A few weeks ago I wrote of my experience watching the Brewers game from a luxury suite. Today, I will be writing about my experience in section 203. On Friday night we had tickets to go to the game, again with my husband's department at work, and I didn't get the tickets to see where we were sitting until we were on the way to the game. Section 203. Well, I've already admit that I don't go to the game very often so I had no clue where these seats were. My mom, who was sitting in section 437, in the upper deck, informed me that I was on the field loge level, and that I had "good seats".

She was so wrong.

As we walked around the stadium, in search of section 203, we passed homeplate, first base, and the outfield. Huh? And then we came to Section 203. The bleachers. The freaking bleachers.

Are you kidding me? I can't sit in the bleachers. I realize that coming from the luxury box the only way to go is down, but this is the bottom as far as I'm concerned.

We found row 10, and needed to get to seats 6, 7, and 8, but they were in the middle of the row and the people who were on the end offered to just scoot on down. So they scooted down, Zoe sat down first, right next to a guy in his 20's who had clearly shaved his legs. The (drunk?) girl in front of us then turned around, stroked his legs and said to my 7 yr old: YOU PROBABLY THINK HE'S A CRAZY MO-FO.

Whoa. Did she just say "mo-fo" to my child?? So I said to her: CAN WE NOT SAY MO-FO TO MY 7 YR OLD PLEASE?

I think she gave me an eyeroll, whatever.

Then a very drunk guy comes back to the row in front of us, and as he trying to get back to his seat, the (drunk) girl notices that his fly is down -- and then she reaches inside his fly and pulls out his privates. Right there in section 203, row 9.

But wait, she wasn't just about public nudity for others, she whipped out her breast for a group photo, which I think my family may have been in the background for.

My husband got security, and then we left the section, watching the game instead from section 437, chair hopping among the 20-some seats that my family was in for my grandmother's 82nd birthday celebration -- where life wasn't quite that of a luxury box, but at least everyone was properly clothed and no one used "mo-fo" in a sentence to my kid.

Yesterday, before I left for work, I put the sheets and our duvet cover into the washing machine. I stripped the bed, throwing the sheets and pillowcases onto the floor, and then when I had the duvet off the down comforter I picked up everything and put them directly into the washing machine. When my husband got home he flipped the laundry into the dryer, so when I got home from work at 5:30 p.m. the sheets were clean and dry.

As I'm emptying the dryer, first the pillowcases, and then the sheets, which I carefully shake out because there is usually a stray sock tucked into the pockets of the fitted sheet, I find my husband's hiking shoe. It's just sitting there, in the dryer, as if it's on display or something. And it's warm, so I know that no one is playing a trick on me by tossing the shoe into the dryer when my back is turned. I hollered to him: WHY IS YOUR SHOE IN THE DRYER?? And he, of course, hollers back: MY HUH IS IN THE WHAT?? So I took his shoe to him and said: YOUR SHOE. IT WAS IN THE DRYER.

Now, I have to tell you that he's totally opposed to washing his shoes in the washing machine. According to him, that'll ruin them for sure. And I don't really want to admit that I washed his shoe. It would be better if I admit that he dried his shoe. But from where his other shoe was located on the floor in the bedroom, I'm pretty sure that when I threw the sheets onto the floor in the morning and then scooped them up, his shoe must have tagged along. I don't know how he didn't notice his shoe when he put the sheets into the dryer, but he did say that he wondered why there was a thunking noise when he turned the dryer on.

So there you have it, he's got one clean shoe. And it's one of the shoes that he wore when he used a sledgehammer to help my brother demolish his kitchen a few weeks ago. It's considerably cleaner than the other shoe. CONSIDERABLY.

This past Sunday we had tickets to the Milwaukee Brewers baseball game, and let me tell you this, I’m sooooo not interested in baseball. In fact, since the Brewers have gotten the new stadium, Miller Park, I’ve only been there twice before. I can’t even begin to tell you how many tickets I’ve given away because I just did not want to go.

So my husband survived the downsizing at his job, and as a celebration he and others from his department were treated with tickets to their company’s suite at Miller Park. Tickets to the luxury box? Oh yeah, I’m totally going. I didn’t care if I didn’t watch any of the ball game, but I was going for the experience.

Parking was prime, and then once we found our suite — which happened to be on the field level right behind third base – I settled right in to life in the luxury box. The suite was like a hotel, and who wouldn’t want to watch a sporting event live from their own hotel room? There was wi-fi, there was our own potty, and best of all there were bottles of wine. DECENT WINE. None of that Little Penguin crap. I poured myself a glass of cabernet sauvignon, and okay, so I couldn’t find a wine glass and I had to drink out of a plastic cup, but I lived.

My daughter was busy filling herself up on potato chips, chocolate chip cookies and fudge brownies. Seeing as she wouldn’t touch a hotdog to save her life (can you blame her?), I called the concierge to see if I could order her a kids meal of chicken fingers. SURE, they said, WE’LL SEND YOUR ASSISTANT OVER WITH IT.

My what? My Assistant? Well, okay.

Sunday’s paper was waiting in the luxury box, so while the crowd cheered I read all my favorite sections: Cue, Entree, Business, and Metro. My husband and I have this thing where we try to guess if the house of the week in the Entree Section will be either IN DOOR COUNTY or NOT IN DOOR COUNTY. We both picked Door County this week, and the house wasn’t, so we both took a drink.

Next thing I know the assistant is there (My Assistant?) deliverying not one, but two huge pizzas. The first thought that came to my head was DID I ACCIDENTALLY ORDER PIZZAS WITH THE KIDS CHICKEN FINGERS? My Assistant assured me that I did not, and then handed me the kids meal.

Okay, how come I never got one of those kids meals whenever I went to the ballgame? It was in a paper bag with comics on it and came with chips, Oreos (more cookies!), a juice box, and a Topps baseball card for some Suppan guy that I’d never heard of. (Even though I’d never head of him, I had to admit that the baseball card was pretty cool.)

During the 7th inning My Assistant came in and boxed all of the food up into containers so we could take home any leftovers. She even labeled the boxes with what was inside too.

Lets see, we had visitors in the luxury box: Bernie Brewer, the mascot, stopped by for a visit! And a face painting lady came around to paint the kids faces too.

Midway through the game some of the people who were sitting outside got up and came into the suite, so we moved from the indoor bar area to the outdoor seats. That was when the game started to get pretty good. I don’t know what got into me, but I even stood up and cheered the team on when the bases were loaded and someone hit the ball way out into the field and no one caught it!

The game was tied 4-4 after the 9th inning, so it went to extra innings, which meant we got to see NOT ONE, but TWO Sausage Races.

We left at the top of the 13th, the score was still tied and there was no end in sight. Of course, as we were wandering around in the parking lot trying to remember where we parked, the Brewers hit a home run and won the game! We missed Bernie Brewer sliding down his slide, and the fireworks too.

I’ve decided that maybe the ballgame isn’t so bad after all, but what I really want is the life in the luxury box. Now that, I could totally get used to.

Last night we went to the State Fair where Zoe actually asked if she could do the bungee jumping slingshot thing. HELL NO! I’m still slightly afraid that she’ll slither through the slots on the safety gate while on the sky ride that takes us from one side of the park to the other.

What did we do? Well, let’s see, we ate, I walked through the Wisconsin wine tasting bar, we had ice cream sundaes, Zoe milked a fake cow for 60 seconds (4 oz worth), and then we took the sky ride. We meant to look at the animals, but somehow got sidetracked in the Expo Center where Zoe made a beaded lanyard thingy at the kid’s “make it and take it” art table, and we watched a Chinese acrobat show.

And then, *we (and I use that term loosely to mean *my husband) found what we came for: Magicloths. It was the Magicloths booth, his Holy Grail of the State Fair.

Ever since the water tube to the refrigerator sprung a leak a few weeks ago and soaked the wall, the floor, and the carpeting, all he’s talked about is Cham Wows and Magicloths. I’m not sure why he decided on Magicloths over Cham Wows, but whatever. Our daughter is a sucker for any and all wonder-gadgets (MOM, YOU KNOW WHAT YOU NEED? IT’S MUDDY PUDDY. AND ROLL N GROW. AND GREEN BAGS.) so it was no wonder that she was mesmerized by the Magicloths demonstration. I walked around a bit during the demo and came back just in time to get hit-up for the moolah by my family. Just as I was pulling out my last $20 from my wallet, the vendor says: OKAY, COME IN CLOSER, I’VE GOT A DEAL FOR YOU. SHHHHH, THESE ARE LEFT OVER FROM THE FIRST DAY OF THE FAIR AND I THINK I’VE ONLY 5 LEFT, AND IF YOU COME BACK LATER AND ASK FOR THEM I CAN’T GIVE THEM TO YOU, BECAUSE THEY’LL BE GONE, BUT INCLUDED IN YOUR MAGICLOTH PACKAGE FOR ONLY $20 (+TAX) IS THIS…

And then she pulled out a mop.

A MOP! And folks, that’s where I draw the line on what I will and what I won’t be buying (or getting free) from the State Fair. I turned to my husband and said: I CAN’T DO THIS. I CAN’T BE A PART OF THIS. A MOP?

And then I handed him the cash and got as far away from the place where a mop is included with purchase as fast as I could. When the coast was clear I did turn around, because I just had to get a picture of this. (Excuse the quality, I had to use my cell phone)

As it turns out, he explained to the vendor that his wife said NO WAY JOSE to the mop, so she gave him an extra package of Magicloths instead. I’m cool with that.

But I made him carry it to the car.

This Saturday, July 26th, from 9-4 my subdivision, Brook Falls, will be having their annual rummage sale. It's located off of Lilly Rd, right across from Lamplight Farms, just north of Hampton Avenue. You can enter on Camelot or Brook Falls.

I'll be participating in the sale, and I hope to have all my stuff together tonight, in the garage, and properly labeled. Most of what I have to sell is clothing, toys, and books that my seven year old daughter has outgrown. Due to favorites, and of course, growth spurts, there are some that she's never even worn.

My daughter is pretty excited about setting up her own little table this year, which was supposed to be for cookies, lemonade, water, and snacks. However she's been working on some crafts like mad for the last few days. Gosh, I hope someone buys them. She's struggling with a price point right now. Her father and I are trying are best to push her towards the $0.25 mark, we'll see what she decides tomorrow, I guess. Perhaps her grandmother will be able to talk some sense into her.

If you'd just like to stop by and say hello, please do! I'm the first house on Brook Falls Drive, the one with a giant Rainbow Play Set in the backyard. Ya know, what I should do, is offer a babysitting service for parents so that they can drop their kids off in my backyard to play on the Rainbow, while they rummage with ease through the subdivision. Now there's an idea.

Have a great weekend!

The last Batman movie I saw starred Michael Keaton, or possibly George Clooney, I’m not entirely sure. But I think I had mono, and I swore I was dying, and someone had to DRIVE to Blockbuster to rent a movie. Yes, it was a very, very, very long time since I’ve watched a Batman movie. I love the roller coaster ride a Six Flags though, LOVE IT!

Zoe went to my parents for the night, and that means one thing: MOVIES!  NON-G-RATED MOVIES!!! And well, in order to see Mamma Mia!, I promised we could see The Dark Knight first. I ordered tickets online, and even though we got to the theater 25 minutes early, we still had to sit in the second row. FROM THE SCREEN. It was 4:50 in the afternoon, and for as much as I love movies, I have this problem where I fall asleep during them. It’s something to do with the dark lights, and the fact that my eyelids get really really REALLY heavy. I crossed my fingers that I wouldn’t fall asleep, just so that I could SAY that I DID NOT FALL ASLEEP.

And I did not fall asleep, but I probably should have seen Batman Begins prior to watching The Dark Knight.

WOW! The movie blew all of my expectations straight out of the bat cave. It was, in my opinion, probably the best movie I’ve seen all year! And, if you recall, I did see every last one of the Oscar Nominated best-picture movies in a marathon fashion one crazy Saturday not too long ago.

Someone needs to check my forehead, do I have a fever? I just declared a caped crusader movie the best I’ve seen all year! Me? I don’t even like Spiderman!

And all the buzz going around about Heath Ledger and his role as the Joker, it’s true. He was phenomenal! He deserves any and all nominations that he receives. Absolutely.

By the way, Christian Bale? Oh he’s a MUCH better Batman than Michael Keaton.

In May I got a brand new Kenmore Elite He5t washing machine with the Quietpak 9 and a matching He5 Steam dryer - also with the Quietpak 9. I didn’t know that I could love a washer and dryer this much. The very second that Sears drove away after delivering and installing them I had a load of wash going — and all the laundry baskets were neatly lined up so that I could wash clear into the middle of the night if I chose to.

I’ve kept those machines running on a fairly regular basis ever since. If something needs to be washed I scope out all the dirty laundry until I’ve got enough to fill a load.

And the Quietpak 9? Well worth the money. My laundry room is on the first floor and it’s right next to the living room, dining room, kitchen, and my bedroom. I needed a washing machine that did not make a peep. And this one is UBER QUIET.

Did I mention that I love it?

So this morning I threw in a load of sheets, and tonight I flipped the laundry into the dryer, and started the next load. Then I took a shower. And when I got out of the shower I noticed that the washing machine wasn’t running, and instead was flashing F32 on the screen.

And the door was locked.

And it kept flashing. F32! F32! F32!!

Yes, yes, F32!! But what does it mean?? I grabbed the owner’s manual and searched for all the error codes, F20, F21, F22, but no F32.

What!?

I started punching buttons on the machine, and finally had to unplug it from the wall to get the door to unlock.

Whew! I got all my clothes out of the washing machine, because even though they were dirty clothes, I felt relieved that they weren’t locked inside! I know, odd.

My husband came in the laundry room and tried to figure out what the problem was, and finally announces that “we’ll have to call for service”. Lucky for him the door right behind him is magnetic and there was a Sears Home Service magnet — which I grabbed and handed to him.

“It’s 8:30 at night, they won’t be open.”

“Ya never know.”

I fully expected him to go back to watching his tv show, and I was still wrapped in a towel, so I went to the bedroom to get into my pajama’s. I can see the couch from the bedroom, and I saw him sitting on the couch, then I heard him explaining to someone that the washing machine wasn’t working and it was giving him an error code.

Could he really be calling Sears? At this hour?? For me???

Sure enough, he called!

And I wanted to burst out into song like Giselle in Enchanted — twirling around in my pj’s That’s How You’ll Know!  

(Cross posted @ Thoughts Outside My Head)

Over the past few weeks I've been running outside, rather than running on my treadmill. My dog, Maisy, has been my running partner. She does pretty good actually, and I'll bet we ran close to 15 miles last week, only taking Wednesday and Sunday off. Perhaps you've seen us running through the subdivisions off of Lilly and Hampton?

The only problem with running with my dog is that I don't want to push her, and in order to make sure she stays properly hydrated, I bought one of those Camelbak packs from REI. It's not the big one that goes on like a backpack, but rather a smaller one that actually I wear like a fanny pack and the water bladder rests on the small of my back. Surprisingly, it holds 48 oz of water, and Maisy is pretty good at drinking it straight from the hose like it's a bubbler.

Tonight Maisy and I were getting ready for our run, and I don't know if it was the water pack that got my daughter, Zoe, so interested or what, but she decided to come along with us. I thought about just doing the 3/4 mile loop through my subdivision, but she was doing so well that I keep on going my normal route and in all we went about 2.5 miles. Sure, we didn't go super fast, and we walked here and there, but I'm so impressed that my 7 year old actually did it! Our pace was slow, due to the walking, as well as I tried to teach her not to burst out full steam ahead.

Even though we both had our iPods on, she talked the entire time. Over time she'll learn to concentrate on her breathing, and maybe not talk so much, or maybe the talking will turn out to help her. Personally, I can't really talk when I run. Anyhow, normally I'd have dropped Maisy off at the house and then gone out again by myself to do another loop, but it was getting late so I didn't this time.

Thursday night I'll Storm the Bastille with my husband and my sister-in-law. My brother and my nephews are supposed to be running the 5K too, but we'll see, they changed their minds last year. This run is my favorite run of the year. I'm really looking forward to it!

Cross posted @ Thoughts Outside My Head

I must confess, I don't care about parades. At all. Maybe it's because I spent a great deal of my childhood marching in parades, both for the Robinette's (I was a baton twirler) and for the Templeton Middle School marching band (I played the clarinet and the flute). Once I got to high school, I quit the band because it was mandatory that we had to march, and I'd had enough marching.

On the way home from work yesterday I took note of all the people along the Menomonee Falls parade route who were scouting out their spot for tonights parade. It almost made me wonder if the parade was last night, instead of tonight. This morning all the stakes and string and caution tape and lawn chairs, and other marking devices were there. My daughter, who is seven, asked me: What is going on? Why are all these people in areas that are marked off with caution tape?? And I had to explain to her that it wasn't police tape in this instance, it was areas that people were marking as their own for the parade which is later tonight.

And this is what she said to me: But it's just a parade.

My point exactly. It's just a parade. I don't get it. What ever happened to showing up for the parade right before the parade started? Where the kids sit on the curb as it passes by, and the adults stand on the sidewalk? Does that not happen anymore?

Here’s the background: We’ve been listening a lot to Snacktime, by the Barenaked Ladies. It’s a children’s CD, but it’s fun enough for parents to enjoy too. There is this one song, Crazy ABC’s, where they go through the alphabet and list a crazy word for each of the letters and a definition of it.

Here’s the scenario: We were at dinner with my parents and my nephews. My mom was playing hangman with the kids when all of a sudden my husband comes up THE WORD to END ALL WORDS! The MOST FANTASTIC HANGMAN WORD EVER! He’s positive that they’ll NEVER EVER EVER guess it before their hangman is hung.

He tells them: _ _ _

Someone says: A

He fills it in: _ A _

Zoe says: Q

He gets a look of shock as everyone else at the table thinks our daughter has just made the dumbest letter guess ever because there isn’t a place for a U in those three slots, especially with the A in the middle.

And then she says: “qat, it’s an evergreen shrub” (quoted perfectly from the song, mind you).

Last night my husband and I ran the Superun 5K. It’s through Lake Park, and this run is challenging, but we love it anyways. Our times? Well let’s just say that we finished, and our times sucked. I hadn’t run in over two weeks, and my husband (who finished around 22 minutes last year) ran at my pace (which is no where NEAR 22 minutes).

It did not rain, and there was no beer on this race. It’s was all sunshine and hills.

The next 5K is Bastille Days, which is in July and is my favorite one of them all. I believe my brother, sister-in-law, and nephews will be running it too. That’ll be interesting. My nephews, who are 14, are now taller than me. They’ve got loooooooooooooooooooong legs and I’m willing to bet that they are going to sprint to the finish line.  

Speaking of my sister-in-law, I found out that she joined a triathlon class this summer, thinking that it would teach her the skills necessary for if she’d ever want to do a triathlon. Well, guess what, the class is ACTUALLY GOING TO DO A TRIATHLON. Yes, that’s right. She’s doing a triathlon. I think it’s a great idea, I wouldn’t want to do it — maybe one of those mini tri’s though, I could handle that.

On my birthday I decided to make a flowerbed in my backyard. It was something that we had been meaning to do since we moved in two years ago, but no one really wanted to dig up the grass. Not because we liked the grass, but because it would be really hard work due to the fact that the ground is mostly clay. I started out with plans to dig a space where I could plant a clematis by the arbor, but ended up with a garden that extended to the corner of my yard along the fence, about 6′x6′x8′ in a triangular shape. It looked huge up close, but when I turned to look at the rest of my yard in comparison — it’s really small. Let’s call it ‘quaint’. From the sidewalk you can’t even see my quaint birthday garden actually.

I really wanted to go straight to the nursery to pick out a few plants to put in the flowerbed, but waited so we could go together on Saturday. We picked out some tall grass, catmint, a small juniper, and a burgandy sedum type plant. Once you get close enough to see, it’s really pretty.

After we finished the flowerbed, my husband said to me, “see how much easier it is when we work together as a team to get something done, rather than going about it in your usual maverick way?”

Maverick way? Moi?

Okay, to be honest I hadn’t ever really thought about it, but I suppose I am a bit of a maverick. I like to do things when I want to do them, not before, not after, and I want to do them my way. Is that so bad? I mean, it got us a quaint little birthday garden, right?

Today is my birthday. I’m not sure what my entire day will bring, but it’s starting out at the eye doctor with my daughter, Zoe, then we are going out for coffee. Well, she’ll most likely have chocolate milk and I’ll have coffee. The rest of the day is up in the air. Perhaps we’ll bum around at the Lakefront Art Festival, it begins today and we’ve never gone, but Zoe is way way WAY into art. And, I am too, but she’s at least got a shot at being an artist, I’ll have to wait until retirement to pursue it. And now, since it’s my birthday, I am a year closer to it. Right?

I already got my birthday present two weeks ago, an iPod Touch. It’s, in a single word, AWESOME! I love it!! It’s probably the coolest gadget I’ve ever had. It has wifi on it and I can connect anywhere there is a hot spot. We were driving home from Door County on Tuesday and I needed to get an email from one of my classmates, did you know that Two Rivers has hot spots in the city? It does. All of a sudden I had connection and I’m telling my husband: “Stop the car! Pull over!”

Anyhow, the iPod Touch is so very very cool.

Did you get me anything? I am accepting gifts, iTunes is a great idea ya know. Or bottles of red wine. That’ll work too.

Have a great day!

I am vacationing in Door County with my family, which includes my husband, seven year old daughter, parents, and two 14 year old nephews. We are staying in Fish Creek, but yesterday we decided to make a day of it on Washington Island. I've been to Door County many times in the last 12 years, it's become a yearly excursion, and somehow we've never been to Washington Island. What would it be like? What would we do there? What adventure awaited us on the other side of the ferry?

There were seven of us, so we had to take two cars. Round trip tickets for a car is $24 (JUST the car), adults are $5.50 and children are $3.75. When we got off the ferry we immediately headed towards the Lookout Tower in Mountain Park where the view from the top of the tower was amazing! After that we split up for lunch, with my husband, daughter and I going to a restaurant on Main Street that promised breakfast all day, soup, sandwiches, wi-fi, and a baby grand piano in the dining room, oh and let's not forget the kayak tours. Close your eyes and imagine it with me, do you see a fireplace? Someone playing the piano? Customers lounging around, laptops open, blogging away? Coffee bar perhaps?

Okay, now you need to snap back to what I'd like to call: the reality of island life. The restaurant was about the size of my living room, the baby grand was in the corner with a fence (FENCE?) around it, zero laptops, no fireplace, and only two other tables of customers. The waitress moved on island time, and she even stopped taking our order at one point so she could help someone else find a fork. However, it must be said that that was the best darn grilled cheese sandwich I'd had in a while. AND I was able to log onto wi-fi with my iPod Touch so I could email my brother and check on my dogs.

After lunch we met back up at Jacobsen’s Museum were we met a life long resident of the island. Then we visited an Art & Nature Center, where I searched for a painting to add to my Door County collection (didn't find one though). My nephew bought a boomerang, which my husband immediately tried out in the parking lot. He threw it towards the woods, and I'm sure he expected it turn around right before the trees, but it didn't, and my nephew had to trounce around in the trees until they found it.

Note to anyone with a boomerang: learn to use it before you throw it towards the woods.

We decided it was time to head back to the ferry. My dad's car got on no problem, but we were told we'd have to wait an hour for the next ferry, so we pulled off to the side to wait. Next thing we know we are being waved ahead, once we got up to the ferry it was pretty clear that only one of those little Smart Cars would fit on the deck. The guy leans into the driver's window and says to my husband, "okay, what you're going to do is turn around here and backup onto the ferry, (and then he pointed) sideways there behind that car". And then I looked and saw him point towards my mom, who was already rummaging around in the cooler that was in the hatchback of their Equinox. My husband and I looked at each other, surely this is a joke, right? He didn't just tell us to back up on the ferry, did he? And then we laughed. And from the look on his face we realized that it wasn't a joke, and that we were going to be backing up sideways on the little itty bit part of the deck.

So that was our once in a lifetime Washington Island experience. I think that it'd be a perfect place to go for a bike ride. Maybe next time!

You are probably wondering if I still ran the Riverwest Beer Run considering the weather conditions at 11:30 a.m. today. The answer is yes.

Yes, I ran in the rain.

Now, I have to tell this is completely out of character for me. I'm not a fan of running in the rain, and I certainly don't like getting my running shoes wet either. However, today I stomped in the puddles with all the other runners. All the other CRAZY RUNNERS who came out even though the sky opened and poured down upon us. A LOT. IT RAINED A LOT! It was a complete downpour right before the race started.

Speaking of rain, at least my basement is dry. Unlike my parents basement in Sussex, and my brother's basement on the northwest side of Milwaukee near Mount Mary College. And what about you? How did your basement hold up this weekend?

My summer running season has begun and the first run on my list this year is the 32nd Annual Riverwest Beer Run (or Walk). Now don't get me wrong, I'm not the fastest runner out there, nor do I have any experience running while drinking beer. However, my husband loves this run, so this year I've added it to my summer schedule. The run is this Sunday, June 8th, 11:30 a.m., and starts at the intersection of the Booth and Locust in Milwaukee. Last year my husband ran it with my brother, which you can read about here, but the synopsis is that a guy in flip flops finished ahead of him. FLIP FLOPS! AND BEER! Are you interested yet?

Next up is the 2008 Superun 5K Run, which is probably the most challenging run I put myself through. Are you familiar with Lake Park down on Milwaukee's east side and the big hill that goes through the park? The route takes the runners straight up that hill. It's intense.

After that is my favorite run of all, the Storm the Bastille 5K, which takes place at night during Bastille Days. Last year I ran it with my husband and my sister-in-law, we stuck together for the whole run, which is a good thing because the year before that I ran it by myself and was to meet my husband at the finish line. Have you ever seen the amount of people who are waiting at the finish line??? MILLIONS! Okay, so maybe not that many, but it was enough that I couldn't find him for a few hours, in the dark, at Bastille Days, in my sweaty running clothes.

I'm hoping to squeak in the Firecracker 4, which is on the 4th of July, and starts at Hales Corners Park. It's really early in the morning, and well, I'm not always such a morning person. So we'll see about that one. The last time I ran it I really enjoyed it though.

The big one I'm planning is on August 30th, the Lake Country Half Marathon,in Oconomowoc. I've never run a half marathon, but I think I can do it if I train for it. My husband ran it a couple years ago, but skipped it last year because he was training for the Milwaukee Marathon.

Any other runners out there?

It seems that all I’ve been doing lately is waiting.

Waiting for the my grades to get posted online for the Human Resources class I completed (I got an A).

Waiting for my daughter to come home from swimming in the neighbors pool (she did come home, about 7 hours after she left).

Waiting for Louis Vuitton to fix the zipper on my handbag that I bought over 15 years ago using my tax return money to purchase (a check that I waited FOR.EVER to receive in the mail). Waiting for FedEx Home Delivery to deliver my repaired handbag so I can go on with my life knowing that the contents of my purse are securely zippered inside. I waited ALL DAY on Saturday for them to deliver it, after missing them on Thursday and Friday, it wasn’t on the truck for some unknown reason.

And today I’m waiting for the sprinkler people to come out and turn on my sprinklers so that I can water my grass — and my flowerbeds, which I’m waiting for my husband to design so that we can actually have flowerbeds.

I’m also waiting for summer. We got a peek at it yesterday when it was 90 degrees out, but today, it’s back down to 53.

I’m waiting for June 13th because we are going to Door County for a short getaway to one of my favorite places ever. 

I’m waiting for August 19th, which is the LAST day of my very last graduate class that I’m registered for for my Master’s in Business Administration. I still have two classes to take after that, and the capstone, but I’m WAITING until after Christmas, I think.

And I’m waiting for September because then I’m going to DISNEY WORLD!!!!

That’s a lot of things to wait for. What are you waiting for?

Oh, and the sprinkler people are here, so now I’m waiting to see if the new play set is smack dab on top of a sprinkler head. What are the chances?

(Cross-posted @ Thoughts Outside My Head)

About six weeks ago I hired Merry Maids to come and clean my home. They are to come every other week, and while I'd love for them to come every week, I simply can not afford it. Their sales person came out to my home, and walked my husband and I through how the cleaning would be done, what it included, what we could expect, and how much it would cost us. We signed up right then and there.

The first cleaning was amazing. AMAZING! They knocked our socks off. The second cleaning was pretty good, but they missed a few things, like the laundry room, the bay window, all the window sills, and the faceplates of the electrical outlets, something they said would be done. Also, every week they'd choose two rooms that they'd pay extra special attention to, those rooms get deep cleaned and everything is moved out of the way, cleaned under, and then moved back. During my second cleaning the master bathroom and master bedroom were the rooms that were to get the special attention. It was in my opinion that while they were clean, they were NOT given special attention at all. The fact that I found things underneath the nightstands and dressers told me that they didn't move a single thing, nor did then even stick a vacuum hose under them.

My third cleaning was today, and let me tell you, I'm so disappointed. My husband left the house at noon and told me that Merry Maids had just arrived. I got home alittle before 1 p.m. and circled the block because I saw they were just leaving. ONE HOUR. They were here for ONE HOUR and folks, it showed. My seven year old could have cleaned better than they did. The utility room was not even swept, there was cat liter on the floor and under the throw rug; the bathroom floors were not washed, nor was the master bathroom floor even swept (and the reason I know this is because my shoulder length hair was ALL over the floor!); the bathroom countertops were not even wiped down, and the sinks were rinsed at best; my sliding glass doors were not cleaned; and the dressers were dusted ONE handlength in on the tops, leaving a very nice line of dust. I also ran my Dyson through the house and filled the canister 1/4 of the way. Did they even vacuum? I doubt it.

I called and complained. Three times actually. They aren't charging me for today's visit, and they shouldn't because I really think they fake cleaned my house.

What did they do? Well, I know they did wipe down my end tables and my coffee table in the living room because there was an oily finish to the them when I walked in, and they took out the trash, but beyond that I have no clue.

I'm giving them one more chance to get it right, and if they don't, they'll be fired. At that point, I'll be looking for someone else to come in and clean my house. For REAL. Can you recommend a good cleaner?

Some may say that I'm being too picky. I disagree. If you sell me a service and tell me that you'll pick up every single thing I own, wipe it down, then wipe down the surface it's sitting on, you had better do it -- because that's what I expect.

On Saturday my husband, daughter, and I were at Panera for lunch, it was the Brookfield location at Ruby Isle, and if you’ve been there before you know about the separate dining room that is off of the main room. It’s quieter in there and for some reason it’s Zoe primo spot when she’s choosing a place to sit.

So we were eating our lunch, and there was a couple of ladies a few tables away, but other than that we had the room to ourselves, when all of a sudden, I swear to God, I heard a bird chirp. I glanced around and didn’t see a bird, nor did I see anything that could have made that noise, so I went back to eating. A few minutes later I heard the bird again. I looked up, thinking I’d catch it flying across the ceiling or something, but again, I saw nothing. My husband and daughter heard the chirping too, so at least I wasn’t hearing things.

This is where I have to say that stuff like this drives me nuts! I know I heard a bird, but I never ever saw it. I’ll bet in all we heard it at least five or six times over a 20 minute period, yet every time I looked around, I couldn’t find it. If it were not for those ladies sitting a couple tables down, I would have done a complete top to bottom search of the room. However, since they were there, and didn’t seem to even notice the chirping, I’d look rather insane if I dropped to my knees and started looking underneath all the tables in search of where the chirping was coming from. Although, I did take the opportunity to look behind the garbage cans when I cleared our trays.

Zoe kept saying, ‘Okay, if I hear that chirping again then I know there’s a bird here for sure!’

Folks, let me tell you this: There was a bird there, I’m sure of it. And if I would have had the time, I would have done a stake out, if only to say ‘A ha! There’s the bird!’  and then I’d have gone about the rest of my day, just waiting for the next crazy thing to happen.

One time, at our last house, I was in our family room watching tv. My husband, and daughter, who was just a baby, were both sleeping. All of a sudden something flew across the room! My mind started to flip through it’s internal rolodex of all the possible things it could have been, and it stopped on: bat. A BAT!!! There’s a bat in my house! In the room where I am sitting!!!

And that’s when I started shrieking and threw a blanket over my head. I was frozen in my chair, and thought that if I got up and ran to the other room, the bat might just fly into me. SHRIEK!!!!! SCREAM!!!!!

My husband came running from the bedroom, saw what I was screaming about, and pretty much commanded me to get into the kitchen where we could close the swinging butler door behind us, thereby quarantining the bat in the dining room and family room area. I shot like a bullet across the room, with a blanket over my head, and he shut the door behind me.

Now what do we do? How in the heck do we get that freaking bat out of our house? Well, we walked around outside to the front door, opened it, and then waiting for the bat to fly out. Which he did, and it only took a few minutes actually. That stupid bat. That was probably one of the craziest things to ever happen.

(Cross posted @ Thoughts Outside My Head)

My daughter is seven years old, and she's desperately wanted a swingset for as long as I can remember. That child has always loved the swings. ALWAYS. When we'd take her to the park, she'd spend the entire time on the swings, and if we were able to pull her off of them and over to the slide? She'd slide down and then race straight back over to the swings, as if to say: "Are you happy now? I went down the slide! FOR YOU!! Now I'd like a push, please."

My daughter, who is an only child, also snubs almost any toy she gets. Moon Sand? She had to have it, played with it once. American Girl Doll? She couldn't live without Nicki (and her horse, and her dog), but really isn't interested in playing with her. Wii? No thanks. A bicycle? Sometimes. She's just not interested in any of them. However, give the kid an artbox and a pile of paper and she's making drawings and pictures until the cows come home. While she's extremely talented when it comes to drawing, she's a kid and she should go outside and play! Put down your markers and go run around! 

We decided to make her swingset dreams come true and we bought her a Rainbow Play System. This is where I tell you that we didn't specifically set out to buy her a Rainbow, but it ended up that way, and we could not be happier. It was installed on May 5th, and she's outside playing on it every chance she gets. Friends are popping up from the subdivision too, which is really nice to see because when we moved to Menomonee Falls we chose to keep our daughter in the school she was previously attending, which meant not living near school friends.

And the added bonus (besides the fact that she's watching a lot less Sponge Bob Squarepants and Hannah Montana)? The Rainbow is big enough so that I can play on it too. There's nothing like revisiting my own childhood on the swings for a while, and yes, I've even jumped off mid-swing. Wouldn't you?