zzzzs

I had a bad night's sleep last night. I fell asleep on the couch watching one of those cable detective shows that I love so much. I was tired but wanted to see who did it so badly... So I fell asleep and then kept waking up every half hour or so procrastinating going upstairs and brushing my teeth. Plus, every time I woke up there was another detective show on. Finally around 4:00 am I gave up and turned off the tv. The dog woke me around 6:00 but I didn't mind.

I've been trying in earnest to teach Rana to go out and get the paper. This morning I was out there at 6:15 with treats trying to get her to mouth the paper. Unbeknownst to me my neighbor was out walking and approached from behind. She commented that if I could do that I could get started with her dogs. I was a little embarrassed. I mean really, I know it's probably futile but worth a shot come November when there's no way I want to wander outside and get the paper.

I was a little tired and exasperated last night, hopefully today will be better. I'm trying to figure out how to clean my shower doors without using harsh chemicals... (Obviously, I'm not trying that hard because I'm on blogger...)

dog days of summer

I am at my wit's end with the puppy lately. She is getting into and chewing everything, including my glasses earlier. Thanks. I'm ticked, feeling helpless and overwhelmed.

I can't invite anyone in or even have a pleasant conversation. I realize she's a puppy and this is in large part my own fault. I'm busy. Very busy. I'm raising my kids, tutoring my niece, trying to write an OPR, enrolled in SOS, and trying to train a dog. Although I don't work outside the house there are times when I think it'd be easier. I need to make more time for the dog but jeezy creezy, there are only so many hours in the day.

She gets in to our compost bin outside, digs holes, I think I caught her eating rabbit poo tonight (which would explain the breath problems), and won't stop nipping at the kids. The nipping causes the kids to scream which causes me to scream at the dog... It's a mess.

All I can see right now is her growing to be the giant dog she will be with all these bad habits and issues. And? Honestly, I don't have the time to dedicate to fixing it right now.

If anyone knows of a Fairy God Pooch, please send her this way.

cutesy

Here's a picture of Ralphie enjoying some juice and playing a little "find the bellybutton."

another summer pic

Here's a snapshot of an unusually quiet moment yesterday. It was so cute I had to run out with the camera despite their protests.

funny

From a conversation just overheard between cousins:

"You're rubbing your tattoos off?! There's no way I'd rub this sweet baby off!"

deadlines

My OPR deadline (imposed by Yago) is quickly approaching and I'm not feeling it. I'm guessing I'll wait until late Thursday night to do it and send it on Friday.

Schmitty's been going to his Tae Kwon Do classes and enjoying it immensely. We had the winning bid at his school fundraiser so we got one month of unlimited classes and a free uniform. He loves his class and teacher. The problem is that it's way the heck away from where we live, when we bid on it we didn't know where it was located. Now Schmitty's qualified to test up to his yellow belt, testing is scheduled Aug 8. Since we won't be able to continue once school starts, there's no point in him testing. (it costs $65 to test) He's very disappointed, very. I feel awful, I wish I hadn't ever bid on the classes now. I'm looking for a place closer to home but he wants to continue at Tiger Rock with his instructor there.

I've promised to go bike riding with the kids so we'd better get the show on the road before naptime.

hospital schmospital

I had an appointment with the VA today trying to get my disability benefits reinstated. I went to the VA Hospital for an evaluation but couldn't find room 5002 in the 5 East wing. I was wandering around and finally asked for help. The lady told me I was, indeed, in the right place and 5 East was just through the doors at the end of the hall. I was confused, "But I thought I saw something about mental..." She looked at my appointment paper and told me that the VA Hospital was across the street, I was in the county hospital. I laughed and thanked her. When I got back in the elevator I saw that I was in the Inpatient Mental Health wing. Whoopsie.

some nerve

Last night I got an email from Schmitty's bio father asking the status on the adoption. I told him I didn't know and had tried contacting my attorney last week to no avail. I woke this morning to an email ending with, "Give him a hug and a kiss from me." I'm very irked by that comment. Seriously? Give the kid you've never interacted with a hug and kiss from you? I don't think so.

wine (no) tasting

Last night the boys and I trekked all over town looking for the free wine tasting at Lauritzen Gardens. Mutual of Omaha is sponsoring a BUNCH of free events this weekend celebrating their 100th anniversary, the tasting was one such event.

We got there and waited in a ridiculously long line for admission. Once in, everything had a crazy long line. The first wait was so long I decided we would skip the French region and head somewhere else. We got to the German region for riesling but they were packing up and leaving, no luck. Australia had a mountain of stairs, impossible with the stroller. We continued to Japan... for sake but they were out also, just a couple of women sitting there in kimonos. We got to Italy and waited and waited. Then it started raining. I decided I was going to shell out $5 and buy a glass at that point because it was 10 minutes from closing. I got up there for my taste and chickened out on asking to purchase a glassful.

At this point we'd been walking around for a couple of hours and Schmitty was out of humor. I told him we'd go back and get a complementary dessert sample. That was supposed to start at 9:00. We fought the mosquitos and waited in one last line. Unfortunately, I guess they were out of dessert because I got up there and they gave me a sample of wine but no offer for the dessert that was supposed to be there.

After we finally found our car and called it a night we stopped by Sonic for a snack.

summer

Ah, to be a kid in summer...

what cake?

I didn't do it.

give them cake

We did indeed eat some cake, it's really the anniversary of our family. That means Ralphie didn't go to bed until almost 10:00 but it's summer, what the heck.

Oh, and after blowing out the candles Ralphie tried to eat one. He saw his brother sucking icing off the bottom of a candle and decided to eat one.

three

Three years ago today Yago and I were married. I've been planning for months to write about all his wonderful attributes but then today came and I was busy with all the other things that had to be done. Now Ralphie's in the other room hollering, the dog is wimpering, and I can't think of a single thoughtful thing I was going to tell everyone about. Hmph.

Well, I'm still happy.

I like that he doesn't think it's funny that I startle easily. A lot of people think it's hilarious to make me jump but he always tries to flip the light to let me know he's coming or he walks loudly.

Even though he's not here I was planning to do something special with the boys but that never happened either, unless you call a trip to the commissary special. I made an anniversary cake but it's almost 9:00 and still too warm to frost...

I think we learned that I'm a really good planner.

shark burps

I was running home yesterday to bring more beer over to the neighbor's house when I realized I had shark burps. I thought that was pretty funny. They made shark empanadas that were a-maz-ing. I watched Carlos press the dough, fill them, seal them, and then fry 'em. Yummy.

I thought it was just going to be our two families but they had a BUNCH of people over. It was quite an international affair: Columbians, El Salvadorans, Mexicans, Venezuelans and a Vietnamese guy for good measure. Oh, and some gringos! ;^) They all brought food too... Grilled carne with tortillas warmed on the grill, rice from the Columbians, some avocado sauce from someone else... The Vietnamese family donated the fresh fish. They stuffed it with shrimp, bell pepper, mushrooms and seasoning, then wrapped it in foil and threw it on the grill. Oh my, it was a gastro-paradise.

I heart them. I ate like a queen for free. We brought over butterscotch brownies but that was it.

entertaining

So no need for my worrying yesterday. Neighbor came over and we drank a pitcher of mojitos while the kids played. Her husband went to a baseball game with a supervisor that he couldn't say no to. Just as well.

As usual, I went way overboard in my preparations. I spent a fortune on small wedges of cheese, a baguette, guacamole, blue chips, bottle of white, bottle of red, 12-pack of beer, and bought a cooler. Oh, and let's not forget the ingredients for the mojitos. In the end we drank the mojitos, half the chips, and about half the guacamole. That's it. I hate it when I do that.

She invited us over tonight for homemade empanadas that her father-in-law is making. They're also grilling half a shark. It should be interesting.

tkd

I took Schmitty to his first Tae Kwon Do class this morning, he really looked like he was having a good time. I hung out and talked to another mother there while I entertained the midget.

We got the lessons because we put in the winning bid during the Golden Gala silent auction. I'm just now getting around to taking him for his free month of lessons. I asked the mother next to me how much it normally costs and she said around $120/month. Plus each time you test for a higher belt you have to pay. Holy schmoly. I think Schmitty's going to be pretty disappointed when his last class is August 18th.

The neighbors are coming over for drinks this evening, that means a lot of cleaning but still trying to make it look like I didn't do any special cleaning for them. It's a careful game we play.

I just finished making a pitcher of peach mojitos and want to take a nap!

mixer

Last night we went to the neighbor's house, the neighbor that stood me up last year. (That's right, I still remember.) Her daughter was celebrating her fourth birthday and there were some family and friends in town.

I only intended to go for an hour or so but stayed for dinner and drinks. (Never turn down free food and drinks!) It was an interesting mix of people. Her parents-in-law from Venezuela live with her, her sister-in-law was visiting (she has MD), and then there were neighbors and everyone's kids.

I have been reluctant to talk to her in-laws because my Spanish embarrasses me but last night I let 'er rip. Of course I waited until I was alone with them and then told them that I know a little bit of Spanish. Just saying that to them made their faces light up, it was funny. They started talking to me and things were going well. I do fine with the small talk but when topics get deeper I have trouble. It became apparent when we started talking about immigration. I was trying to explain my view but could only get the first few words out each time. Trying to discuss the theoretical and hypotheticals is beyond my ability at this point. Plus when they began speaking excitedly I had difficulty understanding them, that's when people get head nods and smiles.

Her brother's wife (Dana) is in a wheelchair so I was a rock star when I offered up a ramp. I have one in my garage that belongs to my mother but everyone was impressed. Dana's husband is a EC-130 navigator. He's deployed all the time and I'm still trying to figure out what she does when he's gone so often. She's really pretty and so funny that it seems like she'd be the last person struck by such a disease. (As is true with anyone I suppose.) She travels and told stories about camping, I was really surprised I must say. She also read The Omnivore's Dilemma, loves the cheese counter at Whole Foods, and watches PBS documentaries.

So what I'm saying is I had a really good time last night, too bad Yago wasn't here.

see to believe

I just saw midget run by with Papi's undies in his teeth. He was being chased by Schmitty. ???

tdy

Yesterday morning we took Yago to the airport, he'll be in Biloxi for two and a half weeks.

Schmitty always misses him. I searched On Demand for a movie that we could watch together, The Great Outdoors. The movie started and Schmitty said, "You ever notice how movies don't seem as fun when dad's not here?" I made popcorn and apfelschorle hoping to lift his spirits.

The thing is, evenings are depressing for me when he's not around. I think Schmitty and I were both procrastinating going to bed last night. We stayed up cruising the Internet looking for information on Rick Riordan, Schmitty's favorite author. We watched a movie trailer for a Feb movie release, looked up his new books, and checked his event calendar. Before I knew it, it was 11:39. That's not very responsible of me...

We found out Rick Riordan isn't doing school visits anymore, only events scheduled by his publisher. That disappointed Schmitty immensely. I had to explain that he's too famous and popular now to visit schools and classrooms. That in the interest of money, his publisher wants him to go to the biggest markets where he can have the most impact to make them the most money possible. He does books, movies, and merchandising now. We talked about moving to San Antonio and being his neighbor. Schmitty would bug him all the time asking questions about The Sword of Hades.

That's what we spent out time talking about instead of acknowledging we miss Yago.

walk

Last night we went to the pedestrian bridge that links Omaha, NE, to Council Bluffs, IA. We took the Frog and ate snow cones in IA. It was a nice afternoon/evening. Then we went out to dinner at a local brewery.

I'm still trying to figure out if I'm going to the beaner reunion this year. I see the list of people and nobody that I actually hung out with is going. But then, I didn't hang out with too many people. I feel like I didn't really fit in anywhere. I don't know...

were they always this bad?

Hangovers? I remember them sucking but it seems like in recent years it takes less alcohol to get one.

Last night Yago and I got a babysitter and went to a sports bar around the corner for a couple of hours. We had a few beers, split some wings and called it a night. We had one more drink after we ran in to our neighbors. It wasn't a night of marathon drinking by any means but I spent most of today trying to sleep and nurse a hangover.

Ick.

wiggle it

The Wiggles are going on tour. Schmitty used to LOVE The Wiggles and I know Ralphie would like them. When I looked up the tour schedule I saw that they'll be in Lincoln this summer, jackpot. I clicked on the ticketmaster link to check cost/availability, $40 a darn ticket! Can you believe that baloney? $120 for three tickets?! To see Dorothy the Dinosaur and Wags the Dog?? Someone must have been smoking crack.

We went to Jazz on the Green last night at The Joslyn Art Museum. We brought a bottle of wine, Yoohoo, cheese and other snacks to enjoy while listening to some live jazz music. I was happy to see a lot of families there, it was a real nice relaxed atmosphere. Whole Foods provides snacks for purchase. We didn't check out what they were selling but I'm sure it was scrumptious (and expensive). I think we'll go again when Yago gets back from his TDY.

pucker face

When we were in Oklahoma the funniest thing happened. Yago, Ralph, Aunt Meaghan and I were all riding in the car going to a geocache sight. Yago flipped through the radio stations and we caught the end of the song Poker Face. Ralph started screaming shortly afterward, we couldn't figure out what was wrong. Eventually we deciphered his hollering, he was yelling "Poker Face!" He wanted to hear the song again. I had to put in the Timbaland cd to cheer him up.

Last night Yago broke down and bought Poker Face on iTunes. Ralph and Schmitty loved it, danced and spun around the living room. We made homemade limeade too. Ralphie took his first sip and puckered while listening to the song for the 10th time which prompted a chorus of pa-pa-pa-pucker face from me.

Fresh, hand-squeezed limeade is pretty refreshing.