The Sandwich Life

Whiskey, Tequila and Beer, oh my!

No, that's not what I drank but it is the chorus to a Dale Watson song called Honky Tonk Wizard of Oz.  Yup....Dale Watson last night at the Rose Bowl in Urbana. It's been many a night since I had quite so many of these: 

Yes, that's a champagne flute and a little bottle of Gallo wine----that's what you get when you order a glass of chardonnay at the Rose Bowl.  I like to drink wine but I don't particularly care for drinking TOO much wine and luckily I have this little switch that tells me when I should stop and it generally works quite well when I'm at home or in a bar or restaurant......unless there is live music that I'm enjoying....and then all bets are off.

Had a good weekend.  We took my mother out to lunch yesterday.  We haven't been to Fries and Peanuts with her alone since Dad died and it did make me a little sad that we fit at a smaller table now.  And I missed him playing pool with the boys....but it was a nice time despite that and then afterward we went over to West Side Park and enjoyed the sun and watching the boys race around on their bikes. Oh and by the way....we got over to my mom's house early to do shopping, etc.  I asked Ernie to look in their basement for something I wanted to borrow.  A few minutes later he popped up out of the basement rather more emphatically than usual and  closed the door quite firmly....  A possum is living in their basement.  Geesh...one more thing to take care of....

Leo with a friend from school. They look so grown UP....sigh.

 

Anyway......after bringing my  mother home I came back and took a nap.  Yes, I am becoming quite the devotee of naps.  I woke up and wondered if I really wanted to go out but then the doorbell rang and the babysitter was there.  Whoops.....guess I'm going....  

I'm glad I did as Dale Watson was great....the Rose Bowl is a wonderful place to see shows.....

Nice jacket, huh?

Ernie needing a shave and hunching down to get to Dale's height.  Dale had had quite a few drinks himself and somehow managed to kiss my hand.  I'm really not the hand kissing kind of girl but if he thought so that's fine by me:

There's more to write but that's all I have time for now....

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....

Random Notes from the Sandwich Life

1.  The other day in a fit of rage Owen yelled at his father, "Dad, you, you SAVAGE FOOL."  Huh.

2.  The frigging Japanese beetles are destroying my Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate plant.  Damn them.

3.  I made a bad dinner from good ingredients last night.  Made a wonderful sort of corn salsa/salad of corn, poblano peppers, garlic and great tomatoes.  Unfortunately put it over some salmon that just  tasted bad.  Not bad like gone bad, make you sick....just bad.  First I thought maybe it wasn't cooked enough although I tend to like fish more towards underdone than overdone.  Cooked it some more and it still just tasted funky.  Threw it and my beautiful corn salsa in the trash.  I made do with curried popcorn...Ernie made do with nothing.

4.  It looks like Ripe Persimmons is winning.  I must defend poor Indiana Clay though----the color isn't true on my computer anyway.  I really like Indiana Clay at night but during the day it's got too much pink in it.  At night I love it but I think we're going with Ripe Persimmons.....or dreamsicle.....

5.  I'm embarrassed to say that I never knew that the Joan Jett song I Love Rock N  Roll was a cover.  I have discovered a new favorite pop band though....the Arrows....DO watch this video....oh, and from an Arrows website:

Some little known facts about Jake Hooker (the guitarist for the Arrows)--As a manager, in 1979 Jake got Hilly Michaels a million dollar deal with Warner Brothers records, and he orchestrated the deal for the first big budget MTV style video to promote Hilly's single "Calling All Girls". It was a landmark, breakthrough video in the industry.

Sunday again....geesh.

You know, some days just go more smoothly than others.  I went to bed last night relatively cross and tired.  The damn hormones Ernie takes can make his temper flare sometimes in new and interesting ways.  Now mind you…the man has a temper of his own so I don’t blame the hormones for everything but as any woman knows….hormones can push you over the edge sometimes. And when he gets irrational---insisting the meat from the grill had been on long enough and the fire was very hot when the meat was still half raw…..I mean, did he have some new and rare heat-impervious meat?......I blame it on the hormones and he should count himself lucky that I do so.  Anyway  I woke up and reminded Owen that we were going to church to see Father Joe wear the vestments that Debbie gave him and he gave me an “I KNOWWWW” and thus the mood for the morning was set.  Getting Owen to get ready in the morning is a one of mankind’s major challenges.  Eventually I dragged a remorseful Owen off to church, racing my little minivan down University Avenue so we wouldn’t be late.  Church was fine although all I could do was sit and think about how I could escape from the whole household that afternoon.  Halfway through the mass Owen asks where the bathroom is.  Groan.  I asked him if he could hold it and he nodded and said very earnestly, “for another minute or so.”  So we took off looking for a bathroom, finally found it and managed to get back to our pew right before communion.  I got a picture of Owen with Father Joe but it doesn’t show the vestment off too well-----sorry Debbie.

We went over to the parish center for coffee and doughnuts although I don’t know why I say that---my father was the only one that had coffee.  Owen had a doughnut and chocolate milk and I had the big cream filled doughnut type thing that Owen had suggested for me because he had put his hand all over it---and a glass of milk.  Owen drove me crazy and wasn’t quite as charming as I would have liked when someone I knew came over to chat.  Ah well.  We headed off to my mother’s house to do her grocery shopping.  We walked in and the place reeked of the cats’ litterbox.  Evidently her homecare person hadn’t gotten to it this week.  So I went into the kitchen and my mother told me there was a bird in the house.  This is not what I was in the mood for.  Mom suggested I use a plastic grocery bag to catch it.  Huh?  Eventually I did try that because I couldn’t find a damn thing else to use.  Of course the bird just flew at me and I screamed and the poor bird was terrified.  Then I found a wicker trash can and tried to scoop it up in that---it managed to get away but flew towards the door I had propped open. O-kaaaaaay.  Cleaned the litterbox and started going over the shopping list with my mother.  I was feeling mildly irritable so when she started telling me that she couldn’t afford hummus I tried to say that she HAD to have food and food costs money….all of a sudden Owen yelled, “HEY…she’s your mother.”  “Yeah?  I know,” I said and then he continued, “well she’s your mother so she’s the boss of you and the boss of her house and you were using a voice like you were the boss of her.”   I was struck silent.  Owen and my mother both gave me pleased smiles so I said, “o.k…..I’m going to the store and the pharmacy and left.”  He was right.  He was definitely right.

Finished running around, said good bye and Owen and I went home.  I was exhausted and needed awhile to recover.  Poor Ernie tried to get me into a good mood to no avail.  Finally we wrestled the guys into the car and went and got paint samples at Lowe’s.  I hate Lowe’s.  The paint guy was patently stupid and not even amusingly stupid enough to recount here.  I got confused by the pool chemicals and the boys were being less than enthusiastic.  We got home and put some samples of Indiana Clay and Ripe Persimmons on the wall.  We’re sitting outside now and I think my mood is finally lightening.  Tomorrow is a busy day at work with my boss back for the first time in a month.  Maine is not far off…our van needs work….the boys are pissed at me for not letting them watch tv or play on the computer right now.  Eh well. Another Sunday.

Here's my first harvest of my pole beans....they were AMAZINGLY beany!!  So all is not bad.....

a couple of old pictures....

Then again not so old.....but from 2002-2003...

This is my parents on their 50th wedding anniversary in 2002 (a not very good scan of a snapshot but just the same....).

This is my Dad and Owen....Owen Joseph, that is. Owen has always loved firetruck so that Christmas my mother send my father out to buy a firetruck for Owen.  He returned with the biggest firetruck they had in the store---it even shoots water out.  Owen loved it so much that he insisted on sleeping with it in his crib. It was almost as big as him.  My father was rather pleased with himself.

Sure as hell not saving gas this way....

I work on one side of town and live on the other.  Not much driving compared to when I lived in Chicago or growing up in the suburbs but it still can add up.  Today I left work early to go pick up Owen and the present I'm supposed to give to the priest from my sister.  Got home, raced around to find something to put it in, dealt with a recalcitrant six year old and finally got back in the car and drove back across town to my mothers.  Got her and her wheelchair in the car, drove over to the church.  I think Father Joe was incredibly touched by Debbie's gift.  Debbie is a nurse in Boston and the staff on her floor had gone together after Dad died and given her vestments for a priest in Dad's memory.  It was a beautiful and meaningful gift.  The words 'in memory of Joseph Voelkl' are embroidered on the inside of the back.  Owen thought it would be better if those words were on the front but other than that he agreed it was gorgeous-----green with beautiful embroidery.  So then we sat there talking and I wish I had a tape of it all. Owen and Father Joe talked a bit about heaven and then Owen confided that sometimes Grandpa had been "cuckoo in the head" circling his ear with his finger as he explained it.  He told Father Joe about the time Grandpa had been cuckoo in the head and yelled at him and Leo but he reassured Father Joe that he knew that Grandpa still loved him and he loved him back.  Father Joe reassured him that in heaven things like that go away and Owen said wonderingly, "yeah, I think he's getting stronger."

Anyway---so I got Mom and her wheelchair back into her house, met Ernie and Leo and headed back across town.  Leo was sniffling all the way...I have NO idea what was wrong he wouldn't answer my questions.  Finally pulled into the driveway and thought to myself how tired I was only to hear my cel phone ring.  It was Ernie...I had taken the van that had Owen's glove and hat for T-ball.  Grrrrr.  So Leo and I headed back across town AGAIN, gave Ernie the glove and hat and turned back and drove across town.  I think all in all it was three hours driving back and forth.  Sure as hell not saving gas this way....

Ad for Apple

Don't you think this would work?

I love my sweet pea.

Not a bad evening but then again....

The evening started out fine. I left work fifteen minutes early, swung by the grocery store for something for dinner. I left almost $40 lighter.  How did that happen? I was just getting stuff for dinner....

O.K...I did get a 12-pack of beer
4 ears of corn
2 packages of thin pork chops....one would probably be enough but not if Owen is really hungry...
4 heads of garlic just because we were out
a package of hummus....I usually make my own but it looked good
some pita bread

How on earth does that add up to almost $40? Idon't know how I'm going to be able to afford these guys when they are teenagers. I was planning to throw the pork chops on the grill, steam the corn and have it with some of my swiss chard thinnings but right now it's after 7:00 and I haven't started anything and I'm
cross. Tired and cross. Owen slept with us last night and reminded mef why I don't want him sleeping with us. He's a noisy and active dreamer...of course that's true of him during the daytime too.

The boys were in major disgrace because of not sharing their damn playstation Indiana Jones game nicely. I turned it off and of course they acted as though I had shot them. Owen eventually cheered up after he went and apologized to Parker and Dema. Leo continues to look like a pained andsullen teenager. I was trying to sit outside and have a nice time RELAXING but between Leo's grumpiness and Owen whining because I
wouldn't get in the pool with him I gave up and came back inside feeling kind of like Leo. It's just one of those evenings that I wish my children would go away. Not too far mind you and I want them safe and moderately happy and all that....I just would like them to remove themselves from the premises until they are ready to happily fall asleep---and take all their Lego with them while they're at it.

Then I tried to figure out the fucking blood pressure machine because I'm supposed to be checking it three times a week and calling my doctor if it's over a certain number.  Checked it today at the pharmacy when I ran over to pick up my mother's new insulin.  It read 155/91 and I was rather embarrassed to leave that reading on the machine but nothing happened when I hit clear so I scurried out. Anyway so I got frustrated with the blood pressure thingy so Ernie picked it up, figured it out immediately and said his blood pressure was 107/63. I said fuck you but I think I did it lovingly.....kinda.

I gave up on dinner and tossed some macaroni and cheese at my children.  Now here I sit trying to force myself back into a good mood. It's not like anything bad happened....sometimes daily life just takes the oomph out of you. Then Ernie and I got into a discussion about whether we could manage to have my mother live with us. It's not a fun discussion.

Not a bad evening but then again not one of our best....

Summertime

Owen at bat:
(he still wants to come play baseball with you Don)

Leo begrudgingly watching his brother's t-ball game and being tormented by gnats:

Random Summertime Notes from the Sandwich Life

1.  When we got Owen glasses last year before he started kindergarten we decided to splurge and get two pairs in case one went missing. This was VERY wise as he takes them off to play and was always misplacing a pair or leaving it at someone's house. 

Now....however....he has lost BOTH pair.  geesh.

2.  I think the whole family is bleary this morning.  The boys were up WAY too late but we had the loveliest evening, sitting in the yard and eating dinner with our dear friends Ann and Bob, watching Sophie, the guys and a gaggle of neighborhood kids dive in the pool, chase each other through the field and catch fireflies, listening to music (David Olney and lots of Kane Welch Kaplin), getting bitten by mosquitoes and watching the candles flicker.  I guess it truly is officially summer.

3.  T-ball game tonight for Owen....can't decide whether I want it rained out or not.

4.  Talked to my mother yesterday afternoon and she'd had a very hard day and was in tears. I torture myself sometimes trying to figure out whether we could fit her into our house.  I just don't know if I can make it work on a number of different levels.  One worry subsides and another is there waiting to take its place, huh?

5. Talked to Judi and ordered her to stay away from all things to do with cancer on the internet.  You can drive yourself crazy that way.  I totally understand because I have done it too....

6.  The Vertebrats radio clip from WGN is online....listen to them play the wrong song and hear from Kenny...oh and Ernie after a whiskey or two (to keep him up late)....