I helped...really I did.

This was the scene late Saturday afternoon. Why am I not in the picture you may ask? Well of course I am taking the picture. Actually I snuck outside to take the picture with hopes of not getting caught. See I was inside, butt planted firmly on the couch with a book in one hand, a cocktail on the table (brought to me of course by the one and only Big Guy just before he lead the troops outside), the computer opened next to me and the food network playing in the back ground. I really wanted to help set up the new tramp, but by the time I got out there (with a refresher cocktail for my bigger half) they were almost done...how was I to know? I have to say, in my defense, that was the first night in about 8 weeks that we had NOTHING going on and that couch in the sitting room was getting very cold and lonely. But I had to contribute something...so I kicked off my shoes and climbed inside the net to give the littlest Wild One a ride. Let's just say I should have used the bathroom first...I think I will leave the jumping to the kids...besides the couch was starting to get cold again.

Monday updates: The Spartan took their opponents by storm, it was 42-0 by half time and they all agreed to let the clock run for the second half only stopping for scores and injuries. Nobody can say the Wild Ones have no school spirit...they learned it from the Super Spartan himself.

As for deUgliest, he is not feeling deGreatest. It sounds like the surgery was tough and he will be staying in the palace a little longer than anticipated, but he did get up last night and move around a bit. Perhaps we need to send some stronger thoughts...everybody on three!

The power of positive thinking.

A big shout out to my uncle "deUgliest" who is going under the knife today. Yep a little thing they call bypass, only not in his heart like you may be thinking...it's in his leg. So I say we all start thinking positive thoughts and sending them his way...and don't forget my aunt Maggie...the great woman behind the man. And I don't mean she walks behind him, she walks way out front and pulls him along...and he loves it...just look at that smile on his face. I can hear him saying, "God Mags I can't believe you had to drag me on this train adventure, I am having the time of my life and can't wait to get home to plan the next one!" He just wants everyone to think he has no sense of adventure (can't belong to Mavis and not have that gene), but I know better. He used to sneak me out of school when I was in 6th grade and let me hang out with him. I even helped him move one time to an undisclosed location...still can't tell you or I might self destruct. I will just think of this hospital stay as another adventure and can't wait to hear all the details of how they did the wrong leg...I mean...the crazy wheel chair rides (I'm sure Maggie is all over that one), the crabby nurses and the gourmet food. Loves your way from deKimbliest

Speaking of blood...yes we were--you know all the blood from the bypass...or at least the color red, check out the oldest Wild One on her first experience with middle school Homecoming, she stole her little brothers football practice jersey for school today cuz he wouldn't give up the real thing. GO SPARTANS!!!

I never knew shopping could be so much fun.

Being the ever delightful...I mean dutiful...wife, I called the Big Guy before running errands today to see if he needed me to pick anything up for him. It was kind of a rhetorical question, but he actually wanted something...that'll teach me to ask again. He announced that he needed new underware...yeah I was hoping he would notice that! So I wondered to the gentleman's section of the store and casually tried to find the right kind. Do you know how many different kinds of underwear they make for men-jeez you'd think they were marketing to women. Oh right, maybe they are. I can't decide if the pictures they put on the packages are designed to lure in men in hopes of magically developing a six-pack by wearing that brand of underwear or marketed to women who fantasize about their men looking like this. I did notice that many of the pictures are faceless...which makes the vision more clear, just plop your beloveds mug up top and voila...instant babe (now not all of us have to fantasize when we have the real thing...all those royalty checks from the Big Guys body pictures is going to put the Wild Ones through college...or sorry I got caught up in the whole fantasy thing). I spent way too much time in the underwear isle...I thought I might get kicked out for loitering...so I told the Big Guy they didn't have what he needed. That way I can go back tomorrow and get another look...I mean try to find the right ones. And if I cannot find them, perhaps I could just make them...hmm sounds like a great business opportunity...any hands on investors out there?

What would you do?

I got up Monday morning and looked at the calendar, checked my lunch dates...I mean "meetings", skimmed over the sports games and practices, appointments and evening galas I had scheduled. I felt my mind enlarging to wrap itself around another crazy week, but I dug in and psyched myself up. 

Then the Big Guy called.  Could we possibly meet some friends for dinner Tuesday night and what did the Wild Ones have going for sports? Honestly! I will give him the (lame) excuse that he is a guy, but at his age he should honestly be able to remember after 5 weeks what is going on on Tuesday nights (and the calendar is always laying open on the counter). I know it is just easier...for him...to ask me and let me deal with the details...and he knows that I never say no (I'm like a little kid who can't go to bed at night for fear of missing something really good).

So scrap the Monday plans (the house will still need cleaning when I wake up the next day) and get on the phone and make arrangements for all of the Wild Ones and their needs for Tuesday evening. Then there is the shopping...must have new outfit for dinner with the Big Guy's friends (my idea, but he agreed). Throw in a little prayer for rain (cancelled practices make for much easier shift for sitter) and a few errands on Tuesday to get gift and pizzas for Tuesday night and we are ready to go. But now it is Wednesday and I still haven't made up for Monday and Tuesday and I am tired from last night. Oh well, I will just start again next Monday.

The occasion for last night was a 5 course dinner with beer tasting from Big Sky Brewery held at Longfellows Grill which is owned by a friend or ours. A fabulous place for meals or just a snack and beverage after work. It is on Lake Street and looks out over the river at St. Paul. The food was great and the beer was wonderful (and that coming from a vodka drinker), the company even better...except for the heckler at the end of the table...yeah he was with us and I love him and actually found him quite funny, but it was even funnier when his wife started throwing ice at him to get him to bring it down a notch...which really had no effect. 

If you don't make it to that neck of the woods, check out one of their other four restaurants and let me know what you think...I promise to keep the heckler with me.

3 Squares Restaurant     Maple Grove

Groveland Tap     St. Paul

Edina Grill     Edina

Highland Grill     St. Paul

Remember how much I love you.

"Honey, I've been thinking. The Mini is really not the car for us. I think we need something a little bigger, with maybe more clearance. I'd like to go 4-wheeling some day. Maybe we should think about an SUV. I'd be more comfortable in the winter and maybe we could get a dog and it could ride around in the back. Have I told you how sweet you are and how much I love you? Hey, is that the Tin Fish up there? I gotta run, my tummy is getting hungry...and I feel like I'm being watched. I'll grab a cab...I mean swing by the dealership on the way home and check out the new Jeeps. And I'll stop by Victoria's Secret and get you a little surprise...I can't wait to see you!"