mope slap

Nice pics Katie. I especially liked the one with the monster sniffing the baby.

When I was in Lisle, I told John a tale of how I worked with a woman in Boulder who had horses and how one of her gloves that she used to feed her horses, that was stuck in her coat pocket at the other end of the room made me allergic. Ha ha ha wasn't that funny? We both agreed, gee you are sensitive.

Meanwhile I was sucking down my inhaler like no tomorrow and I was wondering: Why am I having trouble breathing?

FInally, in the car heading toward the border, we're in Michigan, and I am suspiciously breathing well, normally. It hits me then. John probably had the equivalent of a glove that had touched a horse, there in his room, and I spent almost a week in there. Double Dutch duh.

Fool of a Took!!

The Joe Standard, Debunked!!

He told me about this rule he has, but he hasn't followed it himself. Charlie ADORES him, yet Joe has yet to make it to one of Charlie's birthday parties. Emma, well, she's a little nervous around him, not used to being teased (is he serious mom?) Oh well, you're right Sheila, the birthdays (early ones) are for the parents!!

the Joe standard

But Lucy can't read, let alone know who I am, so why does it matter to her whether or not I say Happy Birthday....unless it's for the .... parents...ah...ok...I see now. Happy zBirthday Lucy.

But I think I'm sticking to my Joe standard. Only feel guilty of a kid whose birthday you missed *cough cough* if the kid knows who you are.

Guilt minus one.

But sorry Amy. Happy Birthday.

Nope

I'm not furnishing the sizes of MY children, until Lucy's happy birthday post is at least acknowledged by SOMEONE. Well, I guess mom and Katie came to her party, so nevermind. Charlie wears size 5 or 6, Emma wears size 7. Lucy is wearing 24 months. Genevieve is about the same size as Emma, and Jack is...well he's bigger than the rest...don't know his size.

pop tarts

Consider this post a cry for help. Can anyone please tell me the shirt sizes of all the kids (not including Jim Doerr)? I have some high hopes to do something for the little pop tarts. Anyone? Amer? Sara?

Muchos tacos of gratitude.

Sheiler

Happy Birthday Lucy!!

Lucy's first birthday gift...a panda from Emma & Charlie. If you look closely, you can see that she prefers playing with a bottle cap and a lincoln log. At least it's not a box.

Reflection

Thanksgiving Pictures

Here's some pictures I took at Thanksgiving. I almost never take pictures of adults. Hmm...I wonder why...While I ponder this, take a look at these pics.


Ok, technically Meg and Amy are adults, but there are kids in the picture.


Mom's pretty table! (Definitely NOT an adult)


Meg: Future Mom (far in the future)


"Hey Mom! Watch! I can do a magic trick!"


Gotta watch her closely like those guys with the cups at Taste of Chicago...


We took up Charades again this year. I wonder if we'll ever do it again. We were all pretty shaken up by "Who are the...(something family) and why do they have 19 children?" But, thanks to Amy AND Katie, "Garfield Counts to Ten" returned! Yessss



Ok, that's it for pictures right now. I'm tired.

Red Faces

They played in the snow for 20 minutes today and their faces are red hot!

Winter Wonderland

Too bad we homeschool, otherwise we could stay home and have a "snowday!"

So, what's everyone doing for Christmas?

I'm back working at Bath & Body Works, so I might have to work on Christmas Eve, and in the morning, we have committments at church. Hopefully, we'll still be able to get together with people. We will be at "Cork's" (Charlie's term) on the 23rd, as usual. What about YOU (you know who you are!) Aren't these two cute as buttons' noses?

promo mario cuomo

Hi gang,

We've revised it so that the youtube will go to maria's email address and not mine, since I am not so quick in replying...and if some hot shot producer emails us and I do not respond quickly, we lose our momentum. So, can you please send all of your bakers and candlestick makers to this:



Thanks,

the management

promo schlomo

Hi everybody,

I am posting this YouTube edition of the Professor Blue teaser. Please oh please, can you pass it along to all of your friends, coworkers, mailmen, grocery store baggers, etc. to view it and rate it? We need the ratings and publicity in order to get other scientists interested in hiring us to ad lib their science.



I think this code will work

Feedback pretty please!!!!!!!!

America's Funniest Videos, anyone?

tug of war with the neighbor's cat

Tookie played tug of war with the neighbor's dog over the neighbor's cat and I have been in a non-dog loving mood until Maria gave me a pep talk.

and the plan is.....

Dear Amy,

Thanks for the feedback!

The plan with Professor Blue is to become rich and famous. Or else to get Maria a job in her field. And to maybe give me a career boost in my newly chosen field. The way to do this is to create something silly yet valuable, and then (this is the part where we are right now) to peddle it like crazy. Who is the object of our peddling? Other professors, researchers, foreign people with money from their governments who support things like a clean environment (Sweden and Switzerland right now), movie producers, artists, anyone really.

There is a wee bit of money allocated in research budgets for this thing called "Outreach". Disseminating science to the ordinary folks. National Science Foundation does this, same thing for NIH, DOE, yadda yadda. Plus there are private institutions that have money for this purpose. Since the US ranks somewhere like last in the so-called developed world for children pursuing science degrees in college, there is a bit of anxiety on the part of american colleges / universities, as well as for american scientists, to get this number to rise.

Our aim is to make the outreach really enticing.

Our other aim is to make whatever we do look really enticing. So if we get, say, a contract to do a children's show that isn't only about science, we're ready.

Our aim is to get paid for our work.

My immediate aim is to fix the web page. Then to post something on YouTube. Then to post on iTunes. And elsewhere. Then to get some feedback from kids to show people at NSF and other places that the outreach is actually effective. Maybe we'll make a Take-A-Quiz podcast.

I know there are companies that do this very thing and have a large staff to do this, but since we are a Mom and Mom shop we have to do this ourselves. Which makes socializing not so urgent. Unless it's to invite people over to our house for a potluck and, say, a "movie".

Suckers!

professor blue, as if

Hi Everyone,

It's official. Sort of. Please check our latest opus (maria's and mine):

http://www.professorblue.com

And spread the word.

Nuff said for now. I am going to collapse, in a good way.

Early Snow Storm

We got enough snow for the kids to play outside and throw snowballs. However, it all melted by 2 pm.

My life's not that different from yours Sheila

You watch elephants' behinds. I clean playrooms. BEFORE:

After

AFTER:

kind of like a parade

only with a traffic jam squared. Well, what better place to have it than at nerd central?

thought a lot about poop suddenly

...though I can't say why exactly...

take a walk on the wild side

I seem to have recalled myself writing about walking my dog along the train tracks in Cambridge, you know, where the elephants in the circus walk when they're in town? Well, we got an email from whomever at MIT announcing that it was 'that time again'. Many in my building yawned. 'It' has been happening since forever. But since I've gotten a dog, I am more appreciative of the animal arts, shall we say. Though I must say it has to be at a distance.

The pic is of some circus animals walking right past the nuclear plant on campus. They camp out in the railway cars on the tracks for a couple of weeks that they're in town. I don't think the elephants have to walk back and forth over the bridge to Boston every day, but do not know where they wine and dine there.

Emma

Apple Picking

look at me, I'm 2D!

Awesome commercial KT!

I just got a new computer at work, which has filled me with dread. Beginning of the semester = everyone's hair is on fire. So who has time to move files, set up new email application, make sure I've got everything from the old tanker, wa wa wa?

Who has the time?

Cartoon girl does, apparently. The new computer comes with a wicked new software and built in movie camera/digital still cam.

uhoh.

Subway Commercial

Jared's not as cool as me! Danny and I taped this after we'd been out drinking at my friend's bar...so it's a little silly. I'm putting it up cuz Sheila and Maria haven't seen me in a bit...

Rhoda Says Thanks!

Thanks for the birthday greetings. We went to Minnesota to visit Dave's brother Keith at the Mayo Clinic. He's not doing great, and right now, we're just looking at life maintenance rather than "curing" or "healing." Mayo is an amazing place, doctors here, there, everywhere at all hours of day & night. Dave took me out for an Italian dinner for my birthday, so no generic iced tea, and no French Onion Soup. I'm not a big cake eater, more likely to have cheesecake! But, we stopped for ice cream after the restaurant. As Rhoda Morgenstern once said, "I don't know why I bother eating it, I should just apply it directly to my hips!" PS You can buy this picture on EBAY for $9.99!

hey emma! I am late!

Emmatine!

Very sorry that I did not wish you a happy birthday earlier...as in on your birthday. You are getting to be such a big girl now that I almost don't recognize you. I bet you don't recognize me, but perhaps you do of my dog. Here Tookie is, in the hotel built for nerds. How can you tell it is for nerds? Look at the bedspread. There are scientific equations all over it. For decoration.

In this picture Tookie is very tired. Not pleased to be in hotel that doesn't have a lot of barking and kibble. He could not get away from the lights over our desk and so had to stay up as long as we were up. We tried making it up to him the next day when we took him for a long walk on the railroad tracks without a leash. It was the only place we could let him go loose. The railroad is only used once a day at 5:30. And it serves as a place for the circus to hang out when they come to Boston to do some shows, They arrive in their trains and then let their train cars sit on the tracks for the 2 weeks that they're here. Sometimes they walk the elephants there, just as I did for Tookie. But good thing that Tookie's poop isn't as large as an elephant's. But that is for another day.

Kisses and cookies,
Sheila

How to chop off your finger...Happy Birthday!

So -

There I was - in a hotel room, trying to put in finishing touches on a mini film with me as a character called Prof Blue, when the files I'm working on vanish on the computer, Maria is desperate for a cigarette but can't leave because of the new disaster, and yet cannot light up in the room since all of Massachusetts is thankfully indoorly smoke-free. We hadn't slept more than 4 hours per night in the past three weeks or so and were a bit punchy. I put the headphones back on, clicked on the microphone, to do voiceovers yet again when I was reminded of the bits Amy and I had done back on Southport. On analog tape. And how funny they were, and how great Amy's voice sounded when spewing forth about some fake detergent. I can't recall what other fake ads we did. But they were all, in my most humblest of opinions, done really well. That night in Cambridge, I wasn't getting what I wanted in the audio sense and knew that I had it in me to get it. Like I'd done like 30 years earlier.

So Amy? Hapy Birthday. In case I didn't tell you then, you did a great job.

For your birthday I ate some dangerous cookies. The only ones I really like these days are called Chocolate and Mint made by a company called Back to Nature. I ate more than I'd planned. Like the line in one of Rufus Wainwright's songs: "Have to eat them all in just one sitting." Hopefully you've had your fill of....french onion soup and....um...generic iced tea. Do you ever eat cake?

Not-So-Chatty-Lucy

Well, here's Lucy....not really talking.  Let's see if this works.  I'm trying out a new program thingy. 

The girl is 7!

Seven years ago I gave birth to my first child, Emma Kayrene...hard to believe it's been so long....

Dave got a job!

Dave was offered a job yesterday at an outsourcing human resources company. He'll be on the phones doing customer service. It's a temporary position until January, at which time, if they like him, they will hire him outright. He goes in on Thursday for orientation, and they will tell him a start date. He also has another interview today (Wednesday) for a full time management position, so we're hoping for that one. PS this pic is from a friend's wedding, which Dave was the MC.

pied noir

Cleaning out my computer I came across this photo of a certain pied noir from Algeria. See if you can recognize who the kid is. Third from the right. 2nd row from the top. Very nice scarf and apple shaped face. Black foot or Pied Noir was the term for the Frenchies born and raised in Algeria. Perhaps it was the garb that the French soldiers wore on their feet. Will have to get abck to you on this.

scoliosis

Saw this link on Dr. Mercola's website and thought of Mamba Jamba:

http://clear-institute.com/clearinstitute.html

They talk about non-surgical treatment for people with scoliosis.

Mercola can sometimes be a bit simplistic in my mind, but he has really good advice for helping people help themselvews with healthcare. H h h h .

jolly happy fatso

Jolly Happy Fatso Day to you Katie with the four siblings.

Veyr sorry to hear about your job woes. Maria says Happy Birthday and that it's better to throw up on your plate than to throw up on your keyboard. Not sure what got lost in which translation, but she means well.

The pic is not of you KT but of our illustrious monster on his first night with us. Notice that he looks nothing like a real dog, and certainly not like a Malamute. He was not a jolly happy fatso in the least. But at least Maria got used to having him around and now can't imagine a rich and famous lifestyle without him. What?

We do not Yahoo anymore, because we chat via stupid Messenger on MSN. I hate it. But Maria and some dumb friends like it. But soon I shall never chat again because I will post to this blog instantaneously for sending and receiving. I am becoming one with the blog.

What did you have for your special birthday dinner? Sausage rolls? Lemongrass soup and a chilean bass wrapped in phylo dough? I sometimes like to scare myself by watching cooking shows and imagining myself to be one of the judges who *has* to eat the food while smiling on tv at the same time. I always get scared. And I can never help imagining this.

While making the movie, our movie for podcasting, we are realizing how fun it is and how much work it is and how much we do not know. It's busy-fying. Got to get back to the old ... computer. More later!

The story of creepy guy continues...

Ok, so last night as I was just at work for a few minutes and Sandy, the woman who worked the 3-11 shift was leaving, creepy guy, let's just call him Heckles 2, was talking to Sandy and asked who was replacing her. She said "Katie" and he said "What?" and Sandy repeated "Katie" and he said "WHAT?" (the lobby has really high ceilings- you can see up onto the second floor... she's a loud woman...there's no way he didn't hear her) and she said "Kaaayyy Teeee" (I guess he took that as my name is KT,not Katie. What's the difference, right?) Then he went on about how it's Irish, blah blah blah. (What do you call an Irishman who won't come inside? ... Patty O'Furniture...) so anyway, he remembered my name. He did that for everyone at the front desk. He's a name dropper kinda guy. Blah blah blah my point is that this morning at breakfast I was standing near the kitchen/breakfast area talking to the woman who does the breakfast set up. She's Albanian and we were talking about how long she's lived here, our families, she's the youngest of 8, and I said that I'm the youngest of five. And then after she asked, I said that I have 2 older brothers and 2 older sisters. Heckles 2 was about 20 feet away from me, telling some kind of weird loud stories to other guests who were just being polite to him while he was standing there. About 20 minutes later I was getting ready to leave and Doug's the guy who was working the 7-3. Heckles 2 starts joking about how I'm independently wealthy and I just work here for the fun of it, and when I win the lottery I'm gonna take my 2 brothers and 2 sisters and have some kind of party. Then I'm gonna tell Doug, Sandy, Joe, and Pat that I'm not gonna work the front desk at Wingate anymore cuz now I'm really rich. (so, yeah, he's a name dropper, and OH YEAH HOW THE HELL DID HE HEAR ME TALKING ABOUT MY SIBLINGS!!??! And why is he bringing it up? He's so weird. I thought he was creepy before, but now he's ... some kind of weirdo who can stand up being loud blabbing on about something to one person while at the same time secretly listening to another person, me, speak in an indoor voice. Sometimes I'm really P.O'd that I have no hours and I'm getting royally screwed at this job, but today I'm very thankful that I'm not going back to work until Saturday night. That means no more Heckles 2.)

Ok I'm done, and so ends the work saga. I'm going to bed so I can get some sleep before going to good Ol' Club 852 for my birthday dinner. zzzzzzfaklj; ag;oiag (That was me falling asleep on the keyboard, in case you couldn't tell. But then OH! Amazing feat! I woke up just enough to tell you what was happening. Must be a miracleal;kjfio;aw gwwwjjweng?EGW GNK

P.S.

Sheila-
Do you ever go online on yahoo messenger anymore? I never see you. Just curious.

One last thing...

I know the last thing was supposed to be my last thing, but I gotta say: Amy, what the heck is up with your weird "confucious say" like profiles? Smelling like dandilions? Orange fuzzy shoes?
I mean, I'm all for weird, but I was just...wondering...

Creepy Guy

Ok, the guy I heard in the lobby is this creepy guy who's staying here for awhile. He looks kinda like Mr. Heckles, the annoying downstairs neighbor from Friends:




This is what the actor looks like now, and kinda what the creepy guy looks like.




So the lobby is pretty quiet, and a lot of you guys have seen the lobby: it's where Mom and Dad stayed for my wedding, and maybe some others; I can't remember. It's open so I can see the whole thing from the front desk, and there's also cameras so I can sit here and watch it on video. I haven't been watching it on video, though, cuz ... I haven't, but whenever I walk around to go to the bathroom or kitchen, I notice that there is a glass with just a teeny amount of juice or something in it right by the juice machine/coffee maker. I put a glass away twice and was like...if this hotel is haunted, I don't care if I don't have another job waiting for me, I'm quitting right NOW. But, I just figured something was going on. Yup, Mr. Heckles.

I didn't realize it until someone told me tonight, but he's staying here for 13 nights. Aug 6-19th. And he wasn't here for a couple days and the housekeeping kept asking about him; his room was empty, etc. Well the reason why he wasn't there was b/c he was in the hospital. And he didn't call, or anything, he just came back and acted like everything was normal. I think the whole hospital story came up b/c he was telling the woman who worked the front desk shift right before me. Kinda the guy who will talk to anyone...forever... and I feel bad for him, but when it's 4:54 in the morning, I wanna sit in the back office with the door locked where no one can bother me. If he were to talk to me on a day shift, that would be fine. But it's not the day shift and I am tired and wanna get back to reading my book, so that's what I'm going to do.

Ta ta.

Phffheh

That's about the correct spelling of the almost-laugh that came out of my mouth after seeing the Johnny Cash picture.

I'm sitting at work at 4:36 in the freaking a.m. and I'm alone, yes, but I'm on camera and on ... is it called microphone when i'm using it in this context? On recording? On top of old smokey? Anyway, there's surveilance afoot. I saw the picture and started to laugh but stifled myself. I have no idea why. I'm under the impression that my manager and the owner of the hotel don't really watch the video for the midnight shift. We watch movies on the office computer and no one has said anything. So yeah, I get to watch movies at work. (The other day Danny got really frustrated with me b/c he was making fun of someone at work...or...he was complaining about something...I can't remember, anyway he said that I always find something nice to say about everyone (and he got frustrated cuz he just wanted to complain about X)) So as it turns out I am having a harder and harder time to find anything nice to say about this job. It's really horrible, and one of the nicest things I can find to say about it is nothing, because I complain about it so much. I'm actually sick of hearing myself complain. But it is most definitely the worst job I've ever had, and hopefully the worst I will ever have.

...
I hear noise in the lobby.
got to go
...

Lulu?

Wait,

you call your baby Lulu?

Johnny Cash asks his wife: can I eat this?

Big Dude

We were at the county fair a few weeks ago, and found an unnamed bunny. Charlie said, "How bout Charlie?" The lady loved it!!

LuLu Riding a Horse

Quite possible that LuLu is riding a horse.

Emma Blue

Emma's my blue girl. Does she look almost seven years old?

happy anniversary katie and danny - redux