One Donkey out of Many

All the boys and Mommy 

Miniks 

Minda 

Pictures 

Mike's son 

SHE SHOULD BE HERE WITHIN THE HOUR!
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My daughter‹who is also 15‹has finally developed a social life. Nothing much is going on; she's still wearing her retainer, and she usually goes out with groups of kids instead of individual ones. But boys are looming on the horizon. Your question "What do you know now that you wish you knew when you were 15?" made me sit down and write my 10 Rules down for her and all the other girls out there. Here they are:

1) Sex is just like eating, breathing, peeing, or anything else your body does, except more fun.

2) If you're not having fun, stop.

3) Porn isn't reality, it's show business.

4) Its okay to enjoy sex with someone you're not in love with, but don't count on sex to make someone like you more.

5) Love isn't what you think.

6) Nobody's perfect.

7) Relax.

8) Drunk/stoned/impaired/coerced/unprotected sex is stupid.

9) If you do it in my bed, I will kill you.

10) If you do it without rubbers, I might not have to kill you. Oh. And...

11) Keep your hair off of your forehead‹you have such pretty eyes.

Your Loving Mom

LAURA HERE TONIGHT, LOOKING FORWARD TO A FUN WEEK!

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COPY AND PASTE THE LINK INTO YOUR BROWSER, YOU MUST HAVE QUICKTIME INSTALLED TO VIEW

http://alm.fernandez.free.fr/fichiers/DebilDead.mov
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Mya pushing around malinda 

Owen eating a flower 

Mya and her flowe 

Mya drawing at betty brinn (she can sit here for hours and draw!) 

owen and dad at Mcdonalds 

Owen and Grandma in the backyard 

Goofy 

Owen, all clean and shiney from his bath! 

Mom and owen watching Gilmore Girls (right before he puked all over my head) 

Look how high I can raise my head! 

Mom and Owen, watcing Carnival Season 1 on DVD. 

Hello! 

Let's see, Owen is pooping Magenta and Yellow due to the Omnicef he's taking. Malinda woke us all up at 4am because she peed through her jammies and pooped hours before and had a flaming diaper rash so she had to get cleaned up and sleep with us for like 35 min till Owen woke up at 4:35 wanting food. I just fell asleep at my desk waiting for the computer to turn on.

This Friday, Pictures with Owen at Picture People, Party @ Kristins 7pm, try to sleep.

I-Tunes of the day: God Only Knows-The Beach Boys, One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer-George Thorogood, Volcano-Damien Rice, & Leather by Tori Amos. :)

Looking forward to seeing all the kiddes at our playdate in a few weeks.!
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So I did some research into Al-Anon last night, quite fasinating (& sad) really. Its unreal how many people seem to be effected by alcohol and drug use. I'm one of those people (like Penn and Teller) who doesn'y believe that being an alcoholic is a disease. Being an alcoholic is a choice, cancer is a disease, you choose to drink no one chooses to get cancer (of course getting cancer from drinking/smoking is a different story altogether)

Have been doing some online research into what friends and family of people who are alcoholics can do to support/help their loved ones. May attend a meeting here in the next few weeks to get some more literature.

yesterday Ms. Rachel (owen's teacher, the girls old teacher, and the future Mrs. Dale Baumer should the current Mrs. Dale Baumer trot off this mortal coil) said that all Owen did all day was smile, he even smiled in his sleep! Very cute kid. Then he was a very evil child last night, Gilmore Girls has been a RR for the last 3 weeks and hes asleep by 6:30, this week, new Gilmore Girls=crabby Owen from 7-8pm....he knows its one of my few joys during the week-grrr.
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So I finally got in touch with Dylan. Art just had a couple a heart attacks and he (dylan) moved home to help out....Art has to quit smoking and drinking the ole caffene (id guess) so I'm pretty sure 2 of the 3 things that makes life worth living for Art are gone....Best wishes to King Arthur down in TX for a speedy recovery.

Dylan is back at home fighting his own demons (while helping out), so buck up Private and shake it off...one day at a time kiddo....we love you....

Had a good lunch with Erin today, Steak Chilli.!
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yesterday I had my review at work. I'm happy with my raise and bonus schedule so thats good... I also get more responsibility at work with invoices and stuff, thats good. Yoga last night-very good, had fun. Dylan called and I guess he's back home again? I guess his car broke or something (i dunno I didnt get to talk to him...im going to call today) he didnt want to get into it on the machine...

Merry Maids did an awesome job cleaning our house...its so clean i could eat off the floors and it smells nice. Its great to have everything dusted and shiney so we can mess it up again.

Tonight no plans other than Gilmore Girls at 7pm.
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http://www.milwaukeemoms.com/gallery/index.cfm

JAMES AND JOSHUA @ 6 MONTHS...
VERY CUTE
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Sorry, I cant html the link here from work...you will have to cut and paste...
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAMnDNkxbtmbJKA

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Thursday night, I have no idea what we did...

Friday I had the Merry Maids over to give me an est to clean the house. They are coming today to clean 'er top to bottom, cost like 143.00...My plan is not not use them again if i dont have to, they are way way expensive (like 112/wk) but the 1st cleaning is a very detailed one, they are washing the woodwork, baseboards, vents etc...and moving all furnature and vacuming under it all. The house is so crazy I just gave up and want to get it 100% clean so I have a place to start from. Friday afternoon we moved the kids swingset outside and did some yardwork (getting up old leaves from the flower beds). The kids had fun out in the nice day/fresh air.

Friday night I fucked up and went to my boss' house for her Silpadia party, a week early! Ended up eating a late dinner there (thanks Ken and Kristin) and chatting till 9:30pm....I will be back this week friday! She also gave me the number for their cleaning lady who is like 70.00 every 2 weeks....

Saturday we did an oil change and dale needs new rear brakes and a new cable for his seat. Dale is pissed that they charged us for 30 min of labor when they didnt have the part and when they do get the part we get docked another 60 min of labor because they chose to not stock that part.

Sat. afternoon more outside time with the kids and Owen....

Watched: Wonderfalls Disc 2&3, Oceans 12, Ladder 49, Mr. 3000, Sideways, & some wiggles video for the kids. All good.

Sunday swimming at Westwood with the kids.

Today Yoga and signing up for more Yoga.
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Huh? 

Sassy 

owen and malinda 

Mya loves Owen 

Happier baby 

Happy Baby 

Don't mess with this baby 

Owen in the exersaucer 

Snacktime 

Malinda outside 

Owen and Owen 

Owen 

Malinda 

Mya 

Girls with Bows in their hair 

I went over to my bosses house for her jewelery party tonight and it turns out its next week friday! so i stayed for dinner for 3 hours and chatted...im still feeling like an idiot.
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I went over to my bosses house for her jewelery party tonight and it turns out its next week friday! so i stayed for dinner for 3 hours and chatted...im still feeling like an idiot.
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Owen never got over his ear infection and now he has a bad ear infection and an Upper Resp. Infection. I am leaving work at 3 today to run to the dr, pick up his perscriptions and maybe make an appt. to get his ears tubed. He has had a non stop infection since he was born and this is getting silly.

No Westwood tonight I'm not well enough this week to pound out my cardio...I should be all better by Saturday...
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Why is everything green when you are sick? Poop turns green, your snot is green, you vomit pea soup like Linda Blair in the Exorcist, you're green around the gills. WTF? Owen had green stuff coming out of his eyes yesterday and his eyes are all crusted shut and I had to warm compress him to get them open. Dr. said over the phone he may have a sinus infection coming out his eyes, since his nose couldnt keep up...so the junk comes out his eyes as overflow or something-lovely. He is at the dr right now with my mom seeing Ostendorf....He slept really good...I woke him at 10, fed him and put him right back to bed and he slept in his crib till 3am all by himself (good boy)!

Went over to drop him off this AM and Malinda was up so we set her down to watch the Koala Bros.

I-tunes for the day: Rock DJ-Robbie Williams, Constant Craving-k.d. Lang, I belive in a thing called love-darkness, & Big Yellow Taxi-Joni Mitchell
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I am so busy raging against by new property tax assessment which went up 50,500.00 over last year that I can not see straight. Based on my unofficial findings, erin got hosed over 40k, my parents went up over 96k, jeff's went up higher than mine....UNREAL.
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Hello, Im sick of the zoo, can we go home now please. 

Giraffe 

Holy crap it's a.... 

Dale and Mya at the zoo 

Minda and Auntie Ra Ra view the Tiger 

Big ass monkey

What is happening to married people? Someone I used to work with has a restraining order against her husband for abuse after maybe 2-3 years of marriage, someone else I used to work with has completely broken off ties with their family because their spouce is psychotic and controlling and has totally fucked up both families, someone else I know is getting divorced after 6 MONTHS of being married (WTF?), my friend Bryce got married and divorced within a year, this girl I know got married, had 2 kids, and her husband cheated on her told her right before the kids 2nd birthday/holidays, left her, with the kids, no money, working like 800 hours a week, he quit his job and now lives with his mother making minimum wage and she is getting evicted and cant pay her car payments or anything else and she is only 24!!! And then my neighbor has 5 kids (2 sets of twins) and her husband left them and now they are divorced!!! Seriously people, try not to get married if you plan on fucking it up, its just not worth it.

:NOTE TO SELF: HUG DALE AGAIN TONIGHT FOR BEING A GOOD HUSBAND.
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Spring is here which means Saturday night I went into the laundry room to feed the cat and she had about 50 ants in her bowl, lovely. Raid'd the whole room, bought ant traps, mopped everything and I have no idea how they are getting in. I hate ants.

Friday was SUCH a nice day, we went over to Erin's house to play with Alexander and Maja. The kids had fun playing with their toys and we went to McDonalds for lunch as a treat. The kids liked their apples from the happy meals.

Friday night was my Twins club meeting, good vibes being sent out to Lisa (get yourself better soon!) and Gretchen (hope everything goes well in court this week!) I signed up for fundraising and Historian for this year. Chatted with Barb, leslie and ~Tammy about the kids etc.... I am doing our annual rummage sale on the 11-14th at Barb's house in big bend, erin and I are carpooling out there together!

Saturday we went to Madison to visit Aunt Ra-Ra and Jason, ate brunch at the Pancake Cafe (where dale and I admitted we should have had breakfast foods!) and went to the Henry Villas Zoo. The girls had fun seeing the animals....Owen seemed to like the fresh air for a bit. Saturday night I watched : Ray (which was good, but not GREAT) and Bridget Jones': Edge of Reason (vg) and the rest of Northern Exposure-Season 2 (I loved that show). Owen slept very good.

Yesterday we headed to Toys R Us, bought an outdoor basketball hoop for the backyard, dollies for the girls (Malinda went nuts for her baby doll/bottle), little soft rubbery trucks for Mya, a Fisher Price little people Zoo set (annoying and loud), and some shoes/clothes on sale really cheap.

The kids played outside yesterday afternoon while dale and I did some quick yard work. We need to buy woodchips for the flower beds, anyone need any if we get a load? Sunday night I I-pod'd (The Darkness, Johnny Cash, & Janet Jackson), did some shipping of ebay/amazon sales, and scrapbooked. Went to bed early (round 10) and read the rest of "First Meetings in the Enderverse" by Orson Scott Card. Today starting the 3rd book in the shadow series by OSC, finished the VI book in the Princess Diaries series Saturday in the car, also reading fever pitch by Nick Hornsby.

I fell down the stairs with Owen and ganked up my foot, I assume Yoga will fuck it up more this eve, that makes a total of two kids I have fallen down the stairs with, one broken foot, one sprained/strained foot and one dropped baby

Daycare didnt bother to tell me the girls needed diapers today so my dad had to run some over this morning so I wouldnt be late to work.

THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO: 1: Laura Here in 16 days 2: Lasanga Soup on the 25th at the Soup House. 3: Commission check from work for selling a new lease :)
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HAPPY 31ST BIRTHDAY TO SHANNON! MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY!
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Good thing I went to do my eyebrows at Rouge with Lyn. She is 4 mo along and is thinking of signing up at Kindercare....I said if she used my name we can each get a free week....she said, that sounds awesome so lets hope she likes it, bonus money for me!
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The real world can wait
Doug Erickson Wisconsin State Journal

WHITEWATER - At the off-campus house Johnny Lechner shares with three other UW- Whitewater students, the stairway to his attic bedroom is lined with photos dating back to his freshman year.


Lechner has lost track of many of the buddies that posed with him at these long- ago fraternity parties and Homecoming parades. They have moved on to new lives - careers, wives, children, mortgages - and that's just not Lechner's scene.

"I could have - should have - graduated many years ago, but I keep passing on the real world's invitation," said Lechner, 28, who is in his 11th year as a student in the University of Wisconsin System, the last 10 at UW-Whitewater. He's taken a full course load every semester except the current one, in which he's taking seven credits.

Lechner has completed 234 college credits, about 100 more than needed to graduate and so many that he's now paying the so-called "slacker tax."

System students who exceed 165 total credit hours - or 30 more than their degree programs require, whichever is higher - pay double tuition. The Board of Regents instituted the surcharge this school year as a none-too-subtle hint that a state-subsidized education has its limits.

The slacker tax doubles full- time tuition at UW-Whitewater (12 to 18 credits) to $4,816 a semester. With the surcharge, Lechner is paying $2,810 per semester for his seven-credit load.

It is a measure of Lechner's campus notoriety that many classmates call the slacker tax "The Johnny Lechner Rule." While he doesn't mind being known as "that guy who has been in college forever," Lechner declines to take credit for the Regents' sweeping policy change.



"I doubt they'd do all that work just for me, but I believe I'm the most extreme example of a student who's continued to go to school," he said.
After graduating from Waukesha North High School in 1994, Lechner went to UW- Waukesha for a year, then transferred to the 10,000- student UW-Whitewater. Most of his friends were attending colleges in Milwaukee and Madison.


"I wanted to go to a school where I knew no one. I wanted to discover who I was."

Turns out he's someone who likes to sleep in, play basketball, write songs and party two or three nights a week.

"I've fallen into some sort of a comfort zone here," he said. "I think deep down inside I have a fear of getting into the next phase of my life."

His middle-class parents pitched in financially for the first two years. Now he owes $30,000 in student loans but otherwise pays as he goes, using money earned as a waiter at the Janesville Olive Garden.

The per-credit surcharge he's paying is a bitter pill, but he reasons that it's comparable to the tuition he'd pay out of state. His major has zigged and zagged over the years, with stops at health education, theater and communications. He even tried women's studies.

"I think they'll end up kind of balling it all together as a liberal studies major, with a lot of emphasis areas," he said. He hopes to one day work with troubled youth.

He has a "B" average over 11 years and recently made the dean's list with a 4.0 grade- point average for a semester. He has been involved in almost every campus activity possible, from founding the Men Against Sexual Assault and Violence group to winning the 2003 "Big Man on Campus" contest, a pageant-like event that includes a swimsuit competition.

He volunteers with numerous organizations, including Habitat for Humanity, the UW- Whitewater Prairie Restoration Project and Camp Getaway for inner-city Chicago children with AIDS.

Until a few weeks ago, he was planning to graduate this spring.

"Then I came up with this crazy idea. I wanted to be student body president."

Lechner is now campaigning on a platform of bringing a 24-hour restaurant to Whitewater. He has two opponents, Brain Wolfe and David Jackson. Students vote next Wednesday and Thursday.

Regardless of the outcome, Lechner said he'll be back for a 12th year. He's pretty sure it will be his last.

"You can imagine that my family has been waiting a long time for me to graduate."

Like many parents, John and Shelle Lechner always hoped their son would attend college. It didn't dawn on them that he might never stop.

"People talk about how it takes some kids five or six years to graduate. I should be so lucky," said John Lechner, an operations manager for an engineering firm.

Last year, a letter from UW- Whitewater intended for his son came to his Waukesha home, Lechner said. Because the two share a name, the older Lechner opened it. "It said. 'We have no more courses to offer you. You've taken everything you can take.' "

Lechner said he's proud that his son stuck it out in college and is paying his own way, but disappointed that it has taken so long. Perhaps his son doesn't want to make the same mistakes as his now-divorced parents, who married young and rushed headlong into adulthood, he said.

"He doesn't want to move on to a profession and real- world problems," Lechner said. "And as long as he's in school, the loans don't get called in. I think that has something to do with it."

Shelle Lechner of Pewaukee, a convenience store manager, said she likes that her son has used his college time to pursue his dreams, including a songwriting career. He has self- financed five acoustic-guitar CDs and performs widely.

"He's an adult. He's paying for college himself. I don't have a right to tell him to get a job," she said. "He's doing what he wants to do, and he's happy. I couldn't ask for a better kid."

Johnny Lechner successfully avoided advisers for most of his college career, and UW- Whitewater officials didn't push the issue. They're pushing it now.

Lechner's latest adviser, newly assigned to him this year, is Richard Brooks, a genial man who is nonetheless putting the hammer down.

"It's time," said Brooks, a 25-year staff member and chairman of the department of philosophy and religious studies. "Johnny has come to see that getting a degree and moving on is in his best interests."

Lechner's case is unusual in that he bucks the stereotype of the perpetual student who isn't very bright, Brooks said.

"If you look at his transcripts, he's really a very good student. He's actually taken some classes over again, even though he got a B."

Lechner, standing nearby during this interview, smiles and shrugs. "I didn't realize I'd taken them before."

One of them was speech - "Usually a class people hate," Lechner said.

He knows some people might look down on his decision not to grow up. Asked when his college career will cross the line from amusing to pathetic, he answers, "Probably three years ago."

Pressed as to why he's still in college, Lechner says, "It's the lifestyle. It's being laid back, going with the flow. If I had a better answer, I'd tell you."

Sophomore Jenny Zinda, 20, hangs out with Lechner and said she doesn't think of him as old. Zinda was in fourth grade when Lechner was a college freshman.

"Some girls say it's weird that he's still here, but the bottom line is they all want him," Zinda said. "Everyone knows him and there's a certain excitability about being friends with and dating Johnny Lechner."

Senior John Koskinen, 22, Lechner's best friend, estimates that eight out of 10 students know Lechner or have heard of him. Last year, Lechner even had a car in the Homecoming parade with the sign, "Been in college for 10 years."

"He's one of those people in life who actually has the guts to do what makes him happy," Koskinen said. "He's one of the happiest people in the entire world, and if you reach that level of happiness, why not keep doing it?"
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My friend derek is in Japan teaching English to the Japaneese and he needs headshots of people in an effort to teach them the differences in people from other cultures, they (japaneese) tend to believe they can tell the difference among the asian cultures just by looking at someone, its kind of racist actually....( & its a pretty cool teaching idea!)

He needs pictures of different people, men, women, kids etc.. sent to him along with the name of the person, their age, and their nationality. I have already sent him pictures of: Me, Dale, Dylan, Dan, Dan E, Matt & his wife, Breezy and her Matt, Owen, Mya, Malinda, Jeff and Kristie, Jenny Lemm and Dan, Robin, Dan Kuchler, Tommy and Lia and renee and Lucas

But if you have a picture of yourself or of your kids with a close up of the face, and you are willing to email it to him that would be great.

Based on who I think he knows people of NON WHITE decsent are going to be vastly underrepresented so if you or someone you know happens to be black, brown, red, yellow, green, purple etc... that would help....

Please email Derek at Derek's Email I'd like to help him as much as I can, Shannon I know you have a few cute pictures of Gage laying around and Julie F-M I know your kids are cuties, plus being of mixed heritage they would help him alot, I bet a picture of your hubbie would be great too!
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Monday: Yoga did triangles and sun salutes.

Tuesday: Lunch for SOUP with Erin :), Visited my folks with Owen who was very smile-y and also voted in the spring elections. Watched "Pauly Shore Is Dead" which is a fantastic film. You should rent it. He got EVERYONE in hollywood to be in the movie. Since pretty much every comic in america got their start at his mom's club, I'm sure he called in a few favors.

Wed: Westwood tonight drop off clothes and whatnot at my folks house and pick up Owen. May take a trot down to the art museum at lunch to see the Degas sculptures.

Thursday: Eyebrows at lunch with Lyn who is 4 months along with her 1st child :) Yea Lyn!

Friday: Playdate with Erin and Lisa at Erin's house around 9:30am...that should be fun fun happytime.
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According to this website quiz: http://www.thebentinel.com/jw-quiz.php I am only 23% a Jehovahs Witness. Yet another lifes goal crushed by the internet. Damn you Internet!!
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Mya in the pool with her ball. 

Owen in his seat at the pool on sunday. 

Owen, drunk on the warmth of mommy and her magic sling. 

Mya and her disco Pj's 

he's full of baby bubble spit but we love him anyways. 

Let's see what did we this weekend. Friday my brother came over for awhile to play with the kids...I do not know what we did Friday afternoon...I can't remember. Saturday sucked. everyone is sick and the buttfucking bastards across the street parked their truck right next to the mailboxes. Since the lazy ass mailman couldnt park is truck 100% in front of OUR box, we didnt get our mail picked up or delivered, but the fucking neighbors did. The post office didnt seem to care that it wasnt sleeting, snowing, raining or hailing, but park a truck so you cant park your truck in front of a box and you dont get your goddamned mail. No movie for us to watch on Saturday. :(

I am recovering from Pink Eye and have seemed to pick up strep throat, great. Owen was constipated all Saturday PM/Sunday AM so he cried from 3am till about noon when he finally pooped. Malinda keeps hitting her mouth on everything and splitting her inside upper lip-blood everywhere and her nose is now so runny and dry its bleeding too.

The kids are teething their 2 year molars and so they are waking up at night. Malinda was so wrecthed last night she cried for 2 hours, fell asleep then woke up JUST as I was getting my 4 hour sleep shift from 10-2 and didnt want me, no she wanted Dale, who was JUST getting Owen to sleep when she woke him up.

So it was a long night. We went to the twins easter party yesterday and the kids had fun swimming and hunting for eggs. The whole DST thing wacked everyone up I hate springging forward.

This week I have my twins meeting on Friday, my candle sale meeting Saturday morning (Im not looking forward to that) and I think thats it.
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