Happy Birthday, Furio!

Today is Furio Giunta Kurczewski's birthday! He's four years old, which roughly translates to about 16 in people age or about 28 in people-maturity. Cats mentally mature really fast in their first two years. I read that a 1 year old cat is equivalent to a 12 year old child, a 2 year old cat is equivalent to 20 and once they're adults it slows down to about four people years per actual year. I've never had cats before and so it's been fun for me to watch and see that the author was right, at least in Furio's case. As far as attitudes go, you can find an equivalent in humans. The first year when Furio was little, he wanted to be with us all the time. He was cuddly and playful. The second year, he was a teenager. He started to assert his independence and didn't want us clinging to him all the time. He spent a lot of his time being moody and wanting to be left alone. And he was on the phone all the time! Ok, not really. :D Then this last year he started to feel that Mom and Dad are ok again. While he'll never be a kitten again (too bad because he was the most adorable kitten on the planet) and he still isn't big on being picked up and cuddled, he will come lay against you and watch tv.

Now with Meadow, the maturity theory isn't quite as cut and dried as with Furio. With the Furman, I can definitely see the parallels. With Meme, it's a much blurrier line. She still, to a large extent, acts like a baby. She plays like a kitten a lot and is still a cuddler. Even though she's two, Meme is just starting to go through something roughly like her teenage years. Before this last couple of months, you could pick her up - no matter what she was doing - and she'd snuggle in and purr. Now the snuggling is on her terms only. With Furio, if you picked him up when he wasn't feeling it, you risked bodily injury. He did not tolerate it. Period. With Meme, she doesn't scratch but she struggles and you can practically see her thinking, "Come on, Mom."

Too bad they don't stay babies forever.

Happy Birthday!

Happy, happy SIXTEENTH birthday to my nephew, Caleb! This first set of pictures was taken about 14 years ago! My mom took Cal down to the mall to have his picture taken. They set up that last picture with the paint splattered all over and the photographer asked Caleb, "Did you do that?" - about the paint. Caleb shook his head to indicate that it hadn't been him. Then, deciding that there was no way he was getting blamed for something he didn't do, Caleb would periodically say, "Who did dat, Memo? Who did dat?"

A couple of more recent pictures. The top one from baseball a couple of summers ago and the second is him trying on his tuxedo last year when he was in my wedding.

Happy birthday, Cal! Be sure and send him an email to congratulate him on making it to 16! And then get the hell off the road because here he comes! :D

Happy Birthday, Cole!

Aha! I finally found a picture. These are the most recent pictures I personally have of Cole and Carter but they're even more handsome now, so make sure you check their mom's blog for some more recent shots. I'd have stolen some of her pictures to post but I can't do that from my home computer and after moving in the new furniture, I don't feel like going downtown to use a school computer.

Happy birthday, Cole!

Bookapalooza

Last weekend we had a real bookapalooza at our house! And since I didn't purchase the books, there was nothing Mike could say about it! HA!

First, during the week (last week), I got this great book from my cousin, Sara! Thanks, Sara! I was very excited when I got it and when I was showing it to Mike, he pointed out that I was petting it like it was one of the cats. What? Doesn't everybody do that?!

And then my birthday present from Kristie finally came in the mail last Saturday! YaY! Harry Potter! I still haven't started it yet, though. After the trauma from reading Book 5, I was reluctant to read Book 6 until I knew I could read book 7 without the horror of a super long wait for it to be published. I meant to read 6 during July before 7 came out but with school, the flood and all that jazz, I never got around to it. Then, after a discussion with my friend Leigh (during which I couldn't remember parts of book 5), I decided to read my way through the whole series again. I read Book 1 on the 21st and then had final exams. I read book 2 on July 27, book 3 yesterday (the 28th) and I've started book 4 today.

Oh, yes...and Happy birthday to Sara's big boy, Cole, today! And happy birthday to my big (nephew) boy, Caleb tomorrow! (I'll have to steal pictures and post them later - I'm in Michigan right now).

Baby Picture Friday

Once again it is baby picture Friday here at Mike and Cindi. Aunt Linda sent me a few of my baby pictures that she has and I'll be using them too. The above picture is my big brother, Jeff, my Uncle Mike and me! (The cute one.)

And this picture of Mike is just too cute. I'm almost out of baby Mike pictures. I'll have to get his family to email me some more! Have to have cute Mike pictures.

Enjoy your weekend!

Perspective

Big Boy JO-ey and Handsome Alex hit Chicago

Joey's take on the Shedd Aquarium here in Chicago: "I like this place but it makes my feet hurt too much."

This is me.

This is exactly how I'm feeling today. More to come soon.

Rumor has it...

Is it true that rubbing a sleeping pug is good luck?

Happy Anniversary!

Ok - this is the last one before I run off to go and take my test. Today, July 20th, would be my parents' 33rd anniversary had my mother not died last year. I guess it still is - it just means I didn't get a phone call from my dad asking what to buy for my mom. They were married on July 20, 1974 at the Lowell Baptist Church in Lowell, Iowa.

I have a picture from their wedding day but I put it away so that it wouldn't get wrinkled or damaged and I can't remember exactly where I put it to keep it safe. I didn't have time to do an indepth search, so you'll have to make due with a recent picture instead.

*Note to Aunt Linda - I gave you a copy of their wedding picture last year. If you have a scanner and could send it to me via email, I would make it worth your while.

Wedding picture to come when I find it!

Old Photos

I love looking at the old pictures of my mom when she was little.

This is my Aunt Kathryn (who died in December but would be 70), my Uncle John and my mom. She's the little cute one. Cute really does run in my family. ;)

John, Kathryn and my mom with the addition of little Uncle Mike who appears to be more interested in sleeping than having his picture taken.

My mom at age four.

My mom's not in this one - she's not born yet. This is my Grandpa and Grandma Parker with Kathryn and John. My mom always said it was like they'd had two families. They had Kathryn and John fairly close together ('37 and '41) and then there was a break until they had Mom and Uncle Mike fairly close together ('49 and '53). My mom loved both her brothers and was quite close to Aunt Kathryn but she always had a much closer bond with Uncle Mike.

They Can Thank Kristie for Sending Me These

Kelly

Mike

Greetings from Loyola University Chicago

So I had to come to school early today and take a test. I missed an exam the week that our house flooded and when you miss a test, you have to make arrangements with the program assistant to make it up in their office during certain times of the day. Well, first we flooded and I missed the test, then it was fourth of July and the office/school was closed. Then I couldn't get ahold of Jennifer, the assistant to make an appointment to come in. Then I had to get a deal saying that it was ok for me to make up the exam. And finally - three weeks later, here I am. Finally ready to take them exam...and I've forgotten all the information. It's business stuff - business law. Yech. Not something I really want anything to do with ANYWAY and three weeks after I learned the information. I sense a "C" in my future.

Anyway, so I had to be here at 9:00 am and I was not looking forward to riding the train with all the yuppies, so I talked Mike into driving me down here before he went to work. Believe me, it was no picnic. He took some convincing and then all I heard about his morning was how he had to wake up a half an hour early. To quote Livia Soprano, "Oh, poor you." As a result, I was here at 7:30 this morning and decided to kill the time in the computer lab. One thing I love about the computer lab is the high speed internet. I decided to upload some pictures so that I can post them. Normally at my house it takes at least 10 minutes to get a good size picture uploaded on our computer. We have really got to get rid of dial-up and invest in some better technology. Here, it took me about 10 seconds to upload all three of the pictures you're about to see.

I went through my email archives and ran across an email from Mike's cousin, Laurie. (Of pink princess phone fame - from Mike's Charlie's Angel picture.) I have no idea when these were taken. She sent them to me about a year ago and they were old then. She hates her hair in these pictures but I think she looks really cute!

Mike and his sister, Kelly. What are they singing? I don't know - but feel free to speculate in the comments section! If Mike had anything to say about it, I'm sure it was Pearl Jam. Although I like to think it was something like, "Cracklin' Rose" or "Sweet Caroline." In karaoke, you can never go wrong with Neil Diamond. People may make fun of him but I'm telling you, he brings down the house when you're singing karaoke. The other option I love to imagine that he's singing is Air Supply.

Here's Mike and Laurie. Her hair looks good, right? I don't know what she was talking about!

Mike, his sister and his cousins. Mike, Kelly, Laurie, Andrea and Kristie.

I've Got To!

So tomorrow I have to go shopping. Perhaps you didn't read me correctly. I have to. I'm so excited. Mike has asked me to go shopping with him tomorrow. Granted, we're not supposed to be buying things for me...but really, that's the inevitable result, isn't it?

Apparently the four women in Mike's work group all have July birthdays. On Friday we're going to go out for dinner to celebrate and he needs to have gifts. Everyone chipped in to get his boss, Arlene, a really nice gift - so that just leaves the three other ladies. Now Mike...being a man...has no idea what to get them and so has called in my expertise in the matter. It became clear that he really needed my help when I realized that he did not know the difference between Bath and Body Works and The Body Shop. Both wonderful stores - but different.

I can't wait!

Meet Delilah

I know I've mentioned my dog, Delilah before. She, clearly, resides with my Dad. In this picture (taken by my aunt Linda) he's sweet talking her and she's angling for him to rub her belly. At 10 years old, she's the old lady of my dad's doggie household.

When I brought her home and decided to name her Delilah, my Granny was horrified. She couldn't believe I'd name the dog Delilah when she's such an unpleasant biblical presence. "Next she'll be naming a baby Jezebel!"

I suppose that Granny was right all those years ago. I mean...look what she's done to my Dad's hair!

Tonight's Conversation

Mike: While you were in class I called a maid service for the office

Cindi: You called the maid service from The Office? What are you talking about?

Mike: I said, I called a maid service for the office.

Cindi: (looks confused)

Mike: (exasperated) I cleaned the office. "Hired a maid?" Get it? I meant myself. Geez. The thing I've been asking you to do for two days?

Cindi: Oh. That's great. Now I don't have to do it.

Mike: And I'm cheap.

Cindi: That's what I tell people all the time. (Giggle).

Post visit P.S.

They shaved his chest in three places in order to hook him up for the stress test. I wanted to take a picture and post it but he outright refused! Party pooper.

What a faker!

So it's been a really long day today. I was up late last night working on a few things for school and I fell asleep on the spare bed in the office. I laid down for "just a minute" and the next thing I knew Mike was waking me up about 8 this morning. He said that he'd decided not to go to work and that he wasn't feeling too great. I started to go back to sleep and Mike started telling me about this pressure he was feeling on the left side of his back. I felt his pulse and asked him the standard "Are your fingers numb? Do you have radiating pain?" questions. He wasn't in pain - he just "didn't feel right." I gave him my bed and went out to the living room. I grabbed the doctor book and told him that I was going to try and make him an appointment with a doctor. He didn't want me to. I told him to take a nap and we'd see how he felt in a little while.

He must have been a little more worried than he let on because he called me into the bedroom shortly after and said if I found an urgent care place, he'd go. So we loaded up and headed to the closest one I could find. We got there and they took him right back in. They talked to him and poked around on his chest a little bit - took his blood pressure and whatnot. The P.A. student declared him her first "medical mystery" of the day. The doctor came in and said that he thought we should to the emergency room. He didn't necessarily think it was anything serious but they didn't have the proper equipment to do a cardiac work-up to make sure.

So, we loaded back up and drove the short distance to Our Lady of the Resurrection hospital. We went in and told the registration lady what was going on. The triage nurse came and whisked Mike off to the back right away and I was left out front to fill out paperwork. I wasn't prepared for the violent reaction I had to the E.R. I hadn't been too concerned but as soon as I walked into the E.R. and they took him away from me, I was sick at my stomach and shaking. It didn't take me long to fill out the paperwork but by the time I got back to his E.R. room, he'd been stripped down, hooked up to a cardiac monitor, inserted with an I.V., they'd taken blood for his first set of cardiac enzymes, he'd seen the doctor and they were doing an EKG.

I spent the next few hours on the verge of tears. Mike kept looking over at me and saying, "Stop worrying." But it was definitely not something I had any control over. The whole E.R. atmosphere is not something I can deal with anymore. It literally gave me hives. Left-over reaction from visiting my mom in the hospital, I suppose.

My only complaint with our visit was that nobody came in to talk to us at all. (Well that and the fact that we didn't have a tv in our room to watch while we waited...and waited...and waited). Nobody checked on Mike, nobody gave us any blood results, nobody came and said "This is what's going on." After we'd been there a couple of hours, a Polish lady came to pick Mike up to take him for a stress test. This really freaked me out. A stress test wasn't something I'd expected and I followed along. They hooked him up to the cardiac monitoring stuff there and prepared him to get on the treadmill. Nancy happened by and I struck up a little conversation with her. I asked her what the stress test was going to be monitoring exactly because I hadn't expected them to do it and I was kinda freaked out about it. She said that the test was a good sign. If his cardiac enzymes had been off, they wouldn't have done this test. They were going to put him on a treadmill, get his heart rate pumping and see how his heart performed under the "Stress." Hence "stress test." I felt much better, although not at ease. I chatted with the nurses and the cardiologist while Mike did his work out. My anxiety must have shown a bit because when it was done, the cardiologist said that everything looked great.

We went back to the room, where we sat for another loooooooooooooooong time. They hadn't hooked Mike back up to the monitoring system, which I took to be a good sign. Finally the doctor came back in and said that his stress test was good and that he was going to do a chest x-ray. Provided that came out clear, Mike would be good to go. I took a moment to go out and make a phone call. When I came back in, they'd taken the x-ray and we were just waiting for results.

Fast forward.

Finally the doctor came back in and said that Mike had big lungs - and that they were clear. No problems there. He said he didn't know precisely what had caused the pressure but it wasn't his heart or his lungs. Most likely some sort of muscle strain or spasms. He'd send the nurse into take out the IV and send us home.

Fast forward some more and we're on our way out the door. Mike's feeling better and he's fine. We went into the E.R. about 10 am and left after 3 pm. I am still a bit of a wreck. I'm exhausted. Too much drama!

Oh, and file this under "funny but true." In the E.R. they have a board on the wall that lists the last name of the patients they have and the room number they were in. Kurczewski was right there in Room 5. And in room 10? Somebody named Piekarski. I kid you not. Only in Chicago. Well, or possibly the suburbs of Detroit, I guess. :D

Fair Warning

While I was waiting for Mike to arrive to pick me up from school today, I used their computer lab to upload some pictures from my email and a couple of blogs. For some reason, I can't save pictures to my computer and bring them back up again. So, over the next few days/week or so you will probably be seeing a few different images that I have been sent to me by others or borrowed from other people's blogs. Such as my Aunt Linda's (seen below).

Uncle Mike has made the blog a time or two, I figured it was definitely Aunt Linda's turn. This picture shamelessly "borrowed" from her blog.

My Favorite Dr. Seuss

Oh, the Places You'll Go!
Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

And you may not find any
you'll want to go down.
In that case, of course,
you'll head straight out of town.

It's opener there
in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen,
don't worry. Don't stew.
Just go right along.
You’ll start happening too.

OH!
THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.

You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don' t
Because, sometimes, you won't.

I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly, it's true
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.

You can get all hung up
in a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You'll be left in a Lurch.

You'll come down from the Lurch
with an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then,
that you'll be in a Slump.

And when you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked.
A place you could sprain both you elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And If you go in, should you turn left or right...
or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place...

...for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a sting of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

NO!
That's not for you!

Somehow you'll escape
all that waiting and staying.
You'll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.

With banner flip-flapping,
once more you'll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you're that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. there are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame! You'll be famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don't.
Because, sometimes, they won't.

I'm afraid that some times
you'll play lonely games too.
Games you can't win
'cause you'll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something
you'll be quite a lot.

And when you're alone, there's a very good chance
you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.

But on you will go
though the weather be foul
On you will go
though your enemies prowl
On you will go
though the Hakken-Kraks howl
Onward up many
a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak.

On and on you will hike
and I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.

You'll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You'll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3 / 4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!

---Dr. Seuss

Electric Bill, Schectric Bill

The other day, Mike came home and the first words out of his mouth were, "Do you really need the air conditioner on? It's not that hot out." Ordinarily my response might have been, "Do you really need to sleep in the bed? Our couch is so comfortable." But this time, I just thought, "Ah, yes - The electricity nazi...I expected you earlier." Not surprising, actually. We just paid our first "summer" electric bill.

Last night, as he was heading down the stairs to bed, he said, "You can turn the a/c on tomorrow. It's supposed to be hot."

I thought, "Oh, that's so cute. He's giving me permission." I wonder if he really thinks I'd have suffered through the heat? :D Although maybe he knows that I wouldn't...which is why he said it. That way I don't have to worry that I'm going against his wishes. Which is very considerate of him. Not that it would have stopped me anyway...:D...but still considerate. It avoids the two otherwise likely scenarios.

Scenario 1: Conversation Option 1

Mike: Why is the air conditioning on?

Cindi: Because I forgot to turn it off before you got home.

Scenario 2: Conversation Option 2

Mike: Why is the electric bill so high?!

Cindi: I don't know. We're getting screwed! We should call and complain.

An Itch in Time

I found the cartoon on Internet Movie Database. It's called An Itch in Time. This is the only picture of the flea I could find.

I couldn't figure out how to post it on the blog but just click to hear the flea singing.

My mom really enjoyed this cartoon - she used to sing the song to the puppies when she was giving them treats.

The Golden Child

I have a lot of pictures of Furio that I've put up lately but not any of Meme..."the baby"...or as Mike calls her our "Golden Child." He calls her this because she is the most expensive cat on the planet as a result of the emergency surgery she had to have about four months ago. So I looked over and saw her sleeping on out guest bed and snapped this picture.

After I took the picture, she opened her eyes and realized that she was being photographed, so she started doing this -

What a ham!

A Patriotic Couch

I should have posted this picture of Mike on the 4th of July.

Thank you...thank you ver' much

Oh my gosh! I sent Mike to Walgreen's on an errand and he came back home with a present for me. Isn't it adorable?! I love Elvis.

"The King Size"....I love it!!

A Conversation

Mike: I appreciate that thing you said on the blog.
Cindi: Which thing?
Mike: About how you'd take me over J.D. Fortune. I don't know if it's true but I appreciate that you said it.
Cindi: Yeah, well, let's hope we never have to test the theory.
Mike: (laugh)

My Homework

1) What was something Mom always said to you?
“Drive easy.”
“It’s a great life…if you don’t weaken.”
“These things have a way of working themselves out.”

2) What made Mom happy?
Her weiner dogs, my Uncle Mike, trading movie quotes with Matt and I

3) What made Mom sad?
When I left after a visit, talking about Matt after he died, getting sick and missing my wedding

4) How did Mom make you laugh?
Making fun of my dad, never being able to tell a joke because she would laugh when she though about how funny it was

5) What was Mom like as a child?
According to my Uncle Mike, vicious. He claims he only has limited movement of his right arm due to the beatings he took.

6) how old was your mom?
She would be 58 and a half

7) How tall was your mom?
5’4

8) What was her favorite thing to do?
Go to auctions – especially when she’d get a big box full of useless crap for a dollar

9) What did your mom do when you are away?
The same thing she did when I was around.

10) What would your mom be famous for?
Her “rapists’ wit” ...(that’s from Dumb and Dumber)

11) What was your mom really good at?
She was a great nurse and she made the best banana bread in the world.

12) What was your mom not very good at?
Being patient - especially with my Dad, putting up with whiny people

13) What did your mom do for a job?
She was a nurse.

14) What was your mom’s favorite food?
I don’t know that she had an absolute favorite. She loved sweets, sterzings and maid-rites.

15) What made you proud of your mom?
My mom made it through nursing school as a single mom while my big brother was little, she was a great nurse who (I know for a fact) saved lives.

16) If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Underdog. Or that hillbilly flea in the old cartoon that sang, “food around the corner, food around the corner…” – she liked that one.

17) What did you and your mom do together?
Talk, make fun of other people, shopping

18) How are you and your mom the same?
Neither one of us are patient, we’re both pushy, loud-mouth broads, we look alike

19) How are you and your mom different?
She was very stoic when she was hurting while I’m a big whiner. I do not suffer alone. :D If I’m not happy, ain’t nobody happy.

20) How do you know your mom loved you?
She told me all the time, she tried to give me everything I wanted, she was always really excited when I came home to visit and hugged me for an extra few moments when I was leaving, she tried to keep me from worrying about her

Speaking of Baby JO-ey

Speaking of Big Boy JO-ey, I mean...the last time I went to Big Boy JO-ey's house, for his brother Alex's birthday party, I got in trouble. Upon returning home, I told Mike the story. He thought it was quite amusing and now...every time I say "shut up" within Mike's earshot, I am forced to apologize.

**For those who weren't in attendance at the party, I was telling Andrea (Big Boy JO-ey's mom) about Mike getting mad at Furio for waking him up in the middle of the night by playing with some of his noise-making toys and telling him to "shut up." I was informed by Big Boy JO-ey that "shut up" was taboo at his house. (He didn't actually use the word taboo...he's five)...but I had to apologize before I was allowed to accompany every one else into the other room to watch his kindergarten graduation.

Baby Picture Friday

So it's baby picture Friday here at Mike and Cindi. Although we're not actually baby-babies. In much the same way that Baby JO-ey isn't really a baby anymore. I suppose I will have to get used to calling him Big Boy JO-ey now. But I digress.

Here we see what happens when you're the only boy born into a family of girls - they turn you into one of Charlie's angels.
Why is it that our parents seem to just wait for us to fall asleep so they can get pictures like this? In Caleb's case I always assumed it was because they only time you could get him to stand still long enough to get a picture was when he was asleep. But I was a lovely child, so that can't be the reason in my case. Do they make you sign a contract when you get pregnant that says you have to take sleeping pictures of your kids and pictures of them in the bathtub?

Missing

Well, as you may be able to tell from my pathetic lack of posts for the past couple of days, school has started back up for me after my fourth of July week break. Yuck. Actually after a week long break before that due to the flood in my house.


We had that nasty heat wave over the weekend but the last couple of days, it rained and cool everything off nicely.

Not that I've used the cooler weather to DO anything. I've been working on stuff for class most of the week. I can't wait until these stupid summer classes are over. I have three of the most boring classes on the planet. Two more weeks, though, and they'll be over.

The saddest part of this post? I have nothing to say. I'm literally sitting here thinking, "My life is so boring."

How about a story? When Caleb was little, he used to love water. To an obnoxious degree. The minute he got to your house he wanted to take a bath. He was even, on occasion, known to play in the toilet. Usually "playing" in the toilet meant putting his toys in the toilet and flushing them down. Once he got a little fisher price fishing pole for Christmas and continually flushed the plastic hook down the toilet under it finally got stuck once and my mom had to cut the string. My mother never condoned playing in the toilet but by the time he was six or so, she was getting really aggravated with him about it.

"He's too big to be playing in the toilet!" She'd say.

"And exactly when is it ok to play in the toilet?" I'd reply.

Then one visit when he was about six, he came over and we didn't see him for a short time. When Caleb was young (and probably now, too), this usually meant something was up. We went looking for him and found him and everything was fine. Until someone went into the bathroom after that. Something was up with the toilet - that much was clear. My dad worked on it for a bit and told my mom that he was going to have to go to the store and buy a whole new toilet and replace it. My mom called Caleb back to the bathroom and irritably asked Cal if he'd been playing in the toilet again. Caleb assured us both that he hadn't been anywhere near the toilet because she didn't like it when he did that. Now my mom had raised three kids before Cal came along and she was no dummy. She said, "Caleb Lynn...your grandfather is going to be tearing this toilet apart and putting in a new one. Are you sure that he's not going to find one of your toys?"

Caleb paused for a moment, apparently weighing his options before saying, "You know, Grandma. I might be missing one of my boats."

Fun With Misters

Mike, our friend Leigh and I went to Milwaukee yesterday. We went to see INXS play at Summerfest. It was hot. Not just hot. H.O.T. The temp topped out at 99 according to the Weather Channel. Add the broiling sun to that and you have the recipe for baked Kurczewski. We got there at 3:00 so that we could get good seats. We were in the fifth row. I know what you're thinking...who waits five hours to see INXS? Um, hello? Have you ever seen J.D. Fortune?

And in our defense, if you got there between noon and 4:00, admission to Summerfest was free. So we were there early and it was too dog-gone hot to walk around much. So we got to the stage and camped out. There were people who'd been there even longer than us.

Leigh was hardcore. She stuck it out at the stage the entire time. I went over to sit in a shady spot on the sidewalk for awhile once and headed to the "cool down tent" for a little bit before the show started. The cool down tent was friggin' awesome. One of the hospitals had set up a tent and had a huge industrial size air conditioner pumping cold air into it. When you got too hot, you could dip in for a cool off. They limited the number of people they let in at a time but they didn't give you a time limit. Most people were pretty considerate and if you had to wait in a line outside, it wasn't for very long. Mike took off to do a little walking around and came back with a lemonade shaved ice (and a near heat stroke). We'd brought a washcloth and frozen some large bottles of water so we swabbed him down with ice water and pretty soon he felt better. The lemonade ice didn't last long, so Mike walked down a little ways to the vendor and got another lemonade for Leigh and a strawberry for he and I. Along with the ices, he came back with a little squirt bottle mister with an attached fan. He's a genius. We kept ourselves as cool as possible with the aid of the fan and the shaved ice.

Shortly before the show was to begin, someone had brought beach balls and the crowd was entertaining themselves with them. Mike was turned and watching the bouncing beach balls when I decided to squirt him. I did this (see below) on his back and he didn't even feel it. He couldn't figure out what Leigh and I were laughing about.


But he laughed too when he saw the picture. He's such a good sport.

The concert started and (naturally) everybody had to stand on their bench. Everyone except me, that is. Nooooo way was I getting my clumsy butt up there. People were jumping and dancing on them and the benches shook and wobbled like crazy. There were four rows of people in front of us and I'm so short that even if I'd gotten up on the bench I'd have had a hard time seeing. Oh I got to see a little bit but I was definitely in an obstructed view seat. Determined that I would get to see what I had waited five hours in the sun for, my dear sweet Mike jumped up on the bench, took my digital camera and took about 80 pictures of J.D. Fortune and the band (mostly J.D. Hey...he knows why we were there. :D) for me. The picture above is one that he took.

Sometimes people take their husband/wife for granted and forget what makes them so special. Not me. I'm constantly reminded about what makes Mike special. I know some women's husbands who wouldn't drive them and their crazy friend to Milwaukee. (I love Leigh but she's a little nutty.) I know a lot of women's husbands who wouldn't suffer through five hours in the blazing sun in 100 degree weather to see a band they don't even like. I know even more women's husbands who wouldn't take pictures of another man that their wife drools over on a semi-regular basis. Mike did all of these things and he doesn't even realize that he's doing something special. He's just Mike. Take him or leave him. You could serve me up J.D. Fortune on a silver platter

and I'd still take Mike every time.