The Schmidt House

Merry Christmas from our home to yours! This is a little clip from one of my favorite movies, "Meet Me in St. Louis", if anyone ever wants a little rendition of the Trolley Song just give me a shout.

I am loving the iPhone, however am in a bit of a quandary with this whole ringtone thing. I was so in love with my old ringtone and am in denial I cannot have it now that I have switched - iTunes only has one, yes only one Beck tune available for Ringtune -age. Since iPhone/ iTunes lets you create your own tone, I have done just that - The Cure, "Close to Me" as a feeble replacement to my previous favorite. I am so missing my old r ingtone courtesy of Beck - all 11 seconds of it - which I had programmed in my brain. So here it is my long lost ringtone that I knew was mine all mine rather than the one I have now which I give dirty looks to strangers thinking, "Answer your phone already" only to discover that it is I who needs to answer my own phone.

Today little man was an innkeeper at his Christmas program, I don't know if he had to audition for the role, all I know is he probably didn't get the part based on his description of costume or storyline. Here is the innkeeper role in the Nativity as described by JG: AE: So what do you wear? JG: I not know - innkeeper clothes. (He actually wore a sack looking thing which his partner innkeeper #2 told his mother after donning the garb - "Mom, this is so not my look.") AE: So what do you do as an innkeeper? JG: Well, I run the show-tell (inn). Then the lady having the baby and the guy with the same name as me come to the door. I tell them we are full up and they have to go sleep in the barn. I was a little worried, but he did great. Mary and Joseph made it to the barn and had baby Jesus then JG sang "Go Tell the Mountain" with his classmates and all was well with the world. On a side note, we got to laughing last night after caroling when I told my friends...

We neighbors are going door to door in a few nights to spread Christmas cheer by caroling. I asked the non-singing home office if he would like to go along and join the choir. This is the response I received: "I would rather stare into the sun." Guess that's a no. Too bad, I was really looking forward to him leading us in a round of "Silver & Gold".

On Saturday, the Maple Grove Mustangs played the Andover Huskies. At the end of regulation, AE had a chance to seal the deal - but missed two free throws. The game went into overtime, then to sudden death - so someone had to score just one basket to win. AE had a chance for redemption and somehow the basketball Gods were smiling down on her. Maple Grove won 14-12. AE is #41. The video is courtesy of AP's dad Rob (thank you Rob!) - thank goodness someone documented it because I think our daughter was the most surprised person in the gym and needed to see it again to believe it.

Today as we were driving to day two of AE's first basketball tourney, Dan tried to offer some fatherly advice about the amount of time AE was spending in the key - she got called for a couple of three second violations yesterday. Dan: AE do you know what the three second rule is? AE: Yeah. It's when you drop something on the ground you have three seconds to pick it up and it's still safe to eat it. Dan: No, that is a different three second rule. Dan set AE straight, she didn't get called for it today, so it must have stuck. The Maple Grove Mustangs took 2nd. Not too bad for a team in mis-matched uniforms (our new ones didn't make it in time) and two practices under their belt.

Here is a link to little man's team website. There are some really cute pictures in the slide show. http://omgha.pucksystems2.com/page/show/28174

My husband knows four songs - really just four. They are in no particular order: 1) The Gambler - Kenny Rogers He sings this in the style of Bob Dylan. 2) Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC Once, when I returned from a trip AE and I had the following exchange: Mom: How did things go when Mommy was gone? AE: Fine. Mom: Did daddy sing you goodnight? AE: Yes. Mom: Really? What did he sing to you? She paused and began to sing, "She was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean..." Nice. 3) Oh, Tannebaum Only in German. Go figure. 4) This little tune... All I will say is that it has been a long 17 years, think it is about time to get him some new tunes. I sure hope his song retention does not portend any serious issues which will arise when we are in our 80s.

AE received her 1st "letter grade" report card today - all went really, really well. It seems like our daughter has connected with her teacher and everything has clicked. Like every other year I asked her what her favorite subject was and she answered, "Remember that one time when you asked me in kindergarten?" Yes, AE I remember. AE attended a parochial school here in Maple Grove and wasn't really thrilled with her school, her teacher, the uniform...I could go on and on... After listening to her daily litany of complaints I asked, "Is there anything you like about school?" I got the look that said, "Mom, you CANNOT be serious, there is NOTHING I like." "You have to have a favorite subject right?" I probed. "What is your favorite subject?" She sat there and finally said, "Yeah I like MASS ." The school attended daily mass - it was a Catholic school and that's what they do. "Oh, good. I am so glad you li...

The Holidays bring so many fun little projects that I forgot how hard it was to fit these in when working. One of those tasks is Christmas cards, I have the process down pat, however just haven't got around to it yet. The cards are sitting on top of the fridge, the label spreadsheet has been updated and the letter is in my head. We all know how much the home office loves the Holidays . Kidding, I said if he had some free time he could give the annual letter a shot...well he surprised me and did just that. After reading, I do not think we will be sending it out, but just had to share because it was so funny. I am proud of my non-letter writing husband, here is his version of the Schmidts '07. You are about to read one of those lame Christmas letters so many people feel necessary to include in their Christmas cards. For those of you that find these things offensive, read section A (the short version). If, on the other hand you want the full experience, proceed to section B. SECTI...

Yesterday in the middle of the snow, I finally decided it was time to do something about my sub-par cell phone. I have had a love hate relationship for quite some time now and have been enamoured to say the least with the nice shiny iPhone. I am loving it - other than the fact I had to change my phone number (long story) and email address (another long story). I can't believe how much I can do on it! Know where I am supposed to be when I am supposed to be somewhere Watch movies/videos in the car I can play music (only 8 GB, but I will live), since the other iPod is still MIA I can get my email at work now, since I can't get to Hotmail through the Cargill infrastructure Will cut down on domestic disputes because we will actually know where we are going since we can check a map Get YouTube BLOG Find out if I should take 394 or 169 Take pictures Know what the weather is like in Madrid - why Madrid? I don't know, but somehow I tried to set up Minneapolis and ended up with Ma...

The iPod finally went kaput - it became possessed, erased all music and made some really bad noises. I am now awaiting a "refurbished" replacement - translation: someone else's possessed iPod spiffed up for my use. I guess when you buy the service plan at Best Buy it has to implode three times before they give you a new one. Aaarrrggghhh. This being iPod-less has made work more difficult because I used my music as a little escape from my I/T Alice in Wonderland world since I moved again and am now sitting by the guys who do tech support for the elevators - whole 'nother blog in itself. So, I have had to go back to my pre-iPod world of CDs until the "new" old one arrives. It has given me a chance to dust off my vast, eclectic CD collection. It has actually been rather pleasant because I have been reacquainted with old friends that were lost in the 3,974 song abyss that was iPod #1. Most notably is Mindy Smith - I forgot how much I love her voice. The first su...

Got the Foo tickets via early internet sales - thank goodness I pre-ordered their recent album on iTunes!!!! We decided as a group that we did not want to go the general admission route and have to be stuck with screaming and potentially intoxicated college students all night. As we are getting older we are all about our personal space. Now we just have to wait 90 days to see Dave, Taylor, Nate & the other guy who I can't remember what his name is right now... Guess that little tidbit has escaped the steel trap. I am slipping.

I heard this song on the radio tonight on the way home and I thought of you. You are in all of our hearts and minds right now. As you,your mom, and your family are going through this journey you are sharing your deepest thoughts, fears, frustrations so eloquently and strong. Thank you for your honesty and your example - we are here when you need us. Not loving the video, but the song.

So excited!!!! Dave Grohl and gang are coming to Mpls in February - I can't wait. I have missed them the last two times they were here so I AM GOING THIS TIME. Shelly B. are going to be poised and ready to go at ticketmaster.com on December 1st 12:00 p.m. when Foo Fighters tickets go on sale. Until then, here is their "Learn to Fly", one of my favorite Foo videos - I can't find their latest that I can embed - A Long Road to Ruin - as usual it is hilarious. Rashida Jones (Karen from The Office, plays Dave's love interest) as soon as I find it I will add that too.

Got home from SD and the first thing I noticed when I went to pick up the mail on the table were letters, many letters all over the dining room table. I tried to wipe them off, but no dice. I asked the home office, "What happened here?" "Oh, that. That's a long story." Guess when Dan was fixing dinner, our son decided that everyone should have their respective spot at our kitchen table labeled with our names. Thank goodness for the magic eraser, wish I would of had that when AE went through the same stage. About 5 years ago I came home from a business trip and was welcomed to "A"s all over the house, it was like anarchy had taken over. We had "A"s up and down the stairs in lipgloss , "A"s on the floor and fridge in Sharpie marker. Managed to get all of them off by finally resorting to using fingernail polish remover - that stuff is toxic. I am so very glad to be home - I even left the laptop locked in my drawer at work for FOUR DAY...

Yesterday at lunch we were discussing JG's hockey practice, he got to be goalie yesterday with some marginal success. Our son said he liked having people shoot pucks at him, however said he needed some new elbow pads - that is why the pucks went by him - faulty elbow pads. Dan listed off the items JG has outgrown and said, "We need to get some new elbow pads, probably some new shoulder pads too." Not missing a beat, AE chimed in, "Maybe we can also see if we can pick him up some catlike reflexes too."

The kids did great as Kids Captains at the Wolves game vs. the Sacremento Kings. Dan said it was funny watching JG staring up at Ron Artest and Rashad McCants while they took care of pre-game business. AE was most excited about being on the jumbotron and hearing her name over the PA. I told her that it will be just like that when she goes to the state basketball tourney in 2016.

So here I sit in a hotel in Jacksonville, IL completely bummed. Dan called tonight about 5:00 to tell me the kids were selected to be honorary captains for the Timberwolves game tomorrow night. I have tried my darndest to get an earlier flight home, out of Peoria, Bloomington , Springfield, St.Louis, but to avail - it is just not going to work with the schedule tomorrow. My mom, Dan's folks and Dan will be there to document the event, so I will get to see it, but it isn't the same as being there. Dan tried to make me feel better by telling me I am there 99% of the time, so don't feel bad. Well, I am going to let myself have a bit of a pity party, I am sure they will have a great time and be great captains, but it would be better if I was there. BTW - I will be in South Dakota next week - Tuesday for sure. Don't know if I will be there Monday or Wednesday as well. I think the elevator is in Parker, so will be tooling around the plains talking bushels and hedging. Does ...

Just got home from Husker Land - had a good time and many good laughs. Went out today with Tyler the Farm Marketer and drove around many fields, learned about center pivot irrigation and got to hang out with some old curmudgeonly farmers. These two guys Kent and Kurt (twins) were the funniest - they own half the county and corn coming out of their ears. They were out clearing a field they just bought with a backhoe and a bulldozer. Kent and Kurt stopped long enough to talk some grain sales and didn't know about me at first, but after a few minutes of chatting guess I figured I was OK cause they started telling some old guy jokes mostly about old guys' wives kicking the bucket - wonder what their significant others think about that? They were nice and said I was could come out and help them clear a field anytime. Don't think I am going to take them up on that. Tyler walked away with a 25,000 bushel contract and said it was the best call he ever had with them. I took a little...

So today was interesting. I hung out all day at the grain elevator in Carleton, NE, it was a bit unnerving to have a huge Union Pacific train pass by about every hour. No one else seemed to notice but me, then there were all of the trucks coming in to drop off their bushels, it is a busy time of year. The room right next to where we met had the scale info and this really nice lady Renee would dump some of the corn through this machine that would determine the weight of the corn based upon how much moisture it had in it and then she would dump it in a bucket, over and over and over. Learned a lot and met many new people, the farmers love to come into the FSG (Farm Service Group) and shoot the breeze which we all know I am not too bad at either, so it was fun. I met this little old guy named Dale who asked me if I was a single lady and why in the world would I ever want to live in Minnesota when Nebraska is right here in front of me. He also told me a lllooonnnngggg story about a hunte...

So, I have been blogging quite a bit this weekend I think in anticipation for the fact I will be out of touch for a few days hanging in Carleton, NE. As you know me, I love little tidbits, so here are a few about Carleton. " Milo Capital of Nebraska " Carleton is a village in Thayer County. The community was named for Carleton Emory, son of a landowner. The latitude of Carleton is 40.300N. The longitude is -97.678W. It is in the Central Standard time zone. Elevation is 1,565 feet. The estimated population, in 2003, was 128. Here is a silly little tidbit, I have "almost" been to Carleton before, back in '05 when my sister lived in godforsaken Garden City, KS, my mom, the kids and I took a little roadtrip through Nebraska looking for long passed relatives. We found them close to Clatonia, NE in the middle of NOWHERE, but not so far from Carleton.

My fellow blogger, girlfriend, former roommate, working mom, freelancer extraordinaire Carey wrote a little blog about her cookie woes last week . She remembered chocolate chip cookies I used to bake in college, which I have not unfortunately made that often - I have been on more of a Peanut Butter cookie kick the past decade - I do make a wicked PB cookie. After looking through various places where I squirrel stuff away to no avail I have come to the conclusion that the only cookie recipe I ever used was the good ol' American standby: Original Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies So Carey - give it another go. It is all about taste, like I said maybe I will be there next week and we can try it out together.

MEMO TO: Grandmas, papas, aunties, uncles, friends, friends of our children, various others who may have a desire to purchase our children any toys whatsoever FROM: The Schmidt Parents CC: Santa DATE: November 4, 2007 RE: Schmidt children toy moratorium We truly do appreciate your past generosity to our offspring, AE and JG, however we - the parental units - simply cannot deal with any more Legos, game pieces, Littlest Pet Shops and movies at this time. While the Schmidt children were away today their parents decided to take it upon themselves to "organize" the mess under the stairs since we have fully acknowledged that our children do not understand that cleaning up their toys does not mean building a 2 x 3 foot pile of crap in the toy closet. After 3 hours we managed the separation of 985 both big and small Lego pieces, location of 349 Thomas the Tank Engine rails and engines and the location $5,498,387 in Life money (do I need to mention how bloody hard it is to find t...

I was talking to my mom today and we got to talking about the blog. When she is at my aunt's house she is computer-less and out of blog-touch. I told her about the Suzanne cake and we got to laughing. When I was about 8 we were home visiting my grandma and grandpa in Pine City. My grandparents had moved out to the country and my grandpa was loving every minute of it, he had quite a bit of land and spent a lot of time hauling stuff around in a little wagon he built for his riding lawnmower. He would move brush from his land to the dump across the county road. One afternoon, my sister and I were bored, so grandpa decided he would have us paint his little wagon. Amy and I painted it a light blue and decided to add some pictures with this brown paint. So Amy painted a picture of grandpa and his dog Buster and I decided to add a message to the back of the wagon. So in large letters I wrote: HI THERE! Upon inspection, grandpa started laughing and asked if I had something against him caus...

Yesterday morning we all awoke not feeling so hot. AE said she had a stomach ache, so did little man. So, I emailed work telling them I would be home with two sick kids. Well, the two sick kids ended up being fine - AE went to school by 10:30. By 11:00 it wasn't a sick kid I was worried about, but a sick mom. I ended up with the flu. I went to bed, JG missed the bus (my fault), so I had to drop him at school ala ride back from Girls Weekend in Madison '97 style (Shel - you know what I am talking about). Not good. I went into my infirmary at 12:45 yesterday and just left about an hour ago. No good. On the positive side - I lost 7 lbs, managed to watch a few hours of "The Tudors" and think I am completely caught up on my sleep.

I saw this and had to laugh... The person ordering told them to write Best Wishes, Suzanne and underneath that write We will miss you. This is the cake that was delivered.

So today, I am sad to admit, I had another incident in the parking garage at work. I have learned to park in the exact same spot each day now by the same pole just so I won't lose the truckster again. This little encounter had nothing to do with location, location, location, but more so the fact that I really did get only 5 hours of sleep last night. I left work, frantically trying to get to the Halloween Parade for little man, it's his 1st school party event and I just could not miss it. So I was booking it because I was on Schmidt time (translation: about 5 minutes late). I got to my car and noticed a HUGE scrape on the back side bumper. I stood there shocked that I had not noticed it before. I thought to myself, "It's mud, gotta be mud." Went up and started trying to rub the mud off the truckster, but no dice. It wasn't mud, but instead a huge scrape like I originally thought. It was about 6in x 6 in and the paint was flaking off. I started to get that mad,...

OK where did October go? Seriously, it feels like yesterday was September and the kids were starting school - little man, was just getting into the swing of daycare and then BAM - November, turkey is just around the corner. This past week has been busy - which is obvious by my lack of blogging - I enjoy it so, however just don't seem to be able to fit the time in except for right now at 4:25 a.m. because I can't sleep because I am stressing about work. How can you stress about a contract job? Well, leave it to me to figure that one out - I forgot to book my travel for Omaha (actually York, NE) and remembered in the middle of the night. I guess when you are a contractor you become your own travel agent as well. My forgetfulness left me with a longer drive - Omaha to York vs. Lincoln to York - the Hampton Inn in York, NE population 8,081 and a Chevy Cobalt car to drive the 106.52 miles from Omaha to York, NE home of the Nebraska Correctional Institute for Women. I forgot the life...

Now that JG has to actually get out of bed before 9:00 a.m. here is how our mornings usually start: Mom: JG is time to get up. JG: I not want to. Mom: You have to go to Barb's (daycare). JG: I not want to. Mom gets little man dressed while he lays there like a slug. Mom: OK let's go. JG: I not want to. Pause, while mom collects her wits and takes a deep breath. JG: Mom, I want to stay home and play with NB today. Mom: Sorry, I won't be here today. JG: That's ok. NB and I can stay here, I promise we won't start a fire, the police not come either. Mom: Well, if mommy leaves you here alone the police will come and take mommy to jail. Another looonnnnggg stalling pause. JG: That's ok mom. I will come visit you in jail.

It makes me laugh - btw no crab comments :-)

Hey, just wanted to let you all know that we Schmidts are doing fine. I think my last blog gave the impression I wasn't loving work. That is not the case, we are just finding our way - Dan has really stepped up, so have the kids. So far - so good.

Number of days I have worked: 6 Number of days I have been paid for: Zero - haven't figured out the contractor time tracking system Hours I have spent wandering "the Complex": At least 2 **Disclaimer: I truly believe whoever designed this building must have done some previous work at the Winchester Mansion. Average number of outfits tried on each morning: 2.5 Number of times I have heard the word "server" while sitting at my desk: 3,249 Dinners on the table by 6:00 p.m.: 2 Minutes of sleep I am deprived of each morning: 90 Tennis matches played : Zero Books read: Not a one Loads of laundry done on Saturday vs. throughout the week: 8 How many stops the bus from 394 to Vicksburg makes in afternoon: 7 Minutes to spare if I get behind said bus: -3 Times I have asked myself: why does it feel like I never left the workforce?: Too many to count

Today is Dan's birthday and in honor of this day I really wanted to write something similar to what I did for my mom. I have been spinning ideas around in my head for the past few days with all kinds of funny little bits to add to tell the world how much I appreciate him. However, knowing my husband like I do I would imagine he would rather have a root canal than read a web ode to him on his 39 th birthday. So I will keep it simple. Happy Birthday, honey!

I just got done helping little man name his latest Webkinz, actually it is DLS' Webkinz - JG said he talked DLS into letting him buy DLS a Webkinz as JG's birthday gift to him cause he loves him since he helps with his other Webkinz. Got that? Basically JG scammed another Webkinz. He is getting quite creative. It took us a good 10 minutes to come up with a name for his Big 'Kinz elephant because mom wasn't really cool with the name he came up with. JG originally decided that the elephant should be called "Horn" because according to him the elephant has horns. I couldn't talk him into believing that the horns are actually called tusks. NO GO. JG has this little habit of adding a "Y" to end of pretty much everything these days which is why I was leery of the name from the get go. After a few minutes the elephant became affectionately, "Horny". You see now why I was having issues. I am cool with a polar bear named "Snowy" but jus...

I always knew our daughter had selective "performance", ever since her pre-school graduation when she wouldn't practice the song for their commencement - when she did attempt it she usually ended up in tears because she couldn't remember the words. I held my breath when the big day arrived, AE put on her big smile and led the class in a sing-a-long. I knew then we were going to be in for an interesting ride. This basketball season for AE thus far has been very underwhelming, compared to previous years. She is the tallest girl in the 4th grade league, but has scored maybe 4 points and 3 rebounds a game. She is just very lackadaisical about the whole thing, which is frustrating for her parents who must sit and watch the devil may care basketball. On the way to her 8 a.m. game AE was all about trying to talk her parentals into letting her get a guinea pig. DLS pretty much put an end to the discussion when AE brought it up again. Finally he said, "You know what AE? Y...

OK. This is just too funny not to share. I was a third chair clarinet all through Junior High and I seriously believe I could probably do a better job playing the trumpet. Check out the '80s hair, it makes me a little teary because I had the same exact style from '88-'92. You know the funniest thing is that little man thinks Stacy is really cute and she plays the trumpet way good.

Today I got lost for 10 minutes in the parking garage. Do you know how many #&*$@()# silver minivans are driven by Cargill employess? A lot. Finally had to push the panic button, unfortunetly it wasn't my car I was aiming at and had to run like a bat out of hell to get to mine and turn off the horn announcing - HEY SHE LOST HER CAR!!!

I can't even begin to explain what a small world this is. Just when you think you have some level of anonymity - BAM - there is someone from the past staring you right in the face. This has got to be one of those lessons where someone is trying to tell me something - well, I've got my ears wide open - what's the word? I think I will just take the ironic advice from my horoscope from today - should have read it BEFORE I went to work, instead of after. Try not to think too much about what is "supposed" to happen next, dear Libra. The truth of the matter is that things don't necessarily work out the way they are planned, so don't count on something that has no guarantee of ever coming to fruition. Stick to your own way of doing things and try not to get too hung up on the results. The key now is to enjoy the process. On a side note, one of my co-workers went into great detail about an alien today. It is the most he has ever talked to me and it all centered a...

Work so far is going well. I cannot believe how large the Cargill corporate office is - I seriously got lost going to and from the bathroom. I got all messed up when I left our "pod" because I didn't look to see what the sign hanging from the ceiling said. I knew I sit in "Grain I/T", however when I got back from the restroom all I saw was a sign for "Canola". Go figure - guess Canola and Grain sit together. I am in the middle of IT land with programmers abound. I get to share a "bullpen" (four desks in a common area with a table in the middle - the table is the home to 2 monitors, a bunch of cables and is surrounded by boxes full of more techie stuff) with Mike and Larry - both are rather interesting. Larry likes the NY Jets and Mike evidently likes Amish furniture. Those are the only things the two have talked about. Haven't quite figured out why Mike carries around a 1% milk jug full of water wherever he goes - haven't seen him dr...

This is the Schmidt's theme song of the day - thanks everyone for all of the well wishes. Here we go again...

OK I pretty much didn't get anything done that I wanted to get done. I did however: find a pair of brown shoes (it seems easier than it really is) try unsuccessfully to get out of Turkey Bingo split tennis matches get stuff together for Goodwill - haven't made it there yet - must get done because it is rolling around the back of the family truckster cook two Costco stew dinners wash the same load of laundry three times thanks to something red in the mix decorate for Halloween decorate the laundry room - yes I think it is time to go back to work if I am putting foliage in the place where I sort dirty socks, however it makes me happy, the foliage that is not the socks help 9 year old girls learn an inbound play for basketball watch same 9 year old girls run the inbound play successfully - 50% of the time read two books - neither of which are the book club book I need to read before next Thursday organize Schmidt family calendar on Google so we will hopefully know where we are sup...

This morning we had to get up early so AE could get to her dentist appointment, she had her first cavity and we needed to get it taken care of. While we were on the way a passenger in the family truckster really began to stink up a storm. I asked, "Who tooted?" AE immediately said, "NOT ME MOM! That's a JG toot." JG was half asleep in his carseat and immediately denied any involvement in the stench. "Are you sure?" I asked. There was a pause. "I not know, maybe it was me, but I not felt it come out of my butt."

I have been singing this in my head and attempting to whistle today while riding in the car. The video is funny - kinda reminds me of the Brady Bunch. Remember when the Brady Kids had their own cartoon with that mynah bird Marlon and wasn't there pandas too? The guy playing the bongos reminds me of Conan O'Brien for some reason. Hope you enjoy this as much as I have today.

Dan and I were talking tonight about little man and his hockey adventures, not only as a participant but as a spectator. We got to laughing about JG and some of the silly things he has said at hockey games. Last Sunday, as JG sat eating his cheesy pretzel at the Wild vs. Blackhawks game, he asked dad, "You know that part where they drop their sticks and gloves and then like punch each other?" "Yeah," Dan replied. "I like that part," JG said, then went back to eating his pretzel. Then there is my personal favorite: JG and Dan went to a Gopher game last season, AE and I were up reading in her room when they got home. We heard JG running up the stairs to tell us about the game, "Mom, the game was way cool. The Gophers won!" "That's great honey, who did they play?" Without blinking an eye he replied, "The a**holes." "What? Who did they play?" "I told you. The a**holes." At that moment, I yelled for little m...

I heard back last night from Cargill , I start back into the world of the gainfully employed as an independent contractor on October 8 th . My old client, who will now be my new client, Jeff wrote: I'm thrilled we get to work together again. This is the most important project our business unit has taken on in a lot of years so I feel a lot better knowing you're going to be part of it. OK now I'm nervous. Eeek - the most important project? Whoa, better bring the A game, but you know I am excited - scared - but am ready to go. I have so much to do before the 8 th , gotta get the list together to make the most of my kid free week (now that litte man is at daycare in the a.m.). Let's see: 1) Paint basement. 2) Purge house of clutter - how can we accumulate this much crap? 3) Goodwill and library drop off - Maple Grove Library is taking donations until Oct. 6 th !!! 4) Get the yard ready for winter - should I plant more bulbs? 5) Put basement back together - IKEA run ma...

This whole school thing is opening up a whole new world for little man, he is even told us the other night at dinner he wanted to join soccer (which he has never had ANY interest in). When we inquired about the change of heart he told us: "I want to play soccer cause I am way good at tackling." JG has also discovered running right now, he went to the Woodchuck Run (school fundraiser) on Monday and ran like a fool. My very own Forrest Gump. When I told him "run Forrest run" he informed me trees are stuck in the ground and couldn't move. I hate it when really great lines for the appropriate occasion are lost on the audience. Last night, Dan took JG and the neighbors, MW and EW to the Crimson Run. The kids had a great time, JG took 4th in his division, EW took 8th and MW did a great job finishing the race in 26th place after taking a nasty spill, but he did it! AE and I missed the Crimson Run and instead went to get her eyes tested and she needs glasses for school....

There are unspoken rules when it comes to riding the bus to school, I unfortunately never really got to experience true bus ridership when I was a child. We lived within walking distance to Meadowbrook Elementary (actually it was .84 miles according to MapQuest ) so my friends and I didn't get to enjoy all that goes with taking school transportation. We instead got to experience walking which included, but was not limited to: falling down hills, being chased by small dogs and wandering through culverts and cemeteries on our way to school. My sister and I instead had to beg mom to let us take swimming lessons at the YMCA in downtown Rapid City so we could experience riding a bus. All we really ended up with was pneumonia (it was the winter when we took our lessons) and the knowledge of how to do the sidestroke, which I truly believe is an extinct swimming stroke. Anywho ... Now that little man has started kindergarten, both of our children take the bus to/from school and my how th...

I had lunch last week with a couple of my bestest girlfriends. We were enjoying one another's company quite a lot when one of them shared the following story: (I promised my friend's little guy no names would be named so he will remain anonymous) My friend's youngest son has been reading quite a few of The Magic Treehouse series and one night at dinner wanted to discuss his latest read, Civil War on Sunday. During the conversation, my friend's son asked, "So did anyone in our family fight for the Confidant?" My friend asked, "The what?" "You know the Confidant. Did anyone in our family fight on the side of the Confidant?" My friend started to smile, then began laughing when her little one said, "Or maybe they fought for the Onion." Oh, what would our country be today if instead of the Confederacy and Union, we instead aligned ourselves with the Confidants and Onions? It was so cute, I just had to share.

Yesterday little man was playing one tiring game of Mario Baseball when he evidently worked up quite a thirst so he said in his best little Wendy Whiner from SNL voice: "Mooooommmmyyyyy, caaaannnn yyyoooouuu ggggeeetttt meeee someeeeething to drrrrrink?" "Like what?", I asked. "WWWeeeelllll, how about a whaaaaattttt do theeeeeyyyy call it?" "A what? What do they call a what?", I was not following it. All he drinks is OJ and water how did he not know those? "Oh you knooooowwwww, that thing I drinkt (JG's version of drank) in Mexico." "Orange pop? We don't have any orange pop." "NNNNooooo, that other thing, you knooooowwwww let's see, aaaahhhhhaaaahhhhh. Oh yea. A Peanut Cornado." "Never heard of it." We then had a complete meltdown because mom couldn't make the quickfire translation of PEANUT CORNADO = PINA COLADA. The only thing that came to mind when he said Cornado was Cordoba, as in Chrys...

Yesterday morning during the Schmidt family get ready for school routine, AE went into my bathroom and locked the door. I figured I would give her privacy even though I really needed to get into the shower, I also couldn't figure out why she would be using my bathroom when hers is completely set up for her every need. After about five minutes she walked out, there was no flushing, water running - nothing. I asked her, "What's going on. Are you o.k.?" "Yeah, I'm o.k." she turned her head and walked past me down the hall. I went downstairs to make her some eggs, while sitting down to eat I looked over and saw Tammy Faye Bakker (during her PTL heyday) sitting next to me, where my little girl used to sit. AE decided September 19, 2007 was to be the day she tried out mom's makeup and let's just say the mascara application did not go as planned and was nowhere near to getting under mom's radar. AE already has long eyelashes you can't miss, howe...

As fate would have it the really great daycare I tried to get little man into earlier when the whole job thing was in full force finally had an opening. Barb, the daycare provider, has the perfect location, demeanor, price - pretty much the total daycare package, so I had to jump at the opportunity. Thanks again Shelly for the insider information. So little man starts daycare next Monday and can't wait, Barb has a Golden Retriever puppy named Casey who is just adorable (his dad is in all of the Target ads), plus there is another really cute little blond - Nicole. Now that JG will be gone pretty much the entire day I figured I should look for something more productive to do other than wandering aimlessly through Pottery Barn and Anthropologie (I think they were beginning to worry about the lady who would come in between 1:00 and 3:00 any given weekday). The Cargill thing is still in the hopper, but they are waiting for budget approval which could take who knows how long, so I dec...

For some reason every video JG and NB want to watch on YouTube has either a chipmunk, squirrel, hamster or guinnea pig. This is the favorite of the day - nothing entertains 5 year olds better than a little hamster cage match between Rose and Fred...

Happy birthday mother of mine, just wanted to take the opportunity to thank you for a few little things you have done along the way and to tell you how much you are loved by all of us... THANK YOU MOM FOR... putting bells on my shoes so you could find me, taking a deep breath and counting to ten when I decided to cut windows in my brand new playhouse, letting me stay up to watch Sonny and Cher and singing along with me, throwing awesome birthday parties with homemade double decker cakes which seem to completely elude me as an adult, letting us paint on the windows, not losing it when I drew artwork on the walls right before we were supposed to move, giving us freedom to figure out things for ourselves, driving us to a bazillion activities every day of the week, singing "Good morning, good morning it's time to start the day..." every day, being the president of the PTA, being our Brownie troop leader, making paper mache puppets of the Seven Dwarfs and Snow White, sewing us...

I don't know what the deal is, but I am totally in a blog funk right now... I just can't come up with any good "material" lately. Has anyone else gone through this? Maybe it is because my little muse has left me for the big wide world of kindergarten... Little man did tell me the other day that the kiss I gave him reminded him of "dog vomit" cause it was too "slobbery". Hope he brushes up on the sweet talk before he meets his first girlfriend otherwise it may be his last. BTW the picture above is not our yard, just wanted to make sure no one thought it was that bad. I mean the home office did turn off the sprinkler system because he no longer wanted to mow, but I will figure out how to run the #*($@& home office installed system if it gets to this point.

My sister and I have always swapped clothes, sometimes fought over them as well - I recall the peach Benetton sweatshirt incident - wait that is for another day. Anyway, we have since passed this little clothes swapping tradition to our children - we have passed kids clothes on to one another, Shelly, Lori, Kim, Jody and so on and so on and so on... Amy sent up another bag of things ZE had outgrown which I finally had a chance to go through this weekend and had to laugh, among the clothes was a black concert t-shirt from 2001, before Britney became the trainwreck she is today. I don't know what is funnier - the shirt or the fact that yes, my sister really did go to this concert. Wondering if we should put the keepsake on eBay and let it ride...

We had our 8 th (or was it 9 th annual?) neighborhood block party this past weekend. We normally have it the 1st week of the summer, however this year proved to be too challenging with graduations (so many of the kids are getting older - yikes) and summer kick off in general. So we moved it to the 1st weekend after school started which worked out great, lots of folks were in town and everyone seemed to have a blast. Our kids ran non-stop for five hours, they rode the firetruck, bounced, played hockey, football and soccer, got their faces painted and ate a bit. I helped coordinate it with a few of our new neighbors, Kim, Julie and Jen. I think they had the opportunity to meet many new neighbors which really is the reason for these get togethers anyway, right? Hey Karen - I know you love our neighborhood, so when you get tired of Alabama there is a house for sale down the street with your name on it!!!!

Here is the bedtime conversation for this evening: JG: Mom, do you know how to cook a squirrel? Mom: Where'd that come from? We don't want to eat squirrel. JG: Yeah, we need to find a respee (recipe) for when Mia finally catches the squirrel in the back yard. Mom: Let's hope Mia doesn't catch the squirrel. JG: Well if she does let's go to the Intertent (Internet) just in case, I bet there is lots of squirrel respees, we can surprise Mia with a special dinner. Let's hope he forgets we ever had this conversation in the morning. Also must make mental note to make sure he does not watch any more episodes of Top Chef - cause you never know what they will have on there. A few weeks ago little man was fascinated people actually ate the ostrich and sea urchin.

having your own bathroom in your classroom. Way cool.

Well they are all off to school - sigh. Little man made it to kindergarten and AE is a big fourth grader. All went well, the only item left on the checklist is "JG returns home on the bus". I told AE she has to throw a stink if her brother and buddies are not on the bus. We have had a full day already, we got AE on the bus, went for a "short-cut" as JG calls it, ran errands, went to a Kindergarten luncheon hosted by JG's friend KL. Then off to the bus - JG got on without looking back. All of the parents raced up to the school to make sure their child made the 1.2 mile trip to the school. I could not believe how many parents were at the school - it was the Kinderazzi. Crazy.

My father woke up on Sunday morning, went downstairs to make coffee and read the paper just like every other Sunday morning. However, this Sunday, while drinking his second cup of coffee he found that he couldn't breathe and felt as if he was drowning. He managed to call 911 and he was transported to Kanabec County hospital about 18 miles away. By the time he arrived the nurses said he was blue and not doing well at all, they were in the process of scheduling an airlift to the Cities when they got him stabilized. After many tests it has been determined he has blood clots in his lungs (which caused the congestive heart failure), pneumonia and his Lyme's Disease he thought he kicked ten years ago has flared up. Not good. I spoke with him and he is in good spirits. He is miffed because the clicker for the TV requires you go through the entire 60 channel rotation before you can get back to where you started, also he can't stand the food and has a lovely view of the hospital...

Hey Karen - thanks for the great idea of putting your "currently reading selection" on your blog... I am going to copy...

Sleep in, yell it's morning time!, wake up family, put on swimsuit, take off swimsuit, remove underware , put swimsuit back on, try to leave room without unlocking door, pitch fit, go outside, run amok, chalk a bit, chase sister, have some breakfast, run some more, go play tennis, run, run, run, go to park, climb, climb, climb, fall down, play more tennis, swim, do a little hot tubbing , sauna, hit others with a noodle, get yelled at for hitting others with a noodle, swim some more, beg for a Sprite at 10:00 a.m., swim, sauna, swim, run back to room screaming at top of lungs, complain about lunch selections, eat some ravioli, watch some Sponge Bob, go to beach, put on life jacket - begrudgingly, head out into freezing water, complain about freezing water, obtain water bug, sit on water bug waiting for someone to drag me out to the trampoline, con someone into dragging me to the trampoline, complain about slow ride on water bug, reach trampoline, bounce but a few times, fall in, hav...

Why is it so much blasted work to prepare a family of four for a few days up north? We Schmidts are heading to Ruttger's with our neighbors - 8 adults, 8 kids until Sunday and I think we have enough supplies to survive in case of a National Emergency ... I know we are going to have a great time, I just want to get there already.

A Fathers Goodnight Song - Watch more free videos

Maple Grove is for sure getting a big ole 40,000 square feet library with a DRIVE THRU BOOK DROP!!!! How great will that be in the winter? I have long said the most dangerous parking lot in the Groove is the library parking lot, I have been flipped off and almost picked off more than once, but taking your life in your hands all for the sake of literacy no more, there is also going to be a 350 car parking ramp. It won't be ready til 2010, but it will be here before we know it... Happy, happy, happy.

JG most days can't stand it when I call him, "baby". I can't help myself it is just habit, has been for five years and it is hard to stop, plus he really is my baby. Most days when I call him baby he informs me, "I'm a big boy mom. I'm not a baby." Today we were leaving the house and I said, "Come on baby boy let's go. Oh, wait you're not my baby anymore. Let's go big boy." I got out to the car and JG was still in the house. I went back in and he was standing in the laundry room with big crocodile tears running down his face. "What's wrong? Are you OK?" "Mommy, I will always be your baby. Don't say I not your baby anymore." I picked him up, hugged him really, really hard and smiled a big smile because he still wants to be my baby boy.

You gotta check out Google Earth I am just like a little kid with a new toy. You do have to download the app, but it is so cool. The kids are loving it too.

JG, NB and MO had hockey again last night in New Hope. They are getting better, however continue to find the most fun in taking one another out. In this video, JG takes out NB for no apparent reason and NB has had enough... I'm a bad mom, you can hear me laughing in the background.

JG and I saw this video some time ago, however he started talking about it the last couple days. I figure it must have something to do with him being cooped up with his sister this week. They did kind of look like this at times over the past few days while laid up on the couches in the family room fighting over whether to watch SpongeBob or Drake and Josh...

We have been house bound for the past two days. Both of the kids have been sick with headaches, runny noses and coughs. They seriously have laid on couches in two separate parts of the house, God forbid they have to be in the same room, for two days. They have been wiped out, however not wiped out enough to restrain themselves from beating their sibling to a pulp... it has been a LONG TWO DAYS. One good thing is I managed to finish up three books, which I will review - tomorrow. I am going to bed to enjoy the silence of no one yelling, "MOM - I CAN'T FIND THE REMOTE" or "MOM - CAN YOU GET ME A WATER, I'M TOO WEAK" or "MOM - HE'S BREATHING TOO LOUD" or my personal favorite: "MOM HE/SHE WIPED HIS/HER SNOT ON ME." When I asked why the last declaration occurred , I received the following answers: JG: I not know where the Puffs is. AE : His shirt was already dirty from lunch, so I figured it wouldn't matter. Sigh.

Last night we returned home at 11:00 p.m. and checked our messages. There was a message from my sister at 12:57 p.m. before we had gone to our friend's house, so I couldn't figure out why I didn't hear the phone. After I listened I knew why. "Hi, it's me. I am trying to get a hold of you for the seventh time, yes I said the seventh. I am not going to try to call you again, you can call me if you want to know why I have been calling seven times. Everytime I call JG picks up the phone and says, "Who is this?" I tell him it is Auntie Amy and I want to talk to your mom. He then hangs up on me - seven times this has happened and I am not calling again. Goodbye." I then remembered JG mentioned someone called when I was in the shower, but he didn't know who it was. I didn't check the phone because I assumed it was a telemarketer, not my sister. For some reason JG has this disdain thing going on for his Auntie, why I do not know. However I believe it...