Family Funk

It’s Official. I Prefer the Empty Nest

1 Comment / Daily Dose, Family Funk, Holidays /

I’ve decided to cancel all holidays unless we have three or more of the six kids (and/or their friends and/or JMP) in attendance. I much prefer the empty nest and let’s just skip all of the traditional stuff over the a couple kids are here so we’ll do the whole thing stuff.

With just the two little girls here, it was far too quiet. The kitchen never got messy. Never. Not once. I barely had enough dishes this morning to run the load. I don’t have enough dinner dishes to run a load tonight. That’s madness. Really.

And everything just feels off without a house-full.

It wasn’t a bad Easter, not at all. We laughed a lot. We ate great food, (including asparagus that the girls and I fought over…RJ doesn’t even LIKE asparagus and I think she had three helpings.) But… yea.

No Prince J. No Michelle-Belle. No Chris. No Jenn. No JMP. No stray kids showing help. Hell, even TW’s mom was gone.

Bah humbug. Some people had better show up for the next holiday or I’m cancelling it.

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ASL Induced Earworms

2 Comments / Family Funk, Kid Talk, Sights & Sounds /

That’s not really a title I would ever expect to type, but there you have it. Weird stuff happens in my house every day.

Elly was practicing signing a song, (yes signing, not singing), a school project that she has to be ready to do after spring break. She’s pretty much got it down. This is the song she chose.

But after practicing over and over again for ages, she was sick of that and decided to try signing something else. Of course she was doing all of this IN MY BED (she’s worse than Skeeter, I tell you) and she decided she really wanted to learn the “Rick Roll Song” (which caused me and TW to crack up.)

But, she did not seem to appreciate me singing as she signed, so I decided to wander around youtube for some Elly-like songs that she could sign.

We started with Creep:

Then, Drops of Jupiter:

Which led to Hey Soul Sister:

Which led to Bow Chicka Wow Wow:

Which led to… hold onto your ears (and eyes) and turn the sound up as loud as it will go… Barbie World:

And for the next two hours all I could do was sing “It’s a Barbie Worllllllld”. I love that song but it sure does get stuck in your head. I think it’s worse than that song Rick Springfield sings… (don’t say it out loud, don’t even think it or it will get stuck in your head!)

If only I could find an ASL video for Copacabana…

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Home Again, Home Again…

Family Funk, Travel Log /

We’ve been home a couple of hours and I’m already grouchy. Damn shih tzu. Damn cold house. Damn, damn, damn.

Which is not the way I planned to start the post about the last day of vacation, so let’s scratch all of that and start over…

We headed home early this morning, after one last soak in the super-hot, extra large tub and some awesome french toast. One last glass of Door County cherry juice and four or five trips up and down that staircase to get the car packed.

We stopped at GLAS (the coffee shop I mentioned yesterday) for another cup of awesome coffee and I grabbed a bag of skateboard blend to help support the fundraising drive for the Sturgeon Bay skateboard park. (I have a weakness for skateboarders.)

Then, we headed for Renard’s for cheese. Siri was confused about where Renard’s was and after driving an extra 10 miles through farmville, I turned around and ignored her directions in favor of my own memory… we had our photo taken with the mouse and bought a TON of cheese, a cherry pie and some sort of sausage. We’ll be eating cheese for a month, which is ok by me. Mmmm, cheese.

Next stop, the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help which was super interesting but our timing was horrendous. 11am on Ash Wednesday (Sassymonkey informed me that it was not Ash Wednesday, which just goes to show that vacation causes time to stand still and early Easter really throughs me.) Oy. The gift shop wasn’t open because of Mass and the Stations of the Cross were covered in 3′ of snow with a not very good path between them. We braved the snow at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Monastery but this was more snow and less ice and seemed … just too difficult. I kind of wish we’d done it anyway. Ah well, we will go back — and we’ll make sure we do it at a better day/time.

And then, the uneventful but enjoyable drive home. Mid-40’s and sunshine until we hit Cook County, where it turned dreary and colder. Blah.

It’s nice to be home with Skeeter and the prairie dogs. (Both were very happy to see us and Skeeter is happily sleeping ON MY PILLOW with TW now.)

It was a great vacation — I highly recommend Door County in the off-season. If you go, you should stay at the Colonial Gardens B&B, you’ll love it. (hah, click the link — that’s pretty much what it looked like — all that snow, though it was really starting to melt nicely by the time we left. See the top of the stairs, on the left side of the house — that leads to the Bungalow Suite, which was the room I chose. The very pink and awesome room.)

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Random

1 Comment / Family Funk, Travel Log /

I had only planned a few things for today, because TW had to get some work done and because we’ve had some really full days so it seemed like a good time to slow down a bit.

I took a short nap in the morning and then we headed out to visit the Door County Maritime Museum and from there we stopped at GLAS and had one of the best caramel macchiatos ever. Seriously. What a great coffee shop. We’ll be stopping there again in the morning, on our way home.

We headed back across the bridge, parked on 3rd and walked over to the Door County Dogs/Stove Dog Bakery where we bought a couple more dog toys. Then, a walk past the old Carnegie Free Library on our way to the current library that also houses the Miller Art Museum.

Wow. We did not expect that quality of art in a little free museum inside of a little library. Amazing. And, we spent $100 in the little gift shop (they only take cash or checks so I had to walk/run 3 blocks to an ATM, sheesh.)

Next, we popped into the Door County Confectionery shop and another toy store on 3rd and then headed to the Door Peninsula Winery so TW could buy cherry bitters and I dunno what other kind of alcohol. We also bought a variety of olive oils and vinegars.

After a couple of hours back at the B&B, we walked over to the Inn at Cedar Crossing for dinner. Everything was EXCELLENT. The artichoke/gorgonzola dip, the mushroom ravioli, the grilled asparagus, the stuffed chicken and the cherry pie. It was all really, really good.

Another great day.

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Vacations Are Exhausting

2 Comments / Daily Dose, Family Funk, Travel Log /

I took a nap this morning, at like 9am — and I didn’t wake up til Noon. Seriously. I was snoring and everything, TW said so.

That’s just crazysauce, isn’t it? Me? Napping in the morning? for HOURS? Madness.

After my little nap, we threw on our clothes and headed for Peninsula Park, with a stop for lunch at Village Cafe, in Egg Harbor.

Village Cafe is a cute little cafe, with lots of fun things to look at (and buy, though we didn’t buy any — we were tempted by painted cats, birdhouses and robots.) We had NO cell service while we were there, which we’re slowly getting used to. So funny to see 20-something girls with iPhones pull out PAPER planners to talk to their friends about planing visits and trips and parties. When you live (or visit often) Door County, your life can’t be in your iPhone. (Now that’s scary.)

My only real goal for our Peninsula State Park visit was to climb Eagle Tower. I could have thought of some other things to do but some people made fun of me for suggesting we might do OUTDOOR things in WINTER. So, whatever. We climbed the tower and that was cool. Also cold, because of the wind. But very cool.

Then we climbed down and started walking the Sentinel Trail. TW said she didn’t want to walk the whole thing, so we walked up to a snowman and then cut back — and then off-trail to backtrack to Eagle Point. We saw no eagles, just a lot of snow and ice. It was pretty, in a snowy and icy sort of way. And really quiet. There were others there — some snowshoers and hikers and families climbing Eagle Tower but still, very quiet.

Then we headed for the farthest end of Door County: Sister Bay, Gills Rock and then all the way to the Washington Island (car) Ferry landing. It was quiet up there — not very much open and not a lot of traffic or people around. We stopped at Bea’s Ho-made and bought pickles and more cherry things and then drive back via Bailey’s Harbor.

We tried to stop at the Motorcycle Memorial but nobody had cleared the parking lot of snow, in forever, so there was no way to stop and look around. Too bad, I was looking forward to that.

Then, back to Sturgeon Bay where we stopped at a toy store on Jefferson and bought a ton of presents for JMP and then dinner at The Neighborhood Pub & Grill (great artichoke dip & pita chip appetizer!)

Thank goodness for a super-hot whirlpool tub — my body is tired!

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I Can’t Believe I Ate the Whole Thing…

Family Funk, Travel Log /

Ya know, I know people walk around on iced over lakes and drive on them but I’ve never actually SEEN that done, southern woman that I am. I saw it today and didn’t like it. Have those people not heard stories of people falling through the freaking ice? And at the end of March? Gah. No.

We made it to Lautenbach’s Orchard & Winery, in hopes of a sleigh ride but there were no sleigh rides available. Instead, we shopped for a ton of cherry products and though we weren’t hungry we didn’t let that stop us from buying a couple of (amazing) cherry donuts and a cherry soda. I should have taken that as a sign that we were going to eat way – too – much.

We wandered around Fish Creek where we saw KIDS walking on ICE and their parents LAUGHING and TAKING PHOTOS. Crazy people, I tell you, and then headed to Egg Harbor.

I was really hoping the Edgewood Orchard Gallery would be open, it wasn’t. I was even more disappointed once I actually saw the place. The sculpture garden was amazing and we’ll have to go back when there’s no snow.

I don’t know how it happened but we ended up in some girly shop, Kim’s Boutique and even more surprising we spent an awful lot of money on things we would not normally buy. It was fun and the boutique just happened to be across the street from Greens n Grains, the place I’d picked out for us to eat lunch.

Next stop, Door County Coffee & Tea, (where we bought more coffee and desserts we haven’t actually eaten, yet) and Pet Expressions (yes, we bought presents for Skeeter).

After a long, long day, we headed back to the B&B for a nap … or that’s what we were doing when I impulsively turned onto HWy 57 to drive past The Farm (darn, it’s still closed) and then we ended up almost to Bailey’s Harbor before I turned around and headed back so we could have our nap.

Such a weird vacation — sporadic cell service and by 5pm I hadn’t turned on my laptop AT ALL. I’m surprised I could nap with all of the withdrawal symptoms…

After our nap, we decided to give The Greystone Castle a try for dinner. Aye yi yi. TOO MUCH FOOD (and a whole lot of taxidermy) – 3 hours later and I’m still stuffed.

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Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

Daily Dose, Travel Log /

I have no idea why The Go-Gos are running through my head, but they are. I sure hope that doesn’t happen for my entire vacation. Then again, there are worse earworms to have.

And, day one of vacation was fabulous, (except for that leaving Skeeter in the kennel part.)

TW really wanted to go to Kohler so we did and I have to admit, it was totally fun and we realized we both really like pink bathrooms. So weird since neither of us really loves pink, just in general. Also weird because we’re in a very pink room at a B&B (and oh boy is it pink, lol.) The Shell Collector’s Bathroom is amazing (though neither of us love the pebbles on the far wall.) This pink bathroom was also fabulous, though the photos here don’t do it justice. We also love the spice drawers in this kitchen.

After our visit to the Kohler Design Center, we went into Sheboygan to the Kohler Art Center. It’s a nice little museum. The drawing room was fabulous. You can check out a drawing kit and sit in a little solarium type room and sketch. Totally awesome. The Emery Blagdon exhibit was amazing and the kids’ art was fantastic.

I decided we needed food and was very happy when I realized Field to Fork was just a couple of blocks away and was even happier once the food started arriving. The peach smoothie was excellent. The fried cheese curds were A-Freaking-Mazing. I’ve eaten a lot of fried cheese curds and none compare to these. I ordered the veggie sandwich and, holy hell it was good. TW ordered the grilled cheese and… it was good but it was over-shadowed by the cheese curds and the veggie sandwich. Amazing. I want to go back and order more of the things on their menu. And more fried cheese curds.

We made it to Sturgeon Bay around 4pm and promptly filled the double jacuzzi tub and lit the fireplace. We’d have taken a nap after that but it was too warm in the room… TOO WARM. I haven’t been TOO WARM in four and a half years! So, we went out for a walk and a visit to the Kick Coffee, just a block away.

It’s been an awesome first day.

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Never Take a 14 Year Old To the Chicago Pet Expo

2 Comments / Animal Issues, Family Funk /

Damn Jenna for tagging me in an instagram photo of the $1 discount for the Chicago Pet Expo. If she hadn’t done that, we’d have never known about the damn event.

And if we’d never known about the damn event, we wouldn’t have taken Elizabeth with us to the Chicago Pet Expo.

But we did and it was crazysauce.

Elly decided Skeeter needed a green bow tie and was sure we’d find one there. She ran from booth to booth (think BlogHer Expo hall full of pet stuff and random animals wandering around) looking for a green bow tie. She saw a lot, all of them on the rescue animals at the booths but none to buy. She was annoyed.

She also wanted to take home just about every dog, cat, tortoise, goat, pig and ferret she saw. And she saw a lot of them. The only animals she didn’t want were the shih tzus, the bulldogs, and the meechis.

We ate (expensive) bad food. We spent a ton of money on dog treats and dog toys. TW petted some Saint Bernards and I probably promised her that our next dog would be a Saint Bernard. She also got the name of someone who cleans dog poop from yards. Hah. I have cleaning ladies and she has dog poop scoopers?

We had fun but it was crazy, really crazy. (And Skeeter is happy with the first toy we brought her, the Crinkit is holding up really well — better than any toy we’ve gotten her in the past three months!.) She’s also determined to get into Prince J’s bedroom where she knows I put the rest of the toys and treats. Darn dog is too smart for her own good.)

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Just Say “Green”

2 Comments / Daily Dose, Family Funk, Holidays, Memories /

When I was a kid, I’d ask my mom what her favorite color was. Sometimes because we were going to play a board game with a colored game token and she needed to choose a color. Sometimes because it’s a question kids like to ask… “What’s your favorite….”

Sometimes my mother would say something like, “I don’t know, just pick one for me.” Or “I don’t care.” Or just “I don’t know, what’s your favorite color?”

Those answers were obviously inappropriate and I would argue, tell her she had to pick one, and otherwise boss her into choosing. That’s what kids do.

And so, my mother would answer “green”. Every time.

As I got older, I was very sure my mother’s favorite color was green. Even now, if you asked me what her favorite color might be, I would immediately say “green”. If I’m looking for a gift for my mom that comes in different colors, I immediately gravitate toward green, though I know that this is silly. She might like green but it’s not really her favorite color in every situation. It never was. It was the answer she gave because, as a mom, it was a good, easy answer.

When I became a mom and was faced with the same questions from my kids, I’ve done it a little differently.

“Which color do you want to be?” I would choose green, unless I knew that a child playing would choose green (which was rare.)

“What’s your favorite color?” led me to respond with, “I don’t have a favorite color.” or “I like a lot of colors and it depends on why you’re asking.” But yes, my fall back if forced to choose a color for any question a child asks has always been green.

Because that’s what my mom said and my mom was smart.

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Kill a Friend, Maim a Buddy?

6 Comments / Books in Bed, Family Funk, Friends & Family /

I didn’t read the book that led to this post from Sassymonkey, “Would You Maim a Buddy?”, but I swear I’m going to read it because how awesome is that as a post title? Any book that can lead her to ask that question has to be worth reading.

I spent a good bit of my day following the comments and being 100% amused by the answers.

Which led me to wonder which of you I’d maim. Or kill off. Given the opportunity to do so.

Which led me to wonder what the best way to maim YOU or kill YOU might be.

Think about it yourself. (Read the post first, please.) It’s fun to think about.

Who would you kill or maim first? And how would you do it? Or, which author should do it?

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