One day at a time

William Ernest Henley. 1849–1903
7. Invictus

OUT of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance 5
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade, 10
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate: 15
I am the captain of my soul.

Echoes

I was minding my own business, checking my email and fooling around online when all of a sudden, I missed Matt so much that it took my breath away.

I was as though I'd been transported back in time to the moment when Mom called me and said, "We've lost Matt." The same searing agony and gutwrenching nausea. The same shocked paralysis. The same desperate sense that there had been some kind of mistake.

It's happened before and it will probably happen again. But this time, there's something different. My mom's not here for me to call and make it all better. Gradually, the feeling subsided but it left behind a stray thought in my head which continues to echo within my brain as surely as if I'd climbed a mountain and shouted it.

"I want my mommy."

HA!

Check it? Did you say "check it"? Too funny. I snorted a little bit when I read it.

Wild about Man Vs. Wild

First of all this is not Cindi blogging, this is Mike. Anyways, I watched 2 episodes of Man Vs. Wild last night and was totally hooked. I also learned a lot of "practical survival knowledge" for someone living in a major U.S. city.

Check it - did you know that elephant dung has two practical purposes? The first is that you can squeeze it and draw water out of it to drink if you are phenomenally parched and the convenience store is out of Evian. Also if it's dried, you can light it to start a fire.

The next time that I'm charged by a huge, mean Black Rhino I know to stand totally still while it charges and dive out of the way at the very last second. He didn't say what the next step was but I think it would be to change your underbritches.

If Little Caesar's ever runs out of $5 'zas, I know that I can eat maggots as a source of calories and protein. Bear says to bite the heads off and then eat them, cuz the heads are the "nasty part." Never mind the part that holds the rotting flesh it just ate.

Gotta go, I got 4 more episodes to watch!

Hear Me Roar!

Ok. First of all, I was a little overly ambitious in my estimates last night. I said I was going to take a long walk to day and go to the gym. I have just returned from my long walk and I think it's safe to say that the gym is going to have to wait. I walked to the pharmacy and back. It felt like 40 miles but I figure it's about a mile and a half or so. My body is screaming from what it perceives as mistreatment. It's so hot that I thought I was going to throw up right after I got home. Although as the saying goes, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity." I feel good, though, like I've accomplished something.

I didn't sleep well last night and woke up when Mike left for work after sleeping about four or five hours. Unable to get back to sleep, I read a book and tried to stay cool. I knew it was hot and sloppy outside and I had nearly convinced myself to forget about taking a walk today. Instead, I sucked it up about 12 this afternoon and decided to walk to the pharmacy to pick up some exfoliating scrub for my feet.

On the way home, I passed two goth kids heading, I assume, back to school after their lunch. I know this doesn't sound like anything but trust me, as someone who is usually the passed and not the passer, it was awesome. In a side note, I'd been coming up on them for three blocks before I realized one of the girls was a boy. What is up with that?

In a sudden topic change...am I the only person who's seen the Old Spice commercial with Bruce Campbell playing Hungry Like the Wolf on a piano, lounge act style? Perhaps it is my well known admiration for all things Bruce but this cheesy commercial absolutely cracks me up. Ah, Bruce, I do adore you.

Well - time to take a shower. I smell really bad.

Another cute little thing

My cats love this. They're fascinated by it.

The virtual kitten. Adorable.

Let's Go Mag-glio

How cute is Matt in this picture? Love it.

Anyway, as I mentioned, I'm just back from a quick trip to Michigan to visit the in-laws. My dad came up from Iowa on Friday afternoon and brought Breadeaux Pizza with him. My favorite! I was very excited because we can't get it here in Chicago. We set out for Michigan about 6:30 - hoping to avoid the worst of the Memorial Day weekend traffic. There was still a lot of traffic but I do think we did ourselves a favor by waiting a little bit before we took off. I remembered to take the portable dvd player this time and the trip really flew by for me!

The weekend was fun. I went shopping at Wal-Mart. That may sound pretty routine but it was a treat for me since we don't really have them here in the city. I needed some cheap summer clothes and I was able to get them. Plus I stocked up on underwear and socks! I also bought a Detroit Tigers t-shirt so that I could fit in with Mike's family. I have a lot of work to do, though, before I will be able to convince anyone I watch baseball. For starters, I can't remember the name of the guy whose shirt I have. I think it amuses Mike because even when I'm wearing it (it has the name and number on it) I'm like, "what's this guy's name again?" He's a pitcher. Justin, I think...something that starts with V? I'll ask Mike again in the morning and we'll see how long I retain the information. Hey...I'm making an effort, all right? :D

Mike was also amused at my expense because his mom told me I should have gotten Magglio's number because he's her favorite player and I came home and said that they didn't have any of his. Mike's like, "Yeah, they did." And I said, "Mike, I checked every shirt there when she said that he was her favorite...there was no Magglio shirt." Mike thought this was just hilarious. Apparently Magglio's his FIRST name. Geez - how do I know that? Yeesh.

Sunday was the b-b-q and dicey tournament. Mike lost his Polska crown to my dad. That's right! The title is currently held by a non-Polack. My father-in-law accused me of bringing in a ringer. I blame Laurie - the only Kurczewski-Piekarski member who didn't show. I have no real logic for this - it's just fun to blame Laurie. :D

I was, of course, knocked out in the first round. Boooooooooo. The top three places made it to the final round where they'd meet the top three from the other table. I traded second and third place back and forth with my brother-in-law, Scott for most of the game. Mike, Kristie and Uncle Gene had trouble getting on the board with a score and so I thought I was pretty safe. Then Mike rolled this HUGE 4,050 point roll in the second to last roll of the game to pass both me and Scott. Scott managed to stay ahead of me long enough to slide into the third place spot, effectively knocking me out of the running.

I didn't really mind being knocked out, though, as it gave me some free time which I spent outside playing with Baby JO-ey. He tried to convince me to play freeze tag but since he told me that I had to stay frozen until the sun went down if he caught me, I declined and we played I Spy instead. I'm pretty sure he cheats. Sneaky.

After the b-b-q, my mother-in-law and I got together the cloth swatches we'd gotten from Joann's to send to Sara for her quilt.

Note to Sara: We didn't trim down the fabric, we sent it all because I couldn't 100% remember the proper dimensions.

So those are packaged up and ready to be shipped out (hopefully tomorrow). I rely on Mike to do my mailing for me. It's such a pain for me to get to the post office and it's never a pleasant experience.

Then it was back home today. The cats were glad to see us but not as excited that my dad had come back with us. Meme is absolutely horrid when he's around and I don't understand it. The only thing we can figure is that she smells the puppies on him.

I took a 1.25 mile walk this evening which I was pretty psyched about. I plan on taking this walk every day this week and then making it longer next week and so on. Plus (theoretically) it's back to the gym tomorrow.

Mike has discovered this show called Man vs. Wild. Every episode, the guy..."Bear"...strands himself somewhere and has to survive. The first episode Mike watched, he was in Kenya. I happened out of the computer room and Mike said, "This show is awesome! This guy showed how, if you really need water, you can get it from elephant poop." I was like, "Excuse me?" Mike said, "For real. He picked up elephant poop, squeezed out some water and DRANK IT." If this wasn't enough for me, as I was standing there, he happened upon a dead zebra which had been brought down by lions and started to tell you how you can tell if the meat is still good to eat. I already knew that no good could come from this, so I headed for the kitchen. As I started to sort through some things we'd brought back from Michigan with us, I heard Mike yell from the front room, "Awwwww.....he's gnawing on it!" "Oh, gross...raw?" I hollered back. "Yeah. Oh...now he's putting some in his pouch to eat later." I refused to hear anymore. I went back into my little hidey-hole to block it out. I may not know what to do when a rhino charges you or how to get water from elephant poop but somehow I think I'll be alright. Every once in awhile, I heard Mike's "Heh heh heh" laugh and I'd known that "Bear" had done something else I consider to be gross or incredibly stupid but which Mike merely finds, "Cool." Like jumping into a frozen lake to show you how to survive hypothermia. That was in the second episode Mike watched.

Must be a man thing.

Sweet Home Chicago

Mike and I are back from a short weekend visit to Michigan. Mike went out to go and grab us a quick something for dinner and discovered that our car battery was dead. Oy. I hate coming back to reality.

Virtual Lite Brite!

Lite Brite!

Cleaning out my email

I am suffering with a bout of insomnia. This whole week's been pretty bad. I have pills to help but I'm afraid to take them more than once a week for fear that before long I'll be unable to sleep without them. I decided to take this time to clean out my email a little bit. I looked in my "All Mail" section to find that I've saved over 1200! I was pretty sure some of those could be deleted.

As I was weeding through and ruthlessly deleting, I came across this email from my mom. It's right after she'd discovered her saying.

Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 00:19:46 -0800 (PST)
From: "Linda"
Subject: Matthew
To: Lucinda
CC: Jeff

When I think of Matthew and I get tearful, I know it is really selfishness that makes me cry. I would not wish Matt back to make him suffer further, but I cry for me because I miss him so much, and that may not change. But I came across a page of those little inspirational sayings that might help a little.

"Don't cry because it's over, but smile because it happened,"

That's the way I would like to be able to handle dealing with Matt's death. I hope I'm not putting too much on you, but I thought it was worth sharing.

I kept it.

The grades are in!

**Ahem**
Cumulative GPA
3.945

Somebody call Baby Joey!

Tonight for dinner, Mike and I are having $5 pizza, which is Joey's favorite kind! I have been noticing all of the Little Caesar's restaurants around the city lately. Ever since I finally broke down and asked what the heck "$5 pizza" was. Joey's Aunty (Mike's mom), Mom (Mike's cousin, Andrea) and Grandma (Mike's Aunty Bren) were always joking about how much he loves it.

Since Joey's family is (probably) taking a short trip to Chicago this summer, I'm sure he'll be relieved to know that Mike and I can find the $5 pizza place.

My Weekend

What did we do this weekend, you ask? A LOT! We were barely home. We ate dinner with friends, shopped for a couple of new work polos for Mike, bought a dressy summer shirt for me, attended a dinner party with Mike's Hammond Health Dept. co-workers, slept in and missed church (oopsy), played kickball, drank beer, ate pulled pork and the weekend culminated in the ultimate....a movie. What movie you ask?


This one.

I love having the weekends to spend with Mike.

Mike, Rachael and Aaron

I was sorting through some of my pictures when I came across this one that we took in Michigan at a fruit farm. It always makes me a laugh, so I thought I'd share it.

Cat Tales and the anti-Switzerland

Mike informed me last night that Meme is going to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese tonight followed by a slumber party. She's going to play skeeball ("kebaw," in Meme speak) and maybe some whack-a-mole (whackmo). Also, she upset with Furio because he hit on her first grade teacher, Miss Henderson (Miss Hed-son). She's very happy about the Pistons moving on in the play-offs - she's still crazy about Tayshaun Prince (Tay-saw Pince).

I had thought that the Bulls-Pistons series was long over until I read in Kelly's blog that the Bulls had inexplicably won a couple of games. There was an almost apathetic feel around the city about the Bulls being in the play-offs. There was Bear-mania in the city even before they went to the play-offs simply because they were winning. And that year the Cubs were in the play-offs (and choked) it was nuts! I'm not sure we'll ever find out what the mood would be like in the city if the Blackhawks were in the playoffs - I don't think they'll ever make it to the playoffs.

When Chicago plays Detroit, we attempt to adapt some sort of neutrality treaty in the household. Like Switzerland. The same goes for Iowa/Michigan State games. It usually doesn't take. One of us can't seem to help taunting the other. And no it's not always me, Dad.

Mike told me to "break out the broom" just before Game 4 of the Bulls-Pistons series. Since I'm not a big basketball person, it didn't really bother me - I just kinda shook my head and rolled my eyes. Then I noticed that there was no follow up taunt that evening. I had to look up the score on nba.com and saw that (amazingly) the Bulls had won. After I'd looked it up, I sauntered into the living room where Mike was sitting on the couch watching tv and asked him who'd won the game. He muttered, "The Bulls won." To which I replied, "HA! I know. I checked the score online. In your FACE! I rule you!" (Sometimes I amaze even myself with my depth of maturity.) I know that I'm not interested in basketball...but I couldn't let a taunt go unanswered, could I?

Mike apparently has the same philosophy because last night he informed me that "Ben Wallace is breaking out his golf clubs about now."

La Vita Nuova

A little e.e. cummings in the morning

I made it!

Whew. I made it through my first mother's day as a motherless mongrel. I didn't do too badly, actually. I had a watery moment when Mike called his mom because I wanted to call MY mom so bad. But I made it - one day at a time.

Happy Mother's Day

This post is dedicated to my mom, Linda. Please take a moment today and say a prayer or light a candle in memory of her.

For Mom
Linda Harris, 01/18/49 - 08/25/06

"Make yourself familiar with the angels, and behold them frequently in spirit; for without being seen, they are present with you." -- Saint Francis de Sales

YaY! Happy birthday, Aaron!

Brilliant!

I want cookies. I'm hungry and I can practically smell them. I'll bake some! Brilliant!

Hrm. No eggs. No vanilla. No brown sugar. I'll go to the store! Brilliant!

No car. I'll walk! Brilliant!

I'm hungry and I'll end up with 4,000 things when I only went for 3. I'll have to carry all that stuff back. I'll borrow a shopping cart and take it back when I'm done! Brilliant!

Dominick's has a new anti-theft device on their shopping carts. They lock up if you take them beyond the perimeter of the parking lot. Mike likes cookies. Mike will want cookies! I'll make Mike take me to the store when he gets home. Brilliant!

I'm hungry now. Mike doesn't get home until 5:00. Poop.

I hate that!

Don't you just hate it when you look at your checking account online and are dazzled by the amount of money you have...only to realize that your rent check hasn't cleared yet and you don't have as much money as you'd thought.

*Sigh*

Stupid rent.

How do I love thee?

Today my Aunt Linda blogged about my mom and how my Uncle Mike misses her. Uncle Mike was Mom's baby brother and you would be hard pressed to find anyone she loved more. Now there are a variety of reasons why she loved Uncle Mike but tonight I'd like to share one very simple reason that *I* do.

When my mom had her first heart attack, there was a few days where we seemed to float in limbo - not knowing what the whole story was. At first it was a blood clot, then a mild heart attack, then a medium one, then more serious. Every day her condition seemed to get more serious but the doctors weren't in a big hurry to do anything and so I tried not to worry too much about it. Then all of a sudden one day, things seemed to go bad all at once. Her blood pressure took a nose dive and they decided to air care her to Genesis in the Quad Cities - where they specialize in heart related surgeries etc. They heliport-ed her up there, took her in immediately for a cardiac catheterization and put four stents in her arteries.

It could have been a disaster, but it wasn't. She survived. I, mercifully, was unaware of what was going on until it was all over. My dad didn't call my cell phone and I didn't get home from work until after 9 p.m. While I hate that I didn't know what was happening, I was spared a lot of heartache and worry - for which I am grateful.

Now I was not there to witness this but I heard it from my mom on numerous occasions. It was a "favorite" of her war stories...if you can have favorite stories about heart surgeries. (Her absolute favorite being my Mike's "homicide attempt" against her while she was recovering.) Only seven months passed between my mom's surgery and her death but I probably heard this seven or more times. She could never get all the way through the story without tearing up.

In the first hours/day or so after her surgery, the prognosis was good but guarded. It was still the early stages and there were no guarantees. My Aunt Linda and Uncle Mike had been at the hospital when things went bad with my mom and they went with my Dad to Genesis when they air cared her out. They sat with her while she came out of anesthesia. She was groggy and didn't remember much of anything after the surgery but she remembered Mike being there. (At this point in the story, she'd get teary and sniffle her way through the rest.) He stayed with her until she was awake enough to recognize him and know that he was there with her. That meant so much to her - that he'd stayed. And that he wouldn't leave until she knew he was there. She felt so loved.

Like I said, there are a bunch of reasons to love Uncle Mike but that's one of mine. And, for me, it's a big one.

40 Perspectives

Do we really need a book that looks at Winston Churchill from 40 different perspectives? Really?

Guess who turns 30 the day after tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll give you a hint. It's Aaron!

Tales from a gym journal

So, I got a site meter which tells me how many people visit me in the blogosphere. I was playing around with options and it was free - so why not? It tells me where you are, how long you stay, how many pages you view, what website you click in from (if any), if you used a search engine to get there, it'll tell me what you were looking for, which of my links you use to click off from and your median income. Ok, I made that last one up. Hee hee. It does offer to show me the latitude and longitude of your location, though - so prepare to be stalked. I'll be the one outside of your house in the rain shouting, "But we have a CONNECTION. We're meant to be together!"

Anyway, most of the locations, I recognize. It doesn't always tell me exactly what town you're in - it's actually where your IP address is based out of which may be somewhere nearby but not the same exact city. It's sort of a fun game..."Oh...there's Aunt Linda. That's Jeff. Sara in the hizz-ouse. That's gotta be dad. Rachael visited at 2:24 a.m. - what the heck's she doing up that late?" Kristie made her monthly visit to the blog. Geez, Kristie...where's the love? I'm interesting ALL THE TIME. :D

What was I saying? Oh yeah - so I'm scrolling down the list and playing my "who's who" game. I notice that there are two stops from Chapel Hill, NC. I click on it and it turns out this person was looking for "gym journal" in a search engine and was pointed to our little section of cyberspace. I had to LAAAAUGH. Two archive entries about how I hate the gym and I'm labeled as a gym journal.

That's right - this is a gym journal. Just call me Buff Betty. :D Which may, interestingly enough, become my roller derby name when I'm (hopefully) rolling for the Windy City Rollers in a year or two. But that's a story for another day.

Enjoy the day, kids. It's nice out.

Back by popular demand

I thought since the picture of Matt was so popular, I'd add another one. I "borrowed" the following survey from Kelly and I would just like to say right up front that I wasn't involved in the numbering process - it was like that when I got it.

100 Things You may not have Known About Me...

1. What is the last alcoholic beverage you drank?A Mimosa last weekend

2. Do you follow college football?A little.

3. How many miles does your car have on it?No car.

4. Who was the last person to send you a text message and what was it about?Mike saying, “Call me!”

5. Last time you went swimming in a pool? I don’t remember.

6. Are you happy?Sometimes

7. Where was the last place you went shopping?Online – buying a Trogdor the Burninator shirt for our friend Sergio’s birthday

8. How do you feel about your hair?I’m glad I have some. (Sorry, Dad)

9. Where do you work?Officially I’m on “sabbatical” from East-West University

10. Last thing you ate?Blue Cheese salad with bacon and almonds.

11. Do you wish you were someplace else right now?On vacation.

12. Hey! Where is number 12? Huh?

13. Do you have any expensive jewelry?Let’s see. Engagement ring, wedding ring, my mom’s wedding ring, gold memory locket with my mom’s hair, ruby earrings, my mom’s diamond earrings. A few things, I guess.

14. AIM or MSN?Neither. Who has the time?

15. What classes are you taking now?I’m finishing up (finals week – woo hoo!) Legal Research II, Civil Litigation II and Legal Computer Applications

16. How many hours on average do you work a week:What part of sabbatical don’t you understand? :D

17. Who do you like right now?Ugh – who don’t I like?

18. Favorite NFL team?Da Bears.

19. Do you watch the Olympics?Nah.

20. Last restaurant you went to?Max and Erma’s

21. Who was the last person to call you?Kristina

22. Whats your sign?Pisces

23. Do you have a favorite number?17

24. Last time you did volunteer work or made any donation?I donated my extra turkey sandwich to a homeless person on my wedding anniversary. We donated clothes in April too.

25. What do you spend the majority of your money on?Bills, I guess. Rent – I do live in Chicago. :D

26. Where does most of your family live?Iowa and Michigan

27. Are you an only child or do you have siblings?I have bruddas.

29. Ever been called a bitch?Oh, yeah.

30. Got any guilty pleasures?Soda.

31. Do you drink beer?I’d rather eat glass.

32. Have you ever experienced true love?Yes.

33. Did you ever collect Beanie Babies?Kinda.

34. Ever ordered anything online?Hell, yeah.

35. Myspace or Facebook?What the? I’m 30, not 19.

36. Do you have T-Mobile?No.

37. What is your favorite subject?16th and 17th Century Literature

38. Do you sometimes wish you were someone else?No.

39. Do you usually fall for the "bad boys or slutty girls"?I refuse to answer this question on the grounds that it’s stupid.

40. Were you an outcast in high school?No.

41. Last time you saw your parents?My dad – about 6 weeks ago.
My mom – August 6, 2006 (The last time I was home before she died.)

42. Do you have any talents?Too numerous to mention, naturally.

43. Ever been in a wedding?Yes.

44. Do you have any children?Not yet.

45. Last movie you watched?Elizabethtown

46. Are you missing anyone at the moment?Yes. My mom.

47. Did you take a nap today?Nope – too busy doing last minute stuff for school.

48. What was your high school's mascot?Panthers.

49. Ever been on a cruise?Yes – my honeymooooooooooooooooooon.

50. Favorite vacation spot?Any place with Mike and no work.

52. Do you have any wealthy friends?I dunno – nobody who makes it worth my while to be their friend, anyways.

53. Ever met anyone famous before?Yes – sort of. I helped Vince Vaughn find a taxi once (well, I was there when he asked where to go to get one), opened the door for the Prince of Japan and sold Jeff Foxworthy a ticket to the Field Museum.

54. Favorite actor?Johnny Depp, Tommy Lee Jones

55. Favorite actress?Not Hilary Swank.

56. Are you multi-tasking right now?Yes.

57. Could you handle being in the military?No.

58. Are you hungry or thirsty?Neither

59. Favorite fast food restaurant?Taco Bell

61. What is your average cell phone bill?I don’t pay it.

62. Do you own a camera phone?Yes.

63. Ever had to take a sobriety test?No.

64. Do you believe in Karma?I guess so – I prefer to call it “What goes around, comes around.”

65. Can you speak any other languages?A little Spanish, a very little Polish

66. Last time you went to the gym or worked out?May 1, 2007

67. How many pairs of shoes do you own?None of your business, nosy!

68. Do you have a photo hosting site that you use?No.

69. Last place you drove your car:Helloooooooo? Don’t have a car of my own.

70. Play a musical instrument?Yeah. Piano, saxophone, French Horn.

71. Ever been to Las Vegas?Yes.

Hey! Where are 72 - 74!?Ask me if I care.

75. What do you think is your best feature?Ask Mike – I’m married now and I don’t have to worry about stuff like that.

76. Have you ever been gambling?Yuh.

77. How old are your parents?Dad is 60. Mom is deceased – but would be 58.

78. When is the last time you updated your blog?Follow along, please. I’m doing it right now.

79. Do you have your wisdom teeth?Nope. Not since July 19, 1996.

80. Favorite place to be?Anywhere with Mike.

81. Have you been to New York City?No.

82. Favorite sit down restaurant?Carson’s

83. Ever been to Disney?Yes.

84. Do you have a favorite cartoon character?Pucca.

85. Last thing you cooked?Homemade pizza.

86. How is the weather today?Slightly cloudy but nice.

87. Do you email?Yes.

88. Last letter/piece of mail you received besides junk or a bill?A card from Sarah jane.

89. Favorite store?Target, Borders, Myopic Books

90. Are you dating someone right now?Boy wouldn’t Mike be mad if I was.

91. Last voicemail you received?Mike.

92. Do you drunk dial?No.

93. Stupidest thing you ever did with your cell phone?Put it through the washing machine.

94. What is the best city in the state that you have lived in?Sweet home Chicago

95. Favorite band?I dunno – I can’t narrow it down.

96. Last time you were sick?Really down and dirty sick as a dog? December, 2006.

97. Are you bored right now?Kinda. Are you?

98. Last concert you went to??Lil Stubby and the Disappointments with Mike and my in-laws.

100. What are your plans for tomorrow?Sitting through a bunch of presentation on legal topics. Blech.

Update

I got a sunburn! My first of the year.

I shouldn't be surprised. If I even look out the window on a sunny day, I pink up.

Darn genetics!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

So I have just been to my very first major league baseball game. Ever. So THAT's what all the fuss is about! Awesome. It probably helped that the Cubs won the game. The mood at Wrigley was festive. We went to the game because today is our friend Sergio's birthday. (Happy birthday, Sergio!) His girlfriend bought eight bleacher seats for him to invite friends. I wasn't going to go but they had an extra ticket and Mike convinced me. "It's the CUBS, Cindi." I figured...why not? If it's boring, I'll have plenty of people to talk to to keep me entertained. In the car on the way to Sergio's house before the game, Mike randomly turned to me and said, "We're going to a CUBS game." Just like a kid.


I was sitting inbetween Mike and our friend Greg...who amuses me just about as much as any one person on the planet can ever amuse me. Amid watching the game and discussing the absurd ratio of cotton candy guys vs. hot dog guys (4:1), we also engaged in a heated debate involving the parameters of Generation X. Greg claims I am not a member of Generation X because I did not see Star Wars: A New Hope in the movie theater. I question his requirements.

It became clear that the hot dog guy was not going to make his way back to the bleachers section - so we had to dispatch a hot dog "envoy" to bring us back some tasty treats. Mike and Greg decided to head out and get some beer, soda and hot dogs for our little crew. Greg made it all the way back from wherever it is (in WISCONSIN) that they have the food-and-beer place located at Wrigley Field without spilling. He makes it all the way back and is standing next to me when he is thrown off balance somehow and splatters himself and the two rows in front of us with beer. Luckily one row in front of us was still part of our group and the row in front of them was caught with only minimal sprayage. Greg cleaned up the seats with the napkins while we heckled him mercilessly. He finished the clean up and sat down...on his hotdogs. He'd set them down behind him so he had both hands free for clean up. It was the funniest thing. Greg keeps cracking jokes at his own expense and we're all holding our sides - laughing so hard we're crying.

Who needs a game when you've got entertainment like that?

P.S. I had peanuts but was unable to locate any Cracker Jacks. I feel a little cheated. I did eat three hot dogs, though. Sergio's girlfriend put it this way...and I have to agree. "Baseball...come for the hot dogs, stay for the game." Yummy.

Oh, tell me have you seen...?

Today I "misplaced" my wallet. Well, yesterday sometime. I have no idea where it is. On the way to school last night, I stopped for a Jamba Juice. That's the last time I had it out. But today when I went to get it, it wasn't in my backpack.

Joy.

I thought maybe I'd set it down in the car on the way to school after getting my smoothie but an inspection of Jean Claude (our car...Jean Claude Grand Am...get it? :D)... showed that there was no wallet. So, I've spent the evening cancelling and re-issuing credit card, debit card and finding out how to get my driver's license replaced. Luckily I never drive - so it's not an immediate priority. I do have to get ahold of my dad and have him send me a copy of my birth certificate so I can take it in with my passport and get it reissued.

What a week.

Irritation

We got a call on our answering maching today from the building's "manager." It seems our landlord will be back from Florida and will be taking over the garage behind our house. That means that even though we've paid for a parking spot for the month of May, we will be back to street parking. Oh we'll be getting our money back - make no mistake. I'll be deducting that amount from the rent we pay in June. But I'm a little irritated nonetheless.

Five more months and we can move. Feels like for-EVER.

Puppies make me happy

I have to get mad more often!

Mike is in disfavor today (actually it's yesterday - I didn't realize it was after midnight). It doesn't really matter why. He's aware. a) Sandy didn't raise no dummies.* b) I'm not subtle. I know he's aware because he's not doing any of his usual, "I think she's mad, let's see if I can charm her" routine. No puppy dog eyes, extra snuggles or rapid-fire cheek kisses. He's gone straight into "I'm in big trouble here, time to break out the big guns" mode. He stopped at CVS to pick up some stuff for me without me having to ask him to do it. He took me out to dinner. Though we do not actually speak about it out loud, we both know the score and where we stand. I decide to raise the stakes. "I want you to take me to Border's after dinner," I say. "Okay," He immediately replies.** Ahhh, yes. Game, set, match - Cindi.

After dinner, he keeps his word and takes me down the street to the multi-level Border's store on North Ave. He asks if it's alright if he sits in the car while I go in. Uh..ye-AH. Like I need him following me around the store. I hold out my hand for money. He gives me a $20 bill and whatever singles he has in his wallet. I snatch them up thinking I've hit the jackpot and turn with my hand on the door handle when I hear him speak from behind me. "Is that enough or do you want two $20's?" Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? For someone who is ALWAYS monitoring the balance in our savings account and fretting that we're dipping into it too much, I was WAAAAAAAY too tempted at the offer of extra book money. But, ever conscious of the fact that books are not a necessity, I merely savored (I closed my eyes and took a big, deep breath while the feeling enveloped me) the experience and said, "No, this is fine."

It was delicious. Even more delicious than the enchiladas with extra cheese I had for dinner.
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*I know this is bad grammar. I did it on purpose.

**We did have the following conversation after he agreed. It's paraphrased but essentially accurate.

Mike: You want to go to Borders? You do still have money on that Barnes & Noble gift certificate.

Cindi: It's at home. Besides, I'm SAVING that. For a book emergency.

Mike: You're so weird.

***The pictures are of Mike's grandparents' Memorial Bench in Daytona Beach, FL. It has nothing to do with this post but I've been thinking I would post them for awhile. Yesterday at school I uploaded them to a blog entry and decided to use them as my "random pictures" of the day.

Feeling Old

I got this graduation announcement in the mail today. It's one of my little cousins. I say little even though I know that he turned 18 last month. I felt SO old when I opened it. I remember once when I was about 14, Brandt, his older sister, Emily and his mom and dad visited us. It was the summer time and Brandt was probably 2. I remember because most of the family was over to our house and one of my other little cousins (Dustin) was there. Brandt's birthday was, I think, April 8 and Dustin's was April 18 of the same year. As I said, it was summer and we had one of those big above ground pools in our backyard. Matt and I took the "little" boys swimming. Neither one of them had swim trunks with them but my mom just shucked off their clothes and handed them to us with only a diaper on. They were too small to even touch the bottom of the pool. Brandt floated and splashed around while sitting on a blow-up raft - confident that I wouldn't let him drown but Dustin clung to my neck and refused to let go. He was enjoying himself but he wasn't about to let go of me. We had a really, really good time.

Look at them now - the big brutes! I thought about that summer day when they were so little and trusting and then I looked at the pictures of the young men they have become and I felt a little old.

I got over it, though. I just thought about all the fun I'll have telling their girlfriends/fiances/wives about the time I swam with them in their underpants.

Ain't it the truth?

My friend Michelle (aka MooShu) sent this to me today:

"Whenever God closes one door He always opens another, even though sometimes it's Hell in the hallway."

Ohhhhhh Nooooooo!

I just did this to my bootleg-Dell-version ipod. I'm sitting at the computer. When I turned, I hooked my foot on the cord that connects the Dellpod to my computer and it fell to the floor. It fell THREE feet onto CARPET! Come ON!

It still works but obviously there will be no pictures and/or video played on it EVER. And I can't see the menus to do anything except listen to it on the "play all" setting. Bueno. My day just keeps getting better and better. *sigh*

A moment of larceny

Since I've already "borrowed" a picture off of Sara's blog, I decided I might as well continue to "borrow" from other people I know. Ok, just from Kelly. But I do so enjoy this picture of Mike and Bailey, the party pug. Hrm...perhaps I should check out Scott's site too and get a picture of Pablo to spice up this post. It will be pug-tastic. Beauty! Since I really don't have much of a clue what to write about today, pugs can only improve the content.

So, I came to school really early today in order to make sure I completed a PowerPoint presentation that I needed to have done for class tonight. I would have been done ages ago if only I had access to PowerPoint at home. I'd written out what I was going to put on them, gathered the pictures and statistics for a graph and basically done everything I could possibly do without actually being able to create slides. I was afraid that if I didn't get up and have Mike drop me off at Loyola on his way to work, I'd sleep in too late and fiddle around at home until I had waited too long to complete the assignment - or at least without enough time to really do it well. So I was here at about 7:30 this morning and I was done with the assignment at about 8:30. And that's including the time I took in the middle of the project to send three emails. Class starts at 6:00 p.m. tonight. I could go home but I do have a lot of other stuff that I need to get finished before finals next week. I work better away from home where I can't get distracted by kitties, movies or more interesting reading material. Or food. But basically, instead of going off in search of a chocolate chip cookie with which to entertain myself, I am instead avoiding my work by hopping around on the internet, gathering photos (pug-tastic though they may be) and posting blog entries which really have no point.

Sorry - I saved this post while I went off to McNasty's to grab a breakfast sandwich. Then I came back and promptly forgot about it. I didn't make it to getting Pablo Pug-casso on here either. Poop. I'll have to post a Pablo picture sometime this week to even things out. For some reason I can't save pictures off of the internet to my computer at home. They won't load back up. But I can do it from school. Dunno. I'm not computer savvy enough to have Clue #1.

By the way, I wasn't sure if I'd spelled savvy correctly, so I decided to spell check this. It didn't highlight "savvy" so hopefully we're alright there...but I wouldn't be too sure. It highlighted internet every time it appeared and HALF of the word actually. Just the actu part. Yeah. I don't get it either. Words with two v's are funny. Not that I can think of any others. I actually had to look up the origin of the word. Yes, I'm a geek - we all know that. Move on. :D So, it comes from the "West Indies pidgin borrowing of French savez(-vous)? 'do you know?'" Thank you dictionary.com.

Speaking of dictionary.com. I deleted my "word of the day" from my email without really looking at it today and I am kicking myself! I went to look up savvy and found that today's word is "termagant!" Awesome word. Want to know what it means? Pft! Too bad. Look it up yourself. What do I look like...your mom?

So...good luck with that.

Another Charles original

My dad took this picture of Jeff and Jenn in Georgia on his vacation last week...or two weeks ago...whenever. I'm old-ish now, I lose track of time. What day is this? Where am I?

Anyway, he took the picture and then he sent it to me via e-mail. A second success! Although he said he was going to send more and I haven't heard anything else yet. So we may have run into technical difficulties somewhere along the way. Stay tuned!