J.D.'s Victory at 'Ard Boyz

J.D. recently won round two of the 'Ard Boyz Tournament. He placed first at both rounds. He got a 3,000 point army for winning and a ticket to Minnesota for the final round. Go Ogre Kingdoms!

The Cutest Cardinal

Saturday, May 14, 2011 we did the heart walk at Busch Stadium. The best part was walking the track with Jonathan. He was dancing, waving at people, and generally having fun.

I think he looks like the pitcher in this shot. He has that determined gleam in his eye and seems to be sizing up his competition. J.D. pointed out, he also has the long pitcher hair out of his cap, which is *much* cuter on Jonathan than most pitchers.

Father and son.

Here is Jonathan dancing. (Also my five and a half months pregnant self).

Too Spicy!

Earlier today I took a nap with Jonathan and Athena on my lap. Jonathan fell asleep nursing, then I did, and then Athena came to snuggle at Jonathan's feet and my elbow. It was very cozy.

Today Jonathan also learned new skills. Now he can climb onto the dishwasher! I turned around for a few seconds and then saw him on top of the thing, busy getting water all over himself and reaching for his sippy cup on the top rack. He also learned to climb stairs today while I was talking with Catherine (and of course climbing with him). He climbed all the way upstairs and was greatly entertained with his accomplishment.

This evening we went for a walk down the Loop. Jonathan enjoyed seeing the cars and lights; we've never really taken him for a stroll at night before. J.D. and I were mildly amused by a woman dancing and singing on the corner of Delmar and Skinker. People we passed whispered: "She's dancing again." Some people always find a way to entertain themselves. We went to Chipotle's because J.D. had a $10 gift card from work for staying late on a Sunday. Our server, guy named Mike, was nice and gave Jonathan a free plate of pork, beans, and guacamole. I went to get drinks while J.D. and Jonathan started to eat. Jonathan tried a bite of the avocado (which he likes plain) but this was spicy! His eyes started watering, his nose running, and he began coughing. He cried a little. He refused a drink of water because he probably thought he was getting more of the same stuff. We learned the cardinal rule of baby dining out. . . always taste it first. Eventually, Jonathan settled down and enjoyed the rest of his dinner. Poor baby.

We strolled home, and he was asleep at 7:00 p.m. So, I just put him to bed. We'll see how it goes. Last night he slept from 8:30 to 6:40... no waking... a miracle.

Cheesy-ology

So, we went for a walk Sunday evening just to get out of the house. J.D., Jonathan, and I went to a fairly new place on the Loop called... wait for it... Cheese-ology. They serve "fancy" mac and cheese. Now, we both were a little hesitant. We pretty much do not order anything we could make at home, but we both thought, "Maybe it will be amazing mac and cheese." I ordered the "Philly," while J.D. went with the "Black and Bleu." With two drinks it came to $19.85! Holy cheese, this better be great! In fact, this better be the best damn mac and cheese ever. Fifteen minutes later, they bring out a tiny hot pan of mac and cheese with slightly burned top pieces. J.D. was instantly put off by the tiny portion size. Come on people, it's macaroni noodles... you couldn't spring for a full portion size? They also tasted completely bland.

We won't go back to cheese land; good luck to them, but with prices and food like that, they will not be around long.

P.S. They are in the old "Pizza Hause" building, the place that tried to sell pizza without cheese. Ironic.

P.S. For Catherine, they offered the "The Hill," a dish described as "building on the STL favorite, Provel cheese and Salssicia are balanced by a top layer of Marinara."

Taylor Family

John and Connie came to see us recently. J.D. and John worked on a lot of projects around the house. Connie and I had afternoon tea together. J.D. and I were even able to slip away for dinner out. And we all celebrated J.D.'s 32nd birthday. We really had a great time.

Connie and Jonathan on the front porch by the hanging baskets John gave me.

Reading stories and having fun with Grandma.

May 19, 2010-- Happy Birthday J.D.!

Somewhere there's a picture of me on the other side of this standoff.

Happy little boy ready to go.

Hugs from Grandpa.

Crawfishapalooza!

I'm not sure about this. Where are we?

Every year our friends Paul and Jessica have a great Crawfish cookout. This year Jonathan was in attendance as one of the guests of honor.

You're eating my kind?! How dare you.

Is that you George?

"Best if served chilled"

I took my glucose test today. At 8:25 I downed the flat, super-sweet orange drink. I did have a choice of that or lime flavored, but I decided to go with a known evil. I found the writing on the label highly entertaining: "Best if served chilled." Yeah right. Let's just say it was not chilled, but I'm not sure that would have helped much anyway. I copied this part of the label too: "Administer test in the morning, when possible, and advise patient to remain quiet for duration of the test." Remain quiet? What, so I can't complain about feeling queasy? :) I waited for an hour; they took my blood sample, and then I walked home.

It was a beautiful day here. On my walk there were tons of September roses in bloom. They smelled lovely. Once I was home I took a nap, and then J.D. came to get me for his company's fall picnic. I really enjoyed being out of the apartment and getting a little vitamin D, having a hamburger for lunch, and laughing with J.D.'s co-workers. Good times.

Relaxing in the shade with J.D. We were watching the "Washers" tournament, which apparently is a Midwestern thing. We later played a game against Steve and James. J.D. and I both scored a "ringer," the most difficult throw. The game involves throwing 3 to 4 washers into a box. If it goes into the box, you get a point. If it lands really close to the box, you can also possibly score a point. If it goes into a cup inside the box, then you get a ringer, worth 3 points. It's a pretty simple game. Everyone throws the washers one at a time. Except me-- I tried throwing them all at once, and ironically, that is when I did my best! I called it my "cheater-cat" move, but we all laughed. It was a lot of fun.

I saw my first "keg stand". . . don't worry, the pregnant lady did NOT participate. (Nor would I ever). Although J.D. said he has done a keg stand before (read: college Kappa Sigma days). He said he lasted about 20 seconds and hated every one of them. The female pictured here lasted about 8 seconds before she started spurting beer everywhere. I think someone else did 12 seconds, but they almost dropped that person on her head. We didn't stay long once they started the food and beer consumption games.

J.D., Steve, and James.

A very good day.

Dover

Time to come home tomorrow. Today we really enjoyed seeing the white cliffs of Dover and playing on the beach. Dover was one of our favorites. It was a beautiful finale. I enjoyed watching J.D. skip stones and touch the water. Our timing was lucky. They had the 100 year anniversary celebration of the first flight from France to England, so special types of aircraft flew over frequently.

We also saw Leeds Castle and Canterbury Cathedral today. J.D. drank "Bishop's Finger" a special beer for pilgrims. :)

We returned to London around 6:00 p.m. and wandered to our favorite pub for dinner, the same one we visited on our first night here. We spent time watching people in Trafalgar Square. Football hooligans were singing and dancing on the steps by the National Gallery. One guy was break dancing for money, and the art installation on one of the plinths featured someone sitting on a toilet with balloons and signs raising awareness of bowel cancer. It certainly was free entertainment!

Well, I better get some rest. I can't wait to call everyone and see our cute cats we've been missing. What a great trip it's been. Part of me is really sad it's over. But maybe we'll be back in 10 years. :) That seems to be my pattern. We can hope anyway.

Goodnight and Love, J.D., Tammy, and Baby

Gift Wrapping

I asked J.D. to go with me. He agreed, and we ended up wrapping gifts for a Mom and her three kids. It was fun. There were a lot of people. J.D. and I had our own table and worked quickly together. He made sure all the price tags were off, while I hunted down paper and bows.

In the background, they were playing typical Pop Christmas music, which I didn't mind too much. Except, I have a great disdain for "Santa Baby," yuck and yuck. As a whole, J.D. is not a fan of most of that music, so my dear husband kept singing perverse lyrics to the golly music. I believe "Noel, noel" was turned into "Go to hell, go to hell." All good, joking fun-- and no one else heard J.D.'s lyrics.

The kids in the family were all young, three toddlers by the looks of the clothes and toys. There were two boys: Paris and Dorian, along with a little girl-- Dijana. Before I saw the girl's name, I thought maybe Mom was going with names from literature, sort of an antihero theme. But no.
I guess normal people don't do that.

Not me. I'm into theme names. How about "Manfred"; wouldn't that be lovely and unique? What would be some other great names for my antihero set?

Well, aside from that silliness, it was fun this afternoon. I hope the family enjoys their new things and has fun unwrapping them.

What I learned today: Werewolves enjoy romantic interludes between meals

I went to J.D.'s work today. It was sort of weird, but the weather is cold, windy, and rainy here, and J.D. didn't want me to have to walk home from a doctor's appointment. So, I sat in the corner by his desk reading, for 3 hours, trying to be invisible. On the bright side, it's a good way to make me actually do my reading.

I admire J.D. very much for what he does. I couldn't do it. And now I also feel like a bum for complaining about the opportunity I have to do what I like.

While reading I did encounter an interesting coincidence. It appears that Bill Ayers' group, Weatherman, bombed and blew up the house where James Merrill was born, 18 West 11th Street. Imagine that. What a small world.

Right now J.D. is asleep on the couch with Sophie cuddled up beside his head. It's a funny, cute sight.

There was a party at J.D.'s work tonight, some special November event that we didn't plan to attend, but since we were there, we wandered down and had some free dinner. (Fried Ravioli, a St. Louis thing). They had really good white chocolate chip cookies. I also learned things. (Keep in mind for this story that they were serving unlimited alcohol at the party since 3:00 p.m., and we got there around 5:30 p.m.).

One of J.D.'s coworkers (a woman) yelled across the tiny table at me: "Do you READ?"

I replied, "Yes, I read."

"What sort of stuff?"

"Mostly older things, classics."

(Frown) "Anything paranormal?"

(Me smiling, thinking I may have a chance here). "Yes, actually, I'm really interested in spiritualism and even some poetry written using the Ouija Board."

(Bigger Frown) "Oh, well, you should read Paranormal Erotica. It's fantastic, not boring!!!

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Paranormal Erotica! It's really sexy, like an X rated movie except with werewolves and vampires!

To my good fortune, they started playing the electric slide at this moment, and I was spared any description of hot lycanthrope on homosapien action. I did get a comforting look from J.D. that said, "I'm sorry," and his eyes communicated that he was about to step in, had the electric slide not come to the immediate rescue. I commented to him, "I certainly haven't written that chapter yet."

Picture from Wikipedia

Us at home

"Hey Mom, look at me."
My "naughty, bad one" playing in the big closet.

Athena loves getting in any closet, and she has been shut in a few by accident. Just 15 minutes ago, I began to wonder where she was and heard her crying in the bathroom closet. She likes relaxing on my clean towels. She's a silly one.

Crustacean Apple Pie.
Ok, really, there's nothing crustacean about it except the decoration.

J.D. with his Sophie baby.
She climbed in his lap and insisted he hold her.

J.D. playing with the kitties. Sophie gets bored and goes out the front door to play in the corridor where we get our mail and she catches her friends the crickets.

J.D. eating the infamous "skunk" Jelly Belly.

Long Day

Love you Marley

Well, I guess the day started by watching Youth without Youth later than we should have. We started the movie around 10:00 or so. The best part of this movie was the buttered air popcorn we ate. We watched the entire film and at the end pretty much looked at each other and said, "What the hell?" Then I watched Francis Ford Coppola's commentary to see what it was that we both obviously missed. I confirmed that we didn't miss anything; the movie is just a large ball of mixed up quasi-philosophy that slowly rolls into oblivion and will take your two hours with it. J.D. said he couldn't believe I watched it with the commentary (even fast forwarding large chunks), and I joked: "I watched it twice to make sure it was bad." Yes, it's bad.

Then we proctored Saturday morning, reporting time 7:30. After telling kids named Damonica, Stardasha, Ulysses, and Leroy what to do and not do, we were out of there by 12:00. (Yay multiple choice, no writing).

Then it was off to the Halloween store for J.D.'s scary costume. He got a skull mask, which later effectively terrified the poor kitties. J.D.'s work is having a contest for best costume. Then we ate Chinese food. Then we went canvassing for the Obama campaign. We did that for three hours together. J.D. is really good at it. I am shy. I have a hard time knocking on strangers' doors, but I did it because I care so much about this election. I met some really nice people too. One man was from Iran; he moved his aging mother and father to the U.S. to escape the regime there. He told me he hadn't seen his father in 15 years, and when he did, he barely recognized him because of the stress from living there. His mother answered the door; she was very sweet. I felt bad because their dog ran out, but he was recovered by the son very quickly. Then at another house, the guy came to the door with money in his hand and said, "Oh, I thought you would have a pizza!"

Also, to end the day, my Beeb on http://www.stuffonmycat.com/ as submitted by Catherine.

Art Fair

van Gogh's "Wheat Field with a Lark"

Well, it was time for the Clayton Art Fair again. It's always so crowded, and this year there didn't seem to be anything outrageous or very amusing, of course, other than the prices. Most were between $1,100- $5,000. Although, there was one landscape by an artist named Deanna Henion that both J.D. and I liked a lot. It was a long canvas with rolling blue hills, a grey-blue sky, and a little light green in a golden wheat field. It reminded me of home. But it was $850. Still, comparatively, it was a bargain. And it was beautiful. Looking at it gave you a feeling of expansiveness and a sense of breathing fresh air.

When it comes to paintings, at least ones I'd like to own, I do have a fondness for landscapes. I like van Gogh's wheat fields a lot, in the way that he captures the wind moving through the grain. I enjoy his "The Green Wheat Field," "The Fields," "Wheat Field under a Cloudy Sky," "Wheat Field with a Lark," and "Wheat Field with Cypresses." But, if $850 wasn't going to happen, I don't think 35 million dollars.... well, obviously, you get the point.

Still, it was amusing yesterday. It's good J.D. and I have similar taste, for the day we eventually do buy any art. And it's always fun to look around until then.

A Walk

First of all, Happy Birthday Mom! I hope you had an enjoyable day. Love You.

J.D. and I walked to his new place of employment today. It was 2.5 miles, one way. It took longer than the 30 minutes we initially planned because all the Clayton residential streets twist and turn and often dead end. But we had a lovely time walking all the same. The weather here is weird for August. When we moved here 7 years ago, it was humid and hot as hell. We pretty much thought about loading everything right back in the van and turning around to go home. But we didn't. This summer there have only been a few days when the temperature went near or over 100. Today it was probably in the high 80s.

As we walk, J.D. and I like to analyze what we like and dislike about each house. We both like brick houses. We're not fond of funky looking colors or designs. We like classic, simple designs with well-kept yards. Today we commented a lot on the immensity of the homes around here. I honestly can't imagine that kind of money. We don't want a Mansion or McMansion, just a nice house someday. We really don't want a McMansion. They annoy us. We want someplace with unique character and not the homogeneous collective or tiny patch of land found with McMansions.

After walking by Clayton's well-to-do housing, we went into the business downtown area. We went into Straub's for the first time, just to look around. As a general rule, you know you're in a fancy-schmancy grocery store when you walk in and see a spiral staircase. J.D. teased me when I was looking at some different types of pastas in the corner: "Tammy come over here, you're on the low-class side of the aisle." I don't know what would possess anyone to pay $6.00 for a handful of grapes... but I guess if you've got money to burn.

After shopping and not buying anything, we wandered over to a place for lunch called "Oceano." The seafood was good and not too expensive, surprisingly.

We strolled home, left-overs in tow.

Naked Bicycle Ride

Some days odd things happen. Yesterday, the "World Naked Bike Ride" came to town. So what did we do? Did we strip down to promote a positive and realistic understanding of the human body while peddling in protest against gas emissions? Heck no. We jumped in our Focus and went to take video! Admittedly, this one was all me, not J.D. But if you watch the video, you'll hear him giggling along now and then. There's just something inherently funny about seeing someone ride a bike buck naked. The video doesn't really show anything too detailed, just some general levity and an interesting way to pass a Saturday night.

p.s. Most people were not naked. The theme was "as bare as you dare." However, a few souls were truly daring.

Megabus

Here's what I learned:

Book in advance to get the cheapest seats. It's worth going on a bus if you can go super cheap.

Expect them to be late. We waited an hour for our bus to arrive. Some people waited 2-3 hours.

Travel with someone else (who you know and like) if possible.

Expect there will be annoying people talking endlessly. I sat next to someone who kept using her cellphone to tell 4-5 different people the same story about her weekend.

Expect there will also be accommodating, nice people.

Have at least one person in your group go immediately to save seats. I think the table seats would be best. There are 2 tables that seat 4 each. So try to snag them first. They have more leg room and obviously table space for food and beverages. You could also play cards & other games.

While some members of your group save seats, have someone else take care of the luggage. Stand toward the middle or back of the line (not the very end). They fill-up on baggage space quickly, so you don't want to be last because they may not have room. But it's good to be toward the end because then you'll get your bag off first, and you'll be on your merry way before everyone else, once you arrive at your destination.

Cincinnati Chili Madlib

In honor of recent travels:

Madlib from: http://www.writing.com/main/madlibs/item_id/396719#sw

"You're taking a road-trip in the good ol' USA--so what might you see, eat, and otherwise experience? Whatever it is, you will surely have this experience only by traveling the Madlib way! Fasten your seat belts, 'cos you're in for a strange ride!!!

Things You Might Eat In Restaurants Along The Way:

Scrambled donuts
Salisbury Skittles
Baked Pringles with sour cream & chives
Leg of banana
Starburst stew served with hot, buttered Diet Dr. Peppers
Apple & tomato on rye served with Kosher iced coffees
Gyro & blueberry omelet served with slices of hot, buttered french fries and Cincinnati Chili jelly.

Places and Things You Might See:
Grand Loyola National Park
The Petrified Creation Museum
The world's largest Abraham Lincoln
The world's smallest crackton
A fossilized grumpy old man egg
Carlsbad White Castle from which the giraffes fly out at dusk.

Which One Of These Is Your Favorite Motel?
The Aluminum Ape Inn or The Red Megabus Inn?

Wherever you go, don't forget to put some hippies with pretty and/or interesting pictures on them in the mail for your friends back home!"

Crawfishapalooza

Thanks to Jessica and Paul for having us over to their home for the 5th annual Crawfish feast this Friday evening. We had a great time. Since we're from the northwest, J.D. and I had no concept of what cooking crawfish involved.

There are pictures and even a recipe that seems similar here:
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Seafood/CrawfishBoil.htm

I enjoyed the shrimp and cocktail sauce, sausage, mushrooms, potatoes, and corn. J.D. ate about 20 crawfish! Overall, it was quite fun.

Thank you for welcoming us to share in the tradition this year.

Snowball Fight

A couple of days ago it snowed. We wanted to go out and make a snowman that first night, but it was pretty cold. So last night, after J.D. got home from work he asked me if I wanted to build a snowman. "Maybe a little one," I said. Two years ago we built these fine snowpersons. They are a cute couple, who enjoy doing things together like sledding. Well, this year, the snow was too powdery to make snowpersons. So, we had a snowball fight instead. I had never been in a snowball fight before. I was always too chicken, but it helps that J.D. doesn't try to hit people in the face, especially not me. I didn't try to either... except my aim isn't as good, so once J.D. got one right in the back of his neck and once off the top of his head. It was really a lot of much needed fun and a great stress reliever to run around in the snow. I think a lot of joy in life comes from remembering what it was like to be a kid and just enjoy the simplest, silliest things. It also really helps when you can share it with someone who agrees it's good to be silly.

Darling Husband

Today we went to Taco Bell to celebrate the turning-in of my third major paper. (No word yet on its reception). Anyway, I wanted to try one of those cheesy, crunchy things, since evidently their advertising somehow worked on me.

At the drive-through window the lady handed J.D. our drinks and said in a southern accent:

"Here ya go baby."

J.D. handed me my drink; the lady closed the window, and J.D. took off his hat and looked at himself in the mirror, smoothing down his hair.

I then of course HAD to tease him. "Oh, so some lady at the drive-through calls you 'baby' and you naturally look in the mirror and fix your hair." It was pretty funny.

J.D. was simply taking off his hat, but the timing was superb. We've been wearing around town matching black caps, and when we leave the house we say we're off to burgle something, be it gorditas, dragon treasure, whatever.