Hot off the griddle

I know, lame title. Remember? I'm no writer folks. But I'd like to share the cool new product that graces my counter top. It's a folding electric griddle. It's made by Rival and purchased at the local Ace Hardware. You know the one, downtown, big parking lot, crazy furry man running the show. Any way, it's really cool. The plates come off so you can wash it in the sink. Genius! Then it folds in half and tucks away in a little space. Did I mention each side has it's own dial so you can just heat up one side or.... have either side at a different temp. This must be for people who follow directions and remember eggs should be cooked at certain degree and bacon should be cooked at another degree. (I don't even know what those degrees are)

I was checking out the features of the new appliance in between making my super cool cookies for our Friday cookie exchange/shopping/eating/drinking evening. They are Carmel surprise chocolate and they are delicious. The test batch went well, but we are having issues with portion control. The recipe was suppose to make 30 cookies and we may have gotten 25 cookies out of the deal. Reese was so cute opening every chocolate Rollo candy. That kid is a helper! When we were getting all the ingredients out there was a moment of shock when we discovered the brown sugar bag was bought at Jim's IGA. Flashback! Could brown sugar really be ok after all that time? The label had a 2000 date on it. Has Jim's really been gone for 8 years? Hard to believe. Well it was quality sugar because there was nothing wrong with it and we used it up! Tomorrow's trip to Frank's will yield the rest of the ingredients necessary for the next batch need to get our 3 dozen treats for sharing.

I've been getting the cute Christmas cards I crave! Getting good mail is the best part of December. It's so hard to sit down and label, stamp, sign and personal note all the wonderful people in your life, but not only is it great to get them it makes you realize how many awesome people are in my life. Thanks to everyone who takes the time to keep my mailman Frank employed.

Merry Christmas!

You Oughta Know

I've been enjoying the sounds of Matt Nathanson's new album (well it was released in 2007) and yesterday I saw he was on VH1 with the coveted "You Oughta Know" label. Not that this new spotlight will promise he sees more radio play, but I was happy for him.

My predictable favorite is "Come on get Higher". His lyrics and smooth guitar are beautiful and usually heard at least once a day blaring from the speakers of the mom-van. But the song "Car Crash" is good too.

His bio page puts it best....

"At the core of Nathanson's music are his lyrics -- deft turns of phrase that can alternately cut deep into the heart or heal it. That's evident throughout Some Mad Hope, a song cycle of sorts that chronicles the search for a genuine connection, touching on the sensually electric moments as well as the darker frustrations of sifting through the wreckage -- in hopes of finding redemption at the end of the day."

If only I could write. When people can capture a feeling, a scene or a person with insight and wisdom, the jealousy is overwhelming. Words fail me often. Matt is an musical and lyrical artist. Enjoy his talent.

Black and Blue Friday

This pretty much sums up my shopping experience on Friday. Well, maybe with some more bruising. It was fun, exhausting and fruitful all at the same time. That's a lot to accomplish before 7:00 am, but we did!

Lori and I took to the wind following the heels of a fellow shopper. We were at JC Penny in Saginaw by 4:00 am.

Now, before you say it, I know. That's early, there is nothing out there I need or want to make me brave those crowds at that hour on a holiday. Believe me, I've said all the same things, but kept thinking "Maybe I'm missing out on something. Everyone's doing it."

Penny's was relatively calm, except for the check out line. Dreadful. There was a price check issue, the clerk was confused, the patron was insistent. This would become a pattern and a theme by which the day would be remembered. Crummy check out line choices. When you see EVERY line moving along BUT yours, it tends to grind you.

Next, we were in line at Walmart. Wow. People really can be aggressive over electronics. Shoving, bumping, line-cutting..... you name it. We saw it. For a few brief seconds, when the clock struck 4:00 am I was scared. Then that killer instinct takes hold and you become the hunter you were born to be. Sheets? On sale? I don't need 'em. Grab 'em anyway. Blocks? Are they on the special? Focus. We are here for electronics. Thank goodness we had extra bodies for line holding and extra run backs to different departments. Finally, we made it to the check out. @#$%*! Same problem. Flashing check out lights. This time the women in front of us were mean. I mean fighting mean. *shudder* They could have taken all 3 of us in one swoop.

A few stores later (Staples, JoAnn Fabrics, K Mart and Meijers), we returned home. Victorious. Other than the pair of boots I need to return that are 2 different sizes (really?) the purchases made on Friday were really good ones and worth the purple marks that keep popping out on my arms and legs.

Maybe next year we should try some stores in Owosso.

Farm Work

These are some cool pictures from my day last week working on the farm. My mom came up to Chesaning and with Reese's help, we took all the old canned goods out of the basement. I love the fences and the field stone foundations around the barns and the house.
I was really happy with our view of the neighborhood. I think the price has dropped by almost 10 more cents. Yeah!
Above are the jars we are saving. They were the true canning jars of the bunch. The green or blue glass is my favorite and I don't think you can get them any more. Please note the retro wallpaper in the back. Funk-a-dellic.

These were the only 2 jars we couldn't open. As you can see, the contents are gross. To the left is a jar of pears. Pears! They don't end up that color unless they really, really stink people. shudder. By far the sauerkraut was the worst. Hands down. I may have left the room when that baby was opened. Weak stomach.
These two pictures are of the jars we sent to the recycling pile. They were mayonnaise jars, Taster's Choice jars, and anything that thrifty canning queen could get her hands on.
Reese was such a ham! He would dump each jar in the bucket and yell, "Is that gross Mom? Come on, smell it? Don't you love it?"
This is a shot of our "renters" in the barn. They are keeping an eye on us and not quite sure why we have brought 3 noisy animals into their world. Sorry guys, if you think it's bad now, wait until Joe fixes that window.

My technilogical advances

Alright. Everyone who reads this humble blog, know of my mad love for all things technological. Between Facebook, Twitter, 2 computers in the house, (don't get me started on my Macintosh addictions) I spend a fair amount of time in front of a screen. So my 2 new acquisitions are frustrating and cool at the same time.

My new-ish phone.

That's not a complaint. I know it's not new and it's not the i-phone I pine for, but that's ok. Baby steps people. You can't run the marathon until you've walked the village. I get that. Until this little bugger starts working right I haven't earned the privilege of the i phone. No big. But it will be a reason why my emails, texts and voice mails could be anything from strange, repeated or just plain dropped. Consider yourself warned.

The next bit of excitement that showed up via UPS to my house was i-life. Yes, at this point the i-terms are getting on even my nerves. This software is suppose to help me manage my photos better and really, who couldn't use help in that department? Don't judge me because there were 1,000 photos on my computer between June and November. Yes, that's just in 2008 and while some may say that's excessive, ok most agree that is nuts. In my defense we had some serious fun this year and pictures are proof. The only gripe I have is I can't find my pictures on my computer. They are there, I've burned some to a cd and deleted the extras, but I want to just open a file and find them and it's not happening. So tonight I'll be doing some research on the website, watching some tutorials and reading the NEXTEL book instead of reading my book club book, which isn't very good this month anyway. Enjoy your weekend girls.

Vote!

Enough Said!

From my garden

Here is my next adventure in living off the land and my first attempt at homemade horseradish. The fumes are pretty potent. It's a good idea to even cut up and grind the root on a back porch is you have one. My kitchen smells like cocktail sauce gone crazy. 
My pictures loaded in reverse order, but here is the cleaned root ready for the food processor.
Here is the freshly plucked root. I always wonder, "who was the first to decide something that looks like this could be edible?" Not being the survivor type myself, the leaves look like the most edible part of the plant to me. Don't be fooled! At first I was told the leaves were poisonous, but I've found some sites that have talked about using them.
They are just the tip of the iceberg. The real bounty is deep underneath. My favorite site that yielded the most information was horseradish.org. The secret agent cartoon root is funny too. The key to the heat of the mix was when the root was harvested and the wait time between grinding and adding the vinegar. 

The very smell of my homemade horseradish makes me think of my Grandpa Zachar. He was 100% Chech and he loved all things hot. He had a jar out on the dining table for every holiday and it was the only good reason to be seated at the kids table. Being the oldest grandchild meant I was stuck with a bunch of young kids. (holidays.) I could not understand how he could slather that strong stuff on his meat.

Now that I'm older with more refined taste buds (seriously) I see the sense of adding horseradish to a roast beef sub piled high on a crusty sub bun.

Thanks for adding flavor to my life Grandpa.

She shoots for the Win!

Claire's orange soccer team won the Pepsi challenge on Saturday. Along with their undefeated season it was the culmination of a lot of hard work and early mornings for the team and coach. A big shout out goes to Chuck Rolfe, coach and dad, who gave up practice nights and early morning to hang out on a dew soaked field with 6 and 7 year old soccer newbies. Claire was pretty ambivalent about the entire season. Sure she likes to score and win, but by half time she's ready to be chatting with her buddies. But from the looks of these pictures, she might just have the eye of the tiger.

This was her first goal!

I have been waiting for this post to share my super cool end of the soccer year team winning photo, but I'm afraid that photo no longer exists on my camera. Through some bad technical decisions on my part the memory card with the super awesome photo was erased. Dang! That's the first time my wonderful camera has failed me, or maybe I failed it. Trying to multi-task while down loading your camera is now a no no. But thanks to an amazing local photographer and soccer fan, I have some great re-cap photos of the season.

Way to go Claire! Soccer girls rock.

widget

Face Book Me!

In an attempt to learn more about the world of instant computer meeting, I have added my profile to the overwhelming number of (really young) people on FaceBook. I'm really new to the entire scene, but I figure I better know what's going on out there before my kids have profiles and MySpace pages.

I have found a ton of people who graduated from Corunna (go cavs! 1989!) Must be we are all trying to catch back up before our 20 year reunion in 2009. Yikes! We are old. So if you are techy savvy and already have a space (spot, site, I'm not sure of the lingo) Click the link and see if you can find me. If that's not your bag, leave a comment for me here sometime. You know who you are. People who read my random posts and then pretend you're not checking in, post a comment!

Facebook me!

Can you spot the difference?

Cute game. Check it out.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-palin-fey-quiz,0,5534058.triviaquiz

My score was 2 wrong. Dang. I thought I had a better eye than that.

Better late than.... well, you know 40!

These are a few of my favorite pictures from last Sunday's surprise party. that blurr on the left is Brendan getting ready to jump into Joe's arms.
The lottery scratching table. First I had to organize them by color and size then the lucky people went to work. Lisa never did scratch a winner.
The garage, although not really party worthy, was a great place to hide before he come home from work. See the garage sale sign? It's for anyone who wants it for their sales. Remember? No more garage sales for Lisa. shudder.

Joe showing off his winnings. Yikes! Nice face. He cleared about $61.00 (and we scratched off about $300 worth). That's good for Michigan schools, but a lesson that gambling doesn't really pay. Of course, I turned the tickets in for him so... it didn't really pay Joe at all. Oh come on, he wanted me to use it towards groceries and gas.
Meredith and I showing off the quality drink for the old man. he he. 

Thanks again for all the help from everybody. A big THANKS goes to Meredith and Pete for bringing tables and chairs for set up and helping in the kitchen. Thank you to Kevin and Eileen for chairs and tables and the extra kid help.  Everyone brought delicious food that was eaten immediately. Thanks to everyone for the cards, gifts and fun.

Back to work Monday

What a busy weekend!
Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated Joe's birthday. He was really surprised and very happy to see you all. Now if only he could get all that work done at the farm he was planning to do yesterday. he he. I will upload some photos as soon as I get them off my camera.
Sports update: Claire's team won their soccer match on Saturday 6 to 0. Joe said the the orange team worked really well together and Claire scored 2 goals! Way to go big girl. Thanks to Aunt Annie who filled in as "Soccer Mom" and made sure the snacks were delivered and the player was on time.
Brendan's team lost to Lakeview 0 to 12. It was hard to watch Brendan fumble as the quarterback. But I was glad to see how well he handled what could have been too much for him. The team never gave up, pouted or yelled at each other. They had great spirit and tried until the final seconds. (Maybe because with no working scoreboard, they didn't know what the clock was.) Afterwards the congratulated the other team's players as we were walking off the field. The parent's of Lakeview were very impressed and thanked us. The team was a class act. On Brendan's last possession he carried the ball for the longest drive of his offense, about 22 yards. I'm glad he ended on a high note.
Ok everyone, have a great week. Thanks for checking in.

Soccer Success!

Ok..... Maybe it wasn't Mia Hamm level play, but Claire rocked the soccer field on Saturday morning. Her team won 6 to 2 but the highlight was when she was part of one of the goals. She really had the fire for a few minutes.  Claire is not really, well, in to a sport for a super long time. Shortly after the half, she was pretty spent. She was content to talk to her friends, make some new ones and enjoy the morning - watching. This is a new sport experience for me, but it was easier than I thought to amp it down. It was nice to sit back and watch those crazy parents get all worked up over a game... a. game.  Nothing more. Oh sure, a few encouraging words of support were sent out on my part. "Good job big girl. Way to stick in there. Get on up there. go orange!" But it was nice to have a more relaxed child. When retelling the story of the game to her dad on his business trip, her first comment was, "I loved snack. It was go-gurt." She had some great exercise and we flew across town to Brendan's football game at the stadium in time to see the very last play. drat. He had fun too. Their record is 0-0 and 2. double drat.

These pictures are really stinking small. I'm pretty sure blogger doesn't like my Mac. If you could see them bigger you would notice her sweet new pink shin guards and matching socks (which kind of clash with the orange jersey but we're not pointing that out). You would see the gazelle-like gate and the sheer determination on her face as she's running down the field ready to pounce. Ok, that may have been over-kill, but you have to give her props. 

This Saturday, the 27th she will take on another team in her quest for soccer dominance. 9:00 am is the start time at Line Street school for anyone with the wherewithal to enjoy fall soccer played by some super cute 1st and 2nd graders. 

I wasn't lovin' it.

I've been thinking back to my days slinging fries under the golden arches a little melancholy these days. True, at the time, they were some long days of working 5 days a week and going to school the other 2 so I could pay for college, but there may have been some lessons learned that I still use today. The basic retail thoughts of customer first were ingrained in everything we did as a polyester wearing drive thru workers. From filling out my first application with all the pertinent information and sweating through my first interview (in the lobby). Being told to park as far as possible from the entrance, leaving the best spots for customers. By arriving 15 minutes early for every shift to make sure we were ready to work when we were suppose to. We were taught to treat people (and that means kids too) with respect and kindness. We learned how to really count back change, on the fly and with everyone looking at you. We learned to prioritize and multi-task. Don't get me started on how much cleaning we did. When you know someone else is coming behind you to critique your work, you really get the glass steak-free. Many of these things are so common sense, but it's amazing how uncommon that kind of sense is. Without this job I would have never been able to pay for college. As my bills came due, I could write the check and it left me with little or no student loans to hang over my head after I graduated. True, Lansing Community College is not the upper crust of academia, but they helped me get an internship at the Lansing Journal which helped me work at the Tri-County Citizen and then on to the Saginaw News.

The funny thing is... the entire time I worked at McDonald's everyone there, including myself, was looking to find a "real" job. Now that I've been out in the work force for what the Social Security Office deems long enough to get some benefits, (but not enough to live on) I realize the importance and value of every job. I am now grateful for my time there and the valuable experience and work ethic I have today. It is good to have a job where you don't come home smelling like a Big Mac and Supersize Fry.

Back in the Hospital

I'm sorry to say that on Saturday Joe's dad, Rich, went back into the hospital. He is suffering from low blood pressure and probably needs a pacemaker but he can't have surgery until he is off some of the blood thinners he is taking for his blood clot. Please keep him and Luann in your thoughts this week. We are pretty sure everything is going to be ok, he just needs to get on the other side of this and have time to heal. Thank you for the kind thoughts and prayers.

Home from the hospital

For those of you who did not get Laura's email: Joe's dad is home from Covenant Hospital. Thank goodness! He was tired of the food and the fussing. Now he is in the comfort of his own home where his own wife can give him lots of GOOD food and fussing. He has developed a blood clot in his good foot and that means even more medication on top of his anti-biotics, steroids and other make you better drugs. He has a great attitude and will be ready to run races soon.

The First and Hopefully, Last

Finally Reese was allowed go to school like everyone else! He was very ready to get into the building with his big sister leading the way. Dad had the day off and they made it really special. He had a great time with his classmates and he is already telling me the rules of school. Tonight he said from now on he "must always say excuse me when he burps." I said, "Don't I always tell you to say excuse me?" But he thinks it's "better when I'm at home because Brendan laughs." How can a Mom  compete with that? His job was cleaning up and turning the radio on when it was clean up time. He can't wait to go back again tomorrow.

As far as Brendan is concerned, he hopes he NEVER has to go back to the surgery center again.

The nurses and staff were wonderful and tried to make this as easy as possible. It was quick and almost totally painless, but he had more fear this time than ever before. It may have been easier with a 15 month old, they don't know to be afraid. He was given a Magic Tree House Book as a gift and started reading it in the recovery room. I think we may have been in there about 3 chapters and we were bounced with our post-op instructions. He was in school by 11:15 am telling his friends about his crazy morning. I strongly advised against much football today, but I'm sure my idea of "just hanging out on the sidelines tonight" were taken under advisement and quickly forgotten. There are only 3 days until the first game against Ovid Elsie and now is not the time to be a slacker. Maybe his coaches can keep him down for the evening. Obviously my boys can listen to authority, just not mine.

Sniff. What? I can't hear you.

Does this allergy season seem a little rougher than normal? Everyone in my house is sniffin' and coughing and noses are in need of serious tissue. Maybe today's rains will help the pollen counts drop, but then I hear the mold is going up. Thank goodness for the allergy medicine in the cabinet, or we would all be a red eyed weeping mess.
The 6 month appointments in Saginaw are over and the verdicts are: Reese has fully functioning tubes and Claire's ears seem to have straightened themselves out, now Brendan is having trouble again. The ENT (Dr. Letson) wants to put his tubes back in for the 3rd time. There isn't an infection, just so much fluid he can't hear out of his left ear. Letson has been our Dr. for almost 8 years and I trust his judgement. He's not one quick to operate, even if it's minimally invasive. But this has promted us to figure out why an 8 year old hasn't outgrown a young person's problem. Dr. actually said 85% off children outgrow this problem my his age. Allergy testing is the verdict.
The kids have been told they can't have pets because 1. their dad is allergic and 2. I think they are too. Now we will find out for sure whether it's a certain tree, pet dander, grass or spores making the poor kid gush fluid. This will be our first time with an allergist and as anyone would be, I'm not thrilled about it. The images I've seen on-line are frightening and I will spare you the link. shudder! So say a small prayer on Wednesday morning. It may be our 8th surgery on the six ears, but it's nice to have some help from above to make sure things go smoothly.

First Day of School

The first day of school photo made it! Whew. It's kind of like the first day itself, a little blurry, a little frazzled and definitely cute! Claire's problem with first grade? We really don't play much, we have real work to do. Dang. That's why kindergarten rocks little girl. But she has been working so hard on her reading, it will be amazing when it clicks and she has the confidence to read more than Dick and Jane. That's not a dig on the series. Everyone starts somewhere and she's learned a great base of words, it's just more fun to read something with a little more girl power in it. 

When she can pick the titles and read me a big girl story there's no stopping this child with her amazing imagination and her killer story telling ability. Her songs are her most wonderful talent. Every verse is funnier than the first and sung to her own quirky melody. Claire is a light that draws others to her and she is so excited about this big new school year. Watch out Mrs. Stasa, this year's going to rock with Claire flair!

Scrimmage Day

Here's my favorite and scariest photo from scrimmage day on Aug. 23. Brendan worked hard to get a spot as the back up quarter back and I didn't breathe until he was on the sidelines again. I don't want to be one of those moms who scream their heads off on the from the bleachers (and Lori promised she won't LET me be) but I can see how a person can get carried away. This kid was going to sack my baby! Hello! Huge stress. That was really his job and when Brendan's on defense it's his job to bring down their cute little QB but, dang. It's not easy to watch with out screaming "Get off my son, you monster!" Ok, that would be dramatic. It's also frowned upon to yell. "Take that OE! We just scored on your hole riddled defense." Not good form either.

I'm trying to get my first day of school pictures to load, but not having much success. Stay tuned....

Out with the sheep and in with the corn

How to start? Well, Joe and I were getting a little tired of waiting for the sheep farm so we thought we would expand our circle of interest. On Friday we toured a few places and found a new place to hang our dreams. It's on M-57 just East of Showboat Autosales and it's just beautiful. The house isn't really in the best part of the property and we are trying to figure out what's the best plan for the future. Sell the house and a small amount of land, rent it out, see if our house in town sells first. There are a lot of variables but the possibility to build our own home farther back on the property is an amazing dream that didn't even exist before we stepped on the premises. The 5 bedroom farmhouse was built in 1909 and last updated around 1960, but it has a lot of character. There are 2 barns, a garage and a rental house on one side of the front and a wide open space that opens up to the back and 14 acres of woods. The big red barn is by far the coolest and my mother-in-law is already ready to plan a party in it. (sheesh, Greenfelders!)

We got the call today at 3:10 that our offer was accepted and so in a couple of weeks we are going to have to figure out what's going where and what we need to start working on, painting on, cleaning up. The kids went out and saw it today and were really excited, but a little confused. "So we're buying it but not living in it? huh?" Brendan actually said "It's like an adventure, isn't it?" So true baby. Life is never dull and just when you think you've figured out what you want a nicer, cheeper piece of excitement comes your way.

Canon Saves the Week!

This post is brought to you by the nice people at Canon Cameras! Thanks to them this week is not a total loss. I sent my poor tired camera to Canon on Monday via UPS and today they emailed me the situation. $107.00 to fix my 8 month old camera. YIKES! I was, to say the least, a little bummed, but the people at Canon have yet to let me down so I took another turn at the 1-800 crap shoot and dialed up the service department. One of the things I have liked about this company is their employees who talk on the phones speak, well, American. I've quit using all hp products because their tech support is as easy to understand as the speaker in the drive thru at Burger King.

A very nice rep listened to my tragic tale of 2 cameras.... same error message.... 8 months apart... I spent $127.00 in December.... She was sympathetic and put me on hold for a few muzak seconds to speak with her supervisor. I didn't even have to ask her to. Then the happy news! They will replace my camera at no cost as a one time courtesy. Alleluia! There are companies out there who still care if you are a loyal customer and want to do the right thing! A few minutes later I received email confirmation of this same fact. So I made myself this promise right then. Make sure they get the thanks and credit they deserve.

There are a LOT of digital cameras out there, and there are probably some a TON nicer then the one I have, but I think service makes the sale every time. So if you are thinking about getting a digital camera anytime soon, might I suggest a dependable Canon?

Hope Springs Eternal

My first experience with Microsoft tech support went pretty well. I told Jason, the tech guy, "I'm much more of Mac girl, but don't tell anyone." He replied "I hate Steve Jobs". I tried to stop the next words but through my bitten lip said "Well, Bill Gates isn't my favorite either." Thank goodness Jason took it all in stride and maybe figured, she's just cranky 'cause her kid's computer game won't work. But I'm a little afraid I may have been added to a list out there. Bill is probably going to subscribe to my site just to make sure I'm not sending him viruses.

We think we narrowed the problem down to the AV cable and because my warranty is WAYYYYY over, I will have to spring for a new one to see if this fixes the problem. (Dear God, if ever I needed a wish granted). The funny thing was, as helpful and nice as Jason was, he kept trying to get me to use xbox support along with him and instead of him in the future. Can you image having a job where you spend all of your "sales time" trying to put yourself out of a job? I mean, instead of this mom gig who TRYS to make them self obsolete? He also found it funny I was getting all of my "data" from an 8 year old. Pretty much every question he asked I had to reference Brendan to make sure the sounds sights and ultimate death were what he witnessed. Brendan's last statement was, "Let him know it was blinking red like every other day, then, bam! Nothing. Oh, and is he coming here to fix it tonight? I really want to play Transformers."

Maybe next week kid.

Football Fever!

For any of you who, like myself, can't get enough youth sports....

The parks and rec website does a good job of getting information out to parents and spectators about schedules, forms and pictures. If you go to Chesaning Parks and Rec and click on the top left 2008 schedule it will give you a list of Brendan's football games. Scroll down the pdf to find him on John Keys and Brian Lewis' 3rd & 4th grade team. Only 4 days until the scrimmage!

Kids Know Stuff

How cool is this? Many of you already know Abby Aldrich and her technologically smart girls. They have a new site called kidsknowstuff.com. They showcase things they like and things my kids would probably love! Check them out!

No Love for Microsoft!

It is a very unhappy day in the Greenfelder household. We have 2 electronic devices that have failed us this week. Anyone who knows my family knows I love my camera as much as Brendan loves his stinkin' Xbox 360. They both died this week and I am at a loss for the sorrow my tech happy child and I are de-toxin'. A call to the Owosso game center confirmed what I was fearing. The AV port on this Microsoft monster has probably failed. Ok, I get that, let's fix it. What? There's no fixing it? You're telling me a $300 piece of equipment is unfix able? Toss it. Get a new one? I'm sorry, I live in the Mac world where we don't buy equipment built for destruction in a little under 2 years. I don't care how much someone has over used their Madden '07, this stinking piece of junk should last at least as long as my child's fascination for it is still alive. Now we are hosed. We have a $150 memory drive and over $300 worth of games to look at and now G.D. game system.
The other problem is so horrendous I can barley type it. MY. CAMERA. IS. NOT. WORKING. Does anyone get the gravity of this situation? I spoke with a very nice lady at Cannon and she promised she can help. When my camera broke last year I was totally understanding. A camera is only meant to endure so much and I put mine through the mill. It finally said "Lady, I'm spent. I've been looking at these 3 faces for long enough. I quit." The people at Cannon exceeded my expectations of customer service. They were friendly, compassionate even, and helped me with my 4 year old camera and the repair center did the best with what they had to work with. When they could not find the parts to fix my beloved elph, they sent me a re-furbished 10 mega pixel beauty that I have carried with pride. (my old camera was a 2.5). Now with under a year a use it has the same error message as my first camera. Lens error. Please restart camera.
Drat!
I have high hopes that everything will be ok soon. I will borrow a camera and life will continue.
Keep me in your prayers. Don't be surprised if I ask any of you to step it up with your own cameras for a couple of weeks. Bear with me.

Defying Gravity

Friday date night was really nice. A great meal in Lansing with nice grown up food and martinis (plural) and a wonderful show. Michelle and I had already seen the show and Pete had seen parts of it, but Joe was seeing this for the first time and I was a little worried. If you ask him he'll say, "I like musicals. I went to Phantom of the Opera and really enjoyed it. Why are people surprised?" Let me tell you why Joe. It's been 10 years since we were in Toronto (remember we were on our honeymoon and that was 10 years ago?). For one to say they enjoy the theater, you may need to go more often than once every decade. To be fair, I do usually book the tickets and don't include him so I can go with girlfriends or girl family.

It's hard to pick my favorite part, but this time I pick "Defying Gravity". The song makes you feel ready to fight. Elphaba just had her dream of meeting the Wizard turn into the nightmare that he is responsible for all the things she's looking to get fixed and her friend has chosen to stay behind and try to work within the system. Elphaba is now being painted as a criminal and for the first time slandered for being a "Wicked Witch". The actress who played Elphaba had an amazing voice and I was near tears.

Ok, time to get back to work. :)

Wicked

Joe and I are going to see Wicked on Friday. (my second time, his first). And as much as I want to emulate the substance of the main character Elphaba there is a part of me who can not get over my inner Glinda (or Galinda). I wish I could gloss over facts and just believe if your dressed right and act happy everything in the world will turn into a Disney happy ending. The truth is always way more complicated and things don't always go they way I want. That's usually when the pouting starts.

The book was hard for me to get through. The images were strange and the story was complicated, leaving the reader to work hard to get to the finish, who really was wicked in this story? The person vilified by the crowds or the friend who let you down, or the ruler who pulled all the strings?

The movie was much more gratifying probably because of the change at the end. The music and the sets, the wonderful costumes all make me feel, for a few minutes, like there really is an Oz and we are all taking a look inside this magical place. My sister's favorite song is "Defying Gravity", I think she cried all the way though it when we saw it last year.

So if you see me on Saturday sporting a new pink t-shirt with the word "Popular", please know it's from a great date night spent watching green people get the just reward.

Happy thoughts

The beginning of football season and a very excited third grader!

Brendan has spent every night (and most days) gazing at his football equipment recently issued. He has the gloves, socks, helmet, pads, cleats and mouth guard. Now all he needs is a mother who won't freak out on the sidelines when her baby boy is being chased after by the other team. I should send apologies in advance to his team mates parents. The tendency to get carried away with the game is a problem I've been trying to overcome.

Here are some other exciting summer and literary events....

Fun times camping with cute cousins....

New swimsuits and playing in the rain.

Learning to "take care of business" in the lake with daddy. This has saved us about a million trips back to the restroom or motorhome.

Going to the fair and riding new big rides. Both Claire and Brendan tried the Ferris Wheel this year. That was a big step for two people who enjoy the train and the bumper cars only. Way to go big kids!

It can't be said enough! The beer tent girls were awesome this year! We have the system down cold. If you need women to run a special event liquor tent in your town, call us... we work cheep. Usually a few beers each and we're good for the night.

All of these pictures explain why my 2008 pictures are in the photo box and not a scrapbook. Yikes someone needs to take the camera away from me. Like seriously, if you see me at an event with it tell me to "AMP IT DOWN!"

And finally....

Before I can catch up on any photos, I need to get and read the last installment in my vampire series. Now if only I could FIND it anywhere. Let me know if anyone sees a copy in a store, I'll totally pay you back.