She's a Superfreak

Now that I have figured out video, my friends, it is the perfect time to share with you Jaime's performance at Bonnie's roast. Enjoy!

"I'm a Joe Stumpe groupie"

Aren't you?
Last night, Carrie and Co. put together a birthday party for Joe at Oeno, where he has a standing Monday night gig. Carrie had T-shirts made that turned everyone into insta-groupies. Here's the only slightly horrified birthday boy.


Somewhere out there is a Randy Bradbury Official Photo of this birthday event. But right here you've got my crude, not-at-all-complete version.


A highlight of the evening was when Carrie gave away "Joe Dough" to people who best answered hypothetical questions about the birthday boy. I won $10 bucks worth of Joe Dough and was thus forced to drink more wine. The price you pay for hilarity...


Bongo babe.


One of the more, ahem, enthusiastic groupies.


Brazil babes.

Shoe shopping

When you're 2 and 3, shoe shopping can get kind of boring.

You have to make your own fun.

Waffle House

Jaime first introduced me to Waffle House in Tennessee. They're not all that, but yet, somehow they are. There's not one here, but there is one by Joe's house. We went on Sunday morning.


Lexi: Waffle, scrambled egg, juice box, mommy's hashbrowns



Joe: Mommy's waffle, mommy's egg sandwich, juice box



Jack: Little bit of everything, the more the better



Good times!

Peter's basic nightmare

Tonight,we got to go out on the town with Annie and Pete. Annie hired a babysitter, a nice 16-year-old whose mom is a biz editor at the Star. (I think Annie hoped this would somehow turn into job offers for Nick and me. Optometrist naivete...)

Anyway, we started off at a very good restaurant called 40 Sardines. It was great. I had scallops in a corn butter cilantro sauce. Afterward, at the recommendation of our waiter, we went downtown and tried out JP Wine Bar. It was so Oeno-like, I wonder if the owner modeled his place after JP. It even smelled the same.


I say this is Peter's basic nightmare because he's a simple Dutchman who absolutely detests going out to eat. Give him hot dogs at home any day. He was dreading this meal sort of like I would dread a trip to the gyno. But he was a good sport and was cheered up when we got to sit outside at JP. Good ole Pete.

Annie's boys

We are at Annie's for our weekend visit. Lexi talked all week about seeing Joe. When she finally did, she ran to him -- arms wide open -- like a slow-motion scene from a 60s beach movie.

They got to play a little bit before bed. Then they all refused to go to bed. More fun tomorrow.

In this pic are, left to right, Cody (12), Jack (20 months), Lexi (hates posing for pics), Aunt Annie, and Joe (3 going on 30).

"Mommy, you're bossy"

This is my first experiment with showing you some video on my blog. Now, I haven't yet figured out how to actually post it here so you can just watch it (but I will soon.)

You can, however, click on this link and watch little Miss Fancy Pants telling me what's what.

You won't be sorry.

Ain't she trendy?

Well, okay, maybe Crocs aren't exactly TRENDY, or even attractive, but they sure are cute on tiny feet. Tonight, Lexi received this pair in the mail from her Grammy. She was quite thrilled.

Look at those cute little knees!

We unwrapped the box, and she insisted upon wearing her new Crocs immediately. After testing them to make sure they were running-, jumping- and dancing- compatible, she made sure they would also make good dining companions. And then she called me bossy. I'll show you the video.

Poor little Norty

Once again, Norty's babysitting network has broken down. This weekend, his friends are all busy or have loved ones who don't love him. (How could you not love THAT FACE???)

I met a nice lady named Becky when I recently did a charity dog wash event at Green Acres. She lives near Central and Woodlawn, near my buddy Brenda, and dogsits at her house as a side business.

Since we're headed to KC for a weekend (also a No-Norton zone) he'll be staying with Becky, her Golden and a couple of little yippers that looked half chihuahua.

Here he is just before we left tonight. (See his bag packed to the left.) He seemed fine when we got there, but it sure is hard to leave your baby with a stranger. Note to self: Become better acquainted with those Pug Meet-Up people!

Bookclub... EXPOSED

WARNING: If you do not know me and don't like blogs, please stop now because I don't want to waste your time.

Whew, now that I'm feeling a little self conscious, let's get to today's topic: Bookclub. (I've just decided that bookclub is one word, so let's go with it.)

Here are Kathryn and Chris at tonight's meeting, which was at Kathryn's house. Our bookclub is made up of about 30 Eagle women and friends/acquaintances of Eagle women. We meet once a month at different members' houses to eat, gossip, and if we get to it, discuss a book. Each meeting draws anywhere from 5 people in crazy months to 20 when it's Halloween or at Bonnie's house.

Sadly, I'm not sure what book we discussed tonight because I didn't get to it, but I know it was a memoir by a sassy Republican. (This is probably why I didn't get to it.) But the girls swear it was good.

Food is one of the main draws at our meeting. It's always an eclectic mix. Tonight we had spinach pizza, spinach pasta, crab Rangoon and steamed dumplings, Panera bread and chocolate cookies. Carby much?

Usually, our book club meetings have a strict NO BOYS ALLOWED policy. But we make exceptions for cuties like Kyle D., who came with his mommy, Amy.

Ginger, explained

Jaime and I have known each other a very long time, and we have sort of developed our own language. We have a lot of sayings between the two of us that are rooted in funny incidents from long ago.

A couple of examples I'll explain someday:
"How NIIIICCCEE."
"Fascinating... The idea is simple."
"He's a knock-knock-knocker."

But one of the sayings we use most often is "Blah, blah, blah, Ginger." We use it when we're describing someone who's talking a lot but not saying much of anything.

Today, Jaime e-mailed me the Far Side cartoon that inspired this particular piece of our lexicon.

Crunchy

I can't take credit for this -- Jaime gave me the idea. And she can't take credit, either, because croutons have been around for a looong time. But I must say -- nothing makes a salad taste better than homemade croutons. Below you will see the batch I made tonight, in two stages.

Before: Get a loaf of nice bread (or even not so nice -- I recently used a rock-hard stale loaf of 99 cent French bread from Wal-Mart.) Cut it up into crouton-sized chunks, put the chunks in a bowl and stir them up with a lot of olive oil, garlic powder, dry Italian herbs, salt and pepper. Spread on a cookie sheet and bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

After: Voila! These are so good, we're known to just snack on them.

Gardening wows

Since I complained about my gardening woes a few days ago, I thought it only fair I give equal time to my gardening successes. They are few and far between.

Here is my first official survivor of the season. Yes, it's a tad on the orange side. But I picked it early because I did not want it to be consumed by bugs or pugs, which is the fate that befell my last two near-successes.

I'm very VERY proud of my herb garden, which I started two summers ago. The two big green ones on the left are basil plants, and they are plentiful. If any of you need some, please, let me know. In front is rosemary, and next to that is thyme that I planted when I first started the garden. Same for the sage to the right of that and the oregano to the right of the sage. There's also a whole bunch of oregano, which you can't see. Please, allow me to fulfill any of your herbal needs. Well, any that involve basil, rosemary, thyme, sage or oregano.

Her first word was 'Starbucks'

Okay, no it wasn't. But the child does recognize both Starbucks and Target and has for about, oh, a year.

Yesterday, during my standard Saturday Starbucks run, I asked for a teeny tiny Starbucks cup full of milk so Lexi could have her own.

She loved it, but her dad wasn't too happy. Turns out he drives her through Starbucks every morning on his way to drop her off at school, and now he's worried she's going to want her own every morning.

Oops.

Troubles! Troubles! Troubles!

Lexi LOVES Troubles the Clown. He makes balloon animals at the Farmer's Market at 21st and Ridge. Every week, she begs to see him. Then, she pretends to be too shy to talk to him. Then she gets her purple dog and life is good.

You, like me, might wonder what Troubles is so troubled about. I can't say for sure, but some early Saturday mornings, he seems like he might have had a little too much clowning around the night before, if you know what I mean.

Thanks, Troubles!

Haircut day

Lexi has her fair share of fears. We discovered a new one today when we drove through the automatic car wash. (Yikes.) But she's never minded getting her hair cut. Today was probably her eighth one in her two and a half years of life. This is DaNae at the Hair and Shampoo Center on West 21st. We tried a lot of not-so-good kid stylists before discovering DaNae.

Actually, the reason Lexi loves hair cut day is that she knows she gets a lollipop and a sticker when it's all over.

Gardening woes

I planted the suckers in May, which means I've been waiting about two months to eat just one, just ONE tomato off my three giant plants. The first one that started to ripen was pillaged by an unknown insect. But I had a second one ready to come off the vine. I was waiting until today to pick it. Went out there this afternoon, and it's gone.

Gee, I wonder what happened to it.

Naughty pug! Don't worry. I have plenty of evidence, including a piece of tomato skin clinging to the ground, the fact that I saw him lounging in the garden this morning, and of course this photo. These are the peppers I planted in the spot where one tomato plant had died. They're XXXtra hot something or others, and they'd been disturbed, too. Wonder how those went down.

AFTER: Dog acts like a rabbit, dog gets treated like a rabbit. I just hope he doesn't try to jump it.

And to add insult to injury: Last week, this pot contained the most full, lush Italian parsley you've ever seen. I came home a few days ago to discover my parsley was gone and five fat caterpillars were clinging to the sad little twigs they'd left behind. ARGH!

Battling Bonnie Bloggers

Thursday night, I showed up to Bonnie's roast ready to take some great photos for what I naturally assumed would be the Best Bonnie Blog entry ever. Of course, I was not counting on a few variables. 1.) The horrible lighting in the otherwise beautiful Scottish Rite Temple. 2.) Cutthroat blog competition from show-offs Lori and Maria.

I might have underachieved. Not only are my pictures far inferior, but their blogs postings were both up before the sun. Nonetheless, I hope you will enjoy my third-rate take on the evening.

Despite our seats in the baaaaaaccccckkkkk of the house (it's okay Carrie, really) I was able to push my way to the front to get this shot of Bon mid-roasting. I think this look depicts the perfect combination of delight and horror.

Our photo editor, Brian Corn, got in touch with his lighter side.

I was put to work before the fashion show doing hair. A bottle of Aqua Net and five minutes in the men's room helped Tim Norton and I achieve this killer look.

I also did Jaime's "ponies," as Lexi would call them. I think she looks so cute in this photo. And about 5 years old. By the way, if anyone needs a replay of Jaime's SuperFreak dance, I have video.

Swimmin', Delano style

Here in Delano, we don't have any fancy neighborhood pool. (Though we wish we did.) So when we want to get wet, we just share a watering with the tomato plants. Bugs love Lexi, so I'm always hesitant to take her outside. But how can you deny a kid a run through the sprinklers? We lathered her down with DEET and went for it.

Would you just look at this dog?????

Good ole Norty!

Bonnie Bing, toddler stylist

So I might have happened to have mentioned in front of Bonnie that Lexi was begging to wear a pink dress but only had orange, white and blue ones. I said it only to explain why I was a little late to work. Bonnie took it as an invitation to head straight to Dillard's. She ran barefoot through the rain to deliver these two frocks on Monday night. Aren't we lucky?

Here, Lexi models one of the latest looks for summer. Notice the pink gingham shoulder bows and above-the-knee hemline. Very mod, Lexi!

Here, Lexi proves that you're never too young to run in ruffles. Flirty!

If the shoe fits...

Yes, Cinderella, of course you may go to the ball.

As soon as you complete ALL of your housework.

Overachiever much?

All it took was one lunchtime pep talk from me and Outdoor Dog, and she was sold. A mere 48 hours later, my boss, Lori, is a blogger extraordinaire. Not only has she created a blog ("It's Lori's World," and people, it truly is) but she's also posted like FIVE times, learned to crop photos and is about to go purchase a new digital camera. This is the blog to watch, and I don't mean that in a Dwight Schrute kinda way.

Rain, rain, don't go away

I know that some of you out there might consider this to be the worst summer in memory, what with all this rain, but in my estimation, that's what makes this the best summer in memory.

I love rain! I can't get enough of it. I like the way the sky gets dark and moody. I love the way it smells. I love the way it cools off a burning hot summer day. A few years ago, when we were deciding when to take our trip to England, I suggested July. And it worked out perfectly. While it was 105 and hotter than Hades here, it was 75 and raining every day in London. Heaven!

I wasn't even upset when it rained on the Fourth of July. I just sat on my front porch soaking it in. Lexi helped. "I love rain!" I told her just as Aunt Jaime shot this picture. "ME TOO!" she replied. "I'M TAKING A SHOWER!"

First fireworks

Couldn't end my prolific posting day without a couple more pictures from the Fourth. I tried to add three or four more than this, even, but became very impatient with my kind host, blogger.com.

The kids got their first fireworks show last night, which consisted of $25 worth of harmless stuff mom and I found at the tent at Dillons. We're talking roosters that shot sparks, cars that shot sparks, teapots that shot sparks, tanks that shot sparks, and a few decent fountains. Oh, and smoke bombs. We loved the smoke bombs. Here are the fireworks fans lined up and ready for action.

Unfortunately, Lexi inherited her mommy's distaste for loud noises. I remember taking this very pose every morning in kindergarten, petrified that the school bell was going to catch me off guard. Thanks to Uncles Peter and Carter for risking their fingers and faces for our viewing pleasure.