Fall Into Winter

Ummm...I started this in like November! I thought I'd go ahead and post it since it was sitting there waiting. I'm not gonna reformat or see if I'm missing pictures that go with the text.

I have to start this by saying that the weather in Salt Lake has been so wonderful this year. Tons of snow at the beginning of the year, a cool spring perfect for new plantings in my yard, a warm but not too warm summer and one hell of a fantastic fall. I think this is the longest falls I’ve ever experienced her. Truly amazing. Now we have snow and I'm trying to accept that winter is finally here. Had a good run that's for sure.

We had a fun September with Robby’s birthday party. I did a good job of not cleaning up as the party was happening like I usually do, which is much more conducive to me actually being a part of the party! I still spent a lot of time in the kitchen chatting up people on their way to somewhere else. Oh, and Robby had fun too.

October was by far the most fun month of the year! We went to St. George to go hiking and visit with our family.

My Uncle Larry and Aunt Jai love to see the boys and as you can see here the boys have a great time too! We brought a bunch of garden tomatoes down and exchanged them for some real beer from Mesquite! Thanks Uncle Larry!

We also visited with Robby’s grandparents. Here’s a cute picture of Robby IV, the boys and Robby's grandad Robert Crosier Morehead II. Sometimes I think it would have been so funny if we called the boys Robert Crosier Morehead the V & VI.

The boys put a couple Spongebob Squarpants puzzles together with Grandad which was fun to watch.

And Zion. Just seeing this picture makes my heart sing. So far, of the places I’ve experienced, Zion is my favorite place and lucky for me it’s mere hours away! We went on the Observation Point hike and it was wonderful. I highly recommend it. The boys had a great time building cairns and looking for lizards. It was so thrilling trying to keep them from falling to their deaths! Okay, that part wasn’t that fun, but didn’t last too long. The hike is varied with lots of stopping points for discovery with the boys. The complete hike is 4 miles up, 4 miles back. We made it 2 miles up, 2 miles back which I thought was awesome considering the boys are still quite small for a hike of that length.

We spent a lot of time playing outside in October with the neighborhood kids. Here are the boys with Zach and Quinn in some leaves that Zach’s sister raked up. Can you believe Zach is Quinn’s uncle? I always get a kick out of that.

Eli and Charlie just love Zach and he plays really well with them, which means he tolerates their pushiness. Zach really rolls with the punches...literally!

This year is probably the best year for holiday celebration with the boys by far. They really got into Halloween and even decorated a couple aloe plants in their room. My mom likes to buy the boys bugs, animals and such which they put to many uses. I never imagined they’d decorate the house plants with them, and it turned out really cute.

Down below you can see my great-aunt Millie's dog bank. When she passed my Grandma had it in her place. When my grandma passed I was able to aquire it. It reminds me of Millie and Grandma and the boys use it regularly to save money.

And Halloween was so much fun because Jackie moved back to Salt Lake City just two days before! We had my mom over too and I made Market Street’s Clam Chowder and served it in tasty bread bowls. Now that I know I can make it I'll have a hard time ordering it! Soup and bread bowls are now a family tradition for Halloween.

The weather held out and the boys went trick-or-treating and had a great time. I sat on the porch drinking wine, hassling the kids who can’t be bothered to dress up! Good times.

At the end of October we also finally got our hands on an Obama – Biden yard sign. I think this was an exciting election and obviously historic for our country. It was great to see the nation get up off its duff and show some passion, no matter what side people were on.

Right before Thanksgiving was my mom’s birthday. I never know what to get her…or rather, I don’t know what I can afford that she’d like. She loves jewelry! So instead of jewels and gold, I thought maybe we’d send her up in a very small plane with a man she’s never met!

Actually, she loves to fly and will say “the smaller the plane the better.” Our friend Scott is a pilot and goes flying all the time so he graciously, under pressure from his wife (smile) said he could fly my mom around for a couple hours. She was really was surprised. Speechless in fact. She had a great time and said it was a dream come true to get to have that experience again.

Isn’t this pic so cool. It’s Annalyn (the aforementioned wife of Scott) holding Charlie, with my mom and then me taking a picture in the background.

Over the past week the sky here has been overcast quite a bit. The other day I was in the kitchen and as the sun was setting it was able to break through the clouds and created quite the dramatic scene outside. I ran out and snapped this shot of my neighbor Libbey’s house. I love the golden sunlight on the trees up against the dark clouds.

And finally, the boys in a rare moment sleeping together on the sofa. And Eli up to his favorite pastime.

Obsessed

I've had an account on Facebook for some time now, but much like MySpace, I just wasn't that interested for a long time.  Didn't get it, didn't want to.  I don't know what exactly happened, but suddenly I'm on that damn Facebook all the time.  Wondering what everyone's up to, who's got a status update, who's commenting on photos.  Good grief.  I ask myself why do I care if someone's going to dinner or why do I feel like sharing that I'm fixin to go to the gym.  Dunno, but it sure has been fun and I feel a tad obsessed.

So that's where I've been.  Over there on Facebook updating my status.  Even Robby is Facebooking, but his privacy is super strength so good luck finding him!

Tonsils A Go Go

I thought I’d post the full story on Robby’s surgery to get his tonsils out since it was such a big event for us this month. Background: Robby had been suffering from regular sore throats and it was getting annoying. He went to an Ear/Nose/Throat doctor who took one look at his tonsils and said ‘those are some of the ugliest tonsils I’ve ever seen!’ The surgery was scheduled.

Of course we were both nervous about it…the anesthesia, the sore throat that WILL be coming, etc. My mom came over to watch the boys for the day and we headed up to the hospital. Without the camera, of course! I’m still annoyed with myself for that. The check-in process was smooth and no delays. Next it was surgery prep which I knew would involve an IV and me and needles are arch enemies…let alone needles that stay for a visit and don’t leave immediately! I couldn’t watch. Off to surgery he went and off to the waiting area I went. Got caught with the most fabulous vacation spots on earth thanks to National Geographic Adventurer magazine.

The doctor came in and said everything went great! I was so happy. About an hour later Robby came out of recovery talking…words…coming out of his mouth. I was shocked. He then made phone calls to his folks. Again with the talking thing. I thought he wouldn't be able to talk for a while. I went and got some prescriptions filled, which included a large amount of Percocet and we both thought there was NO WAY he would get through it (silly us.) We left the hospital and Robby wants to get Crown Burger. First talking, now Crown Burger? I’m confused. This is going way better than expected! My mom said it was the shot of Demerol…the affects of surgery haven’t hit him yet. Robby even told me that maybe I didn’t need to take full days off work!

After a day or so of semi-normal behavior he started acting sick and tired. It’s a good thing I didn’t go back to work. The Percoset made him loopy. He would have moments where he wanted to do something crazy like mow the lawn and then he’d be down for the count. Perfect timing for watching the Olympics. Next thing you know his uvula (dangly thing in the back of your throat) grew to a very abnormal size. It was practically choking him and thus began the sleepless nights. The back of his throat was also covered in a white film…maybe you can just imagine it since I don’t have pics.

I had to go to Charleston, so I left him to fend for himself with the boys for a few days. Our good friends Susan and Koji brought dinner over one night, my mom brought it the next night. Thanks so much! Now I can’t remember what they did the third night I was gone. Anyway, they all survived and I got home just in time for Robby to return to work. The next two weeks were difficult for Robby due to side effects of the pain pills and gigantic uvula induced insomnia and being back to work. No sleep + work + kids = crabby Robby.

He's finally feeling good and is sleeping again. It’s such a relief. And thus ends the tonsil story. Sorry no pics.

I do, however, have some cute pics of our friends from the Philippines, A and Josh, during their visit to Salt Lake City in June. The boys LOVED them and loved the combo pizza Josh got at Costco and loved visiting them at their hotel room! I’m throwing in a bonus pic of myself and A in the office for fun.

30 Days Later...

I realize it's been a month since I posted last and it's been a busy one. My M.I.L. Jackie was here (wish she was always here), followed closely by Robby having surgery to remove his tonsils (glad it's over), I took a business trip to Charleston, SC for a few days (lovely place) and then recovering from all that (we were damn tired!) And the boys are oblivious to all of this so they keep on plugging away at being 4 which adds to the aforementioned tiredness. 

Just when we thought the fun would never end, we invited an expensive, but prompt plumber over to our house Saturday afternoon.  Then we went with Robby's work group to a baseball game on Saturday night. All was going well until my boys knocked the lady in front of us with the stadium provided and sanctioned thunder sticks one too many times.  She became hateful towards my boys, me, our friend Jemma and her son Ryan. The 4yr olds were having fun and that pissed her off! That lady is lucky I didn't open a can of whoop-ass on her. She said a few choice words including fat and bitches. She was asking for a girl brawl, but I kept my cool, suppressed my stadium rage and simply called her an idiot and left it at that. 

On a less aggressive note, we wrapped up the tiring month with a pretty great block party last night. We did a dual hosting with our across-the-street neighbor Libbey and her husband Erick. We ended up barricading the ends of the street to general traffic which gave everyone freedom to wander around and visit. Which was great considering there was probably 50-60 people (including kids) in attendance. Everyone lingered and all in all I'd say it was a success. We've got FANTASTIC neighbors and everyone was willing to pitch in and help which was best at clean up time.

Anyhoo, we're looking forward to getting back to our normal levels of craziness. School starts again here in a couple weeks. Robby and the boys are going to need to adjust their leisurely mornings a bit. For me it's same old, same old with work, the gym, keeping up my end of house hold chores, etc. Yep, regular old craziness.

So I thought I'd share some pics of things about the house the last few weeks. Most of them are from the garden, which has been our place of peace during the difficult days of the last month. Some of the pics don't have great focus, but you'll get the idea.

This picture is for our friend Laura, who recently moved with her husband to Guam. Something about poisonous sea snails. They're scientists so there's no telling what they're up to with our tax money! :)  Turns out this beautiful blue pot weighed too much to ship to Guam so it's ours now. I just love it with the hot pink petunias! Thanks Laura!

Here's our window well of sweet basil. It's total bumper crop this year. The window well is the PERFECT place for just the right amount of sun and shade in this here desert climate. Want some pesto? We got your pesto. Really, let me know if you want some pesto. It's not dairy free, but we can make it dairy free upon request. It's actually less effort that way.

And here's my man.  He's growing his beard til his throat feels 'normal' again. I told him this would be a great Facebook profile pic.  He's all 'what's Facebook?'  And I'm all 'what, do you stay home with kids all day or somethin?' 

Here's a couple pics of my most glamorous plant arrangement to date.  It's dramatic and a great focal point in the back yard. It makes me think of Hawaii. I just love it and I'm crazy for the blue pot. I got it at Costco a couple years ago. Costco knows just what I want.  Ooooh them!

Me with the maroon hibiscus in the front yard. I used think I had a moon shaped face, but as you can see my round face is perfectly matched to the hibiscus plant!

Charlie pulling a face with the hibiscus. The flower looks good next to all types of faces.

Our garden bounty on our new little mini buffet in the kitchen. Found it at a place on the western edge of downtown SLC called CJ Sparks. They claim to sell furniture with soul. Which means it was expensive, slightly broken and dirty, but it was the EXACT dimensions we needed for this space so SOLD! Also it has sliding doors which helps us maximize the space.

Eli and Charlie with a couple of cukes each. We've got so many we can spare a few to be used for toys, huh Lisa? Okay that's an inside joke, but I'm sure you can figure out the innuendo. 

A shout out to Aunt Melissa! We love giving her props. Not sure if the White Sox are still in the running or what, but last time I heard both the Sox and the Cubbies were doing great. Go Chicago!

Eggplant. These have been great plants this year.  They are beautiful and shiny deep purple.  I can't decide how the plants can manage such large eggplant without breaking or leaning over. Beautiful and strong.

Lots of cukes this year.  This is actually a spare plant our neighbors Bryan and Marianne gave us. It's producing well and I'm eating a cucumber a day...no lie! 

And a sprawling plant called Aunt Molly's ground cherry.  Google it.  I think it's Brazilian.  It's got a crazy pineapple/strawberry/something-from-Brazil flavor.  It's berries look like tomatillos in the husk.  The boys like to rummage around in it for a snack. I ordered a bunch of tomatoes plants and this plant from Seed Savers Exchange. Hey I figured out how to make a hyper link or whatever it's called!

A HUGE gold medal tomato (heirloom from Seed Savers) that finally turned from green to yellow a couple days ago.  It was a easily 2-3 pounds, I swear. I told Annalyn I could hurt her with it. She said 'you wouldn't do that' and I said you never know what I might do (see note above about baseball game.)

My beloved okra.  Grow okra, grow! We're stowing each little pod in the fridge. Saving them up so I can make some curry to serve over a fraction of the 2 thousand pound bag of Jasmine rice Robby thought we should buy at Costco. Want some Jasmine rice? After the curry I'll only have 1.9999 thousand pounds left. 

This is a pink Dahlia.  It's a dinner plate variety, or something like that.  They really are large and stunning.  Especially in the same corner of the yard with the pink hibiscus...pictured below. Imagine my big head next to this flower. I just know it would look great!

Finally, I would like to invite all you Salt Lakers to the Dowtown Farmer's Market at Historic Pioneer Park this Saturday. It's official, I'll be volunteering for the Local First organization. We should be up towards the northeast corner of the park. I'm excited to join my friend of many years and Local First's director, Alison, for the day in support of our local businesses and farmers. Maybe we'll see you there!

And I think that's a wrap. I'm tired again. Hopefully I won't be away another month, but who knows what I might do...

Summertime Pics

Here's a few random pics.

Charlie, BFF Zach and Eli.

Charlie and Eli starring in Gogglemania!

Charlie showing off his 4th of July obsession.

Eli and Robby at the 4th of July party.

Robby and Regina hanging out on July 4th.

Debbie and her husband hosted the party!

Regina and Robby with our Filipina friend Natz!

I'm like a freakin' Amazon compared to her.

Annalyn on a tricycle. Not a bad fit actually.

Luck Be a Lady

A note from the star of the show at the Big Fat Greek and Armenian Wedding, the bride:

Soooo you will never guess what I found..?!?!?! I found your glasses (YAY) they are sitting on my desk so if you have a chance to come over you know where they are =)

I'm thinking I should seriously consider that Fun Bus to Wendover next Friday. Either I really am golden, or I should quit while I'm ahead. Whadya think?

A Big Fat Greek and Armenian Wedding

A day or so after the following story happened Robby asked me about blogging it. I told him I felt too dumb about it. That was true, but it also shook me up pretty good and my nerves were still settling. A couple weeks out and I’m back to my normal levels of feeling dumb and ready to share. I'm being really bad about getting pics, but I'll really try.

At the end of June, we attended the wedding of our friends Levon and Rashelle. We were so excited to attend because it was going to be at the Greek Orthodox Church downtown and the reception was going to be a real party. The wedding ceremony was beautiful and traditional.

After the ceremony we headed down to the reception at the Greek Market. Upon arrival the tables were set with bottles of wine and lots of appetizers including hummus, pita, yogurt dip, tasty phyllo pastry squares, dolmades and more. It was awesome and I didn’t hold back because my mistake is always not eating enough when I’m getting my drink on. And drinking was my plan.

The music and dancing began. The drinking continued which means I started dancing. There was some traditional Greek and/or Armenian music being played so there was lots of dances where the women held hands and kicked their legs. I was feeling all full of myself in my cute new dress (I'm sure someone has pictures...I'm brilliant and didn't bring a camera) and strappy sandals and cute earrings (thanks Brianne!) dancing the night away. Our friend Julie and I really got into a couple traditional dances with a lot of clapping each others hands and doing turns and such. It was super fun. And it was super fun until I sat down to take a rest and ran finger across my ring, looked down because something didn’t feel right and saw two black holes where diamonds used to be. The fun abruptly came to a crashing halt. This is the ring my Grandmother wore probably every day for 60 years. This is the ring my family gave to me when my Grandmother passed in January. This is my Grandmother’s wedding ring.

Panic rapidly set in and partly because I didn’t want to cause a stink at someone’s wedding, but I desperately needed to look for them. It was dark and the carpet is casino-like. Not good conditions. Needless to say Robby and I started searching the floor around our table. He quickly found the smaller of the two stones and I ran to the bathroom because I had just washed my hands. Nothing. I looked around the edge of the dance floor and luckily found the larger stone. Whew, I was so relieved. We ended the night and headed home. Disaster averted. How lucky am I? I’m golden.

When we got home I told my mom what happened and showed her the ring and stones. She said she didn’t think the smaller stone looked large enough. I poo-pooed her because that’s what I do and went to bed. The next day I took out the ring and tried to set the stones in the ring. The larger stone sat perfectly in place. The smaller stone fell straight through the setting. Not even close. It was clearly not the right stone. And on closer inspection I’m thinking this is a decorative rhinestone off someone’s dress. What are the chances of needing to find a diamond and finding something that looks just like a diamond under your dinner table? Not so golden anymore.

I call the reception hall knowing they would be closed on Sunday, but I had to try. The message said they’d be closed from June 30th to July 21st for renovation and in case of emergency to call such and such number. My heart sank. I called the emergency number and left my plea for help on voicemail. I called the groom and he said the owner actually left to go to Canada for a month! Seriously Canada and a renovation? Oh hell.

I FINALLY got in touch with the owner on the emergency line and he said I could meet his wife at the store the next day when she was letting the carpet cleaners in. I thought Canada was bad news, but carpet cleaners are really bad news. Waiting for the next day was one of the worst 24 hours of my life! I restlessly slept and dreamt about how I would search, going through strategies and wondering if I’d lost the diamond forever. I was beating myself up for wearing the ring in the first place. What was I thinking?

We got to the market as the cleaners were setting up. They were walking all through the area, dragging hoses, cords and equipment. Exactly what you don’t want to see when you’re on hands and knees hunting with flashlights for a diamond. I was searching in the area where I found the first diamond, but wasn’t having any luck until I found another one of those damn rhinestones! Who the hell wore the rhinestones?! Robby was looking where we were first seated, but nothing. He walked over to me and looked down and there behind me, between the vacuum hose and extension cords running across the floor he spotted the second stone. I was so panicked about finding it that I just couldn’t believe it. Not after finding another of those rhinestones. I needed verification. So I went to get the ring out of my purse to verify this was the real deal and place it in the setting. I can’t find the ring. Where’s the ring? I JUST HAD THE F-ING RING!! I cannot believe I've lost the entire ring! Robby says “ummmm…it’s on your finger.” Oh for Christ’s sake. I dropped the diamond into the hole and it fit. To say I was relieved is an understatement. I know this will sound dramatic, but try to imagine me being dramatic, okay? I really felt like I could now have my life back. It was being held hostage in the Greek Market on 33rd South and State.

Turns out I was all about losing things the night of Levon and Rashelle’s wedding. I also lost my prescription sunglasses that night. When we were at the market I asked the owner if she’d seen them. She said she hadn’t. I didn’t press the issue or even really look around because I felt my luck had run it’s course. I went to Costco this weekend and ordered some new sunglasses. It’s been hell the last couple weeks without them and it cost me $100 to replace them, but it’s a price I happily paid for being one lucky, lucky girl.

June Wrap Up

We had a really great time having friends and family over for a weekend of celebration which began with a BBQ for our friends Jory & Joey and the following day for the boys’ 4th birthday party. The birthday party on that Saturday went smoothly and it was fun to see all the kids playing together, having pizza and cake. We finished off the official birthday weekend on Monday the 9th by playing on the grass in the front yard together with Danilo and Melissa. The boys opened a couple small gifts we saved for their ‘real’ birthday. All in all it was a wonderful birthday celebration.

During our week of vacation we all ended up being sick at one point or another, but I’m happy to say it didn’t bring me down. I’m trying to go with the flow more often and not let throwing up for hours set the tone for my entire week's vacation! It didn’t hurt that the weather made a turn for summer so I was just happy to be at home with my family enjoying the sunshine. Robby got our bikes up and running so we ended the week with some nice bike rides around the hood.

Last week we spent a lot of time with our lovely friends A and Josh from the Philippines. The boys have always had a special connection with another of our friends from the Philippines, Hazel, but I think A and Josh are very serious contenders for the boys’ affection. Especially Josh. Oh Josh. Josh this, Josh that. Where’s Josh? Is Josh coming to Costco? YAY Josh is coming to Costco! Charlie cried and cried at Costco when I took over the pushing of the grocery cart from Josh. It was all terribly sweet. And Eli seemed to enjoy teasing A about her name. Is it B? Is it C? In a few weeks another friend from Manila will be here. She’s gonna have to bring out the big guns.

This past Saturday Robby and I rode our bikes to the downtown Farmer’s Market. Robby hauled the boys in their trailer behind his bike. It was a really nice ride and it only made it more apparent how close we actually live to downtown Salt Lake City. Of course we know we live close and that’s a big reason why we love our neighborhood, but now that we’ve taken the dive I think we’ll be biking into town much more often. I see a date night to the Gateway via bicycles coming on.

Also our garden is well underway. I’m looking forward to having more produce than I know what to do with. I’m especially excited for our tomatoes this year. We’ve got about 8 different varieties. After we’ve tried them all I’ll report the results. Martha Stewart opened our eyes to the tomato tart and summer hasn’t been the same since.

I can’t believe June is already coming to a close and the 4th of July is next week?!? I have really enjoyed this month. It’s been a breath of fresh air between the birthday celebration with our family and friends, our friends in town from the Philippines, the bicycle riding and our garden. Love ko ’to. I watched too many McDonalds ads in Manila.

p.s. Sorry I'm lacking pics. I'm lucky I mustered up this post. I'll get some pics together and post them in the next couple of days...or weeks...or months.

24, 24 Hours to Go-oh-oh

I just love that Ramone's song!

Seriously, we are a mere 24 hours away from having Jackie at our home. I've got the boys doing the countdown and they are getting so excited. We all miss Jackie so much. We're looking forward to seeing you! And I'm looking forward to going to Target...alone. Thank GAWD!

This time of year is so fun for us because we get to see our family AND it's the boys' birthday. On Friday Uncle Danilo and Aunt Melissa arrive and so does our Uncle Larry and hopefully Aunt Jai. It's a Celic fest which means 1) make more coffee 2) what's our next meal going be? and 3) I am right, I AM and you cannot prove me wrong!

Looking forward to everyone coming to town!

One Hour of Bliss

I've been working on lightening my load for the past two years. It's been quite the challenge and harder than I'd expected for sure. I've hit several plateaus and had to work out longer, increase the intensity of my workouts and alas, cut calories. The calorie cutting has been the hardest of all. For whatever reason, getting my hiney to the gym has been much easier than watching what I'm eating. Really it's how much I'm eating more than anything.

Anyhoo, I went to Old Navy yesterday looking for some summer bottoms as most of the ones I have are too big. Can't complain about being in that position, however new clothes happen to cost money and I'm a cheap one these days. All the shorts were on sale, but of course the linen pants I wanted were not.

When I tried the pants I was was thrilled and would have paid twice as much for them because they were size I was about 8 years ago! Which shall not be revealed on the internet. I'll just say I've lost approximately 40lbs and am feeling full of myself. The full of myself part is causing quite the expense these days, but I think I'm worth it.

When the weather clears up I'll have Robby take some pictures of me in the garden, which is also looking really awesome these days. I'm bragging and it feels good :)

An Innocent Case of Crabs

The boys recently got crazy robot hands and crabs in a special delivery from Jackie. That's right, crabs...and robot hands. It's weird how well they work together. 

They were outside playing with the crabs and were chucking them in trees and on roofs, you know the most inconvenient of places to get them down from. I quickly tired of retrieving the and wanted to gather them up so they don't 'lose' them again. Being the jokester I am around my mostly socially conservative neighbors I said in a booming voice "give me your crabs!" Two neighbor friends were in the yard with me and were all "seriously Regina!?! They love me...or figure I'm not leaving anytime so they'll play along with the crazy girl next door.

So as I'm writing this, Charlie is throwing something all around the office and I ask him to stop throwing whatever it is. He said "it's not something to throw...it's just a crab. It's just a crab Mommy." Hmmm. I guess that's kid rationale for ya.

Okay, so here are some random photos where the boys are not showing you their crabs!

Here's Charlie & Eli wearing hats that friends Kyle and Eli gave them. Their mom, Beth, told Eli he could have the dino hat if he promised he'd always wear it that way (that is, backwards) and he agreed. And here's proof he's keeping his word.

This is what I found goin down under Eli's cover one night recently. This is his all-time favorite thing to do. I've heard from grown boys that this is to be expected to continue to be an all-time favorite thing to do. 

When he was still in diapers we'd tease and call him DIAPER DIGGER, DIAPER DIGGER! We're like playground bullies with our own kids! Heaven help us. Diaper Digger may need therapy at some point for the hassling he's receiving.

The next two are for Jackie. Robby took these during your visit to the park in April. The cats at the park are kind of cute in a disturbing kind of way. The boys like to sit on their heads.

Eli, Charlie, and their BFF Zach eating popsicles on the front porch tonight. Charlie squeezes his out too far almost every time and ends up losing about a quarter of his treat. 

Zach was running and fell and his popsicle splatted ALL OVER his face. Turns out Orange Dream ain't so dreamy in your eyes. He looked like he'd been slimed. And the fact that he was wailing inconsolably until I could get him wiped a little only enhanced the experience for everyone.

And lastly, here's Charlie doing his best Hot Lips Houlihan. Still happy because this is before he lost his Cherry Melon treat.

Have a great weekend!  We'll be tilling the garden with 'our' new community tiller. The dream of time-share tiller ownership is now a reality. Woot! 

FYI for you...yeah YOU!

If you'd like to leave a comment, but don't feel like making a user name and password, you can go to the comments area and choose Anonymous for your 'identity'.  

If you want to identify yourself you can sign your name like Marianne (Hi Marianne!) did in Comments on the previous post :)

It's great fun to read the comments and I don't want anyone to not post because of the annoyance of a password, etc.

CHICAGO - The Personality NOT the Musical

A quote from a book I recently read:

Many of the people I now count as friends apparently had to overcome some initial repugnance toward my supposedly radioactive personality. Though I’ve never completely understood it, over the years I’ve come up with a few theories to explain this intriguing phenomenon. People are thin-skinned.

This struck me because I cannot even tell you how many times I’ve been told something along the lines of: “you used to scare me” or “you were sooo mean to me” or “I thought you were a real bitch when we first met.” I always find this so funny because these people are clearly still talking to me years later, and are often really good friends. Apparently they decided the pros outweighed the cons and got over it at some point. Or maybe the con (aka my personality) became the pro?

I know I can be up front, abrupt, honest, rude or whatever you want to call it. Robby refers to my ‘radioactive’ personality as CHICAGO. I’ll give him some sass and he’ll say “ooo-kay CHICAGO!” I suppose that the term one chooses for my personality is directly proportionate to how big a pussy you are. Oh, I meant to say thin-skinned. :)

So here are my questions:
Are you spoken to so pointedly about your personality? It can’t be just me…can it?

How do people say they remember you when they first met you?
(Janice no need to answer this one, I already know…you bitch!)

Don't Say A Prayer for Me Now...

One of Katie's posts really got me thinking about the concerts I've attended over the years and all the really fun memories that go along with them. Then I remembered my memory isn't what it used to be! So I'm taking this opportunity to document the shows I can remember, in no particular order, and add notes when I'm feelin' it. The spelling will be poor no doubt.

This is not a complete list, I am certain. Form opinions as you wish. As I remember more and/or find ticket stubs I'll update my list for posterity:

Rick Springfield - my first concert ever. Starkville, Mississippi. My dad brought me and a friend. He stayed for the show cause he was a real music lover and I recall him saying it was one of the best shows he ever saw. Still have Rick's Working Class Dog album on vinyl.

Radiohead - @ DV8 in Salt Lake City for $0.96...yes 96 cents, but really $1 cause they didn't give change. Awesome, awesomeness.

Beck - @ DV8 in Salt Lake City. Not sure if it was one of the $0.96 shows, but either way the venue couldn't have been cooler. He was touring for his debut album.

Smashing Pumpkins - their touring for Siamese Dream totally rocked. I got to see them 3 times while they were on the road for it. Fairgrounds in Salt Lake City, Lolapalooza tour twice...once @ some arena in Las Vegas (hotter than a mother-F-er outside) and again in Mountain View outside SFO, CA, again another summer at the Tibetan Freedom Concert in Golden Gate Park, SFO and lastly not my favorite show of theirs and mostly because of the venue...@ the Delta Center in SLC.

Nirvana - in Ogden, UT @ the Golden Spike Arena. What can I say? An evening I'll remember forever. I was blown away.

Beastie Boys - again, Lolapalooza Las Vegas and SFO. Sabotage was AMAZING and I'm not all into that song, but they rocked it hard.

The Breeders - Ogden, UT and the Lolapalooza tour in Las Vegas and SFO. I swear that Lolapalooza tour was crazy ass good. I recommend they do a reunion tour the lot of 'em.

Morrissey - I missed out on the Smiths...just a little too young, but caught Morrissey in Chicago. He's a pompous ass, but I love him.

New Order & Echo and the Bunnymen - I keep thinking Depeche Mode was there and I keep seeing Dave Gahan wearing white pants. Anyway, can't remember the venue...in the Chicago burbs. It had been raining and flooding around our house for days before the concert. We were lucky to get to the concert with the water everywhere. In my memory this was a magical evening. I probably felt all heroic making it out of my neighborhood to go.

Duran Duran - I lived and breathe Duran Duran starting in probably 6th grade. Posters plastering my walls...literally. I finally got to see them in Chicago my senior year in high school. A friend of mine had read once, years before in Tiger Beat or some such mag, that they like to stay at the Ambassador East hotel in downtown Chicago. Her mom was a travel agent and booked us a room. It's true, they DO like the Ambassador East! OMG when the elevator opened and Simon Le Bon waltzed in I really almost shit my pants. He's not as cute as I had thought. But John Taylor really IS hot. It wasn't just my hormone numbed brain. And Nick Taylor really does wear a ton of makeup and has his hair all done up. Anyway, yeah...nothing like 'Save a Prayer' and 'The Reflex' live.

R.E.M. - @ UIC Pavillion in Chicago. Touring for Life's Rich Pagaent. Really, really cool.

Ministry - Lalopalooza in an outdoor arena in Wisconsin somewhere. I never, ever would have believed it would be so damn good. Really. They weren't the headliners, but they sure acted like it and I think just about everyone in that stadium was shocked by the awesomeness and loved every second of it.

Sinead O'Connor - @ the Metro in Chicago. She ain't foolin' around. I'd never before nor since witnessed such a thing. The place was packed and she was just belting it out with the entire crowed standing completely still and just staring at her. What we really needed were chairs to relax in. As I recall Nothing Compares 2 U was getting to be big at the time and it was great to see her in a relatively intimate setting.

Random Rundown -

The Sundays, Love & Rockets, Psychedelic Furs, The Cure, Duran Duran, Charlatans UK, Primal Scream, Liz Phair, Tori Amos, The The, Pearl Jam, The Revolting C*cks (this is a family oriented website:), The Jesus & Mary Chain, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bjork, Jane's Addiction, New Order, Echo & the Bunnymen, Depeche Mode, Fine Young Cannibals, Bob Seger, Zwan, U2, Tricky (almost intolerable), Shonen Knife, Weezer, Elastica, the Black Crows, L7, the Verve, Green Day

...to be continued.

I never saw The Grateful Dead, but I did hang in the parking lot at what I think was their last time at Soldier Field in Chicago.

Who I'd love to see, but haven't gotten to yet? The White Stripes and The Shins.

Who I'd love to see if they came to town, but I'm probably too cheap to buy tickets and/or am so clueless I'd never know they were here? The Dixie Chicks, Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, Mary J. Blige, Prince.

Who I'd swear I've seen, but can't muster a super solid memory, so I can't say for sure, but I'll write them down just in case: B-52's, Stone Roses, Foo Fighters, Cracker, Edie Brickell, Mazzy Star.

The Birds & The Bees

The boys from time to time ask about babies and themselves as babies and being in my stomach. The conversations are usually pretty funny because the boys are so innocent and cute. One time Charlie asked if he could get back in! I was all 'dude, that’s creepy.'

The other day the conversation came up again, so I grab my bookmark, which is a picture of me busting 8 months pregnant with my shirt up, showing my full glory and tell them “See Mommy’s belly? Charlie and Eli are in there.” Eli answered “Mommy, did you eat us?”

Not wanting to get Robby and I into an in-depth conversation about baby making, I just chose the laughing route, which quickly led to Charlie asking if Robby can have a baby. Even if Robby could have a baby do you think he would? Did you see his broken hand kid? Not sure we'll be eating anymore kids for a long, LONG time.

Life's a Bitch...Really, She Is!

Well, Jackie has come and gone.  Geesh that went fast.  The boys had a great time having Jackie in town and going to visit her at the hotel. They got in some swimming and plenty of play time. 

Robby and I went to Wendover on Thursday night and had a nice time playing some tables, having drinks and watching the Jazz game. The dealers were awesome and we had an especially fun time hanging out at the Pai Gow poker table. Such a crazy game...so much pushing. No kidding, we sat at that table for 2 hours on something like $50.  Good times.

And of course it wouldn't be proper to have vacation time without illness. I'm almost starting to dread vacation time...how has this happened to me? Two days into our time off Robby came down with what seemed like death on Friday night and all through Saturday. On Sunday he went to instacare and it was official...strep throat. He got a shot of penicillin and a prescription for antibiotics and we were on our way to get him a milkshake when Jackie called.  Yep, the awful truth...Jackie was sick too!  Good grief.  We ushered her off to instacare right away just knowing the verdict.  The Morehead family was droppin' like flies. It pays to be a Celic!  :) Strep throat lurking in your bed puts the fear of God in you, I tell ya! I thought I would get it just from worrying I would get it. Self fulfilling prophecy and all. So far I have dogged that bullet, but I'm not holding my breath.

Sooo, yeah. We had fun while we could and the time off was by no means a total loss, just not how I planned it in my little pea-brain that thinks things will go the way I plan. I'm a bit slow to shift my outlook when things don't go as planned, but I'm learning to say 'this sucks ass and now I need to readjust my expectations.' It's definitely one of my life lessons. Readjust baby, readjust. 

Spared the Knife

For those of you who don't know, Robby broke his hand a couple of weeks ago.  Turns out the fridge door is neither flexible nor forgiving against knuckles.  You can see the yellow hue of bruising and how swollen it was and this was a week after the right hook.

 

The day it happened it was pretty scary looking and I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture then.  I initially referred to it as Elephant Man hand, but in retrospect it was more like like Hunchback of Notre Dame hand as there was a large lump leaning off to one side. That was probably his knuckle.  

Our fabulous new friends Beth and Dave (Hi!!) actually got to see the Hunchback hand the next day and can vouch for how bad it looked.  It was our first "date" with them and frankly they took the freakishness in stride and luckily we didn't scare them off...that night anyway! 

So today was the day.  The visit to the hand surgeon.  The surgeon told him he somehow dogged a bullet and did not need surgery! What, what, WHAT?  This is truly shocking and miraculous considering the laundry list of what is wrong.  Apparently Robby postponed the trip to the doctor just long enough for things to get healing on their own.  Had he gone to the hand surgeon immediately, the doctor said the injury would have been severe enough that he would have operated on it.  Obviously we are so happy.  Now all we ask is the boys never, ever get on his nerves again.  

 

In less painful news, my M.I.L. (mother-in-law) Jackie had a birthday this weekend.  We are no-good kids and forgot to call on her birthday.  So we did what any self-respecting no-good kids would do and called her the next morning at 6am (4am Salt Lake time) when we woke in the middle of the night and realized our folly and tried to make up for it.  Perhaps we scared her a bit calling that time of morning, but it was the thought that counts, right?

Happy Birthday Jackie!  We can't wait to see you!

And just because I thought these were cute do-it-yourself pics I thought I'd share.  Don't look too closely at my crazy ass eyebrows. I swear they are going to take over my face and then possibly the world!

Eli first and Charlie second...