Responsible parenting
I got a call from day care this afternoon. Which usually means that I am leaving work several minutes later to come pick up a feverish, or vomiting, Doodle.

However, today they were just calling me to report an "incident" that had occurred while Doodle was sitting at the infant table. Apparently he grabbed a bottle that was on the table that wasn't his and started to drink it. The bottle contained breast milk.

I'm not sure if I was supposed to be alarmed or upset at this news, but I was neither/nor. I just said, "Ok, thanks for letting me know," and that was that.

Call me crazy, but breast milk is probably the most healthy thing he put in his mouth today.

I think it's because I've seen Doodle eat a clump of cat hair/dust bunny material, and nothing bad happened to him then. OK, he really didn't eat it as much as it was hanging from his bottom lip for what probably qualifies as "more time than a good parent would allow."

Fun and games at the company event
Last night was my company's "Family Night" at the Indians game. Before the game there was a big tailgate party in a parking lot near the Jake.

All was going well until this guy showed up:


Never trust a gorilla in an assless hula skirt, I always say.

To err is human...
An e-mail arrived this morning fresh from my boss' brain with our "thought for the day." This isn't something he does every day, just today, actually.

It said something like this. "In order to maintain our high standard of quality, please always error [emphasis mine] on the side of caution and send all materials to our proofreader before we go to print."

Sensing an opportunity to be a smartass and delighting in the irony that he committed a grammatical gaffe in an e-mail pertaining to catching just such things, I replied to his e-mail with, "Actually, it's 'err' on the side of caution, but, point taken."

Then he replied with some other smartass remark. I'm glad I have a boss with a sense of humor.

Two revelations that will make me sleep easier at night
I don't know if you have heard this or not, but Oprah? NOT gay. That's right, she's not gay! That ends the age-long speculation that... oh wait, NO ONE THOUGHT she was gay in the first place! However, why the sudden mention of the non-gayness? It's almost like it's damage control. Like the adage says, "she who smelt it, dealt it."

And thankfully, Suri Cruise has been spotted. By a fellow scientologist, Leah Remini. OK. That clears that up. Phew. I'm compiling a list of potential future daughters-in-law, and I wanted to make sure Suri was still in the dating pool. I don't care how crazy her parents are. I want to retire a wealthy woman.

Beautiful Birthday Boy



Close your eyes
Have no fear,
The monsters gone,
He's on the run,
And your [mommy's] here,



Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy.



Before you go to sleep,
Say a little prayer,
Every day in every way,
It's getting better and better,



Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy.



Out on the ocean sailing away,
I can hardly wait,
To see you to come of age,
But I guess we'll both
Just have to be patient,
Yes it's a long way to go,
But in the meantime,


Before you cross the street,
Take my hand,
Life is what happens to you
While you're busy making other plans,



Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy.
-John Lennon "Beautiful Boy"

Smashing

More to come tomorrow.

So, tell me if you think this is weird...
Doodle's birthday party is this Saturday. It's a family affair. I don't exactly know how many people are coming, but that's another post.

So a couple weekends ago, we're over at the in-laws' house. My hubby's younger brother has this new girlfriend. New within the past year. He was visiting her while we were there. So while we're there, he calls and asks if HER PARENTS can come to Doodle's birthday.

My first reaction was, why would they WANT to? Am I to be hosting a "meet the parents" gig at my house?

My second reaction was, sure, if they bring a present.

Strange
This morning, the turnpike lady, who I don't even see all that often, noticed that I changed my hair color. What does this say about me? I'm not sure. I just feel kinda weird about it.

Thought for the day
Just because you can make a movie like "Little Man," doesn't mean that you should.

It's official
Summer cannot officially begin until I hear DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince "Summertime." And now I have, and so it can.

Other summer songs:
Summer of 69 - Bryan Adams
Summertime Rolls - Janes Addiction
Summer Breeze - Seals and Crofts
Summer Nights - Travolta/Newton-John

Hmm. *makes mix on Rhapsody*

Just another Monday
By a show of hands, who else is in the office today?



...


That's pretty much what I thought.

A day at the beach

OK, not really. Doodle got his 1-year old pics taken this weekend. Check out the rest of the pics here.

OK, now I'm mad
I got a new computer at work this week. Usually, this would be a joyous occasion, but there was nothing wrong with the old one, other than it was old. It worked fine, never wonked out, all the programs worked, and most importantly, I had everything just the way I like it.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm glad I now have the Photoshop CS2 and all that jazz, but now there's this admin b.s. on my computer and I can't download Itunes. Ergo, I can't listen to all of the stuff I've previously downloaded (thank God I saved the folder where all the music was, otherwise, that would have been ghandi). Not only that, but I can't change any settings without the blessing of a techie. Forget about updating flash, quicktime, etc., because it's not happening. Which means, I also can't watch my favorite new vlogger, Ze.

Thankfully I still can surf the net without any repurcussions, otherwise I don't know if I could handle it. A friend of mine had his net surfing kibboshed at work when they erected (*beavis laugh*) a firewall that blocks out all entertainment-related sites. God help me if that happens here. Or rather, God help the techies.

Making a Stand

A little snippet of Doodle learning how to stand up, from about a month ago

And so it begins
The summer television lineup. I'll miss the start of the HT season today because I'll be miserable at the Indians game tonight. Miserable because a) they suck; b) it's supposed to rain. I tivo'ed it though, so by tomorrow, I should be caught up.

Other shows in the Tivo queue: Treasure Hunters (confusing so far from what I've watched), Hell's Kitchen from Monday, the 24 finale (yeah, I'm THAT behind), and of course, my favorite new show, SuperGroup. If you haven't seen this show already, I highly recommend it for two reasons: 1. Ted Nugent. The Nuge! Although in this show he doesn't fire a gun at anything resembling game, at least not yet. 2. Former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach. You gotta love him. He is a parody of himself and doesn't even know it. It's great. It makes me happy.

Doodle update: Keep off the grass
The just-turned-11 month old Doodle is full of curiosity. There's nothing on this earth he isn't afraid to put in his mouth. No nook or cranny he isn't afraid to explore.

Except the grass.

I have been taking him outside and sitting out on a beach towel with him in our backyard. I bring all sorts of toys and snacks for him and me both to enjoy. After he gets acclimated to the backyard surroundings, he starts to climb on me and pull himself up to a standing position.

But for all the money in the world he will not set one little tootsie on the grass. That beach towel may as well be the end of the earth as far as he's concerned. He even skeeves when his hand veers off the towel and into the Great Unknown.

This could be a good thing, however. Instant babysitter, know what I'm sayin'? I set him down on the beach towel, go do a load of laundry, go grocery shopping, catch up on whatever crap I've tivoed for the week... and then go check up on him. He'd still be on that damn towel! Especially if there was a bag of Pepperidge Farm goldfish on that towel with him!

Pondering
It's June 17th, 2006, and you know what that means...

IT'S TIME FOR MY SEMI-ANNUAL "WHAT AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE" CRISIS! *spotlights pan the applauding crowd*

This installment of the "what am I doing with my life" crisis includes: to GMAT or not to GMAT. I'm tossing around the idea of going back to school and getting an MBA. I don't think I can get much further in my career without doing something like that. However, this means taking out loans, and we are already living so far beyond our means that our means have a different zip code.

The other thing is, school plus job plus infant = insanity. I barely have free time as it is, so throwing one night or more a week of classes into the mix might just kill me.

Between you, me, and the lamppost, I don't think I am going to be at my job much longer. Things are getting ... weird there.

I'll mull this one over for a little while longer. I'm not going to do anything drastic. Fortunately my husband also goes through this crisis, and in his last go-r0und, he purchased a practice GMAT book. It wouldn't hurt for me to take a look-see at it.

Until next time, this is crisis central, signing off.

Well, THAT'S embarrassing
Twice, now, in the past TWO days, I've walked around the office with my barn door open. Once yesterday at the end of the day I forgot to zip my pants (what is WRONG with me!) after a trip to the restroom, and today I came to work wearing a khaki skirt that zips and buttons in the front and I did the button, just happened to neglect the zipper. I am wearing a top that pretty much covers the zipper, so I hope no one noticed. At least I didn't have toilet paper on my shoe or anything like that. Or a sign on my back that says "Kick Me" ... I probably should have one of those, though, for being such a jackass.

The World Cup: Something for Everyone
Although soccer isn't as wildly popular in the U.S. as it is, basically, everywhere else, I think there are several reasons I will enjoy watching the World Cup during these next sixteen weeks. Or three weeks. Whatever it is.

First of all, as someone who is semi-interested in sports, I admire the intense athleticism it takes to run for 45 minutes straight with no commercial breaks. By the way, insomniacs? I've found your cure.

It is also amusing to see the crowds who are so into the games. My husband and I took up the cheer "go Sveeden!" (In our best -- or worst -- Swedish accent, of course) Which was a throwback joke to when we were watching the Swedes in the curling event during the Olympics. Did you SEE the women's curling team from Sweden? Yikes!

And lastly, I made the discovery (what took me so long?) that soccer players = EYE CANDY. Iran v. Mexico, I'm looking at you.

Same as it ever was
The Talking Heads' song "Once in a Lifetime" came on the radio this morning as I was driving to work, causing me to swerve in traffic. That's because, whenever I hear this song, I instinctually, reflexively, mimic the David Byrne hand motion that he does in the video for this song, which is to take your hand and make chopping motions over your other arm as if you are cutting it into slices. Thus needing to take both hands off the wheel.