Woof. I am wiped. Here in the thriving metropolis of Watson, population 211, we have taken to having Saturday afternoon pickup softball games. Usually we have about 15-20 players, a few spectators, a bagful of communal equipment, a cooler of pop and a cooler of beer. We lost 69-17 or something like that, but a good time was had by all, and we plan to continue as long as weather permits.

My ever so thoughtful hubby bought me a copy of the Drunken Master for my Birthday, so I got to watch that last night. I don't know why I love Jackie Chan so much. I really don't go in for action movies. Maybe it's the sense of humor all his movies have.

Well, first Brownie meeting actually went pretty well. We talked a little about the events of the past two weeks, made a little patriotic button thing, and played some international games out in the yard for a "Play Around the World" try-it (Brownie level merit badges). When I was a Scout, and walked up hill both ways selling my cookies in a snow storm, Brownies didn't have badges, and didn't sell any product. That was for the older girls. We just got to be cute and "Do a good turn daily." Worse things could happen.

Just watched Shanghai Noon. Fun. I've loved Jackie Chan since all he made was overdubbed Bruce Lee wannabe flicks. I've an itch to see The Drunken Master. If you get a chance to see the Bravo Profile of Jackie, it's a good watch.

Argh! I clicked the wrong button and lost my post!!! Oh well, life will go on, and I shall compose more pearls of wisdom.

We had a really great party last night. A fun, mellow, good time. We had karaoke en mass, lots of food, and a really nice turnout. Makes me want to do it more than once a year...

I have run out of steam, and I must go correct my children. Tomorrows new adventure: First Brownie Meeting. I bet I'll have LOADS of new insights this time tomorrow...

A week since I last posted. I teased a friend of mine about not posting, and she was quick to point out my dearth of entries. After 911, I felt very small and insignificant. What right have I to an opinion on anything when such things are happening on the planet? But then again, I bugged Ann because I am pleased to read the news in her life. They are on a house hunt, which also may seem like small potatoes, but I derive great pleasure from following their personal adventure to carve out a home of their own. And if any one of you out there gain a smile from something I write, I am pleased to help!
This will be a short one, tho. Almost time to pick up the teenager from the activity bus (Only goes as far as the next town up...sheesh), and cleaning now in preparation for Saturday's party. That and short on sleep. The town fire siren went off at 1:30 am, and 'tho it was only moments before we could watch the firemen heading to the hall, that eerie wail in the middle of a clear, still, night, in light of recent events, made for poor sleeping afterwards. Neither one of us got back to sleep until well after 3. I don't know how all 4 kids slept thru that. But I'm glad they did.

So, I flip the TV to BBC America for my daily dose of Ground Force and Changing Rooms, and I wonder, "Why are they showing these two big smokestacks?" Of course, it only took a few seconds to come up to speed on the story, and watch the story unfold, and the New York City skyline change before our very eyes. So anything witty or profound I had to say today has been amazingly overshadowed. See ya later.

Tonight I discovered that reruns of "...Millionaire?" are much more fun when watching with someone who has never seen the show before. Especially the celebrity version where they get to cheat.

Getting Thing 2 to bed earlier has not gone very well, but after a rocky start on Tuesday, she's actually been getting up and ready quite well. Hope she keeps up the good work.

Apparently, you can take the man out of politics... After yesterday's visit from the governor (I cannot find the correct spelling of "gubernatorial"? on dictionary.com. I once met a parrot that had been taught to say "gubernatorial". So now whenever we mention Jesse, I think of this bird...) my husband got himself involved in a discussion of broadband communication in the boondocks, with the current state representative, former US Representative, and current mayor (who had "Broadband What?" stamped across his forehead). Then KSAX pulled him aside for an interview, and he got hisself a TV spot on the 10 o'clock news, which I, of course, missed. Oh well.

Three more days to go, then I get a couple off. Whee! Until then, off to bed.

Aaaii! My husband is taking the computer to town! I must post now or be forced to type on an old, serviceable, completely functional but PAINFULLY SLOW Mac 7200. Aarrggh!

The G4 is going to do DJ duty in Downtown Monte tomorrow as Governor Jesse makes a milk run thru town. Got to keep the crowds entertained I guess. My friend John does not have much love for the Governor. I haven't paid much attention to him lately. Previously, there have been ideas of his I haven't agreed with, but he's made his point. I wasn't too happy about no public funding for the Guthrie, but then again, he also gave no public funding to professional athletics, so he was consistent on that point. What I don't like about Jesse is how defensive he gets about stuff. When a reporter takes him to task about something he can get his hackles up so quickly, even if he has a perfectly valid point, he spoils it for me with the defensive sheild.

Hubs covered the first day of school in his blog. Great pic of Thing3 mourning Bruno's loss to the school bus. Everyone came home happy, but I think we have to try an earlier bedtime for Thing 2. She got ready for bed and settled in before 9 as requested, but she was still heck to get up. Tonight we'll try 8:30. If no improvement, 8 pm tomorrow.

Well, I suppose I should wrap this up and start slowly weaning myself from the keyboard. Baby steps. Baby steps.

Spent Labor Day doing manual labor, of all the silly things... Got things accomplished, 'tho. I dug window screens out of my closet that have been there since before we bought the place, and lo and behold, I actually found room for clothes! Amazing. I've been watching home and garden shows way too much lately. I have a lovely large living room, but there are doors, built-in cabinets or archways on 3 sides, and I'm having an awful time getting it arranged the way I like. I am also a bit limited on furniture. I hate to make the TV the focal point of the room. We tried not even having it in the living room, but we couldn't find a spot where the whole family could comfortably watch a movie together, or have friends over for the ball game or something. Way in the future, after we win the lotto, we plan to redo the basement. Then I can have a family room and send the kids and their TV and the hockey table down there.

I have developed a weird fascination for Christopher Lowell on the Discovery Channel, and so has my husband. It's like driving by an accident, you just can't help but watch. He's a huge fruitcake, but he seems to be having an absolute ball, faux painting and decorating with fabric. He's an absolute hoot.

Well, off to accomplish more great things.

Well, having a much better week now.

Made a quickie trip to Watertown Saturday and got my brother's internet connection set up. The devil's in the typos. And spelling... Now I can chat with my bubbie Don, if I ever catch him online.

We made the state fair on Tuesday. I don't know why I like it, but I do. Now I just have little projects to keep me busy. I think our overnite trip to the lake is off because one of the other girls at work has a sick son at the UofM hospital, so I'll be working some extra shifts.

Trying to get some stuff lined up for *erk* taking over the third grade Brownie troop. Ayiyiyi! Meanwhile, still planning for a musical in February. Off to town for errands and a stop at the dance instructor's open house. Ta!

I am uninspired today. Been keeping up with Housework (ick!). Did a voiceover for my crabby husband. He was great all weekend, then turned into a big 'ol crabbypants. I don't much mind doing a VO, but he never once asked. I "had" to do it, and when he was ready for it, thankyouverymuch. He really hasn't once had an unreasonable thing to say, but the way he decides to say it is driving me up the wall. Ack. OK, 'nuff bitchin'.

Still waffling on the fair thing. Maybe Sunday, maybe Tuesday, maybe not. We'll see. I'd like to go, but it's starting to be a hassle.

I'm a regular ray of sunshine tonight, so I think I'll go was dishes.

Well, I must admit I was sadly disappointed by the small turnout for yesterday's variety show fundraiser. However, the show itself went off without a hitch, we had a great time, and I looked pretty good in a spangly dress loaned to me by a 15 year old. Albeit, I had on the heavy artillery of supportive undergarments. I had the figure of a 15 yr. old once, about 17 years ago. She had a lot of 15 year old friends come to see her perform, so Bruno met a whole bevy of ladies his age. I don't know if he quite knew what to do with himself.
The Lesters came out for the weekend to perform for the show and help install a new tub surround. There are people you just don't get to spend enough time with, and these folks are some of them. She and I were college roomies for a time, we saw each other through growing pains and sucky breakups. We stood in each other's weddings, had kids close together, and they are Thing 2's godparents. They live 2 1/2 hours away, so we try to get together for a long weekend whenever we can. We kick back and relax, order pizza, yell at each other's kids, and don't feel pressed to "entertain". Can't wait for the next visit.
I'd like to get to the state fair this year, if only to take Bruno, but we'll have to see what the money situation looks like. Eek. Usually there's at least one concert we want to go see at the fair, but this year the grandstand lineup sucks, in my opinion. The only thing remotely interesting is Ringo Starr and his All-Starr band.
Well, off to bed and back to work in the morning. I'm almost looking forward to a straight 40 hour work week. Nice to get back to a "normal" routine for a little while. Soon I'll be itching for the next show...

Had a good day today. Things are coming together nicely for the Variety show. Too cool. Now all we need is an audience...
So far we've taken Bruno to Marshall (met the gran'ma's D and Lee, and Pa DeSchep), Willmar (shopping), and the county fair (lame-o). Tonight, Dan and Tracy have him at the demolition derby at the fair, watching the wanton destruction of motor vehicles. I imagine myself looking at things thru the eyes of a newcomer to America. What a bizarre thought, destroying functional vehicles for entertainment. Bruno comes from a large city, so I know he's no babe in the woods, but there are certain things that just must not translate. My friend Darla's adolescent son and his friends were suitably impressed by Bruno. I got a kick out of watching him field the "Twenty Questions" session with relative grace.
The girls and their friends continue to tinker on the playhouse. I was hoping they wouldn't be disappointed by such a junky old thing, but they and the neighborhood kids have been having a grand old time fashioning doors and screens and furniture out of old junk. They show some real imagination. However, they incurred the wrath of dad by ripping out the ratty old carpet squares (not a problem) and strewing them about the yard (problem). Ah well, live and learn. (I hope).

Wow. Busy day, flew by!
Bruno spent most of the day in Monte with Hubs's best friend Dan and his stepson, Jesse. Nice for him to get in a little guy time. The girls really missed him, tho.

Yesterday, I bought a junky old playhouse for my kids. So far, they adore it. Today I dug out some old paint and brushes so they could paint it. I had them get ratty old paint clothes on. I explained to them how oil paint is different than latex, and to be careful not to get too much on them as we had to use paint remover to clean it off. I told them I'd be back in a minute to check on them, and I'd help them clean up when they were done. I expected them to spill some and make a little mess. I did not expect my 7 yr old to cover herself from fingertip to shoulderblade in Red Devil brand Bermuda Blue oil based enamel. Literally. There was no mistaking this for accidentally brushing herself with paint, or spilling it on her arm (both excuses she attempted to use) She was solid blue. Then, she and her older sister came in to wash a little of it off, snuck into the bathroom, and coated both sets of faucets and the towel rack in paint. Not, "Oops, I got some paint on the towel rack.", but, "Hey look, I can paint with my bare hands! I get great coverage, too!" Meanwhile, their 3 yr old sister continued to paint the playhouse, and actually came out the cleanest of the three. There was great wailing and gnashing of teeth. I made a big point of explaining that they would not be punished for making a mess, but for not using their common sense. At what point, when you've dipped your arm in the paint, do you stop and think, "Maybe this isn't such a good idea?" And when you reach that point, shouldn't you stop there, and not continue on to the other arm? Argh! Now I know, the argument about common sense coming from the mom who let her kids paint the playhouse in the first place might ring a little hollow to some of you, but I haven't made any judgment errors resulting in bodily harm or accidental death yet. I thought it would be fun for them. I intended to be there to help, but they got ahead of me. Here I thought it was gonna be a "Fun Mom" day. Instead I spent three rounds of mineral spirits and soap on the kids in the tub, then mineral spirits followed by comet on the tub itself. There is no blue left in the bathroom, and some of it was blue to begin with.
Off to bed now. We had a lovely fire in the yard tonight. The weather finally cooled off enough to let us use the firepit comfortably. Several marshmallows were sacrificed, and I must now go to perform the ritual cleansing, or I'll go to bed smelling like smoke, with marshmallow gook under my fingernails. Nitey nite.

The weather has broken, and I can sit here and comfortably type. It's been stiflingly hot and smotheringly humid. We installed central air last year, but we have a big old house, with 9 ft. ceilings on the bottom 2 floors, and no AC fan can blow cool air this far up. The register is under the desk, so you get nice cool feet, but the rest of the loft up here is like an oven. Hopefully once the sheetrock is done and we get a couple of ceiling fans installed, we can regulate the temp a little better. But it's finally comfortable up here tonight.

Bruno caught his first Minnesota fish tonight, a lovely, huge freshwater drum (thats a sheephead to most Minnesotans) He took a picture anyway. Hubs's friend Dan took them out to the lake. He got a small reprieve from the giggle party. They were off at Bible school for a few hours.

Bruno put that bike kiddie seat on for me, so Thing 3 got her first ride on it tonite. After slight trepidation at the wobbly feel of the bike, she thoroughly enjoyed herself.

I've been keeping busy getting the variety show ready to roll, so I shouldn't spend too much time here. It's too late to do much more tonight. I'll have to try to talk to people live tomorrow.

Off to watch the rest of Mr. Nice Guy. I'm a sucker for Jackie Chan, ever since the old dubbed or captioned movies. This must've been his first attempt at an English language movie, and it sucks. The actors are SO stilted. You wonder where they got them. But the action sequences are typically Jackie funny. He must've spent hours choreographing them. Wap wap paf!

*Whew* It's been busy. We got Bruno picked up. Check Hub's blog (now defunct) for more details there. We decided to run in Thursday night to avoid traffic and driving into the sun. Spent a nice night in a decent hotel close to the airport for not too much money. I figured we'd have to pawn one of the kids to afford a hotel that close, but there are a few bargains to be had, with enough effort.

These past couple days have been a lot of introductions for Bruno. Yesterday he met most of the Monte folk, and today my (real) brother and his wife came over from Watertown. Now I'm trying to catch up on some housework, and some laundry so I don't have to go to work naked tomorrow. You all have a good night!

I have been a domestic goddess. Cook n' clean, clean n' cook. Running to the cities Friday am to pick up Bruno at the airport. Yikes. It's too dang hot up here to write much, but I wanted to poke my head in. Cole Porter will spin in his grave if I sing "Too Darn Hot"
All of Minnesota is abuzz with news of Korey Stringer's death. 27 is to young to die. I am very sad for his wife and 3 yr old son. Aside from being a Pro-Bowl Tackle, it sounds as if he was an all- around nice guy. We wore our purple today.

Another productive day. What the heck is wrong with me? Hubs has been Mr. Motivated lately, and it's a bit contagious, I must say. We spent a bit of this afternoon cleaning the basement. It was nice and cool down there, but we've got about 50 years worth of the original owner's bits and pieces in the corners (the man saved-and labelled-everything, so if you need parts for a 1974 skil saw, just call) Add to that all our junk and bits of Cupertino all over the place, and its a bit of an endeavour. I got the cool mom award for catching a garter snake in the basement and letting the kids pet it before I took it out to the garden to eat my bugs. I'd rather have him in the basement than the spiders, but he did not look happy to be inside. I'm also 3 for 3 on toad catching once we ventured out into the yard after supper (Chinese buffet! Woohoo!--Thanks Pastor Robert!) Hubs and I got most of the front and south flowerbeds cleaned up. There's some nasty stinging thing in the back, so I got inventive and used the hedge trimmer (can't find the power cord to the weed whacker). We pulled and the kids hauled. Dumped weeds down the pit of the old outhouse. It's good for something. We are not very diligent gardeners, and this place sat empty for a few years before we got here last summer, so it's been slow going as we hack out.

My sister's method of gardening is working for me in a limited fashion. Every year she puts in tons of tomatoes and peppers, then ignores them. Weeds, drought or flood, every year she has TONS of food. I dug trenches and had the kids plant seeds I've been carrying around for a few years. I put in 2 tomato plants and waited. A lot of the stuff was too old and didn't come, and the beets and radishes went sideways instead of down--good leaves, no root. So far, we've had half a dozen nice tomatoes, and 5 summer squash and one zucchini. I had to pull out the zucchini plant because something was eating the roots and turned it to mush, but the squash plants themselves are all HUGE. Considering that I watered it once, and have pulled weeds very minimally (I went around and marked the plants, then mowed where they weren't) it's doing OK. This is the first year that patch was tilled, and it's too shady we found out after the fact, but so far--so good.

I'm in a much better mood today, but groggier. The second twelve hour night shift goes slower than the first. I cooked and putzed, and I am ready for bed now, but need to wind down a little.
Got news that my best friend from senior year has a new baby girl. Yay. Boy are they in for a good time. I get the baby itch once in awhile, then I remember how nice it is that all mine are out of diapers, finally. No more bottles or lugging a diaper bag. Well, I hear by the dulcet tones of my kids ("Get off me! Quit touching me") that the household is starting to waken, so I'll go pry them apart and give 'em a little mommy time before I settle in.

Coffee...

On the night shift for the weekend. The work is fine, it's just getting adjusted to the weird hours. I feel fuzzy for a couple of days.

So far the response from the families has been guarded about our exchange student. We're broke. What's new? We feed the kids and we get by. Students are coming here to learn, and part of that is learning not all Americans have split level walkouts with 3 car garages. It's a lot of responsibility. Duh. So are three daughters. Pish. Oh well, gotta keep a positive outlook despite the grumbling.

I actually got a good bit done today. Scrubbed out the spare room downstairs and gathered some furniture from about the house to put together a room for Bruno. It still needs a coat of paint, but we'll let him choose that. If we hate it, paint is twelve bux a gallon, and we'll change it when he leaves.

The best part of my day, tho, was talking to an old high school friend for the first time in 16 years. I get a quarterly alumni newsletter from my high school. It's usually a buncha "happy horsesh*t", as my sainted mother would say. "Here's all the economic development going on in town, don't you want to bring your business and tax dollars here?" But last time it mentioned that a favorite teacher had been in touch with my friend Jennifer ('85) and she is a successful author in SanFrancisco. (Of course, all LHS grads are highly successful and deleriously happy, to read the Alum news reports) So I emailed them to get her address about a month ago, and they sent it today. I tracked down her phone number online and called her. Gawd that was fun. We were neighbors my junior year of high school (her senior). She was smart, and funny and talented. She acted, played on the boy's baseball team, and took her biology experiment on fruit flies to the National Science Fair. She was outspoken and nonconforming, and no-one understood her, and like everything they don't understand, they feared and rejected her, and her family. They were the only Jewish family in a pasty white Minnesota farming town. Her little brother was in junior high, which is hard enough without a bunch of other little prepubescent creeps who've just found out the one thing that will always make you different than the other kids at school. Human beings are cruel and stupid creatures. Between whale jumping and name calling, we have some pretty strange habits... Anyway, digression aside, I've often thought of her over the years, and it was so much fun to catch up, compare kids, and find out she's done pretty well for herself. You go, girl!
I'm trying to stay up late tonight to acclimate myself to nightime hours for my weekend night shifts, but everyone else has gone to bed and it's kinda lonely to be the only one up. Maybe I'll do some online window shopping... I need slipcovers to cover where the rabbit chewed the sofa. Hmmmmm.