A few weeks ago, I wrote about my co-worker who had a horrible accident with a young boy.
I've been meaning to give an update--the hospital has had the boy up and trying to walk with a walker (with a broken pelvis, no less). They're hoping that he may be released from the hospital in about one more week, so he can start recovering at home.
It's a blessing.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
Weekend
Birthday trip. Rainy weather. Colman's Mustard. Popcorn. Creepy hills. Pete's Hamburger Stand. Toy store. Wisconsin Excursions. Mississippi. Eagles. Eagles. Eagles. Rain. Iowa. Spook Cave. Drips. Wet butt. Mud. Hotel. Fake Irish pub food. Swimming. Rain. Thunder. Who cares.
Noisy midnight kids. Move over! Breakfast. Swimming. Showers. Rain. Cabela's. Iowa again. Mudslide. Rock slide. Scenic overlook? Marina food. Entertainment mall--not. Fog. Mist. Free state park. Boardwalk in flipflops. Waterfalls. Clouds. View.
Bridge. Mississippi goodbye. Hills. Napping girls. Home.
Noisy midnight kids. Move over! Breakfast. Swimming. Showers. Rain. Cabela's. Iowa again. Mudslide. Rock slide. Scenic overlook? Marina food. Entertainment mall--not. Fog. Mist. Free state park. Boardwalk in flipflops. Waterfalls. Clouds. View.
Bridge. Mississippi goodbye. Hills. Napping girls. Home.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Supper my Club
Last night, Greg and I went out for my birthday dinner. Yes, out on a Wednesday night, with a babysitter installed at home and no kids or nothin'. It was cool.
We went to a supper club, that most Wisconsin of institutions. Tornado Club Steak House in Madison, if you care to google it, just so you too can drool over the menu. This is an old-fashioned, screw those new-fangled, supper club. So dark in the evening that you need the candle on your table to read the menu. Lots of wood paneling and comfortable booths in the bar, intimate even though you can't fill the air with cigarette smokiness anymore (yay for smoking ordinances!). Wait staff in black with long white aprons, very knowledgeable about the way the steaks are cut and aged.
And the food. Mmmmmm.
They start you out with a relish tray, with a nod to the modern that the relishes are stuck into a tall, chilled glass instead of a little tray. All the favorites-carrots, celery, olives, pickles--followed by an amazing variety in the bread basket. Mostly traditional drinks on the menu, though Greg and I opted for Cosmopolitans (I'm a sucker for a fruity drink and of course it came with an orange rind swirl inside).
Wonderful salad with homemade dressing, of course, followed by great steak with excellent potatoes. I had steak fries, but these were really good steak fries. Not at all doughy like some places, crisp and hot and standing up to the rest of my meal.
I really like this restaurant. I think we should go back in two weeks (we have a family celebration coming up). I'll call the babysitter!
We went to a supper club, that most Wisconsin of institutions. Tornado Club Steak House in Madison, if you care to google it, just so you too can drool over the menu. This is an old-fashioned, screw those new-fangled, supper club. So dark in the evening that you need the candle on your table to read the menu. Lots of wood paneling and comfortable booths in the bar, intimate even though you can't fill the air with cigarette smokiness anymore (yay for smoking ordinances!). Wait staff in black with long white aprons, very knowledgeable about the way the steaks are cut and aged.
And the food. Mmmmmm.
They start you out with a relish tray, with a nod to the modern that the relishes are stuck into a tall, chilled glass instead of a little tray. All the favorites-carrots, celery, olives, pickles--followed by an amazing variety in the bread basket. Mostly traditional drinks on the menu, though Greg and I opted for Cosmopolitans (I'm a sucker for a fruity drink and of course it came with an orange rind swirl inside).
Wonderful salad with homemade dressing, of course, followed by great steak with excellent potatoes. I had steak fries, but these were really good steak fries. Not at all doughy like some places, crisp and hot and standing up to the rest of my meal.
I really like this restaurant. I think we should go back in two weeks (we have a family celebration coming up). I'll call the babysitter!
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Pin ya ta
We bought a Tinkerbell pinata for Julia's birthday last Saturday. It was a pull string pinata, which we thought was good because we got a regular kind for Allie's birthday last January and filled it with candy and cheap plastic toys. During the beating required to break open the pinata, all of the plastic toys broke into many, many sharp colorful pieces. The whole thing was the pits.
When it was time to do Julia's pinata, I cut a long length of string to hang the pinata over the upstairs railing. It tangled as I cut it, because the cats insisted on "helping" me. The cats would chase one thread from a mop if it were moving, trust me. Regardless, I got the string around the top of the pinata and everyone gathered in the front hall to take turns pulling a string until the bottom of the pinata opened. The package guaranteed that at least 8 people could participate in the fun before the candy and toys inside would be unleashed.
Julia went first, of course. Because she's short, I had to lean way over the railing upstairs so she could reach a string. Did I mention that we forgot to prep her on how this whole thing was supposed to work?
She got under the pinata, grabbed all of the strings, Greg and I yelled in unison "JUST ONE!", I desperately tried to stretch further to allow more slack, and she yanked hard, spilling all of the candy and toys upon the floor. The entire thing took about six seconds.
I'm so glad we spent $15 on the thing. Sigh.
When it was time to do Julia's pinata, I cut a long length of string to hang the pinata over the upstairs railing. It tangled as I cut it, because the cats insisted on "helping" me. The cats would chase one thread from a mop if it were moving, trust me. Regardless, I got the string around the top of the pinata and everyone gathered in the front hall to take turns pulling a string until the bottom of the pinata opened. The package guaranteed that at least 8 people could participate in the fun before the candy and toys inside would be unleashed.
Julia went first, of course. Because she's short, I had to lean way over the railing upstairs so she could reach a string. Did I mention that we forgot to prep her on how this whole thing was supposed to work?
She got under the pinata, grabbed all of the strings, Greg and I yelled in unison "JUST ONE!", I desperately tried to stretch further to allow more slack, and she yanked hard, spilling all of the candy and toys upon the floor. The entire thing took about six seconds.
I'm so glad we spent $15 on the thing. Sigh.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
7 Things About Me
Well, Dan at All That Comes With It tagged me with a Meme, so I have to try to think of 7 things about me. Don't get me wrong, I like to talk about myself as much as anyone, but I think it's going to be difficult to be at least mildly interesting. I'm only doing this so I can tag three other people and get them to update their blogs:
1. I graduated magna cum laude with a double major in English and Business Administration and a minor in Economics. Why is it that people think you're a grammar expert just because you studied English literature?
2. My maiden name was Leege (pronounced "league"), so when Greg and I got married, we joked that we were getting "Leege-Lee" married. It wasn't really funny, but our wedding was featured in a local wedding magazine and they used that quote in the story.
3. Since I finished college, I've worked for only two firms. That's two companies in 20 (gasp, how can it be 20!) years. That's supposed to be quite unusual these days.
4. I purposely chose Julia's birthday to be in the month of July (on the 30th), while mine is in August, so that she would feel like she always had her own birthday celebration and it wouldn't become one event with mine.
5. My head is not evenly round. If I ever lose all my hair, I'm certainly going to be one of those women who always wears a head scarf, because I have what feels to me like a large bump out on one side, above my ear. I tell Greg it's because I have too many brains to fit in a normal shaped head.
6. I will read just about anything, especially if I'm alone and eating something. I used to work in a place where all my co-workers were male and we all had lots of free time around our work duties (someone had to be on duty all the time whether anything was happening or not). There were a ton of fishing magazines around and even though I have very little interest in fishing, I learned a lot about test line and trout populations.
7. I've had the same bed pillow since I was a kid. It's down and really heavy and probably totally gross, but I wouldn't think of replacing it. I'd feel icked out about it, but my sister Pam still has her pillow from the same time period, so I'm not alone. Someone at work told me that after two years, 1/2 of your pillow has been replaced by dust mite corpses (or some time period like that). I don't care, I'm keeping my pillow. So now you know that's I'm very stubborn.
Phew. I'm tagging my husband, because very few people are interested in his oil change blog. I'm tagging Dwayne, because I'm tired of feeling guilty that he rode for four hours to see us and we weren't home. And I'm tagging Bon Bon, because she does more photos than she writes and I'd like to know more about her. Happy Memeing!
1. I graduated magna cum laude with a double major in English and Business Administration and a minor in Economics. Why is it that people think you're a grammar expert just because you studied English literature?
2. My maiden name was Leege (pronounced "league"), so when Greg and I got married, we joked that we were getting "Leege-Lee" married. It wasn't really funny, but our wedding was featured in a local wedding magazine and they used that quote in the story.
3. Since I finished college, I've worked for only two firms. That's two companies in 20 (gasp, how can it be 20!) years. That's supposed to be quite unusual these days.
4. I purposely chose Julia's birthday to be in the month of July (on the 30th), while mine is in August, so that she would feel like she always had her own birthday celebration and it wouldn't become one event with mine.
5. My head is not evenly round. If I ever lose all my hair, I'm certainly going to be one of those women who always wears a head scarf, because I have what feels to me like a large bump out on one side, above my ear. I tell Greg it's because I have too many brains to fit in a normal shaped head.
6. I will read just about anything, especially if I'm alone and eating something. I used to work in a place where all my co-workers were male and we all had lots of free time around our work duties (someone had to be on duty all the time whether anything was happening or not). There were a ton of fishing magazines around and even though I have very little interest in fishing, I learned a lot about test line and trout populations.
7. I've had the same bed pillow since I was a kid. It's down and really heavy and probably totally gross, but I wouldn't think of replacing it. I'd feel icked out about it, but my sister Pam still has her pillow from the same time period, so I'm not alone. Someone at work told me that after two years, 1/2 of your pillow has been replaced by dust mite corpses (or some time period like that). I don't care, I'm keeping my pillow. So now you know that's I'm very stubborn.
Phew. I'm tagging my husband, because very few people are interested in his oil change blog. I'm tagging Dwayne, because I'm tired of feeling guilty that he rode for four hours to see us and we weren't home. And I'm tagging Bon Bon, because she does more photos than she writes and I'd like to know more about her. Happy Memeing!
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Post party
For Julia's actual birthday, we did what she wanted and went off to McDonald's playland. She and Allie pretty much disappeared for over an hour into the tubes and tunnels. Then we came home and had a small chocolate cake, after she blew out the candles of course.
We had pretty much the usual birthday party planned for Saturday. Greg's parents weren't able to make it, but we still expected my parents, my sisters, and their men. Then my mom got sick, so she and my dad weren't able to come. And my brother-in-law Mike had to work. So our much appreciated but much abbreviated guest list included only my two sisters and Pam's boyfriend, Jeff.
The misfortune continued. The weather was unexpectedly cooler than we've been having and it actually rained off and on (mostly on) for a good part of the day, so we scratched Julia's 4th Annual Birthday Party Water Fight. We still had a very nice time and Julia got a bunch of new things to play with. And the dresses! Julia told everyone who asked that she wanted dresses for her birthday, so I believe she got 7 or 8 new ones. She didn't know which one to wear first (and she did change into one immediately, of course).
Because of my sister's insane work schedule, our guests actually left after only 7 hours. They drove a total of 5 hours in one day for a 7 hour party. You can see why they were much appreciated! Julia and Allie immediately buried themselves in her new toys and we settled in for the evening. Shortly before 8 p.m., I glanced up from a magazine to realize that Julia had fallen asleep on the couch.
She's mostly given up afternoon naps and she certainly wouldn't have taken one yesterday. She was too busy asking to open her gifts. Anyway, I scooped her up and carried her to bed. She woke up enough to protest that she didn't want to go to bed, but I think she was asleep again as I pulled up her covers. It was a wonderful day for her and for all of us.
This morning, my in-laws called and offered to have the girls as their guests for the week. We'd actually planned this same adventure for them earlier in the summer and it didn't work out, but this was unexpected rescheduling. We said yes, of course, because the opportunity for them to swim and be spoiled for a week is wonderful. I'm also trying to refrain from gloating about a week of being able to visit grown-up restaurants and see R-rated movies.
I'm going to pretend here that I didn't have a few tears as they drove away.
We had pretty much the usual birthday party planned for Saturday. Greg's parents weren't able to make it, but we still expected my parents, my sisters, and their men. Then my mom got sick, so she and my dad weren't able to come. And my brother-in-law Mike had to work. So our much appreciated but much abbreviated guest list included only my two sisters and Pam's boyfriend, Jeff.
The misfortune continued. The weather was unexpectedly cooler than we've been having and it actually rained off and on (mostly on) for a good part of the day, so we scratched Julia's 4th Annual Birthday Party Water Fight. We still had a very nice time and Julia got a bunch of new things to play with. And the dresses! Julia told everyone who asked that she wanted dresses for her birthday, so I believe she got 7 or 8 new ones. She didn't know which one to wear first (and she did change into one immediately, of course).
Because of my sister's insane work schedule, our guests actually left after only 7 hours. They drove a total of 5 hours in one day for a 7 hour party. You can see why they were much appreciated! Julia and Allie immediately buried themselves in her new toys and we settled in for the evening. Shortly before 8 p.m., I glanced up from a magazine to realize that Julia had fallen asleep on the couch.
She's mostly given up afternoon naps and she certainly wouldn't have taken one yesterday. She was too busy asking to open her gifts. Anyway, I scooped her up and carried her to bed. She woke up enough to protest that she didn't want to go to bed, but I think she was asleep again as I pulled up her covers. It was a wonderful day for her and for all of us.
This morning, my in-laws called and offered to have the girls as their guests for the week. We'd actually planned this same adventure for them earlier in the summer and it didn't work out, but this was unexpected rescheduling. We said yes, of course, because the opportunity for them to swim and be spoiled for a week is wonderful. I'm also trying to refrain from gloating about a week of being able to visit grown-up restaurants and see R-rated movies.
I'm going to pretend here that I didn't have a few tears as they drove away.
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