August 2010 And the Golden Fleece Nomination

Last week was from hell as Greg and I unloaded one apartment in the Windy City and stacked those boxes in the next apartment.  Sounds pretty easy until the heat/humidity index hits 92, the vacated apartment is on the fourth floor and the city of Chicago Public Works is trying to replace the sidewalk in front of the new place. Best I can say about all this is it is DONE!

So the Headline (above) alludes to better fun this weekend as Ron, Mike and I headed to Duluth's lakefront and listened to some kickin' music.  Who knew Reverend Raven and the Chain Smoking Altar Boys would leave us hoping for more.  Ron hit the CD tent and Mike got things autographed.  We meet up with some real blues fans Kristi and Jeff et al...Best time ever!  (Thank you very much!)

Gretchen called yesterday and I rushed to the post office with a blanket and pillow posted to "duluth". 

If her husband wants to sleep on a cot without the creature comforts of home he will at least dress up his room when he Skype's my Booska. As soon as I get a drawstring installed he is getting some of Mike's old UW LaCrosse warm ups, a hooded sweat shirt, shower shoes, and of course a toothbrush. . . And all the magazines I can pull out of Ron's hands sans Playboy!

Here comes the Fleecing of America Nomination:

(BACKGROUND)Greg's apartment is in Hyatt Park Chicago just a block from Obama's house. It is a bit scary to realize the secret service is guarding Mr. Obama's Chicago Homestead 24/7 with three manned suburbans and my soldier doesn't have sheets, a blanket, or a pillow.  Isn't Chicago got the biggest surveillance camera network of all major cities? Yes... Somebody tell me why Mr. Obama's unoccupied house has a spending priority over my soldier. (Josh had to buy his own boxed lunch ($5.50) if he wanted a meal on the plane to "duluth.". and now I find out he hasn't a blanket or a pillow)  Remind me why I voted for this guy? 

Hope Martha's Vineyard vacation includes sheets,blankets, and pillows.

TGIF

Well let the weekend start...Survived the flooded kitchen floor this week, four new tires on the Tundra, one Rafter's Baseball Game and dodged another Rafter's Game and the Brewer's tomorrow. Wayne and Cook came to town. . they are always fun. Add I cleaned the bathrooms and that isn't ever fun.

It was a warm week in "Lake Haf-er-mann" as my petunia's are about done and the squirrels have started eating the patio tomatoes. The weather has been warm and 100% humid until last night when the Rafters beat the Wausau Woodchucks in the bottom of the 10th inning with a two run homer. Good thing for me cuz Ron is not one to leave the ballpark during extra innings.

My recipe for the summer has been my new and original Veg Sandwich

Babs's VEGG Sandwich
One skinny bun lathered with olive oil mayo
One sliced avocado
One slice aged white cheddar
One skinny onion slice
One ounce of sprouts
Paste it all together with Jack Daniels Mustard
(...Save the real thing for the next phase...Liquid Lunch)
Serve it to Ron after the BBG and send in his lunch X2.
(Guarantee he won't come home any faster but he will be happy at work.)

So Far Out So IRS

Feeling a little bit cocky! The IRS is pulling out "with no further changes to your 2007-2008 return". Seems we dodged an 'Audit Bullet'. Whereas I'm ecstatic, It is also 'under final approval subject to the 'Area Director'. (Seems they have to leave one foot in the door of my life.) I will remain relieved until the 'director' says otherwise.
So, I am sharing my joy with hopes it is not premature.
Did you know when the IRS audits you as Married Filing Jointly then send the same package to each of you at the same address, on the same day and they add a note telling you they did this on purpose. There's a case of the IRS supporting the USPS! Do they think I ever showed Ron his originals? (I didn't. I sent his copies on to the people who could help.....)
I am not professing I know exactly what happened as to why they sent us a huge bill one day and a "Nevermind" on another. Thinking back, I did email Obama about my lack of enthusiasm about This War...the IRS notice came within days. Anyway, I do send a shout-out to Joe @ Kirgis and Assoc in Rochester and Fran Esquire here in his new crib in Rapids. "KowaBunga Duds!"

Today is 143rd day of exercise and on day 142 I had Brings Cycle diagnose I'd ruined my first elliptical and took it away. (Better the elliptical then the marriage.) I am feeling pretty "JOCK". (Add this to Cocky as above)
Come ON! Never would have seen this coming 145 days ago! Good news is, it is repairable...bad news is it just me and the treadmill now. GYM WAR!

And I am on a new crusade to report Cell Phone Rudeness right here and NOW. I was going to say I wanted to put an end to it but I am not GRANDIOSE!. Recently a guy called twice with a message to return 'this call'... I called him back twice, left a voice mails twice and he is pissed. Says I am hard to get a hold of. Next I was in the middle of an apology, disguised as a life situation; when the listener said.."I have to let you go...my daughter's is on the other line." Yikes. Well, Mary didn't raise no fool(s). Hit the delete key on those two kids. And while I am at it please realize I do not answer 24/7... This past weekend I left my phone in the car all weekend! (If you just GASPED at that thought don't call me!)

Top Ten Reasons You Shouldn't Answer Your Cell Phone Every time it RINGS!...

10. You are driving on the autobahn (Meg & Grrr)

9. You are driving PERIOD...(Your hand/EYE coordination isn't capable of
video games either; which may be the next generation car apps...not ours)

8. Your caller ID says "Restricted"
(It is neither PUBLISHER'S CLEARING HOUSE nor your financial institution.)

7. Your caller ID says "Unavailable" (Promise: It's a sales call)

6. It's one of the four children you haven't given money today.

5. You are one-on-one with the supermarket cashier... the bar codes are
automated...she/he is real!

4. You are in a Dead Cell Zone, No one can hear you but you will hear
"CAN YOU HEAR ME." "CAN YOU HEAR ME"..."CAN YOU HEAR ME"
and rupture your tympanic membrane.

3. Their battery is so low..."HELLO. My battery is low...I might loose you." (You just wasted their battery and your time, CLICK!)

2. Your are in the Rest Room. (Too much "Information" as they can hear everything!)

And finally the #1 Reason you should not ALWAYS answer your cell phone...
WTF...Get a LIFE!

So Meg's Memorizing Billy Joel

So I was curious as too just how old my oldest daughter is? When she stated she was memorizing the lyrics to Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire." I was thinking it's a Baby Boomers song.....

WE DIDNT START THE FIRE BY BILLY JOEL

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio

Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe

Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, "The King and I" and "The Catcher in the Rye"

Eisenhower, vaccine, England's got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye

CHORUS:
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser aand Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc

Roy hn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, dacron
Dien Bien Phu falls, "Rock Around the Clock"

Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland

Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Krushchev
Princess Grace, "Peyton Place", trouble in the Suez

CHORUS:
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, "Bridge on the River Kwai"

Lebanon, Charlse de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkweather, homicide, children of thalidomide

Buddy Holly, "Ben Hur", space monkey, Mafia
Hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go

U-2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, "Psycho", Belgians in the Congo

CHORUS:
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Hemingway, Eichmann, "Stranger in a Strange Land"
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion

"Lawrence of Arabia", British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson

Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex
JFK, blown away, what else do I have to say

CHORUS:
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodsto/ck/, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan

"Wheel of Fortune", Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law
Rock and roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore

CHORUS:
We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
Will it still burn on, and on, and on, and on...
song.

Made me realize it didn't matter how old you had to be to remember all that goes past you when you see it, but how young you have to be to want to memorize it...
(I spared tormenting all with the Video but if you want to google the artist and song title it is quite good.)
I don't believe she will get the next bar boys to break in to any rowdy verse!

Rolling Stone's Runaway General

http://www.rollingstone.com:80/politics/news/17390/119236

This is a link above to the article which disposed of McChrystal. I cannot believe more people aren't angry. Greg knows this author and I am told he has a great story to tell. STAY TUNED!

Drunken Sailor Solution

What Do You Do With A Drunken Sailor?
What'll we do with a drunken sailor,
What'll we do with a drunken sailor,
What'll we do with a drunken sailor,
Earl-aye in the morning?
Chorus:
Way hay and up she rises (x3)
Earl-aye in the morning
1. Put him in the long boat till he's sober,
2. Keep him there and make 'im bale 'er.
3. Shave his belly with a rusty razor.
4. Put him in bed with the captain's daughter.

I am admitting to the auditory abuse which I subjected all my offspring too.
Can't wait to "renew my tunes" for the grand kiddos

Father's Day Yesterday!

So yesterday was Father's Day and my man heard from all his kiddos and then took his dad to the Rafter's Baseball game. He got to read his Sunday New York Times, More from Glenn Beck, walked the dog, biked with yours truly and essentially I think he had a good day.  I reminded one of the kiddos it was really my day too.  I made this all possible.
Gretchen and Josh went back to Germany and Meg had been back for a week.  We also shared our 35th Wedding Anniversary with those who were about. We wandered the Magnificent Mile, ate at the Cape Cod Room, shopped at the iStore and biked the lake walk all the way to McCormick Center.
Spring has been warm and muggy and pretty wet except for Island Lake which is low.  We launched the pontoon boat but the dock is still on shore.  So we put the boat back in the pole barn.  The wave runner is available if Michael was in Duluth.  (Guess I have to check this out.)
I have baby birds under the eaves.  I think they are Townsend solitaires...I am not sure.  I will explore more bird books.
My daily exercise continues and frankly I have quit counting.  We also are hosting a wonderful Rafter's Baseball player from California.  Wait I take back the wonderful part becuz as any parent knows; either natural or adopted, the minute you boost: children misbehave.
Well, it is off the roast the asparagus.