Goodbye Casey's

I just found out that the grocery store on the island I grew up on is closing in April. Casey's was a fixture of my childhood and teenage years. Mom would take us shopping there; I'd shop for my Girl Scout camping trips there; formed a gigantic crush on Chris Currier there (he worked there and was also the Quarterback for our football team); I met friends at Casey's on a Saturday night to find out where the parties were (usually at the Clear Cuts or The Bluff) and wait for another islander of legal drinking age to buy us some Budweiser, usually at twice the price; or stocked up on vandalism supplies to hit one of our friends homes (and sometimes enemies) with things like T.P., eggs, and whipped cream.
I kinda feel like making a pilgrimage to Bayview...

Back in Action!

Well, the mouse is acting horribly, but otherwise I'm online again! I was starting to get the shakes from internet withdrawal.
I didn't bother taking photos today (without a computer to download them to, what's the point?) but I had a wonderful afternoon with a handful of my good friends celebrating Erin's pending adoption. We had a Ethipopian themed shower, where Erin made some traditional stew (with a couple of Cosmo's on the side. At 11am.) and we all brought gifts for Erin to take to the orphanage as a donation. When she returns with her little boy (which we're hoping will happen in the next month!?) we'll shower her once again.
We had so much fun, and Elizabeth organized a beautiful canvas art project that we all particiapted in, I can hardly wait to see the finished product!

The fam and I headed to Chihuahua's for dinner, which was a mistake since I was hardly hungry from the feast this afternoon, but the peach margarita was mighty tasty.

Well, I'm off to piddle around on the internet for awhile...

"It just made a snap and started smoking"

That's what Larry said to me while I was at work yesterday. He was talking about our computer. I am so stressed out about it, all of my pictures were on there! My bootleg version of Publisher! My entire email address book! My pathetic link to the adult world!
Larry is going to look at it a little more closely today and give me a diagnosis, but it looks like I may be out of commission for a bit. I'll have to steal his laptop (work issued) to blog on the sly, but otherwise I'm crippled. Here's hoping it doesn't cost us our entire tax refund to repair the damage!

On to a post:

Yesterday Natalie thought it would be a good idea to climb her dresser in her closet yesterday. It's about 5 feet tall, and had all of her dress-up clothes, and her winter/summer/too big clothes. It also had (do you notice I'm speaking past tense yet?) my sewing machine and a very heavy case of poker chips. Seriously, I am damn lucky that my little girl is OK. She got her head pinned against the dresser and her closet door, and has a good size scrape and bruise on her right temple. I'm interested to know what she's going to look like today! I swear that girl...

And Brady eagerly ran upstairs to turn the TV on for me to watch a segment of "How It's Made". We watch this show together quite a bit, and he was so excited about the upcoming segment, and just knew that I would find it equally intriguing. The subject? How to make Maxi-pads. The kind with wings even. Thanks, honey.

the gooiness of having a girl

"A smooch oughta do it"

We were working on Natalie's Valentines for next week, she was busy "signing" each one with her name.

Then came the girly part... she started smooching each envelope before she handed it to me to seal. Talk about S.W.A.K! Little will her class mates know exactly how much love each of their Valentines hold.

Listening to my playlist got me thinking

Of all the great concerts I've seen so far.
-Tiffany (hey, she was great to my 7th grade self)
- The Cure (went with a boy who dressed up like Michael Smith)
- The Violent Femmes (for my 18th birthday. The whole floor of the coliseum sang happy birthday to me, very cool. I also almost got trampled to death that day. It was a great show!)
-Steve Miller Band (I think I saw him 4 times at the Gorge)
-The Doobie Brothers (opened for SM)
-Joan Jett (another opener for SM)
-Lillith Fair (twice) people like Sarah McLaughlin, Paula Cole, Tracy Chapman et.al.
-Kool and the Gang (friggin awesome. Drove all the way to the Silver Queen in Fife for that one.)
-Paul Simon
-Brian Wilson (he opened for PS, both of those men are geniuses. I saw them about 12 hours before my dad died.)
-The Lovin' Spoonful (won these tickets on the radio. The question? What does the average human do 10,000 times a day? The answer: Take a step.)
-James Taylor (a very mellow crowd. Larry and I were the youngest by 20 years. Still worth it.)
-The Beach Boys (for Terra's 30th birthday)
-Jackson Browne ( a wedding gift from me to Larry)
-Paul Revere and the Raiders (I won't admit where I saw these guys)
-The Wiggles (yes it's true. Twice)

I had tickets to see Pearl Jam once, I sold them and tripled my money instead.

On my concert bucket list:
-Van Morrison
-Elvis Costello
-Southern Culture on the Skids
-Yogoman Burning Band
-I wouldn't mind seeing Chicago live
-or Barenaked Ladies (they'd probably be best in Canada)

What's the best concert you've ever been to? Who would play at your dream concert?

Daddy 'Do

The image of my heart breaking a little each day... Mr. Independent.
Daddy talked her into pigtails today. I L-O-V-E her in pigtails. They were gone when I picked her up from school (even the teacher got a picture!).

Today was the first day of 2009 that I felt comfortable enough (temp wise) to walk over to Brady's school today. It was very mild, and would have been pleasant if it hadn't been for Natalie incessant crying and whining about her exhaustion all the way home (and I carried her half-way there!) That girl is l-a-z-y sometimes. I figure she's going to be the one cheering instead of the one being cheered when it comes to sports.

Tomorrow should prove to be interesting; Natalie and I have a hot date with Mr. Huggins at the pool (mommies helping mommies not look like they're mommies) so that Carly can swim some laps (and maybe me too). Then Brady has the trifecta playdate set up: Cole and Cameron are coming home with us after school. I figured one last house demolishing before I have to clean for the weekend festivities.

I think I'll start taking my Canadian drugs now...

I said young man...

Friday night Erin and I had our "girl" night where we feed our children food with questionable nutritional value, then plug them in to a t.v. while we pour ourselves some wine and catch up on Desperate Housewives.

The boys were having a wonderful time shooting each other and jumping off the furniture downstairs. They also were having a good time raiding Brady's dress-up drawer (they also had on a white motorcycle helmet and a yellow hard hat). So we made them pose. Natalie is the "M", and as soon as baby A gets here, he can complete our homage to the Village People.