Pink Stink

Your mind! It's always in the gutter, and I'm telling you, it's getting embarrassing. The title of this blog entry refers to my lovely new outdoor chair, nothing more. We have a couple of nice green outdoor chairs, but with our growing family we needed more. With Sullivan's soccer games going on now, a person needs a place to place once arse that is not the itchy grass. The green ones are like some sort of fancy Galyan's-type chair that probably cost something like $50 a piece, at least--they were a gift. I didn't feel like being quite so free with my money, so I decided to try Target. This is where I found my lovely pink chair. It's definitely cheaper quality than the others we have--you get what you pay for!-- but mine has the arm rests and the cup holder--nice! Another thing it has, however, is a weird funky-ass smell. (well, thank goodness not really an ASS smell, but just a funky smell) I'm setting it up outside to air it out. Why is it that so many things I get end up having a smell?! (don't answer that.) But smell or no, I'll look stylin' lounging around in my girlie chair. I wore a pink shirt last night to the soccer game, too, and I swear it wasn't planned.

Well, It's True...

If something looks too good to be true, it probably is. That was definitely the case with our shot at getting our bathroom/laundry area done downstairs on the Bathroom Renovations show. Two very nice women came out to the house to meet us and take a look at the project. Emily, the person Cory had been emailing back and forth, was very excited when she saw/heard what we wanted to do, especially at the idea of it being a retro-style area. (yeah!) Then the bomb dropped--all of the materials they use and everything they put in is free, however, the contractor's labor fee is up to us. With our project, which I guess would be a four episode show (!), it looks like we'd be talking at least 10K or so. Huh?! Not exactly something we've budgeted for! And for a downstairs bathroom and laundry room? Don't get me wrong, it would be SO cool and I'm sure they would do an amazing job....but that's a lot of dough-re-mi that we just were not planning on spending.

Emily seemed to be really excited about us and our renovation, which was very coo--and she said she wanted to do whatever it took to make it happen. Well, we shall see. I'm not getting my hopes up on this one. What a bummer! Those damn spiders and centipedes are probably down there wiping their little brows with one of their many legs in relief--the bastards. (do bugs have brows? Inquiring minds want to know...) Ah well, it was fun to see how that all works and certainly nice to be desired on a television program. I did give both ladies a Feminine Hijinx business card, so, all is not lost. :-)

You Want Me To Stay Where?!

When I was doing a pic search for an image of a 'spider in the bathroom' for my blog entry below, I came across a photo of a room in a cabin at Spider Shores Resort. Considering it made my stomach hurt just to view all of those horrid spider photos, (see what I'll go through, just for you?!) it's just beyond me how anyone could spend a week at some place called Spider Lake. That conjures up images I just don't need to have in my head. The only thing that may be worse is Vomit Lake. Ug. I don't think I'll look up images to pretty up this blog with that search, sorry. I do draw the line at that one.

Let's Hope--No More Scary Bathroom!

I was just sitting here checking out the web site of Edelman Productions, trying to figure out which TV show we may actually be on. Yup, you read it right. Shall I explain?

A while ago Cory was doing his daily Craig's List search and came across an ad from Edelman Productions, a local company that specializes in producing television series--most of them being of the Home Improvement type, it seems. This ad put a call out to people who may be interested in having a bathroom or kitchen remodel, free of charge, and have it be televised for one of these shows. Uh...sha! Who wouldn't want to do that?!

Of course a kitchen can NEVER be big enough or have enough space, in my opinion, but we re-did our kitchen a few years ago when we moved into this house, so that is not really an issue for us. However, our downstairs bathroom is quite a mess. The plastic tiles are falling off the walls, the people who lived here before painted weird multi-colored squiggles all over the top half of the walls that do not have decrepit falling tiles--pretty horrific. I painted some white over the squiggles but of course never got any farther than that. Our whole bathroom/laundry area could definitely use an overhaul. In fact we've planned on doing just that, but somehow the downstairs bathroom just never quite gets priority over all of the other things that constantly need fixing up around here. Plus I've deemed it 'The Scary Bathroom', mainly because there always seems to be a spider or centipede in there. Shiver!!!

So, needless to say Cory was very interested in this possibility and can you believe, after a few emails and photos sent back and forth (one of them being the one at center above), at least one producer is actually coming to our house Monday at noon to check it out and to meet us?!!!! Eeeek! (do you think Dot and John would lend me Esther for the weekend?!) I don't want to get too excited, because of course it's no sure thing yet. But it's looking damn good. Wish us luck! (no more Scary Bathroom!)

An Extraordinary Ordinary Day

(there we are at Elio's in NYC, having a wonderful meal with Dot and John Levy!)

Life is great today. Oh, there's nothing really exciting going on. (although I did get to sleep in until 8:00 AM for the second day in a row, which is quite amazing, actually!) I dropped Vivian off at her art club class she is doing all week, and Sullivan and I went to the gym. We came back, and Sullivan requested to play over at the church in the nursery. He's obsessed with this new tub of cars they have in there. He doesn't even play in the nursery anymore--we make him sit with us boring adults, poor guy--but apparently he's been in there enough to set his sights on those cars and therefore be obsessed with them. No big deal, with church being a few steps away, it's a nice alternative to the same old cars around here. Nice for me, too, as I get to gab with various nice people over there.

As for the rest of the afternoon, I have no idea what's in store. I wanted to take the kids to the pool, but alas, the clouds rolled in and what was a warm sunny morning has turned into a chilly, cloudy afternoon--well, maybe not chilly, but if you are standing around in a wet pool it becomes downright frigid. But even thwarted pool plans can't ruin my mood today. I'm still on a New York City high. It was a bummer to leave the good life of Park Avenue with my friends having not a care in the world, don't get me wrong....but I feel like it totally refreshed and recharged me in an amazing way. I'm so appreciative of my dear husband, who loves me enough to let me go have all the fun and in fact encouraged me to do so. I'm appreciative, of course, of my wonderful friends who shared it with me. How many people are lucky enough to have friendships like that?? Just like men, I've been through my share of weirdness with friends, and I'm extra appreciative of a good friendship when I see it. And it may not be on Park Avenue, but I am very appreciative of my lovely home in this lovely state and my lovely kick-ass car to drive around it in. :-) And heck, I got on that plane! I haven't been a fan of air travel for quite a few years now, but I stared anxiety in the face and got on one anyway. Two, to be exact.

It's amazing what a little gratefulness and empowerment will do for a person. Makes an ordinary day an extraordinary one. Ahhhh. Remind me of this when I'm getting my mammogram and serving jury duty. And the next time my kid throws up.

That's No Bad Apple

Okay, maybe turning 40 isn't so bad. Especially when your girlfriends help you celebrate by taking you to NEW YORK CITY! Just got back yesterday morning (bright and *yawn* early, I might add) from a most amazing, fabulous, could-never-explain-how-wonderful trip ever. I'm going to be lazy and let Stephanie cover all of the details, if you care to read them...but let me just say that staying in Dot and John's apartment on Park Avenue, eating out at amazing restaurants where we were treated like celebrities, shopping at Bergdorf Goodman and other little places where people were a blast, experiencing the distinguished Metropolitan Museum of Art, strolling through glorious Central Park, and most of all just hanging with two of the most wonderful, generous, amazing and downright hilariously fun women in the entire world...well, what CAN I say?! It was the trip of a lifetime. Even with a gimpy back, and with that, let me add Patient and Kind to the long list of adjectives that describe my good friends.

So, come August when it really WILL be my 40th birthday and I'm doing things like getting my first mammogram and starting a year-long stint of f-ing on-call jury duty, I'll have this incredible experience to remember. Thanks Coreman, Thanks Dot and John, thanks New York City, and thanks to you, my glorious friends. Here's to 40!

It's Semi-Official...

Whew. What a day. We (meaning the kiddos and I) have been driving around all day..Groceries, hair trim for me (ahhhhh!) at Curl Up and Dye, and a back crack at Davis Chiropractic, where I haven't been in...years?! Craziness. I came back ready to put my feet up and relax at the homestead for a bit--until I listened to my answering machine. There was a message from someone at FM107, letting me know that Kim and I have moved up to the finals in the Undiscovered Divas contest! EEEEEK! This means a one hour live audition on the air, and I already have the date--Wednesday July 26th, from 6:00-7:00 PM. We're already on the schedule! We meet at the station for an orientation mid-July, and when she mentioned learning about FCC regulations, and how to operate the mics and headphones, my heart just leapt. OMG, are we really going to do this?! So anyone out there that can tune into FM107 on that date and at that time, please do! I have no idea how and when you can vote for us, I suppose I'll find that out at the orientation. But I will definitely be shamelessly soliciting votes to move onto the grand prize...our own radio show for 8 weeks in August/September!

So who can relax with that kind of news?!

Phat Thunder Has Entered the Driveway!!

There he is! Wooo!!! Oh, it was such a relief to have my car delivered to me once again yesterday--for good! Unfortunately I couldn't go anywhere in it, however...both kids were sick and my back was ready to go out on me. Not a good day.

Vivian woke up feeling sick and soon had things coming out of both ends. Ug. (you all know how I feel about that!) Then I noticed Sullivan felt warm, and he ended up having strep throat. I'm sure all of the stress of this made my back achey, so the three of us were quite the household. Luckily today both kids are feeling better. Getting Sullivan to take his 10 day medication sure won't be fun, tho. Just like Vivian did, he will actually gag and throw up medicine, he hates it so much. This time I got chewable pills and thought to crush them up and put them in pudding. (before we'd done the liquid in the pudding) I figured the pills wouldn't effect the taste so much, but I didn't count on the texture thing. How could I forget how fastidious my son is about things like that? grief. It took a long time of begging, threatening no TV or computer, and finally the threat of one big mongo penicillin shot to finally get him to eat it. And we only have 9 more days, or 18 more doses to go....sigh...

So today, I was finally able to get into Phat Thunder and take him for a ride. I took him out to the Scion dealership to have them tell me what some of the crazy things are on it. I love my little car! It's so zippy and fun to drive. They were out of the Scion keychains, tho, and I was bummed. I've gotta get me one of those eventually.

Then I drove back to Kim's house to get her acquainted with Phat T. She hopped right in in her jammies and we headed over to Steph's. She too hopped in in her jammies and we drove around a bit. Ha! Feeling pretty bad-ass we were, in our jammies. So now everyone knows each other.

Today, just a relaxing Saturday, not doing much of anything but having the kids recover from their illnesses. What a way to start the summer! Of course it's doesn't feel like summer, it's COLD out there!

Summer's Here! But Not My Car...grumble....

What a day. The weather was perfect, and I brought Sullivan to our friend Vicky's house to play for most of the day. I used to bring Sullivan to Vicky's on a more regular basis, back when Cory was working for the Wild photographing their games. There were many a day when Cory would go straight from work to the game, and quite frankly when Sullivan was a toddler it was nice to have some time off once in a while! Vicky is like a grandma to both he and Vivian, so it's good to keep her in their lives. We'll have a few 'Vicky Days' this summer, and both kids are happy about that! And Mom, too! :-)

On my day off I hit the gym--haven't been there enough these days, I'm sad to say--then Target (of course) and then over to Vivian's school on her last day. Last day of school! My daughter is now a 5th grader, my son a Kindergartner. whew. It was so fun being in Vivian's classroom, watching the kids get their yearbooks and having each other sign them. Get this--I was sitting by Ms. Ristau and after having her sign the books many of the kids wanted me to as well! So cute! I signed them "Vivian's Mom". :-) I left early to go get Sullivan feeling a bit melancholy. Sad because I know Vivian is very sad to see her 4th grade year come to an end, she has absolutely adored her teacher. (and I have, too!) Sad because I can't believe another school year has really come and gone already. And thinking about my own faded youth--I have to say I wouldn't want to be school-aged again and go through all of that hard stuff, but of course there is a sadness at the loss of those carefree days, for sure. Believe you me, when a person is almost 40, they think about that kind of stuff.

And today, I still wait. I wait for my Scion once again. Oh, what a saga. It took longer than I wanted for them to replace that muffler of hate, because of course they had to order new brackets to fit. Ok. But after the car was delivered to me--yes, I said Delivered To Me (nice!)--I realized that the side view mirrors control was not working. The mirrors also had these fancy lights on them that weren't doing a damn thing. The next day I took it BACK in the dealership. To make a long story short, they looked, couldn't fix, gave me a loaner car, and I left my baby there once again. Turns out the mirrors are some aftermarket thing that never worked at all. I just don't get that. Why would someone bother to trick their car all up and then the bling doesn't even work?! Crazy. Now Toyota is putting brand new mirrors on for me, heh heh. The problem with all of this is that I want the car yesterday. It's taking WAY too long. I know in the grand scheme of things it's no big deal and in fact the dealership is really taking care of me in a big way--I'm getting all of these brand new parts put in, and they've never batted an eye. Gotta give Park Jeep props for that. But every time I see a Scion drive by me I just want to weep.

Meanwhile, of all the vehicles they could give me to drive, they loaned me a Pontiac Grand Prix. (or as Stephanie would say, a Grand Pricks) If you've listened to the podcast at all, you'll know that this is funny. I couldn't believe it! It's not a bad car as far as little sporty cars go, but I generally hate little sporty cars. They aren't for short people. They are way too long and my foot barely reaches the pedal. I have to have the seat up so damn close that I can barely wedge myself in and out from behind the steering wheel. And to top it all off, the damn gas light came on tonight--I gotta fill the thing with gas! Please. Pat said I should make them pay for taking so long with my Scion by putting some serious miles on the thing, driving up to Redwing and getting the kids some moccasins. Not a bad thought. But then I'd have to put a full tank of gas in it--no can do.

So last night I take the Pricks and drive over to Kim's to pick her up and head over to Stephanie's for a remote podcast. We decided to make an entrance and blasted some 80's Foreigner as we pulled up into the drive. Kim and I posed with some beer on top of the car for Stephanie to witness as she came out the door. Oh, the hijinx! Then we proceeded to have our first podcast on Stephanie's lovely deck overlooking the pool. Yes, I said FIRST podcast, unfortunately. Stupid me forgot to turn on the mic. And that was with only drinking one He'Brew! Sigh. So we then moved into the porch, (or the lanai, as I kept having to call it--since we WILL be the Golden Girls someday...) did #2, and it came out quite well. (the podcast, that is! Oh you, keep your minds out of the gutter!) Home at midnight, whew! I'm sleepy today!

But check this out! Remember how I mentioned in my previous entry about Kim and I auditioning for the FM107 Undiscovered Divas contest? Well, here's proof! An actual photo on their site of Kim and I cracking up Ian and Margery! Nice! I was all bummed that I didn't remember my camera, turns out I didn't need one. Would you look at that.

So! Things have been quite busy and exhausting. I'm ready to get in Phat Thunder, (the name of my new car that the Hijinx ladies unanimously agreed with) take a nice little drive around town,and put my feet up for a while. Summer is officially here!

Another Day, Another Saga...

The Scion saga continues. When last I talked about my new Scion xB, I told you that my baby was still at the dealer getting it's vroom-vroom muffler swapped out for a quiet, respectable one. After a terrible wait, being the anxious I-Want-It-Yesterday person that I am, they actually delivered my car to me. Yup, drove it straight into my driveway from Burnsville, even through rush-hour traffic. How do I rate?! I was so excited and happy to have my Scion at last! I got right in, and the first inaugural drive was to where else? McDonalds. I was sad to notice, however, that the rear view mirror control wasn't working. To make a long story short, I took the car back in to the dealer, they took it to Toyota, and now Toyota won't touch them because they are an after-market add on. (they are fancy bling-bling rear-view mirrors with lights on the sides...but who cares about bling when it doesn't work?!) grief. So now they are back at the original dealership, their tech guy is looking at them to see what he can do.

I feel like an idiot for not checking all of the buttons of levers before I left the lot. Let's this be a lesson to all that read this! What a GIRL thing to do! Duh. But, I'm sure they feel even worse for having them not be working. I would think a dealership would put their cars through a check of all these types of things before they put them on the lot. I will say tho, these guys at Park Jeep have totally stepped up to the plate and I would recommend them in an instant. They've basically told me whether it's under warranty or not, it will be taken care of. They gave me a Grand Prix to drive in the meantime. (or Grand Pricks, as Stephanie would say....if you've been listening to Feminine Hijinx, you would understand the joke...!) So even tho this has been a royal pain in the ass, I know things will get taken care of.

But as my poor husband will tell you, I don't deal with this sort of thing well. I don't sleep, I rattle on and on about it, worrying and complaining. I just want my car back in my driveway, end of story. I feel like a girl sitting by the phone, endlessly waiting for her date to call. I can't stand it!

I'd love to be able to pick Kim up in the new Scion tonight, on my way to Stephanie's house for a remote podcast on her porch. At least I have that to look forward to. No matter what irritations the day brings, I have my peeps to laugh with tonight! Woo! It's been a while, too.

39 and Fine!

Man, I am living Year 39 up, let me tell you. Goin' out with a BANG. Yesterday Kim picked me up bright and early, and we headed over to our sister city Saint Paul for the Grand Old Day celebration. Normally I don't go for these feel-good city celebrations...too crowded, too hot, too annoying. (I reserve that only for the State Fair) But that's where FM 107, the talk radio station, was having it's auditions for it's "Undiscovered Divas" competition. Originally we wanted to do it as a Feminine Hijinx trio, of course, but sadly they only let pairs try out. Kim kept saying Stephanie should do it, Steph kept saying Kim should do it...and of course I felt like maybe I should bow out if they wanted to go...in the end, Kim and I were Flynn (as in, in like) and off we went. Not really knowing what to expect, we were both pretty nervous.

To make a long story short, we NAILED it! After answering some questions on a form, we waited our turn and then talked with Ian and Margery, from "A Balanced Breakfast" morning show. They were very easy to talk to, I didn't feel nervous for long. When they asked us why we were trying out for this spot, before you could say 'meat curtain' I whipped out our Feminine Hijinx business card and handed it to Ian. As he looked at it and we talked about the name and our slogans (Always Fresh, Motherhood After Dark) his eyes lit up and let's just say we had he and Margery in the palm of our sweaty hands. They seemed to love the ideas behind the show and everything about it. Of course they asked about Stephanie and we told them we wished we could have brought her!!! At one point, given we were only supposed to have two minutes, a girl came by with a stopwatch telling them our time was up. Ian waved her away, saying that we got started late, and asked us some more questions! :-) So! We shall see. The next step would be getting called back as one of 10 finalists (10 pairs or people, I'm not sure) to do an actual one hour radio spot. Then the listeners vote as to who they like best, and the Grand Prize is a 2 month stint of your own radio show on Sundays! Woo! Oh man, would that be a hoot.

So, we're keeping our fingers (and everything else) crossed. At least I am. Kim is going through the "Oh My God, we did really well and we may have to actually do this!" faze right now. Somehow that hasn't hit me. BRING IT ON, I say! 39 and fine, baby, 39 and fine!

PS, as an aside, like my dear friend Stephanie, it seems that Blogger is having a glitch with photos lately. My posts will be a bit boring without any added photo fluff--but hopefully the content is just so darn rich you don't even miss them. (don't worry, they should be back soon)

Metal Mommy Indeed

So, the Pathfinder is sold. Done deal.

Now I get to shop. We have pretty much settled on the Scion--woo hoo! What fun. I decided that I had to drive that one that is shown in the photo below, in my previous entry. Sullivan and I drove to the dealership, and there she was, right up front. I had to smile when I saw it, so over the top! I immediately noticed how the black paint on the hood and top of the car was covered with multi-colored sparkles....ooooooh, ahhhhhh! Then I went around to the back and wanted to open the hatch, to re-reacquaint myself with just how much storage room was back there. I opened the door and stopped for a second, thinking, wait a minute...did I just see what I think I saw?? I quickly closed it again and realized it was not just a trick of the sun on my eyes....there was indeed a gaping skull staring at me, airbrushed into the red paint below. I said to the guy, "Oh my gosh, is that a SKULL??" He said, "Oh, yeah!" and told me all about the custom paint job it had. That's when I realized that there were skulls airbrushed all over the thing. Hilarious! I thought they were just black swirls! I threw my head back and howled. And got right in and drove the thing. I'm thinking long and hard about this skull car. I made the guy an offer, he countered, I started to leave and then he did the classic 'catching me right as I was walking out the door' thing, MAYBE being willing to take my offer after all. Heh heh. I do have a budget to stick to, after all! So! I am driving a couple more tomorrow, and then who knows? Maybe the skulls are for me?! Now THAT is metal. Stay tuned....

Okay, tomorrow is today. I never got to posting this thing. As of today, I am the proud owner of a Scion! So as not to keep you in suspense (I know it's just killing you...) I did not end up buying the Skull one. I mourned it a bit as I signed the papers for my silver one (or, Thunder Cloud Metallic, that is..), but I have traded up the bling on the outside for the bling on the in. Oh man, is this thing SWEET! It practically looks brand new, black and silver leather interior, and get this...it has the LED illumination under the dash, lighting my feet and the passenger's with a pretty blue light. Nice! The switch for it is underneath this blue reflector-looking lever that you have to lift up to turn on, totally like I'm about to detonate a bomb! When the salesguy pulled it up to me to drive, I was like, "what is that loud rumbling noise?" I guess it had a muffler enhancer thing, which made it sound totally like a hot rod. Hilarious! I loved the idea, but unfortunately, not the noise. It was WAY too loud on the inside of the car, and Vivian didn't like the rumbling in the back seat. (give her a few years....doh! Did I say that?!) Anyway, long story short, I bought the thing and I'm loving it! Sadly, I had to leave it at the dealership so they could swap out the muffler--I had them replace it with a normal one. (skulls I'll take, I'll leave the hot-rod muffler to a 20 year old) I should be able to pick it up Monday night! I'm so excited, I can barely stand it. I'll probably end up being one of those Scion geeks who joins some forum and just talks about my cool car.

Maybe I'll order a cool skull decal to put on the back, or some sort of tribal design. Or both...! I don't have to completely walk away from the skulls! I can put on my own, damnit! I WILL be metal! But hey, even though the Scion is more rap than metal, in my book metal = cool, and so this thing is metal all the way.

Is It Me?

So what do you think, is this car me? Ha!

It looks like we sold the Pathfinder! Woo! A couple came yesterday, drove it, said they were very interested but would call today after they went to the bank. They ended up calling last night at 10:00 PM and saying they wanted it for sure! So now I'm waiting for them to call to tell me where to meet them to get the deal done. Eeek, now I have to start my serious car-shopping again. This time with a little different criteria. I'm going to have to settle for less whistles and bells, I'm afraid. But! I guess when you are almost-40 you need to get a bit more sensible. Heck, if I end up in this Scion tho, I'd say that's anything but sensible.

I totally got the giggles last night, picturing Stephanie's face as I drove into her driveway with that thing. Or to the PTSO meetings, blasting Nelly or something of the sort out the windows. It would turn into total embarrassment for the kids as they got older. I'd be pulling up to school and their friends would be like, "Is that your MOM?" Ha! That alone is almost enough to make me run right out and slap my money down on that crazy Scion right now.

So, we shall see what I end up with. Sullivan better be ready to do more test driving. It's going to be a crazy ride.