The Schmidt House

We Schmidts are off to Mexico. It has been a crazy, crazy week running amok, amok, amok (that's for you Nik). I think we are set, my foot is doing amazing! I am not even taking das boot along, but instead opting for not so trendy New Balances with full orthotics and Crocs - this getting old is not for the faint of heart. We have convinced JG he does not need to bring his brass, multi-colored glass turtle nightlight which weighs a bloody ton. AE has also decided to leave the rock collection at home, thank goodness. JG also informed us we needed to leave on Sunday rather than Saturday because there is a SpongeBob marathon Saturday on Nickelodeon followed by an ALL NEW SPONGEBOB EPISODE (yes, he really does yell the whole thing). Managed to change his departure plans back to Saturday thanks to the magic of technology and have set the DVR so we should be ok. Wanted to apologize to my blog friends, I have kept up this week bit by bit, but have been a bad blog friend by not commenting, ...

One good thing about letting AE listen to Top 40 radio is it is improving her spelling skills. Bonus words for this week were delicious and tasty, both are featured letter by letter in the song " Fergalicious ". AE said all of the girls in her class will get those words right this week. Guess Fergie is good for something - once.

I am missing my old friend The Office . The show has been on hiatus for about a month now and I am having Dwight Shrute/Jim Halpert withdrawal. However, little man said something which made me laugh, which is a given, but also made me miss the Scranton folks even more. JG was looking at his packet of SpongeBob Gogurt yesterday at lunch. JG: What does the question say mommy? Mommy: It says, 'What did SpongeBob name the seahorse he found?' JG: I not know. What? Mommy: It says here the name was Mystery. JG: Oh yeah. That's right. Missserry. That's a dumb name. Mommy: Really? What would you name a seahorse. JG: I think I would name a seahorse "Big Tuna". That's a cool name. *** Big Tuna is a nickname Andy Bernard gave Jim Halpert (both characters from The Office ) because Jim ate a tuna fish sandwich on the first day.

Today I made my first trip to the witch doctor to have him take a look at the bad wheel. I finally figured three months of hobbling around was enough and if alternative options work then let it ride. It was an experience, I don't know exactly what he did, something along the line of repositioning my ligaments and adjusting my Achilles tendon to the correct position. It hurt like a son of a gun, but it worked. I managed to walk around Ridgedale boot free for nearly two hours. I need to go back tomorrow which I will do gladly if I feel even better than I do right now. I seriously think I could run if I had to, I'm not gonna, but I bet I could which right now is even better.

This past week Retrieve a Golden of Minnesota (RAGOM), the organization we adopted our Mimi through has been featured quite often on many of the local news channels here in the Cities. Evidently there was a puppy-mill raided in North Dakota and there were 83 dogs and puppies rescued and are in need of homes. So if you are in the market for a sweet little addition to your family fill out an application! We can't even begin to tell you how pleased we are with our Mia, hopefully she is as pleased with us.

OK I randomly picked up a book at the library this week and am about 50 pages into it. I know I haven't finished it, but just had to write because so far it is one of the funniest books I have ever read. It is called I Love Everybody (and Other Atrocious Lies): True Tales of a Loudmouth Girl by Laurie Notaro. I was in bed reading last night and laughing out loud, DLS asked what was so funny and I read a few pages from the chapter "Pain in the Assisi" to him. I was laughing so hard he couldn't understand what I was saying and proceeded to fall asleep, typical. So far I am loving Notaro's interactions with her mother who is obsessed with QVC. The author and her sister are amazed by the amount of crap their mother manages to purchase from the shopping channel. The siblings call it "This is Your Brain on QVC" rather than "This is Your Brain on Drugs" to their mother it is the same difference. Here is one of the funniest exchanges thus far between t...

This weekend I had the opportunity to finally read a book which has been on my shelf for three years. It is called The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper and is about a guy (Joe) who leaves his hometown, writes a book about the town, town gets really angry, Joe must go home again and all kinds of events, good and not so good, mostly not so good, happen. I actually couldn't put it down I enjoyed it that much. If you get a chance read it, there is something for all of us growing up in the 80s. One of the reasons I decided to pick up the book was because of a new dramedy (is that a word?) which premiered on ABC a few weeks ago called October Road , it is on after Grey's Anatomy (Shelly's favorite show). The show has the same premise as the book; author writes scathing hometown novel, hometown hates the book, author must return home. When I saw the preview I immediately thought of The Book of Joe however learned the book and TV show have been created by two completely differen...

This is AE and JG when they do not want to go to bed...

Little man had his birthday party with 14 of his closest friends today. Everyone had a blast at Pump It Up. The kids ran amok for an hour and then cooled down for cake. JG said it was "the bestest birthday ever!" I would highly recommend this route for anyone who has a Pump It Up in their area, they are great and you are in and out of there in under two hours with little to no hassle. Totally worth every dime. Here are a few snapshots...

I have been reading my old journals from Junior High, can't tell you how painful that is. There are some high points (playing basketball and MTV) and many low points (12th chair in clarinet and trying to learn how to use the curling iron correctly). One of my happiest places in 1984 was my love for Duran Duran I went on and on and on ... 2/20/84 Just got the new Duran Duran tape. Seven and the Ragged Tiger. I have their others as records I want to get them as tapes. Rio is really good I think I like the new one better. They have been on MTV I wait to see their videos. 3/12/84 Everyone likes John Taylor. Amy likes John Taylor. I like Roger Taylor. They are not related. Andy Taylor is also in the band he is not related either. There must be a lot of people in England named Taylor. 5/8/84 I love DURAN DURAN. I love the band Duran Duran so much. I think Roger Taylor is so cute. I could tell you anything about them. Roger was born on April 26, 1960. He has a dog named "Kelly" ...

Does anyone else want to hide your eyes when Sanjaya Malakar sings on American Idol? I feel bad for the poor kid, but he keeps on hanging on. Wonder how long www.votefortheworst.com will do the trick?

The other day I was perusing the Hennepin County library's website and came across a little gem while searching blogging. It is a book written by a professional blogger by the name of Margaret Mason called No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog . Margaret has a blog entitled Mighty Girl which she has been writing for quite some time. She also has another blog, Mighty Goods which features all kinds of fun things. Check them out if you get a chance. So back to the book. I haven't read it in great detail yet, but overall it looks like there are some good ideas for those days you are blog challenged. Example: Idea 7, Examine your Paperwork - In 2001, Sarah Brown began sending weekly emails to her friends that contained the most agonizing excerpts from her old diaries. The effort became Cringe, a monthly reading series based on the premise. ...If you're timid about baring your downy, flightless thirteen-year-old soul, Sarah offers this guideline: "...

JG began his obsession with Star Wars at the age of three, one look at Yoda and the kid was hooked. It was actually quite embarrassing at first because he could not say Star Wars to save his life, it always came out as Star Whores. I have heard many of my friends say their children have had the same problem, however you feel like you are completely alone when you are standing in Toys R Us and your child spots Darth Vader garb and begins to yell "whores" at the top of his lungs. Eventually he added the Star to Whores so at least then people would kind of laugh instead of stand there in complete horror (no pun intended). Today Star Wars came back into our lives full force thanks to my sister. She sent little man a "Force Field" button thing which plays the Imperial Death March (aka Darth Vader's theme) over and over again. If you would like here is a little snippet you can play in your own home so you can share in our joy of unending Darth. My dad and I were t...

In our home, when AE was small, if something was stinky she would say, "hee hoo". My niece ZE started this when she was teeny because she couldn't say PU. JG has never really adopted the use of "hee hoo" until yesterday. JG and I went out to lunch with my folks and grandma - Gigi. Gigi is 93 and takes great joy in annoying everyone at her assisted living facility by walking the hallways saying, "YOO HOO!" as loud as she can. She says she does it so they know she is still kicking. When Gigi returned from lunch she said, "YOO HOO!" for all to hear. JG turned to Gigi and said, "Hee hoo? Gigi did you toot? Because if you tooted you are supposed to say, "Excuse me" not hee hoo."

1 super sized pack of gum received for 5th birthday. 2 times JG choked on gum whilst running amok. Guess he didn't learn the lesson the first time. 3 pieces of gum found stuck to the island in the kitchen. Yuck. 4 pieces of gum fed to the dog. Mimi hacked up two pieces, tinfoil and all. 5 minutes. Average duration each piece of gum was chewed by 5 year old. Z e r o pieces of Juicy Fruit left on morning after birthday.

JG and I discovered this little clip, it is an old Mercedes-Benz commercial, with yet another hamster. The commercial plays JG's favoritest song in the whole world: "Song 2" by Blur.

Little man turns five tomorrow, this has been a long awaited event in our home mostly because JG can chew gum when he is five. I asked him what he would like for his birthday dinner. Out of anything he could have, this is what he chose: The "goodest" hot dogs in the whole wide world French fries in a bowl - why a bowl I do not know Sponge Bob gogurt - as many as he would like Chocit (chocolate) and alilla (vanilla) cupcakes Krispy Kreme donuts Lemonade in a green cup, his buddy NB can have blue cup This should be easy, because this is pretty much what he has for lunch every day. He also told me DLS and I could have steak and AE can "just have some tomato soup".

Our daughter, bless her heart, is not the most organized person. Her bedroom most of the time looks like a bomb has just gone off. According to her teacher, Mrs. H, her desk at school is done in the same style: complete disorder with a touch of havoc. AE's desk has made an impression on Mrs. H because every time I see her she mentions the monstrosity where our daughter sits six hours a day. All I can say is AE needs to marry well, or do well on her own, so she can hire someone to take care of all that "cleaning" stuff she finds so insignificant. Trying to establish some order in AE's life, I took it upon myself to re-do her room this weekend. I went in and purged enough to fill an extra large trash bag. When I was done I decided new furniture with extra storage was the answer, so I took out all of the 70s princess furniture I had as a girl and went on the hunt for new order. After doing research and discovering the desk and dresser I would like to purchase would be ...

OK am I the only one who cannot get used to Daylight Savings? It is sad, how can it possibly be 5:00 p.m. already? I had big, big plans for today and all of a sudden - POOF day is gone. Oh well, will try again tomorrow.

I was beginning to think I had lost my mind when I had posted the YouTube of the Bugaloos , no one seems to remember them except me. However, I am happy to report my sister remembers them as fondly as I do. At least there are two of us, who were warped by this creation of Sid and Marty Krofft in the late 70s. I mentioned the Bugaloos to our mother and we had a nice conversation reminiscing about them and our childhood, until she mentioned we had a picture of the Bugaloos on some dresses Amy and I wore when we were kids. It was then I realized we were talking about two completely different things. My mom thought I was talking about the Twiddlebugs .

My sister called this morning while she was in the middle of painting my nephew HE's Pinewood Derby car. I guess HE wants his car to look like the General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard . Amy said it was becoming quite the ordeal. "You know painting it to look like the General Lee is harder than you would think," she said. She continued, "Why couldn't he have picked brown? I can totally do brown. I would have no trouble making this car look like crap." Just had to laugh.

As we were preparing for the kids' family birthday party on Sunday DLS and I got to talking about how it was the 9 th time we prepared for this family get together to celebrate AE's birthday. How fast time flies. DLS said, "Nine down, nine to go. She is already halfway to gone." Right then I realized he was right, nine is half of eighteen. Why had I not ever thought of it in such simple terms before? Eighteen is when our baby girl will go off to college and start her life without us. Suddenly I became very sad, this little ride is going way too fast.

I went to the Dr. for a checkup yesterday on my foot. I have to wear the boot for another 3-4 weeks and gradually wean myself out of it. Bah. I asked if I could start doing a little elliptical as I wean myself boot free and the answer was no, not until after the 3-4 weeks. Double bah. I didn't ask, but assumed tennis was out of the question.

Did anyone else watch this when we were kids? My sister and I spent an entire summer singing this little ditty and believing we could fly. It really is amazing we didn't end up more twisted, wonder what Sid and Marty Krofft were on?

This morning, like many mornings of late, JG had two raspberry Toaster Strudel for breakfast. The frozen pastry has to be just right; not too singed, the right temperature and with art du jour. We began decorating the strudel with the standard zig-zag pattern, we then moved on to letters. JG then requested names; his name, my name, the dog's name, you get the picture. Portraits were next. There was JG happy, JG sad. JG and his best buddy NB playing Game Cube, both happy and sad. Today we drew his stuffed animals: Speedy the turtle and his new Polar Bear from papa Ed. Do you know how hard it is to draw a turtle on a 2x3 pastry? I thought the bear was my better attempt, but JG told me the bear looked like a dog. I filled in the whole head with the white frosting and told him it was the back of the bear's head. He seemed to accept that and ate it all gone. What have I become? Oh, yeah Toaster Strudel Artist Extraordinaire . Bet the title would look impressive on a resume. Wonder w...

Shelly and I went to the movie Zodiac last night. The theater was nearly packed with mostly men and couples, so it was a bit obvious when two teenage girls talking on cell phones walked into the movie 20 minutes late. Shelly turned to me, "Why would you even come to a movie like this if you are 20 minutes late?" I agreed especially since they had already missed the first victims meeting their demise and the opening which told the viewer this was a true story. You just had to know they were going to be lost the rest of the movie, plus the only reason they were probably there was to see Jake Gyllenhaal . The movie was very good, one of the best I have seen since The Departed , I read the book and the prime suspect was much creepier on the screen than I imagined in real life. At the end of the movie, Shelly stopped by the ladies room and I waited outside. The two teenage girls we saw walk in late also went to the ladies room with cell phones glued to their ears already. At our...

Since I can't play I have been watching tennis on YouTube. Love Andy Roddick, love Andy Roddick's serve. Even though this isn't real, it is fun to watch and dream of a serve like this. So my question is this: Would you win the point?

Last night our children got into a knock-down drag out in the basement over a game. DLS brought them up to have a group 10 minute time out. At the end of their sentence he asked our children to tell one another something their sibling did well. AE turned to JG and said, "You're good at picking your nose." JG returned the compliment, "Yeah, you're good at being dumb." Needless to say, the ten minute time out became twenty. A very long twenty minutes.

Is all his own, retiring, as he were not, Leaves, when the sun appears, astonished Art To mimic in slow structures, stone by stone, built in an age, the mad wind's night-work, The frolic architecture of the snow.

I fully expect our son will someday answer physics questions like this. Doesn't the elephant look like a Heffalump?