The Schmidt House

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...