) "From my new brain."

Me: (dying, now) "When did you get a new brain?"

Ky: "I put it in the other day, while we were in the car. My old brain is here (points to left side of head) and my new brain is here (points to right side of head)."

Me: "Wow, really?"

Ky: "Yeah, and I can give you a new brain too."

Me: "Fantastic! That's just what I need! Where do I sign up?" 

Who knew I had a brain surgeon for a daughter? And one who has such fabulous taste in names to boot?

random boston fare...

The following are some random pictures from the Boston trip. . .

Fenway Stadium! We got this shot of Fenway from a skywalk at the top of the Prudential Building. The views from up there were amazing!

Here is a view of the beautiful Boston cityscape, taken from the ocean while we were on our "Whale Watch" boat.

The "T".

My lovely tour guide, "K".

Self explanatory...(and yes, they really DO sound like that.)

Crazy catholic shrine on a balcony in "Southie."

Now, back to catching up on my emails...

cottonballs

As I expected, my children didn't come back from a full week with their dad completely unscathed. Last night at bathtime, I found out my son had learned a very interesting new word.

After helping him wash his hair, I handed Ko a washcloth and asked him to wash his body.

To this he replied: "Mom, I have to wash my cottonballs."

"What?" I asked him, sure I was misunderstanding.

"Dad said I need to wash my cottonballs," he replied, pointing to his nether regions.

All I could think was, OMG, he didn't! Please tell me he didn't try and teach his son to say "co#k and balls" at age three. Or ever, for that matter. Can you imagine what daycare's response to this new language will be?

I gently explained to Ko that this terminology was incorrect and reiterated the terminology I had previously taught him.

Later, as he was getting dressed: "Mom, my cottonballs go in here," he said as he pointed to the front of his Spiderman underwear.

GRRRR!!!! So much for teaching him the "polite" terminology. Thank God so far it literally comes out as "cottonballs." I still have some time to counteract the effects of his father's bad judgement. Thing is, i'm sure his dad finds it absolutely hilarious.

Now stop laughing.

lobster hats, whales and cheers, oh my!

greetings to all my blogosphere friends! i am back from my visit to the east coast. this lobster hat picture is for you! i never really realized boston was so much of a "lobster oriented" city. i mean, it's live maine lobster, right? well, boston had everything lobster. t-shirts, candy, hats, jewelry, toys...you name it, they have it. and so i had fresh lobster at a lovely little restaurant down by the harbor one night. YUM! i ate seafood at least once a day while i was there. my mercury levels are likely though the roof, but i don't care. it was worth it. my mouth waters just thinking about all of the wonderful seafood delights i experienced during my trip.



this post is going to be slightly schitzophrenic. i just picked out some of my favorite pictures to tell you about. the next one was taken outside of cheers! we actually didn't set out specifically to find it, but thought we better get a picture since we happened upon it. classic.





this next pic is of the bf and i as we set sail on our "whale watching" tour. it was absolutely AMAZING! i have never experienced anything like it in my entire life! we went out on a three hour cruise into the ocean and got to see a bunch of real, live, wild whales! we got some incredible pictures and even some video of it.




this is a pic the bf got of a "baby" whale. pretty big baby if you ask me.



i'll be back soon with more pictures, stories and talk of the reunion of the bf and i. i'm having fun catching up on reading all of your blogs!

kiss kiss!

solo

i love traveling. i love traveling even when it means i have to get up at 3:00 am after three hours of sleep to drive my rental car 1.5 hours to the airport. in the rain. alone. blissfully alone. with the radio cranked and singing at the top of my lungs to whatever the hell i feel like listening to.

i cried when i dropped off the kids yesterday. i cried when i left the house and the bf this morning. i'm weird like that. i was very much looking forward to this trip and to the alone time, but i always have problems with saying goodbye to my loved ones. i'm fine now. i miss them all, but i'm enjoying this time in a new city on my own. 

right now i am hanging out on my king sized hotel bed, apple ibook on my lap and my ipod singing in my ears. i talked to the bf a little bit ago. he misses me. he didn't expect to miss me so much. that feels nice. i miss him too, but i wouldn't change this. i need this. we need this. it is good.

leavin' on a jet plane

three days from now i will be heading off to boston on my very first solo flight. i will be staying alone in a strange city for three days. i will be getting my very first glimpse of the ocean. as i listen to my kids fighting in the bathroom right now, i look forward to all this with great anticipation. 

the trip is for work, and i am flying out early sunday morning. my conference goes from monday-wednesday. then, the bf is flying out to meet me on wednsday to stay two nights - a mini-vacation for the two of us. after my three nights of alone time, i'm sure i will be very happy to see him. it such a great feeling, seeing someone again after missing them for a while. because the old cliché is true really, absence does make the heart grow fonder.

pet peeve of the day...

people who fight dirty. 

because i know i am wrong sometimes. or, make that a lot. i know i say dumb things. but is it necessary to throw it in my face? is it necessary to be so stinking MEAN?

i forgive easily. why can't you?

Vicodin + Me = VERY BAD NEWS

so...friday found me crowing about the vicodin i received to cope with my root canal. mmmm...good, strong vicodin would make me very happy, i thought. i bragged to my blogosphere friends about how cool it was that i had vicodin in my possession. the root canal pain was bad friday morning, so i took two vicodin shortly after i arrived at work. the night before i had taken a few, it seemed to take care of the pain very well. no big deal to take a couple, i thought.

at around 11:00 am, i started to feel weird. i was a bit dizzy and out of sorts, and not making a ton of sense as i tried to help my fave co-worker with a problem. it was kind of funny at first. then the nausea kicked in. it was intense. i sat at my desk with my head laying on my arms, taking deep breaths and trying to get rid of the horrible feeling. my girl A was sweet and brought me some bubbly soda, and encouraged me to eat a bit. nothing was working. i was disappointed when i realized i would not be able to join A for a nice relaxing lunch. i was going to have to head home and lay down a bit.

both my boss and my girl A offered me a ride home, but i figured i would make it home just fine. i grabbed the bag out of my garbage, just in case. i hopped in the car and rolled down the windows. i made it about a mile when i started feeling that horrible sensation of vomit on the way. there were several cars behind me with no where to pull over. so, i did the only thing i could. i grabbed the garbage bag with one hand and held the steering wheel with the other as i very violently tossed my cookies. thank God i managed to get it all neatly in the bag, and even better, the bag appeared not to have any holes in it!

when i got home i was like the living dead. every time i moved an inch i felt rolling waves of nausea. the bf called at some point and urged me to try and eat. i grabbed a bowl of shredded wheat and managed two bites. my reaction was so strong that i had to lay down on the bed, the bowl of cereal and milk at my side. i couldn't even muster up the strength to take the bowl to the kitchen.

at some point in the afternoon, i spent some time laying on the bathroom floor. i don't remember the last time i have been that ill. and the worst part of it all? the bf had no sympathy for me. he said it was my own fault that i didn't eat enough before taking the pills. (that morning i had half a donut, two 100 calorie packs and a bottle of green tea, but whatever.) so besides being violently ill, i was sobbing because the bf was being so mean.

only later i found out that both my sister and my grandma have had the same reactions to vicodin. both are considered "allergic". that sure would have been nice to know.

now, i am dealing with the root canal pain in this way: good old fashioned advil.

and the bf? well, i finally forgave him for being a butthead. but next time he is ill i might just decide to kick him in the teeth.

sweet relief in the form of vicodin

why is it that even when you have your mouth cranked and propped and your face half numb, those fools at the dentist's office STILL try to get you to carry on a conversation? root canals suck enough the way it is. i don't feel like small talking with you mr. dentist, even if you are quite a hottie. (new dentist is young and CUTE!)

the appointment took forever, and they are still not done with my root canal. they sucked up all the nerves and relieved the pressure. i go back next week to have the cavity drilled and filled. the best part of the whole thing? they gave me vicodin. mmmm....good stuff. i was one happy girl last night.

anyway, i am feeling much better today. my mouth is tender and bruised, but i no longer feel like my tooth is going to explode.
and it's a beautiful, sunny day. and friday. and i get to go to lunch with my fave co-worker. and i just took two vicodin. life is good.

total agony

i am in absolute agony today. i have had toothache for about a week now. i've been popping advil like it's going out of style. and i mean, like, 2-3 every 2-3 hours. today i finally have a dentist appointment. so i decided i should probably lay off the painkillers so that i can explain exactly where the problem is coming from. OMG! it's BAD people! it radiates down my neck and up to my ear. i want to cry but i think my coworkers would be scared.



i, like many i know, hate, hate, hate going to the dentist. and i'm pretty sure that today is going to be a root canal day. i hate the needle, hate the shot, hate having my mouth pried open like a large mouth bass. but most of all? i HATE having half of my face numb. i can't stand the way it feels. for me it's the worst part of the whole thing. 

maybe they could just give me some of these instead?

i think i'm alone now...

tonight i am essentially home alone. the kids are asleep. the bf is away at a twins baseball game two hours away. he won't be home for a few hours yet. me? i am in heaven! it has been a long time since i have been without the bf past 8:00. he hasn't been doing as much freelancing lately. and he is home. every. stinking. night. granted, when we first started dating, i whined and pissed and moaned about him being gone so much and home so late every night. now? well, it's nice that he's home more, but...i am very much enjoying some "me" time tonight.

i purchased a six back of beer tonight. getting drunk, you ask? oh no. here is a true sign of aging: i bought the beer specifically to make beer bread. in fact, i tried to drink a bottle. i had one swig. it was all i could handle. determined to ingest some sort of alcohol, i settled on a bacardi silver strawberry that has been in the fridge for months. and hey, one of those on an empty stomach? well, it's just enough to make me feel warm and fuzzy. give me another and i'll probably pass out on the kitchen floor. 

i am going to milk this night for all it's worth. i am going to eat crackers in bed. and drink my bacardi. and crank my music. and read some trashy tabloid websites. maybe i'll even turn on the t.v. because hey, i'm wild and crazy like that.

my little darlings

just had to share this pic of my little darlings at the wedding over the weekend.



and this close up of my little man, in a tux no less!



and last but not least my little self-proclaimed princess:



that's all for tonight, folks! tune in tomorrow for more exciting news from the land of soooo minnesota!

the skinny

this morning after my daughter got dressed, she came to me and said her shorts were falling down. sure enough, they were hanging off her tiny little body.

"you're just so dang skinny!" i said. "we'll have to find you a different pair."

ky looked at me and said "mom, are you skinny?"

"i don't know, what do you think ky, am i skinny or fat?" i replied.

"mom, fat is a bad word, isn't it?" she said gravely.

so i guess i won't be looking to her for any confidence building anytime soon...