As Soon As It Hits 40 Degrees...

...all of the crazies come out.

They sweep the melted-snow lake off our driveway and they get down to a mean game of Dads Against Kids. They play until it's too dark to see, then come inside and complain about how hot it is out there.

It's Gonna Be a Good Day

What's a person supposed to do with a horoscope that ends with:

"For now, just enjoy the irony of unattainable happiness."?

Oh, that unattainable happiness! I'm just going to kick back, pour myself a lemonade, and enjoy the irony.

Oy. Vey.

Winter Through the Window

Outside, the sky is brilliant blue, the sun is dazzling, and the snow is shiny with the recent coating of ice.



Inside, I'm sitting in a sun spot enjoying the warm sun and the stunning view of winter through the window.

2008 Favorites

Book:
Ben - 39 Clues by Rick Riordan
Theo - Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Kristin - Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Eric - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

Movie:
Theo - Akeela and the Bee
Eric - The Flight of the Conchords, Season 1 (which he considers a movie because we Netflix'd it)
Ben - Star Wars the Clone Wars
Kristin - The Thin Man series

Song:
Kristin - When You Come Back Down by Nickel Creek
Ben - If It Makes You Happy by Sheryl Crow
Eric - Always by Peter Bradley Adams
Theo - Viva La Vida by Coldplay

Color:
Eric - Royal blue
Kristin - Every shade of blue
Theo - Green
Ben - Blue and Red

Food:
Ben - Tiny's hot dogs (Tiny's is a local joint that sells hot dogs and cigars)
Theo - Green peppers
Eric - Malai Kofta
Kristin - Olives and black beans

Happy New Year to our favorite people!

A Long Christmas Story With Many Pictures

We didn't send out a Christmas card/picture this year because Eric and I were recruited by Santa to do his dirty work.

This assignment included a complete re-do of our basement so that it could be made into a gameroom for two little boys who were going to receive some big gameroom elements for Christmas.

We toiled night after night through most of December, painting, rebuilding tables, going through boxes that hadn't been gone through since we'd moved, hanging things up, taking things down. All while conducting our other life activities like evening meetings, work, church stuff, basketball, etc. We saw 1:00 a.m. more times than we'd have liked.

You see, Santa had purchased an air hockey/pool table to go in this basement, and had cleverly hidden it in the neighbor's garage.

On the night before Christmas Eve, we trudged through the snow many, many times to retrieve the many, many pieces of the game table.

And, wouldn't you know it, as we heaved the 4,000-pound table top down the stairs, something magical happened.

It got stuck. Wouldn't budge. We strained and we swore, and it would not move.

So we did what any Santa's helpers would do. We broke out the crowbar and hammer, and we knocked a hole in the ceiling and we removed a step. And we cried. And we swore a lot more. Because, you see, in these old houses things are not made to be taken apart. They are made to stay together, like welded iron, for years and years and years. So "taking apart" equals the destroying of important pieces of a home that will probably never be duplicated because, well, they just don't make wood like they used to.

Fortunately, by 1:00 a.m., the table slid down the remaining stairs, past the mangled ceiling, and into its place in the new basement gameroom.

By 1:00 a.m. the next night, we had it all assembled.

And on Christmas morning, after reading the hidden note from Santa, the boys ran downstairs (pausing only momentarily where there are no longer certain steps) and were delighted to find Santa's gift.

It was at this moment that E and I realized what lengths we'd gone to in an effort to preserve the myth of Santa in this house, and to give complete credit for all of the work to someone who doesn't even exist. We felt a little duped. We wondered if the elves feel this way, too.

He's a mythical hero who has exerted a lot of control over our time and our checkbook. He's a tricky guy, that Santa.

We also spent a weekend visiting our Wisconsin grandparents, who have a lot more snow than we do.

As if that wasn't the makings of enough fun, they received a Wii and some new DS games from their grandparents. The joy was palpable. We had a fabulous meal with Grandpa Pat and Carol, helped Grandpa Joe with some snow removal, and cozied up in the new sweaters that Grandma Anna knit for us.

On Christmas day, the Minnesota and Canada contingent of relatives came over to our house and initiated the Wii and the air hockey table. Aunts, Uncles, Grandmas, Parents and Kids all gamed the day away, while pausing intermittently for huge meals and sugary snacks.

Merry Christmas!

Zoiks!

Dog Philosophy

The hardest part about being Sam is that the dog park, the loved and longed-for dog park, is only a block away from the vet's office.

When we get in the car he's always SURE that we're going to the dog park. He starts shaking and whining with anticipation. He just KNOWS that a good time is coming.

But lately, we've been having to drive right past the park and continue on to the vet. His head turns in disbelief and he strains to watch the dog park entrance pass him by.

Dogs just don't get this western medicine thing. Seems to them that a good tennis-ball-chasing, ground-sniffing, mud-rolling time is all it takes to make a guy feel better. Why all the poking and weighing and pills and tests?

Maybe they're on to something...

Who Allowed December to Start?

Well, now that my thirty days are over, I hardly know what to write about!

We had an excellent Thanksgiving, hosted by my sister. Great food, no turkey, fun games, good company.

Ben, my mom and I are all sick with different things, which we are hoping we didn't pass along to Eric's mom, who is scheduled to have surgery on her shoulder this week.

Now we're back to school and work and craziness. I have been hiding out, hoping to discourage the flocks of fans who have surrounded our house since my article in Saturday's paper.

Okay, not really. But I have gotten three calls from people who thanked me for writing it, and an email from a client saying he read it and thinks that the community benefitted from it. That's as close to a fan base as I'll ever get. Wahoo!

December promises to be a very busy month for us, with work and kids' activities and Christmas happenings. As if that's not enough, we're considering remodeling the kitchen in December, too.

Oy vey!

Happy December to you.

Gratitude Day #26: The Sam Edition

The last week has been so, so busy that I haven't had time to be grateful, much less to write about it!

So today, I'm going to write a bit of long-overdue gratitude for this guy:

Every day he protects us from the onslaught of school buses and garbage trucks that shark the neighborhood, just waiting to attack.

It is only because of his ferocious bark and clear physical prowess that the rascally squirrels in our yard don't stage a hostile take over of our house.

Thank goodness he is here to perform a background check on every man, woman and child that we naively let in the door.

And the mailman. Have I mentioned the mailman? Really, Sam will tell you, he is a burglar in disguise who comes back day after day to infiltrate our house, only to be scared away each day by a ferocious black and white blur.

Yes, Sam shoulders the weight of these tasks so that we humans can remain blissfully unaware of the danger that lurks around every corner.

He takes his job very seriously, and we are so grateful.

Sam, we appreciate you, buddy. Good boy.

Gratitude Day #22: The Snow Edition

Today is a no-school day, topped with our first dusting of snow.

There are two new kids on the block, providing plenty of people to play with. Unless you're Theo, who is tortured by the fact that the two new kids are both in his class and they're both girls. Horror.

Ben, never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, has befriended the girls and is spending the day outside desperately trying to ski and snowboard through 1" of wet snow.

Theo is snuggled in on the couch, reading a book and eating mandarin oranges.

Sam is running from window to window wondering when someone is going to remember that he was made to play in the snow.

And the mom in the family? She's staying in her pajamas as long as she can, drinking french press coffee from her favorite mug, and enjoying the snow-coated trees from her bubbly storm windows.

Scary Stuff

We had a very spooky Halloween...hope you did, too!

The Ben Reaper

Changes

Yes, you're at the right place. I changed the colors around because I'm never quite crazy about how this thing looks.

I'll keep working on it, and you can keep being surprised and delighted with the changes. Okay? Okay.

Ka-Boing

Have I ever mentioned that I live with a world-class pogo stick-er?



That's right. No-handed and everything.



Once the neighbors got over the headache from the constant ka-boing, ka-boing, ka-boing in our driveway, they all commented on his impressive ability to pogo stick for hours at a time. No handed. While talking. While singing. While yelling at his brother. While eating.

I like to imagine them smiling in their kitchens, knowing that the jackhammer sound outside is really a boy in pursuit of greatness.



Sometimes, his friend joins in.

Sometimes his mom does, too, but getting pictures of that would be tricky.

It's Coming

The signs of fall are starting to pop up everywhere.

The dry summer has stressed the sugar maples, so they're already turning orange and yellow.

The kids are overly excited about falling leaves, and are desperately trying to make piles big enough to jump in. I think they forget how many leaves will fall over the next month :).

The jars of good stuff are starting to add up. My friend Heidi and I spent 10 blissful hours last Saturday making and preserving spaghetti and pizza sauce from the tomatoes in our gardens. Spouse free, kid free, dog free time. Just the two of us harmoniously making a giant, tomatoey mess and filling lots of jars.

At the same time, Eric and the boys were picking the last of the fall raspberries. So we made many, many jars of raspberry jam the next day.

(Really, it's all we need to live...just a stockpile of raspberry jam, spaghetti sauce, and a few spoons.)

One trip to the apple orchard, and we won't be able to deny it any longer...fall is definitely coming.

Here He Goes Again

Friday night high school football has needed someone like Eric for a long time.

Catch audio of his broadcasts here every Friday night.


Tonight he's announcing Elk River at Centennial.


I have heard that some people have a limited attention span when it comes to football, but I have been told that you can listen while visiting other areas of interest on the internet.

Not that I ever do this. No, no, no.

But if someone were to try it, I would imagine that crateandbarrel.com would be a good place to start.

aaahh...that's better

Our computer is safely home and we are the proud owners of a new hard drive.

Yippee.

I have much to talk about, but no time right now. I just miss this so much that I had to do a little something to satisfy my urge to blog.

Here's a lovely photo to meditate on until I have time to post again.

Be Back Soon...

Sorry for the absence. Our beloved computer is at the hospital, and we're hoping it makes it back home sometime soon.

We'll be back with some exciting home improvement projects, celebrations and parades.

Who would have guessed that without a computer our lives would be so exciting???

What Time Is It?

"Know what we need to bring back in this house? Cocktail Hour!"
(10 points if you can identify that quote)

Theo and Ben are spending the week at Camp Grandma in St. Paul.

Which is great. Except that Eric has been gone most of the evenings this week, which, all put together, means that I have none of my usual time markers.

See, when you work from home and you're not the kind of person who really looks at clocks, you count on the flow of the people around you to mark time.

Like, I know that my workday is done when the kids come home. And I know that evening officially begins when Eric comes home.

So, with everyone gone, my day seems like endless hours that have no shape. There is no "flow."

I'm like an untethered dinghy, floating aimlessly in a sea of time... :)

Except that, at around 5:00 or so, I get this niggling little voice in the back of my mind. It's telling me that it's time for something, but what??? What is it???

Oh yes...of course...Cocktails!

My own natural rhythms speak so loudly when there's nobody else here.

He Has My Vote

If you know us, you know that we love, love, love our town. EVEN when its mayor and city council are too busy lying and suing each other to actually govern the town.

We've had a rough couple of years, so this fall's mayoral election is really exciting.

We love our town because it is only here that you can find candidates like this:


Brendon Etter Platform from Bonnie Obremski on Vimeo.


You can find out more about his campaign here on his very funny blog.

Just When We Were Wondering if Miracles Really Exist

They do, and I've got a story to prove it.

Over the years, fall has come to mean something to me other than crisp days and apples. It's the time of year when I start to see extra magazines around the house entitled, Fantasy Football Picks '08 and Football Pro Stats.

I also notice a general distraction in Eric, since his mind is WAY too full of roster possibilities and player stats to do things like say, "hello." Every time I talk to him it's clear that I've interrupted an important computing moment in his head.

And, inevitably, our calendar gets filled up with many long and grueling draft nights.

Yes, it's Fantasy Football Season. A season that only happens once a year, but that takes all of the brain cells and spare moments a guy's got in his life, leaving him to see the rest of the year as "recovery."

Well, the other day Eric announced that this year he is only participating in ONE Fantasy Football league. He said it with a cheerfulness only used when telling your wife something she'll be extremely happy about, but that causes you great internal pain. I didn't ask the why, I just took it as proof that good things happen to good people.

If you're thinking right now that THAT is the miracle, you're oh-so wrong.

Because the VERY NEXT DAY I picked up a phone call from an old friend with whom we've reconnected because we happen to have ended up in the same town.

You guessed it, he was calling to see if Eric wanted to join his Fantasy Football league.

THAT, my friends, is the miracle. Because it is nothing short of miraculous that a man can pick up on another man's pain from across town.

And to rescue him from the torment of a fall that doesn't contain the words drafts, rosters, picks and stats? Miracle. Nothing short of a miracle.