The Sandwich Life

Random Notes from the Sandwich Life

1.  Had someone out to my mother's house and they couldn't find the possum but they did find two nests in the basement.  He couldn't figure out how it got in.  He said usually possums come in low but he could have gotten into the attic and come down through the walls.  EEEUUUUUGH!  I don't know....possums in the basement don't freak me out....possums crawling in my walls DO.  Oh....and he also saw raccoon footprints on a drain pipe near where he thinks they could have gotten in the attic....turns out raccoons can  shimmy up drain pipes.  Who knew? He's coming back today with traps.

2.  Ernie and I were driving past the old Collegiate Cap and Gown yesterday evening and we saw a badger scurry across the road.  What is going on?

3.  We can't seem to keep our pool water from turning green this year.  Something to work on when we get back from Maine.

4.  I have an incredible sinking tree in my yard.  There's a big tree in our front yard----well, actually it seems to be half on our land and half on the land of our, uh, interesting neighbor.  Branches don't break on this tree....they just sag to the ground and the other day a huge branch that is over our yard did the sag thing.  We're going to have to get it taken care of---I don't think we can do it ourselves and the tree is going to look odder than ever but God knows we can't afford to take the whole thing down.  sigh.

5.  We take off for Maine on Thursday morning and we'll be going with three boys not two.  Our beloved neighbor Ricky is going to come with us.  The boys are WAY excited....as we are!

6.  I'll miss you while we're gone little blog but I decided it would be good for me NOT to take my laptop.  That way I won't obsess about redesigning my blog and spend useless hours trying to teach myself photoshop in order to create a new banner and trying to find internet access so I can post....

7.  Ernie and I went to Barnes and Noble last night and picked out some summer reading.  One of the few times we indulge in buying books rather than going to the library is before vacation.  I was uninspired looking at fiction but got another Ruth Reichl book as well as the Barbara Kingsolver one about local eating.  Last year I read The United States of Arugula on the beach and loved it....always meant to post about it but never did....  Ernie got a book on Tom Petty.  He's kind of going through a Tom Petty phase....

8.  A bit of my borage, my pineapple mint and my thyme....

Come on weekend....

oh man this week doesn't seem to want to end!  Yesterday we dropped our van off at the shop because of some mysterious noises and lack of headlights and as Ernie was inside giving them the keys I attempted to get out of the passenger side despite the strap of my bag being hooked around my feet.  I went flat down on my hands and knees in the parking lot and skinned my knee like crazy.  I better be nice to the boys next time that happens to them because it hurt like hell.  That pretty much set the tone of the day.  HOWEVER....after work we had my dear friend Gisela over for dinner.  Nothing makes me happier.  I'm heartbroken that she's going back to Puerto Rico soon but I know we'll stay in touch despite that.  Once she defends her dissertation I'm giving her a P.A.R.T.Y!!!

Here is Owen with his beloved Gisela. As Gisela always says, if only she were six, or Owen were in his early 30's----it would be a match made in heaven....

I had thought of taking everybody out to lunch today with my mother but it turns out Leo has a lemonade stand planned.  Can't get in the way of business so I'll we'll have to put it off til later in the weekend.

Glad it's Friday....I REALLY need a weekend.  Well, I need a good weekend----we all know how our weekend expectations sometimes are all out of sync with the reality.....wish me luck....

A Couple More Random Notes Because It Is Just That Kind of Day

1.  Many bloggers refer to the products they are offered for review and this always cracks me up because the ONLY thing that I have EVER been asked to review was absinthe. 

I kid you not.  What this says about the content of my blog I do not know…..

2.  My colleague just smugly told me she has 7 1 /2 weeks of vacation saved up.  This is o.k. because I love her but I was barely able to scrape up enough days to go to Maine.  Family members need to stop getting sick.  My new motto:  VACATION DAYS FOR VACATION! VACATION DAYS FOR VACATION!

3.  I wasn’t going to blog this because I thought it was too embarrassing to admit that I asked my children this but then again….when have I ever let a little embarrassment keep me from oversharing?  ANYway….I was reading something about a little boy telling his mother she was beautiful and I thought, “huh….I wonder if the guys think I’m pretty.”  So I said to Owen who was sitting across the room from me, “Hey Owen, do you ever think Mommy is pretty?”   He jumped up….and you have to imagine him saying this in kind of  David Lee Roth hey-hey-hey voice, “YE-EES and getting prettier every DAY!”  Ernie and I started giggling and I gave Owen a hug and a kiss.  So then….just for kicks….I called Leo into the room and said, “Hey Leo, do you ever think Mommy is pretty?”  He was so mortified you would have thought I had stripped naked in front of him. He smiled self-consciously, twisted his arms, frowned, said "uh, I guess...I don't know....why would you ask me that?" I finally put him out of his misery by kissing and hugging him and sending him back to his Lego.  He was thoroughly embarrassed and unnerved.  Owen was wayyyyyy comfortable.

Man do I love my sweet peas.

4.  Yesterday was not one of my favorite days so when I got home last night and Ernie said "don't get comfortable" (this is code for don't take your bra off  you're going to be in public) "I've got a babysitter coming."  I could have kissed him...in fact I think I did.  It was JUST what I needed.  I rushed him out in the pouring rain because the macaroni was in the microwave and I didn't feel like mixing it up.  We sat at Fries and Peanuts, had a couple of drinks and chatted to people we knew.  Ahhhh.  I felt moderately guilty for leaving my kids with a babysitter during a storm but it wore off quickly.  Owen called to ask if they could go play in the floodwaters....we said once the lightening stopped.  When we headed home we found the police had Church Street closed off because of flooding and we had to zigzag around, driving through more water than we probably should have, to park about a block away and trudge through front yards down the street as the flood was over all the sidewalks (and in our basement of course but what the hell).  The boys were beside themselves with excitement and put their swim trunks on and did belly flops in the flooded field next door and rode their bikes through the standing water.  It was a good evening for all....

A Sweet Fourth....

Not a great picture but at least it is rare photo-documentation of Leo SMILING....

 

a last minute adjustment:

 

Owen getting ready for the Pledge of Allegiance:

Owen, Parker, Leo and Vegan Linda (oops, and Josie too):

My mother lent the boys her vintage flags for the parade:

I can't begin to tell you how great the neighborhood fireworks are---not that my photo demonstrates that....unfortunately the rumor is this might be the last year.....

We moved into our house ten years ago on the 4th of July and were amazed to see a huge fireworks display the next block over that night. It is what we've done every 4th since then.  Last night was great with good friends over for a cookout and then some of our favorite neighbors joining us in the field to watch....

Today has been a quiet, lazy day.  A little planting, a little reading, a little Jimmy Neutron with Owen, a few leftover bratwurst, some chatting with neighbors and a bit of time cursing Japanese beetles.  A good day.

Random Notes from the Sandwich Life

1.  Man, I was out of sorts last night.  Don't know why.  I got home and wanted to treat myself to some time to figure out a new banner for my blog.  I don't like any of the standard templates and I assumed I could figure it out.  I was wrong.  I hated all the pictures I had, got hung up because my damn connection is so fucked up and couldn't figure it out after all.  And it's really not important but it drove me crazy. All the kids playing in the yard were irritating me even though they weren't doing a thing wrong.  I wasn't upset with anyone or about anything but I just felt frustrated and headachy and grumpy.  Ernie tried to be helpful and sympathetic but when he saw our neighbor Rob he brightened up at the thought of friendly company and scurried outside.  I sat inside by myself (!) and watched Hell's Kitchen.  Every so often the Lego playing creatures infiltrated but I couldn't complain as they were so damn cute.  Honest to God, Linda has one of the cutest families I've ever seen in my life and of course I happen to think mine are pretty damn cute too. When Owen saw what he was watching he wailed "Oh, I LOVE this show....can I watch it with you?" and he curled up next me and let me sniff him and kiss the top of his head every so often.

Watching bad tv and having a glass of wine (as well as snuggling with Owen) finally eased me somewhat. I'm worried about my mother and feel like I'm not doing enough for her.  I get in these states and the future scares me. Instead of thinking how good most of the present is I get hung up on the future. STOP DOING THAT CYNTHIA.

2.  My doctor is increasing my blood pressure medication.  Maybe that will stop the headaches I've been getting too.  I'll cross my fingers as they sure as hell don't help anything.

3. So what do you think my blog banner should look like?  What  do you think would represent this blog?  Even though I put pictures of the guys up all the time somehow I don't want them on my banner.  I haven't been able to bring myself to change my tagline about having elderly parents....I think I'll have to leave it that way.  A week from today it will be two months since my father died.

4.  Another question to put to a vote:  Should Ernie agree to paint the dining room orange?  I guess if I were a really good blogger embed a little voting thing.  Oh well. Another time....

Just a Few Random Notes from the Sandwich Life

1. Our storm door is old and decrepit and evil children (belonging to us) destroyed not just the screen, but the entire frame of the screen that goes into it in the summer.  So I did some research online and we decided to set off to purchase a new storm door.  We always feel so adult when doing things like this. I know we should be feeling adult all the time but  we just don't.  Maybe someday?

So anyway, guess what?  

We do not have a standard sized door.  It's taller than a standard door.  I like having an old house so I can't complain BUT it would have to be custom made and the cheapest we could come up  with would be something like $600 with installation.  We discovered this while in Lowe's. Lowe's has a strange effect on Ernie and me.  It is a rare day we make a trek to Lowe's and do  NOT argue. I don't know what it is----there is something about the environment that makes us irritate  each other incredibly.  Now Menard's does not have this effect on us.  So why do we still go to Lowe's?  I don't really know....sometimes you have to check out different places....and Menard's is starting to irritate me now that you can buy everything from salad dressing to novels to mattresses there.  It's just not right.  Anyway...so Lowe's had one more victory as we grumbled at each other and got really frustrated by doors.  Grrrr.  I guess we're going to try to give the old door a makeover....$600 for something nonessential is not in my budget at the moment.  Hell, you've got to have priorities. We'd rather spend our money driving to Maine or bringing our favorite musicans to our house....

2. I'm trying to tell myself that Owen is in the midst of some kind of growth spurt or something.  First there were all those growing pains, now he won't stop EATING and he has been incredibly FRUUUUSTRATING of late.  He gets tired and whiny and I want to kill him...he thinks everybody is mean to him....things escalate and then all of a sudden he gets it under control and cheerfully apologizes, "sorry about that fussing Mommy." which you gratefully accept but you STILL want to kill him.  I'm hoping he gets through this phase quickly.....

3. As some of you know, my blog has brought me great pleasure in not only reconnecting with old friends but also making new ones.  Annie is a friend of my sister Judi and I love her and am pleased to know that she reads my blog.  She sent me this email recently and I HAD to share it.  She wrote:

I hate to admit how proud I am of my new vacuum cleaner, please don't spread it around because I have a reputation as a not-so-fastidious housekeeper. But I was intrigued by the family resemblance between my new Electrolux and my neighbor's car.

4.  OH....and I almost forgot---thank  you SO much for the appetizer ideas.  They are GREAT---keep 'em coming....

Random Notes from the Sunday Sandwich Life

1.  I'm fascinated with the 'recommended videos' that show up for me when I go to youtube.  Today it was Quiet Riot "Cum On Feel the Noize," George Harrison on the Smothers Brothers and Van Halen "Unchained."  I've mostly been watching videos of the Iowa City flooding and of Kane Welch Kaplin.  Huh.......

2.  I've been following the Iowa City flooding via the news and youtube somewhat obsessively.  My sister Judi used to teach at the University of Iowa and I loved Iowa City and her house there.  When we decided to leave Chicago she was living in Ann Arbor.  We had lived near there when I was in grad school and while it's a great town in many ways it wasn't someplace we wanted to move to so we ended up back here in Champaign which had the added plus of Ernie's family. I've often thought that if she had been living in Iowa City at the time we would have ended up there however.  My sister's poor house is no doubt flooded by now as she was just one block off Normandy Drive and in the area that was evacuated.

3.  I neglected to tell Owen that it was Sunday so we didn't go to church....maybe next week. I watched Meet The Press to watch all the Tim Russert accolades and felt very sad.  I talked to my mother about it and her sadness was for Tim Russert's father.  I went over and did her food shopping for her.  I sat and talked awhile and did a few things around the house but I could tell she was awfully sad when I left. I think this is probably the hardest time for her...now that my sisters are gone and she's back to the lonely reality of life without my father.  Even when he was confused he was a presence there for her.

Today was the first day I headed into the Urbana Schnuck's since he died and it did give me a twinge or two.

4. We've sworn off all birthday gifts and the like as we save money for Kane Welch Kaplin.  It does sure make a holiday like Father's Day easier....sorry Ern.  Owen did draw a very nice card for him however and Leo smiled and said "Happy Father's Day chicken."  He thinks it's hysterically funny to call his father (and other family members) chicken or chicken nugget.  It seems relatively benign so we just call him chicken back. We're celebrating Father's Day later with some friends so it should be a good day.

5.  Last night as it was getting dark the boys put their new swim trunks on and dove into their little pool.  I was kind of hot and it looked like a good place to watch for bats so I looked at the clothes I was wearing consideringly and decided to go ahead and jump in.  It was delightful and it was indeed a good spot for sighting bats.  After awhile Ricky and Jack got in too and I decided that being in a 10 foot pool with four boys doing cannonballs was perhaps going to kill me so I climbed out and sat in the darkness, just a candle flickering, with Ernie and Dave as we watched the kids and the fireflies.  It was the best thing I've done for myself in quite awhile.

6.  Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there....

The Tyranny of Lego

The Lego package finally came. Whew.

It didn't come with the mail so Ernie started calling the number the post office had given him.  Evidently this is a phone in a hallway somewhere as the only two times it was answered was once by a technician  working on a computer and this time by a mail carrier who was just walking by.  Luckily he was a kind mail   carrier and went and checked on it and said yes, it was up front---looked like it's been there the whole time so evidently it was there when Ernie called on Monday.  GRRRR.  My Leo was tremendously happy however and even talked to me on the phone (a rarity) to tell my about it.

Later that evening I walked into the living room only to see Bob the cat with the string on the Lego harbor crane hanging from his mouth.  The evil beast had eaten it.  Much screaming ensued as Leo and I shrieked, "oh my God, Bob ate the hook!  Spit it out Bob, spit it out!!!"  Ernie did not join in the hysteria he merely commented that he was NOT going through the cat's poop to look for the hook.  Thanks Ern. Leo was distraught and even said that he hated Bob (and Leo loves Bob with a passion).  I promised Leo we'd get a new hook even if we had to call Lego.

Oh Bob.  It's bad enough you pick up the Lego wheels in your mouth and take them to your secret stash....but now the Lego crane?

Luckily an hour or so later Leo found the hook---evidently Bob had confined himself to the string.  I carefully tied it back on the great relief of both boys. At that point the Lego pressure had exhausted me and I went to bed.

 

Random Notes from the Sandwich Life

1.  I have been terribly upset by Ted Kennedy's diagnosis and treatment of cancer.   Not surprising I suppose....lots of flashpoints there for me.....cancer, age, brain surgery (my father had a brain tumor and numerous surgeries when I was young).....but it has made me incredibly sad. Very, very sad.

2.  The other day as Owen was leaving the house in full Indiana Jones regalia I said, "bye Indy."  He paused, strode back in, kissed me and said, "bye Marion."

3.  Owen is being resistant to wearing ANYTHING other than his Indiana Jones outfit.  Please note that includes long pants and a long sleeved shirt and it's going to be 90 degrees this week.  I tried to convince him that I'm sure Indy wears shorts when it's really hot out but he just shook his head slowly and said, "Harrison Ford might...but not Indy....."  How do you argue with that?

4. Ernie says I'm a Lego enabler.  huh.  I say we merely have a Lego-centric household. However the Starks family very kindly (they have felt sorry for us when they saw the sea of lego drifting across the first floor of our house) gave us a wonderful Lego table.  The guys are thrilled and so are we because Lego City has actually remained OFF the floor for over two days now.  Woo-hoooooo!

5. My car stinks to high heaven again...I would have left my windows open today except it's supposed to rain. I'm sure it's just cooking away in the heat.  Oh well....I'm passing it off to my sister Judi this evening.  No radio, no air conditioning and now it stinks....she's REALLY going to appreciate the loan....

6.  One of my sugar snap pea vines has reached the top of its little trellis!!!!

7.  My sister Debbie gave us a panini press and although I don't know where the hell I'll put it...I love it!  We made the most wonderful sandwiches the other day....big slices of rosemary olive oil bread with some chicken breast, prosciutto, pesto, arugula and smoked gouda cheese. Almost sounds like a case of too many ingredients but they were absolutely amazing sandwiches.  I'm all about crunchy grill marks on bread...yay!

Send Birthday Wishes....

Yes, send birthday wishes to Ernie because that's all the poor man is getting from his loving wife.  I didn't even have the boys make cards (although Leo did write a letter to his teacher since it's the last day of school.  It said, "Dear Mr. Hansen,  You are the best teacher I've ever had.  I'll miss you.  Love, Leo.  Uh...Owen did not make a card).  Somehow, even though I'm feeling a little more normal as the days go on I am still not quite on top of things.  We also have said that we won't do birthday presents/mother's day/father's day/etc. to save all available funds (well hell, unavailable as well) for our anniversary party with Kane Welch Kaplin this fall.  I'd make him a cake except I don't bake well and he doesn't really LIKE cake....  Am I making excuses?  uh-huh....

I did get him a flood for his birthday however.  Yup....here's the field next to our house where the guys play:



You should see our alley and my flooded car that is half way up the block....oh, and yeah, our basement that has things floating in it.  Ernie just walked the guys to school and some streets are blocked off because of water.  I heard it raining in the night but geesh....I thought it was just you know....RAINING....  Guess I'll be a little late for work today.  Ernie will have to drive me since my car is flooded (although this happened the other day and the 'check engine' light went off for the first time in several months.  See?  I can find silver linings).  We should be able to drive behind our garage across part of the field to someone else's driveway.

Ernie's birthday is not all a loss however.  We do have a babysitter coming over this evening AND he got an incredible gift from his brother last night.  I've bragged before about my brothers-in-law.  Dennis is known for wonderful gifts but this year he outdid himself.  It's perfect because it's something JUST for Ernie and that's really what he needs right now.



It's the perfect present----something he wanted but wouldn't get for himself.  He sold his amp many, many moons ago to Berni Proeschl and over the years has said he wanted to get another one but something was always in the way and God knows the man is really bad at doing anything for himself....  Anyway....a flood and an amp for my beloved birthday boy.....