The Schmidt House

JG and NB's latest favorite. Can only imagine what damage they would do with a collander and a few bungee cords...

I saw this on YouTube this morning and thought I would share. Couldn't help but think about all of these women's lives.

JG was on a roll today from the moment he got up. The day started with AE crying because her brother and dog had trapped a poor, little chipmunk in the drain spout. I went downstairs to find Mimi on one end and JG on the other armed with his trusty hockey stick ready for action. I had to literally pull both of them away. The hits just kept on coming. 8:55 a.m. - JG asks if it is a bad thing to hit a wasp nest with a hockey stick. The answer was, "Yes, it is a very bad thing. Why?" The 5 year old answered with "I not know, just wondering." 9:40 a.m. - JG informs Dr. Nash (Dr. Luigi Uff-da as JG calls him since JG thinks Dr. Nash looks like Mario's brother Luigi) he is having a bad hair day. They then have a long conversation about flying squirrels and other rodents. 11:30 a.m. - Went to IKEA to pick up a few things. JG went to the play area before having his favoritest meal in the world MEATBALLS! While leaving the play area after watching Mary Poppins JG info...

JG and his buddy KL had a good time playing with a caterpillar they found in the yard. "Catty" had a good life, his own car, plush digs, until he fell through the deck. Oh the tragedy!

I have been trying over the past year to re-gain some of my former piano glory from when I was like 14. I figured I might as well try some of the stuff I used to play since I am home full time and you can only clean the house just so much. Ambitiously I pulled out a piece from a recital that I played in 1985. It is called Puck by Edvard Grieg. It is really an ugly looking piece with flats all over the place, it is in fact so ugly I cannot for the life of me read it any more and really wonder if I really did play the piece so long ago. So being the geek I am, I went out to YouTube looking for Puck , or more specifically someone playing Puck . I found someone playing the piece and they play it really well, much better than I ever did. It did jog my memory, however, I am now depressed because the person playing the piece perfectly is like ten years old.

I have been bemoaning for months that my former, favorite show had gone down the tubes because NOTHING HAPPENED - EVER! Well, I am back on the bandwagon because so much happened last night it made your head spin. Rather than flashbacks, they had flashforwards and once again I am completely sold. Don't really have a clue as to what happened, but can only imagine. The only unfortunate part is the show will not be back until next February. Knowing how fickle I am I will have totally forgotten just how good last night felt to be back with my friends from Oceanic Flight 815 .

Whoops, guess when I was looking through the settings I clicked on something where it moderates comments. It is off now, so everyone say whatever you like. Yes, Shelly that even means you.

Stanley has been one of my favorites on The Office for quite some time and this line from last week's season finale was classic. We used to get something very similar to Schrute bucks at work which made me smile. We had our client on ours rather than our boss, let's just say some faces are just not made for currency. Did anyone else laugh when Creed talked about his own blog Creed Thoughts ? The episode was great, Michael and Jan got back together which was painful to watch and the ending left me with a small glimmer of hope for Jim and Pam. Wonder what next year has in store with Ryan the Temp in charge?

If I could only have known how true the last line from Thursday's post would become. "I think it is going to be one of those days." Our day went along just like every other day until about 8:10 p.m. That's when things kinda fell apart. The kids and I walked across the street to say good-night to their friends when little man got a wild hair and went running like a fool across the neighbor's back yard. He had been all squirlly Thursday and really pushing the limit. I watched him run across two backyards and I followed when my friend Lori mentioned she had her porch swing completed and I stopped by to take a look. JG was still in sight and ran up along the side of Lori's house, I then went around the opposite direction to cut him off, pick him up, take him home and immediately deposit him in the bathtub. I got to the front of the house and there was no little man. That was funny I just saw him run up here, maybe he went back down. So, I went back and asked Lori...

This a.m. little man asked the an inevitable question while lounging with Mimi. "What are hot dogs made of?" I think he finally connected, Mia is a dog, my favorite food is a hot dog... Do you know how badly I wanted to give the answer Dan Aykroyd's character Roman gave in The Great Outdoors circa 1988? I told him hot dogs were made out of turkey (why I said turkey I have no idea we have never purchased turkey dogs), which sparked a whole nother barage of questions on why don't they just name them hot turkeys? I think it is going to be one of those days.

Yet again I have completely lost all interest in American Idol right before the final week. Like last year when Chris Daughtry was kicked to curb and settled for fourth, Melinda will have to live with being third. You know though, it is almost better to not win anymore, I mean look at Taylor Hicks, he is sure burning up the charts. I will buy Melinda's album when it comes out because she can sing and she like Chris will be all the better for not having to fit the Idol mold. So, will it be Blake or Jordin? AE, like every other nine year old in America, is completely thrilled with the showdown. She L-O-V-E-S Jordin and we will more than likely be voting over and over again for the teenager. We Schmidts will watch the finale, but my friend Luci, my aunt Shirley and I, along with all the other people in America who appreciate good music, will know deep down the best singer won't be the winner - again.

All of the big networks have released their FALL SCHEDULES ALREADY !!! It is May for God's sake, I cannot remember TV announcements so early, but then again I can't remember a time in my life when I have been involved with so many shows thanks to the blasted DVR . All of the shows I've become attached to made it past the chopping block most notably Men in Trees (my friend Shelly B will be excited) and October Road , those two I was worried about. Then there are of course the shoo ins: The Office , Heroes and the ever slow moving Lost - something has got to happen someday, so I will not give up yet!!!. Oh yeah and Grey's Anatomy - Shelly N bought me the 1st season for my birthday, so I need to get caught up over the summer or I think she may quit speaking to me. It always makes me wonder why some shows are cancelled and some are kept alive, case in point is my previously favoritest comedy Arrested Development . Oh, how the home office and I loved that show, I have n...

Now that I have aired my grievances about my miscellaneous budget I thought I would start focusing on the house, since I will be spending more time here and not on the tennis court. I saw the following article in the Star Tribune this morning which I loved and made me relax a little about my house. Bad mess, good mess Bad mess, good mess

I was commenting on a previous Grover blog with Kirsten and got all confused. Somehow in my jumbled morning mind I mixed up Grover's classic "Near and Far" with the Yip-Yips . I loved the Yip-Yips, especially when they meet the telephone. The kids, my mom and I had a pretty good laugh. It sure brings back Sesame Street memories... I had to laugh, AE said, "What the heck kind of phone is that?" I told her it was a rotary phone like Gigi still has to which she responded, "Well, then it must be an antique."

Over the past few weeks we have begun a new exercise in our home - budgeting. I had the brilliant idea to instate said budget when the home office went out to run an errand to the hardware store and came home with a boat. Well, I thought I was soooo smart, but have learned in the past week I have really gotten myself into a pickle, money wise. I figured we (the home office and I) would have identical monthly budgets, I was sure I would do famously with what seemed like a huge amount of money. Well, let me tell you, it wasn't as big as I thought because with 16 days left in the month I have $50 to last me. Not such a good idea on my part, DLS has lots and lots of money left and I am even asking for loans at this point, it really kills me to see that "I told you so" look on his face because he knew all along where my money was going. The saddest part is I have now come to the realization thanks to cold, hard numbers that 50% of my monthly budget is going out the door courte...

We had a nice Mother's Day, spent the afternoon with my mom and aunt in Eden Prairie. The kids had a blast with the four dogs, especially little Izzy. Little man kept busy with the pooper scooper for the better part of an hour. I have never seen the kid stick with something so long. Who knew poop would do it? When he was done, he gave us a lengthy dissertation of his technique, the different kinds of dog droppings and smells (more info than we needed). When he finished with his speech someone asked him why he decided to clean up Shirley's yard and the answer was: "I did it for my family, cause I love them."

Last week little man and I were perusing YouTube on a rainy day and came across this classic Super-Grover . My sister and I used to love Grover, he was the man before that fuzzy red guy Elmo came along. I don't even know if Grover is still around, if not I vote for him to come out of retirement. JG and his buddy NB have been loving this today, they are playing Super-Grover right now with the attachments from the Shop Vac as I type. Gotta go and confiscate the long black tubes before someone gets hurt or we end up at urgent care with one of them stuck on an arm.

Today's exercise in patience was made much easier thanks to the Animal, I think the neighbors were wondering if I had a screw loose when I began vacuuming the rocks under our deck. I was waiting for Ted, the guy next door, to give me a bad time because I gave him so much grief this winter when he was shovelling his backyard. It turned out his dog had lost his favorite ball in the snow. Anyway, I digress... Sometime on Sunday during the big "wind storm", while the home office was golfing, our glass patio table managed to overturn and shatter into literally a thousand little pieces. The deck and cement weren't too bad to clean up, but the picking glass out of the rocks downright stunk. That was until I took the trusty Animal out and sucked up all the glass and then some. I went to Seasonal Concepts today to look at a replacement set so we can enjoy this lovely weather with dinner on the deck. I soon discovered most of patio furniture I liked cost more than my first car....

OK. I just got done blogging about how blasted busy we have been and here I am on the verge of doing it again. Tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. sharp the Maple Grove Park and Recreation summer program registration begins. Get that, 9:00 a.m. sharp!!! If you log on at 9:05 you may be completely SOL with some of the programs so better set that alarm, get the game plan ready, find your umpteen family codes and PIN numbers, make sure you have a valid credit card, prioritize your selections, by child, by class, by code, by time, by park, by God. The Google calendar I put together last week already looks like a kaleidoscope, might as well add on a few more splotches. I know I am going to hate myself for doing this come about the 18 th of July...

We went to the awards banquet and presentation last night for the District Foundation. It was very nicely put together. AE was so excited and proud she had so many people there to see her receive her award, both sets of grandparents were there, grand-auntie, mom and dad, or and of course her little brother. AE's biggest surprise was her teacher Mrs. H and her husband attended as well. Her teacher said she "wouldn't have missed it for the world."

Today I am looking forward to sitting down, but it will have to wait until 12:15 after I drop the Three Amigos off at pre-school. Then I will relax. This past week has been complete and utter chaos like we Schmidts have not experienced for quite some time. You know, three years ago this is how our life was every day with both DLS and I working, me travelling, two kids in daycare and just having the weekends to get caught up with life. Sometimes you need these little reminders to appreciate what you have in your life.

Yesterday JG and I were looking at a book about jaguars he picked out at the library. On page six there was a picture of the Chichén Itzá temple in Mexico, I guess the Mayans had a thing for jaguars, who knew? JG: Mommy, what is this picture? Mommy: It is a temple. JG: What's a temple? Mommy: It is a place where people worship, that one is where they worship jaguars I guess. JG studied the picture for a bit. JG: Oh, I get it Mommy. Mommy: Get what? JG: That's where Shirley lives? Mommy: Shirley who? JG: Mommy, you know Shirley's Temple.

Our daughter is chomping at the bit to get outside and wait for the bus. It is 8:10 a.m. and the bus will not arrive in front of our house for another 40 minutes, but that is of little consequence to her. She has people to see and things to do, she is very much like her father in this respect, as DLS says often while waiting yet again for me "we're burning daylight!" It reminds me of a little story about my sister and me (I shared this with the college girlfriends this weekend) in high school. My sister had this need to be at the school every morning when the doors opened so she could begin her social schedule. I, on the other hand, stayed in bed until the last possible moment and would barely make it into the school by the time the bell had rung. This posed a real problem once we were both at the same school and were dependent upon one another to get there = we had a snazzy K-car, but only I could legally drive it. One morning we were running late, as usual, thanks to ...