So Malinda spent most of the weekend walking or attempting to walk about 3-4 steps then falling down or tripping over toys, pillows, Mya....

Saturday we went to Denny's and the grocery store and did some napping and playing....Sunday we went to the pool at westwood and went swimming....watched "hidalgo" (not bad) on dvd and took a walk around the block with the kids....all in all a fun weekend. Robin and jason came out Saturday night and we grilled out before she hit the dave matthews band show at Alpine.!
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Today Malinda took her 1st steps at daycare. She waited till I got there and then walked to me. What a big girl!
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So that stupid kid to bonked the teacher in washington had the balls to sue the school dist for failing to protect him from the teacher. Of course, he just did an interview where he is also suing the state to let him (hes now 21) see and live with this teacher. He lost his lawsuit, but what a dork! If this were a 21 year old girl who wanted to live with her sex offender male teacher oprah would be doing nothing but shows on that for weeks. what bs.
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Joke set-up: “Hey, did you hear about the bad news for Lance Armstrong? French officials say he could be stripped of his 6th Tour de France title.” PUNCH LINE: “Yeah, in a random check for banned substances, three substances were found in Armstrong's hotel that are strictly banned by French authories: Toothpaste, deodorant, and soap."
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Had a nice lunch with Damon-ate outside and had fish-Yum. Turns out Damon and I see about the same number of people from HS (none). Planning on getting together with him and Jen and Brooke maybe for the girls birthday? Maybe Shannon and Jason can bring Gage too (no one will push him down there!)....tomorrow I go to Jen to get a haircut, I have to leave work early..bummer
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Having lunch at John Hawks Pub with Damon today-Yum fish fry. Last night scrubbed kitchen floor and now it is super clean-yeah! Tonight is Mechwarrior and I think its just a H2H...not sure...either way I may have to turn it over to another BM as the baby may need to go home and sleep. I then will try to organize the upstairs as it is a mess bah!
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ROBIN CAME OVER YESTERDAY AND BABYSAT THE GIRLS WHILE DUSTIN AND DALE AND I GAMED....LURA CAME OVER AS WELL AND SHE IS GETTING BIG!! THE NEIGHBORS ARE GOING THROUGH A MESSY DIVORCE WHICH IS SAD SINCE THEY HAVE 5 KIDS (2 SETS OF IDENTIAL TWIN BOYS!)
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Took the girls to the car dealership this Am to get our cars oil changes etc...Then we went swimming in the backyard-malinda kept trying to drink the pool-My parents came over and they had fun watching the girls swim. We had a way long nap this afternoon and then took the girls to Riverfest for a few hours. Saw my parents (volunteering for the band selling soda) had a snow cone and mom and dad ate corn on the cob and cheeseburgers. Took a walk around and enjoyed the nice weather. Sent the girls to bed around 7pm and spent the night cleaning up the computer room, logging books, getting rummage sale stuff together. Sunday Dustin is coming over!
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ALTOIDS MAKES LIQUORICE FLAVORED ALTOIDS-WHEEEEE! I ran into a guy I went to Middle School with at the gas station this morning. I havent seen him in like 12 years, that was very odd. It was even odder that he recognized me....Watched disc 2 of Freaks and Geeks last night, played Sequence with Dale and we both spent 30 min scrapping wallpaper in the bathroom. I fucking hate the wallpaper.

We may hang out with Damon and family this weekend, I'm not quite sure...We may also take the girls to riverfest, of that I am also not quite sure.
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Watched Disc 1 of "FREAKS AND GEEKS" last night. Why the hell didnt i watch it when it was on TV? What a totally excellent show! (made even better by the yummy Linda Cardellini and James Franco) Took girls up to West for dinner with my parents and the marching band-they ate oranges and baked potatoes.

May get together with Damon and his Jen and his daughter Brooke at some point in the next month-that should be cool. This weekend we have oil changes on Saturday morning and Im pretty sure thats it...
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NOTICE TO EVERYONE I KNOW:

The girls are celebrating their 1st birthday at my folks house (3018 walden cir in waukesha) on August 22, 2004 at 2pm. Everyone is invited to come eat grilled out pork products and cake. No gifts are required (the girls have enough stuff alread) but come and bring your kids and yourselves! Let me know if you would like to attend and I'll make sure we throw a brat on the barbie for you!!

On a somber note: Fuck you Ricky Williams and smacka yo head Bucko for picking him over my man, Priest Holmes. Screw up my keeper league will you-pothead.
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I had a long weekend filled with not a whole lot. On friday we took the girls swimming in the backyard and it was way cold....The girls are teething in a mean way so we had Mya having this screaming pain filled fit which neither Tylenol or Tooth gunk could fix. Saturday more of the same, painfilled kids. Sunday went to the Waukesha County Fair for a Fraternal Twins contest (they lost) and we looked at the animals, Mya got to pet a bunny which she liked. There was much screaming yesterday as their teeth suck. We went to Toys R Us (which was a hit) and bought some teethy things and some letters (you'd have to see it to get it). Mya spent a good hour screaming in Dale's arms before she gave up.

Good news is we rented "chris rock bring the pain" damn funny, watched Miracle (pretty good, but I dont like hockey) and Oceans 11 (which we own on DVD and gets better every time). All the women in the house have these horrible cold/coughs and we are all snoring and keeping daddy up at night. bah! Happy Monday
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I watched Bubba Ho-tep last night. It is a Bruce Campbell film where he is Elvis and Ossie Davis is JFK and they live in a retirement home in texas and have to kill a Mummy. It was seriously fucked up.

Tonight we are watching Miracle and visiting my brother who had Knee surgery yesterday (torn mininskus or whatever you spell it). Its gonna be another 90 degree 100% humidity day-Joy. At least I can watch the ginormus spider outside my window have a field day killing a bug.
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I GOT MY EARLY AMERICAN CHRONONAUTS LAST NIGHT, YIPPIE!

Also ran a junkyard battle for Mechwarrior, was fun-the baby threw up all over the MW mat, that was lovely.

Spent last night after MW rereading a Laurell K Hamilton book (book 6 of 13...) Im rereading the whole set this week, I should be done by Sunday, Im cracking through a book a day.....We are moving a VCR stand and a couch tonight so my house is starting to look like less of a disaster zone.

I'm hoping we can take the girls for a swim in the new pool we got this weekend....i dont want to dump them in hose water and see how that works....
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Thanks to crimsonrage for this lovely poem about the worst director (and ex husband of geena davis) ever:

Renny Harlin Oh my gawd Oh my darlin' What a clod! His awful turds Will get a reaction What Hussein did to Kurds He does to action His apparent stupidity It has no equal He stripped the validity Of the first Die Hard sequel Instead of action scenes That were tough and had a brain We get fakey blue screens Of John flying out of a plane It's all so frickin lame Our hopes Harlin shatters The cast looks so ashamed Even Carl from Family Matters But lo! That wasn't it We weren't left alone For Harlin made more sh!t This time with Sly Stallone. The movie's called Cliffhanger It co-starred Michael Rooker It's like a herpes-laden wanger After screwing a she-male hooker The many special effects Are supposed to be a WOW! But you'll only reflect About the chin on John Lithgow Next came Cutthroat Island A movie I did not see For I'd rather go to Thailand And have a guy chop off my wee. It was a huge bomb The public got it right But when you thought he was gone Came The Long Kiss Goodnight. Does anyone else here think That it was a monumental crime That despite its awful stink This was the best selling script of all time? What did Shane Black write That made people so giddy "She's says a joke and they fight Man I'm so damn witty!" And if you thought "Hark! Renny couldn't be more gay!" See his film with the shark That starred LL COOl J. It's like a turd-topped waffle With a side of toilet scum The shark effects were awful Worse than that ad for Trident gum Harlin is the pits He'll never be forgiven For turning out more sh!t This time called Driven He's made so much dung He's such a f-cking dope That he should be hung From his long hair, instead of rope.

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So anyways, last two nights my mom has come over to take the girls to the park to play after dinner. This has been nice because 1: I get a break and 2: They get super tired and sleep as soon as we put them down. They came over last night to help me get rid of one of my futons (kick ass) so I can put a crib or something in the new babies room....Have I ever mentioned that ever since I left college I really hate the idea of the metal black futon. I have one more in the basement and I can not WAIT to get rid of it. My parents are giving us their old (read pretty much brand new) furnature. Which is great. I am giving Robin back her big overstuffed chair and I gave her the matching couch (so now she has the full set) which was originally her mom and dads old furnature. In fact, everything in my house is someones old furnature, what the hell? (except my bed, which sucks and dale bought and is not king sized and should be and i should stop bitching)

We watched "50 First dates" last night. It was cute, but since when did Adam Sandler turn into this sappy romantic comedy guy? As always the (as dale calls them) "3 guys" who are in all his movies were beyond funny as was Rob Schneider. Ive also watched two movies lately...The Deerhunter and October Sky which have led me to this conclusion, living in Pennsylvania really sucks, its dirty and everyone either mines or works with steel and is poor and mean....

We have Starsky and Hutch and Bubba Ho Tep coming today from Netflix, of course since tonight is Mechwarrior Night we wont get to watch till tomorrow.

I get my early american chrononauts today....hey MD i got a 2001 promo card from Loony labs...do you have that one? Its The Jade Statue of tirade.....

anyways....keeping busy around the house, we have about 10, 000 weeds to pull, plus a deck to clean off (which I plan on hosing off tonight) so the girls can use their new swimmy pool....Oh yes the a/c had abroken wire or some shit in the walls and they fixed that, now my allergies are somewhat back to normal.

I suck becase I still haven't seen Spiderman 2.
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So I have discovered that working in a small office really highlights the office cliques more so than in big business...heres what I'v e found so far you have your....:

LIFERS. The lifer is what it sounds, they are gonna work for this company till they die and have worked here for like 10 years. The lifers may be managers, or not; either way they all hang out together, go to lunches together to talk about all the newbies and smokers (see below), go to each others weddings, kids birthday parties, and 4th of July BBQ's. Its impossible to be in their little club unless you too work for the company for a billion years. Get on their bad side and work and you are fucked.

NEWBIES. People who just got hired. They are totally lost and alone since they don't know anyone enough to break into a new clique. They eat lunch by themselves and try pretty hard to fit in with some group or another....they spend their time waiting to stop being "the new guy."

SMOKERS. Just what it sounds like. The bastards in the office who smoke and get to take extra breaks (which the non smokies dont get) to stand outside and chat....

ill break it down more when i have more time-work calls.
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We have an albino squirrel living in our neighborhood! We had one at my old house when I was a kid.....I saw it running around in the (creepy forclosed) neighbors yard on the way to daycare-neat.

The fucking A/C guy came last night, told me it was "just a tripped breaker" in the basement and left....guess what assmonkey, it wasnt a tripped breaker, the fucking A/C still doesnt work. I am not enjoying sleeping with all the windows open with 50 fans running. My goddamn allergies are at defcon 2. bastard is coming back this AM, he had better fix the fucking a/c.
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Last night we made a trip to target. We have to somehow get 3 car seats in our car so we bought a very thin carseat last night to see if that plus baby carrier will work in the car. I do not want to buy a new car.

Also bought some bathtub stuff (slip free mat, pads for mom and dads knees and arms, funny toys) and two hats for the girls. Gave kids a bath, ate Subway for dinner and went to bed (hard to sleep without A/c and my allergies from having the house open are insane).

Watched Spy Kids 2 on DVD (yes, I like those movies, robert rodrigues is amazing) and expect to watch Spy Kids 3 and Boiler Room tonight (if netflix shows up).

Having a fish fry at flannerys with Muench tomorrow at lunch.
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Had a good MW group last night, Scott is on a quest to play faction pure and every faction this month...I have a freaking cold, it sucks.

so our a/c is busted again, happened last year, blew a condenser or something....house was 80 degrees when I got home, have to either get new a/c or fix the old one.
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My Million Dollar Idea:

What the world needs on the www is a page dedicated to NFL criminals.

What it would be is links to all current NFL teams and their rosters, then you would click on a name (lets say we click on Steve McNair) and you would be able to see his roster picture (you know him all smiley and whatnot) and his Mug shot. Jeff Garcia, DWI, Michael Irvin crack whores and drugs, an incredibly bad wardrobe

Then a list of his criminal offences, DWI, status of his case, date he was entered into the NFL Hall of Fame etc...

Then you have a "REWARDED WITH" tab, such as Ray Lewis, crime: got away with killing people, rewarded with: super bowl win and super bowl MVP

Then you could just go back through the years, FORMER NFL criminals (how many jags are in the hall of fame etc...

Then you could have that guy from the packers, the closet pooper, crime, shat in some girls closet in college, rewarded with lucrative contract for the Green Bay Packers.

I think it would be a brilliant webpage.
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Yea for Mya she has a new tooth in the front! She pushed through her top left tooth yesterday and it appears that another one is on its way (you can kinda see this "hole" thingy where the tooth should be.)

Yesterday was my 1st day taking the girls to daycare when they had their big girl seats. This was almost impossible to manage for me. Dale and I are working out a system where he can take the girls and pick them up and I can not have to get stressed out doing that....

There is a new candy from Nestle called dark chocolate mint (one of the mini's) MAN do they kick ass!

Ordered a new board game off ebay called Sequence....Robin and Jason showed it to us over the last weekend, pretty fun...I also bought the 2001 promo pack from Loony Labs with my Rabbit Points (long story)....PM to Matt Dull if he checks in, you should go check that out...a new artifact and 2 new (well ok old) mission cards.....

Today at lunch I am going to visit Lynne (my eyebrow lady) to get my brows done. She is by far the BEST brow lady I've ever been to. I also need to call Jen (our hairstylist) and book an appt for dale and I....

Tonight is MW a head to head thing, which means very low maintenance for me....I'm hoping my Early American Chrononauts will be in (I special ordered it last week!)...all is good on the baby front for those who are wondering!
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Ok I think I last posted on Wed? so alot seemed to have happened since then. I'll break it down for you: If you dont want to read the medical stuff skip to item #2

#1 I'm having some complications with the pregnancy (some bleeding/some bloody discharge). I had an ultrasound last week Thursday, the baby was (then) 15 weeks 2 days old (they measure bones etc...to date it) and my new due date is December 28, 2004. Lucky kid born around X-Mas.....The baby appeared to be fine, doing alot of moving (I cant feel that yet) and was sucking its thumb (very cute). I will try to take a picture of my u/s picture and post here so you can see the little bugger.

I then ran into the obgyn cause, you arent supposed to fucking bleed while you are pregant...The dr checked my plumbing out and said everything looked fine...If I keep bleeding I will have to go on bedrest at 16 weeks. This will be a disaster, seriously a disaster. I had to rest all weekend and I only seem to have this bleedy problem in the AM and PM.

#2. I had my meeting on Thursday. It was an incredible waste of time. I did find out some things during it and we caught the other party in 2 outright lies (which they later admitted were lies or "forgot") There was a lot of things said that were stupid and the end of the day the mediator said "they have a lot of problems and a lot to think about." So I am feeling good about it I guess.....sad that we couldnt have done this before the fact....whatever fuck them eh?

#3. Went to door county for the weekend (baumer family reunion) with the kids. They now have their BIG GIRL car seats and are facing forward which they (and we) like. Malinda likes to stare out the car window and fall asleep. We had hours and hours of fun listening to Sesame Street on CD with the kids. We stayed at the Landmark, they gave us cribs and highchairs (nice) to use. We went out for food and spent time with Robin and Jason. On Sat. Dale's cousins husbands family has a house on lake MI (Jonesport) and we spent time at a cookout. We played many card games after the kids went to sleep.

Sunday we drove home and my mom took Malinda out for the day. I watched the end (disc 2) of Pearl Harbor (didnt suck as much as I thought) and took a nap. And thats the weekend.
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I had no time to post over the weekend. On friday we grilled out Italians and ate outside while my parents played with the girls. My Raspberry bushes have gone insane and are threatening to take over the yard. We also need a new lawnmower as the $25.00 wondermower has died. I'm putting 'er out on the curb this Friday for the trashman.

Saturday crap what did we do? Oh yeah, we took the kids to their 1st July 4th parade in Waukesha. This is, of course, the lamest parade for anyone over the age of 5. The 4th parade is the "kids" parade, the highlight of which is about 500 kids who decorated their bikes (read red white blue streamers) get to ride and wave. My dad also marches with the Park Band. The only reason he marches is because everyone who marches in the parade gets free ice cream bars at the end.

We also got free bars since we were sitting with the Fleishmans (they bought our old house and always help hand out the ice cream so we always get ice cream.) The girls enjoyed listening to grandpa's band play (they did not enjoy the 45 year old guys on a float playing Matchbox 20 cover songs-neither did mommy). Mya was being held by Scott Fleishman (hes about oh I dunno 300+ lbs of Marine) and decided she liked him enough to fall asleep on.

We went to Mack's for 2-4-1 Cheezeburgers with my parents and then went home. I also think we hit Sams Club Sat Night.... All I know is for the past 3 days, Malinda doesnt want to sleep. She wakes up about an hour after we put her down and cries. She has been up till like 11 for the past 3 nights. She wakes up with these terrified screams.

Of course, last night (you know the night we can't sleep in the next AM) she slept like a baby (haha).

Sunday (Happy 4th) I felt like shit so I attempted to not move all day. I watched the Nathan's Hot Dog Contest on TV and puked watching that Japaneese guy eat 53 1/2 hot dogs in 12 min.

Monday we took the kids to Denny's for breakfast and had Goldfish Crackers and Mashed Potatoes off the kids menu-whoo hoo.

Dale and I also played innumerable games of Chrononauts and Pirates of the Spanish main over the weekend. (Thanks to Mall Dull for the 411 on Chrononauts, way way fun game). This week I have an Ultrasound for the baby on Thurs, Blood tests, mediation on Thursday afternoon and a meeting with my atty on Wed night. Fun and Joy.
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I guess its been near perfect weather lately...mid 80s and breezy.....We have no real plans for this weekend, we may go to August's party at the lake on saturday, weather permitting...we are also going to game on Sunday (Mark permitting)...

Today has been a brilliant morning for morning sickness, remind me NOT to walk through that alley to work anymore. The sight of 3 dead birds plus the smell of unpicked up garbage made me have some fun walking and puking for the length of the alley-yuck and yech.
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Ok...1st things 1st....This is from Derek in Japan...apparantly this picture doesnt do the size of this fucker justice....

Back to my Ohio adventure....I enjoyed the con....had fun running MW....the Nationals were pretty good...its amazing how many people will cheat just to win a tiny plastic toy. Big fucking losers those guys....Mostly the players were good guys (I can say that since the only girl in the tourney dropped out) who were generally happy to play....a majority of the final 8 were kind of jags....please also dont get me started on the guy who won the whole thing....Not enough words in english to describe this donkey!

I did enjoy hanging with the envoys who ran the event with me, Josh, Matt, Joe, Joel, and Nick (also Rain and Matt (who reminds me of Finco in a good way...)

On Sunday I took it easy (I forgot how much your feet hurt when you walk on then 8+ hours a day) and ran some Mechhunter events, its a quick play of mechwarrior using a heroclix map and a booster..,its a very sneeky way to get people to buy boosters and keep on buying....Both Dale and Nick got some nice figures from playing this....

I also can't say enough how nice the Enjoy swag was....I have way too many figures now to know what to do with them!!!

On another note, baby #3 (and we are mostly sure its only one this time...getting an U/s soon) is due on January 13, 2005.....Lucky me.
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We had an earthquake last night here 4.5 on the richter scale at 1:11am...I slept right through it... Thus I really can sleep through an earthquake
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Hazah! I am back home from Ohio! The lawn across the damn street was bulldozed-yippie! We had an excellent time at Nationals. On Thurs we walked around, saw the con-stood in line at the WK booth to get our stuff-I went to the envoy rewards dinner (yum) and signed up to work nationals. That was a very good idea, I had fun with the Approved Play Lead, Matt and the Rules Arb for MW, Rain...Dale went 6-4 and Nick went 8-2 (was #10 in the nation, good job Nick) beating last years National Champion.

I also got a level 2 battlemaster bump which was very nice. I have to do some cleaning around the house, so I'll post more later (incl. pictures) plus I feel yucky from driving, lack of sleep, etc....Mail me!

Those Crazy People in Japan

Girl shoves little boy off building to hide video arcade visits



A 13-year-old girl who pushed a 5-year-old off the edge of a Tokyo building because she didn't want him to tell her mother she had been to a video arcade has been taken into custody, police said.
Mainichi Shimbun

The 5-year-old was pushed from this apartment block in Tokyo's Shinjuku-ku.

Miraculously, the 5-year-old survived the 11-meter fall with only light injuries after the branches of a tree cushioned his fall and he landed on shrubbery beneath the building, located in the Takadanobaba district of Tokyo's Shinjuku-ku

The 13-year-old said she regretted what she had done.

"I didn't want him to tell my mother that I was going to the video arcade. I had him sit on the railing of the stair landing and pushed him off. I feel bad about what I did," police quoted the 13-year-old as saying.

Because of her age, the girl cannot be prosecuted. She has been referred to a Tokyo child consultation center.

Investigators said the girl led the boy, Sun Jizu, who is of Chinese nationality, to a spot between the fourth and fifth floors of an apartment block at about 4:40 p.m. on Tuesday, and pushed him off.

The boy fell onto shrubbery below. As he was falling the branches of a camphor tree appeared to have cushioned his fall, police said. He reportedly suffered scratches as he fell.

Police said Jizu's 33-year-old mother had taken him to a pachinko parlor at about noon on Tuesday, and he had been playing by himself at a video arcade next to the pachinko parlor.

At about 3 p.m. the girl came to play at the arcade and said to the boy, "What are you doing at the arcade?"

Jizu reportedly replied, saying, "You always come here too. I'm going to tell your mom."

Because the girl had been told not to come to the arcade, she reportedly decided to push the boy off the edge of the apartment block to "shut him up."

The girl had reportedly met Jizu several times before at the arcade, and they knew each other well.

At about 4 p.m. on Tuesday, the girl led Jizu by the hand to an apartment block about 1 kilometer from the arcade, and they climbed the stairs on the outside of the building together, police said.

When they reached the space between the fourth and fifth floors, the girl said to him, "Why don't you climb up onto the fence?" After making him sit on the fence, she reportedly pushed him off.

Soon after the incident, the girl approached the head of a dry-cleaning store nearby and said, "A boy about 5 years old has fallen from the fifth floor," before going home.

Police said the girl told them she had lent Jizu money in the past but he had not returned it. "I had lent him money but he didn't give it back. From a while back I had thought he was cheeky," she was quoted as saying.

Speaking at a news conference on Friday, an official from the child consultation center that received the girl said the center had received a report about the girl in the past from her school. The school reportedly told the center that the girl found it hard to form relationships with those around her and that she occasionally caused trouble. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, June 23, 2004)

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We found Mustard Man!"
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Milwaukee's "Rhythm Chicken" hops around the world
By Molly Snyder Edler

Long before "flash mobs" made it fashionable to create public diversions, a Milwaukee man -- who goes by the name "Rhythm Chicken" -- started spontaneously playing the drums on street corners, wearing a ridiculously large bunny head.

"There's something totally absurd about a street musician hauling a drum set around," he says.

But even more absurd is a man masquerading as a bunny who calls himself a chicken. Or is it?

Rhythm Chicken has performed all over Milwaukee - from East Side street corners to festivals to outside rock show venues - as well as in Door County, Green Bay, Indiana, Chicago, the Twin Cities, Kansas City, California and once at a "men's drinking day" in Germany.

"I prefer to perform in places where it's the least expected. Sometimes I just drive around until I see two people sitting and I'll set up (my drum kit) right in front of them, just because it's so out of the ordinary," he says.

Rhythm Chicken's favorite public event is the South Shore Frolics, where every year he rides in the parade on the Rush-Mor Records float.

"To Rhythm Chicken, South Shore Frolics is better than Christmas," he says.

Four years ago, someone who worked for the Brewers spotted Rhythm Chicken in the parade, and later hired him to perform at a home game. Footage of the Rhythm Chicken also regularly appeared on the scoreboard, but the organization changed his name to "Rally Rabbit."

"They said the fans wouldn't understand why I was called 'Rhythm Chicken' and wearing a bunny head," he says. "I later went to Poland for a year, and when I returned, they had gotten a Disney-fied version of Rhythm Chicken, named him 'Rally Rabbit' and I have not heard anything from them since."

Rhythm Chicken's usual routine is to stake out a spot, set up his drums and play for five or 10 minutes before anyone gets angry or annoyed. Sometimes, tension is unavoidable, like the time he started drumming in front of a Minneapolis apartment and a tenant was trying to sleep.

"He threatened to dump water on my head if I didn't stop. He was even holding a bucket of water out the window," he says.

The police have given Rhythm Chicken many warnings but never a ticket. "The police don't know what to do. They usually just tell me to stop or to move along," he says.

Coincidentally, Rhythm Chicken's existence began with a crime. Rhythm Chicken stole the bunny head from work, and even though most of the employees knew who did it and thought it was funny, one co-worker took offense. To avoid conflict, Rhythm Chicken bought the co-worker a new bunny head for $80.

"I gave them the brand new one and I got to keep the really stupid-looking one," he says.

Rhythm Chicken started his gig in 1999 when his punk rock band broke up after many years together. "The best part of being a one-man band is it never has to break up," he says.

But there's another reason why he continues his white meat music-making.

"I just want to make people smile. Some people are way too into the daily drudgery of their job," he says.

Although he calls Milwaukee his home, Rhythm Chicken often flies the coop. He spends summers working in Door County and recently went to Poland for a yearlong vacation.

"A lot of people thought Rhythm Chicken was dead," he says.

But Rhythm Chicken has no intention of permanently moving from Milwaukee or ending his public performance career, at least for now. "Someday I might burn the head in a ritualistic ceremony," he says.

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This is by far the worst and most disturbing picture I have ever seen. That being said to not wash your hair for 6 years makes me want to puke....or else the morning sickness makes me want to puke-one of the two.


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As promised here are some new pictures of the kids. Malinda is on the front lawn of the capital building in Madison, Mya is trying to cammo herself as a cow with Auntie Robin, and the kids are at the zoo trying to see who is bigger, themselves or a baby orangutan?



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My neighbors and their shitty weeds: The city said they have the order to cut the lawn with the maintenance department. It's all been signed. Just need the weather to clear and they will cut the lawn. They probably will only be able to cut it when the weeds grow big again - will see when they get to it. At least the paperwork is in order....

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It was a long and sleepy weekend. Friday we did something.....my dad cut on the trees in the yard and I think we watched Secondhand Lions (which was really good). Saturday we had a LONG day. We staretd out by going to Mickey's Dairy Bar in Madison to get scramblers and meet Breezy to say Hi!

We then went to the farmers market (pictures coming asap) and walked around with Robin and Jason...listened to 10,000 political/jesus will save your soul from the damnation of hell speeches as we walked around. Bought organic green beans, strawberries (extra good), some breads (pumpkin and banana) and cheese curds (extra squeeky). The girls got to pet cows (it was dairy day) and eat hot cheese bread that Auntie Robin bought.

The drive home sucked as Mya had a hissy fit and we had to pull over in dodgeville for cuddle/bottle time. Then we watched two movies Sat, Holes (which was great!) and Freddy vs. Jason which was horrible! My parents came over as well to say Hi and drop off their lawnmower as our $20.00 wondermower finally crapped out on us.

Sunday we mowed the lawn and took the girls swimming at Westwood. They had fun in the big pool and the small pool. Malinda is very possessive off her rubber bouncy balls-FYI. We then went over to my parents house for fathers day, watched Golf and A Knights Tale, ate Beef Stew outside. Went home late and I watched a double feature (IE me flipping back and forth) between Inside the Actors Studio 10 year special and Zoolander....3 days till Ohio!
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My neighborhood saga goes on...update on the crazy grass house, the city didnt want (and still hasnt) to mow the lawn because they didnt want to get sued for tresspassing! (even though the house has been vacant for months!), two days ago at dinnertime there were no less than 2 cop cars, 2 fire trucks and an ambulance next door at my neighbors house (they are quite elderly, I think either katie or Ray got taken to the hospital?), then this morning across the street at the Reed's (the family that has 2 sets of twins plus a singleton) there were two cop cars with lights on (I have NO idea why-but no one came out in handcuffs!) I'm wondering what's next, Hazmat?
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I also forgot to mention but my friend Shannen has a blog now, you can check that out at Shannon's Blog
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Watched a pretty OK movie last night, "Win a date with Tad Hamilton." It didnt suck and was pretty funny, it also helped that Topher Grace was the star and I really like him!

Girls decided this AM that they no longer want to eat a bottle before daycare, they want to try and bite everyone.

It rained this AM which sucked since the whole office had to dress nice for tonights board meeting, which entails Larry giving a speech and us getting a cookie at the WAC, or something.

Im sneeking a cup of Oolong Tea (naughty) but I have fallen asleep 2x at my desk and that isnt really ok.

Off to the farmers market in Madison on saturday with Robin, Breezy and the family, we also get to watch "Holes" and "Secondhand Lion's" tonight
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Ran MW last night. Had two jags there that I had never played against before. One guy was so loud Mya couldnt sleep (usually the girls can sleep through a war) so she was up till 9pm....and crabby. One guy was too busy 1: asking silly rules questions that even I know the answer to and 2: bitching about how "stupid" the rules are and how he quit playing for this reason etc....

I seriously hope these guys never show up again....our core group are nice and most importantly quiet people. These guys were incredible fuck ups. They showed up late, took like eons to build an army and bitched that I didnt give them extra time....arg.

Today I get to take myself out to lunch and I am debating on what to eat as I'm not really hungry for anything in specific...maybe I'll walk down to the public house....
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I went down to Boarders for lunch and bought a plethora of kids books. One of them is fuzzy and brown and is shaped like a monkey and is about-monkies. Then their is a bunny shaped book which when you pull its tale scoots all over the floor, and then two other books which make silly crinkly noises when you touch them. I also had a field day reading the Joss Weadon scribed X-Men comic as well.
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Had every intention of going to the gym last night after work. I felt like doo-doo afterwork and went home and had a much needed 40 min rest before picking up the girls at daycare. Apparantly, Mya attempted t o crawl into Morgan's (who is about 4 mo old?) carseat on top of her to try and go home with Morgan and her dad. Nice, my kid is already trying to escape me!

The grandparents came over and played with the kids for 45 min or so and then we put them to bed with no crying or waking up-yippie!

Dale actually got to play his PS2 game (something about a robot freedom fighter?) and I fell asleep reading my biography of Billy Wilder-so I got more sleep than I usually do.

COUNTDOWN TO OHIO!! WE LEAVE IN 9 DAYS! You can see what I plan on doing for 4 days by checking here Origins
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Picture of the day....why doesnt everyone own a wombat?


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A PICTURE OF ME AT THE ZOO:

ZOO PHOTO
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This is what we did this weekend: On Friday I had my Twins Club meeting, afterwards, Gretchen, Barb, Terri, Erin, and this other lady who used to be in the club but isnt now and I forget her name, went to Gretchen's Uncle's coffee shop (downtown Milwaukee, next to Hannon's) to chat. Remind me never to bring up religion in mixed company that I don't know well.

The lady whos name i dont know (here after referred as "lady") has 5 kids (in 5 years) and her husband was going to be ordained but wasnt and so is now just a deacon or whatever at the lutheran church they go to. We got around to discussing baptism and how we just got our kids done to please our parents etc... The lady apparantly is very devout about her faith and went into this whole "why did you baptise your kids if you dont believe etc.." riff. I also got the "well do you believe in god" riff.

I didnt bring it up because I could tell she was getting really pissed but my main problem with organized religion is that YOU (meaning the not me) have to be "right" about your (insert religion name here) faith. YOU then need to browbeat, argue, pamphlet ME showing me how right YOU are.

Arg.

I got home around 11 and crashed.

Saturday we took the girls to the zoo for a twins outting and didnt run into anyone but it was fun for 2 hours or so, the girls liked the monkeys as they came right up to the window to watch the girls.

Sunday my parents took the girls all afternoon to graduation parties. We went to the Home Depot for supplies and managed to sand and paint the new wall, take the stickers off the new door, scrape more wallpaper off the bathroom, go to the store and get home to kids who hadnt eaten since 11am (it was now like 4:30) except for fruit at the parties..we gave the girls a bath (Malinda has a bad diaper rash) and they were out for the night by 6pmish.

Mya kept waking up and wanting to be cuddled, get a bottle etc...Malinda slept straight through till her new wake up time (thanks kid) 4:15am. I am a zombie today.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIE FORD-MOODY!!!
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THE GREATEST GIFT EVER...(HINT HINT)

By Glenn Abel

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - All 45 episodes of the kids-and-critics fave "Pee-wee's Playhouse," including six "lost" installments making their home video debut, are headed for DVD this fall.

 

The shows will be packaged in two box sets, with a separate release for "Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special." A collector's set is due next year, which includes commentary and bonus materials from Paul Reubens (news), star and creator of the series.


"I am extremely pleased that 'Pee-wee's Playhouse' will be available on DVD," Reubens said, "The digital medium affords the shows a look that was not possible when they were originally broadcast or made available on VHS in the 1980s and '90s."


The show ran on CBS from 1986 to 1991, the year that Reubens was arrested for indecent exposure at a Florida porn theater, and picked up 22 Emmys. Electronic rock pioneer Todd Rundgren (news) did the theme song and music for many of the episodes.


Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
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Also watched 3 movies this weekend, "Kill Bill V. 1"-4 outta 5 stars, "Big Fish" 5 outta five ( l really liked this movie) and we also rented "Slapshot" which was funny sometimes 3 outta 5, maybe if i cared about hockey????
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Harry Potter, 3 outta 5 stars-Just wasnt long enough...and they left out a few important things from the book (like Lupin and co made the map and Harry's dad was a stag when he transformed etc..) all and all it was good...maybe I just need to see it on DVD.

Saturday we had picture day and then went to watch a baseball game that my brother coached (they lost). Sunday we went to Jeff and Kristie's to game. Girls have colds and so do I.

The pictures have been disabled while I argue with my picture hosting service. arg.
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I have a headache.
I am going to see Harry Potter tonight If i can stay awake.

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The kids refuse to sleep unless we rock them to sleep. I guess starting next week we will have to endure a week of crying and baby benedryl.

Dale played MW against his nationals army last night and I read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban last night for the 10th time (to prepare for my Mary Night Out to see the movie at 5:15 tomorrow) and started on book 5 for shits and giggles.

I had my review last night at work and I get re-reviewed in 45 days (I think I may move up here to a new title-I dunno)

Gaming this Sunday at Jeffs....Pictures This saturday and then watching Uncle Bucko coach the West JV team if its nice out.
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for all my twin buddies out there:
WISCONSIN TWINS FESTIVAL:

wisconsin holds its own twin festival in Cassville, WI. Cassville is one of the oldest towns in WI, located in the SW corner of the state right on the banks of the Mississippi. The festival celebrates biological twins and multiple births!

This year the festival is scheduled for July 17th. Activities include food, a carnival, games, boat rides, a parade, music, fireworks, and much more!

For info contact Kathleeen Polich at 608-725-5855 or email her at twinorama53806@yahoo.com. Spend a day with your twins and many others enjoying a beautiful WI day!

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If you would like to see more of Craig's wedding pictures from the UN ceremony (plus nice shots of the statue of liberty) check out
craigs wedding pictures


and ill put up a nice picture of my favorite lawyer and his new bride!



are'nt they cute?!
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Also here is a picture of Mya with Breezy.


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AS PROMISED THIS IS CRAIG'S NEW WIFE :)

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It was not a long enough weekend. It rained too damn much (although congrats to the Mierzwa's who had nice weather for their wedding-i'll try to post a link to a picture here in a few days), I was very tired all weekend and sick most of the time.

Friday we stayed in with the kids-Saturday we went to Sam's club and the mall (note to self, do not go to Sams Club on a saturday when its raining no matter how many tasty free samples are offered.)-Sunday went to my aunts house for my cousin Matt/Pauls graduation (college and HS), Monday we were going to go to Mike's annual BBQ, but it was raining and cold and I didnt want to drive to tosa to hang at mikes house with the girls-so we spent a fun afternoon @ the Reynolds playing with Kieran who is a walkin' machine!

Today I have some calls to make and I will have some interesting news for everyone next week....
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CONRATS TO CRAIG AND MIHOKO WHO ARE GETTING MARRIED AT THE UN ON MONDAY :-)-HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND EVERYONE, HOPE TO SEE YOU AT THE POND ON MONDAY (WEATHER PERMITTING)
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Laura fixed the comments! Yeah Laura!
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LUNCH THIS AFTERNOON AT JOEY BUONA'S PIZZA KITCHEN-YUM YUM. HAVE LEFTOVERS FOR DINNER! TONIGHT WILL WATCH EITHER BILLY ELLIOT OR GANGS OF NEW YORK ON DVD-OR MY NEW EERIE, INDIANA DVD WHICH MAKES ME MUCHO HAPPY....ALSO GOT BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER SEASON 6 LAST NIGHT, SO I HAVE ALL THAT TO GO THROUGH (ONLY ONE MORE SEASON TO GO *SNIFF*)

THIS MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND WE HAVE A GRADUATION PARTY TO GO TO ON SUNDAY AND MIKES ANNUAL B-DAY BASH FOR HIM AND DAN ON MONDAY-WHICH WE MAY GO TO (WEATHER PERMITTING)
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neverending house saga: the house across the street is in forclosure and according to the city the people were very close to being evicted and so they up and left in the middle of the night. The city is working with the bank to make them maintain the property! what the hell!
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Mr. Poytinger Retires
Posted: 05/09/2004
Please join us in honoring Mr. Poytinger as we salute his thirty-three years of dedicated service to Music Education in the Waukesha Community.

Mr. Poytinger received both Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Music Education degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He has been a member of the music faculty in the School District of Waukesha since 1971. His teaching experience includes Director of Bands--South High School -- Central Campus 1971-74, Director of Bands -- North High School 1974-84, and K-12 Music Department Chairman 1984 -- present. In addition he has been a member of the band staff at West High School since 1993. During the time he has served as Department Chairman the music department has grown from 26 full and part-time faculty to 45 full-time staff members who provide music instruction to approximately 9,500 district students. At Waukesha West High School, Mr. Poytinger is a member of the marching band staff, and he is conductor of the Silver Concert Band.

Michael Poytinger has enjoyed a successful and rewarding career as a music teacher and department chair in the School District of Waukesha. Thanks to his leadership, insight, determination and tremendous dedication, the music program in the Waukesha School system is regarded by many to be the most successful and comprehensive in the entire State of Wisconsin. Although he will be retiring from the school district at the end of the 2003-2004 school year, the band staff at West will be asking for his assistance and expertise for many years to come.
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I LIVE NEXT TO A SLUM!

According to Julie Ford-Moody (she who knows all): I just went on the waukesha deed web page and your neighbors haven't paid
their 2003 taxes either...

just an fyi

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Odd Neighborhood Fact: Dateline Waukesha:

Our neighbors across the street have moved out and abandoned their house at 2700 Algoma Terrace. They have knee high grass/weeds, an uncovered full swimming pool (read breeding ground for disease ridden mosquitoes), and a dog shit covered backyard (they had a huge golden lab). I guess the house has been empty for months (?). My mom said "you can call the city and they will at least cut the grass and charge the owners on their p-tax bill." OK. So I call the city Building Deparment this AM and give them an address, 2702 Algoma Terr. The lady says "do you mean 2700?" I said, "sure, well why not, the house next to it is 2704.." She says "well we know that house, we have had numerous complaints and we are "working on the problem."

Well what the fuck does that mean??? How many people have to complain in my nice-reasonably upper middle class neighborhood?

This house is so bad that at the reunion this weekend, this guy Dale hadn't seen in 10 years knew exactly where we lived because he said "oh you live across the street from the dogshitgrass house." Thats fucking weak man.
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COMMENTS HAVE BEEN DISABLED WHILE I WORK OUT SOME KINKS WITH THE NEW TEMPLATE.

LOVE
MARY
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STILL RECOVERING FROM LACK OF SLEEP-I HAVE BEEN MONDO TIRED LATELY. DID ONE ROUND OF MW LAST NIGHT-NEW GUY SHOWED UP. DID SOME CLEANING OF KITCHEN (JOY). GIRLS TO GRANDMA'S TONIGHT SO WILL FINISH SOME HOUSEWORK AND MAYBE CHECK MY EMAIL FOR THE 1ST TIME IN A WEEK OR SO (WOW).

Other than that, I got nothing for today other than I passed out last night and woke up at 5:15 feeling that I hadnt slept at all.
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well according to Mikey, Dylan got his return ticket comped back home from the airline (thats good!) which I'm sure Dan didnt know when he called me on Sunday-at least I feel better about that....I called Dylan and left him a message so hopefully his job situation is A-OK. This is like the best job he's ever had that I can remember and I dont want him to f it up. So thanks for the update mike-yer off my shit list.
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LONG WEEKEND. I forgot how tiring it is to keep up with Dylan. He stayed at our house but didnt sleep there. The reunion was fun until the end when Dylan got his drink on, had an argument with dale and we left the bar (nice place actually) around 2:30....I got a call from Mikey around god knows when saying they would stop by to pick up his stuff, so I stayed up even later waiting for people to show up that never did- I guess Dylan showed up around 6:45am or something (thanks to Matt and Mark for dropping him off)...he was of course still drunk and seemed to think it was 4:30 am...he packed up his stuff and proceeded to lay down to sleep. I hauled his ass out of bed and into the car as we had to go to the airport.

Got him there in time and dropped his way way drunk arse off at the terminal.

Went home, canceled gaming as Dale had a migraine and I had 2 hours of sleep. Around 2 o clock the phone calls started from texas as it appears Dylan was so drunk that he passed out in a chair at the terminal and missed his flight. Dan called me at 3:30 saying that Dylan had just woken up from being passed out and called home.

It cost 600.00 to buy a new one way ticket home, and most likely Dylan will lose the job over this as he had to work at like 2pm.

So props to everyone who did'nt help Dale and I in getting Dylan to leave the bar at the end of the night when he should have left; and tahnks for taking him to whereever he was after the bar to drink some more, you know that fucking helped alot.

Thanks for making me look like an ass when I promised the Pedens I would make sure he came home on time.

This is my big rant. Im crabby, I'm suffering from lack of sleep and illness-The kids are sick and I'm pissed off at everybody.. Once I say my big, Fuck you very much I should feel better. There I feel better.

And I will be calling the Dylan and giving him hell too....

The party for my dad on Sunday night was very nice. It was a nice turnout. Took a sick day yesterday as I felt like hell.
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Hooray for Julie Ford Moody she has her own blog (which is nice and polkadotty!)
Visit her at
http://alljmoodys.blogspot.com
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Picked up Dylan last night, his flight was an hour late so we had to fight traffic pretty hard core coming in from the airport. Got some sausages and soda and grilled outside. Chatted with Jeff, Dale, Dylan, Tommy S and his wife Lia. Later on Mikey, Julie, and Dan showed up (Muench was driving back from Wausau) and took Dylan out, I assume to meet Matt and his wife.

Dylan never came home last night so I assume he's at Dan and Mike's now. Dr's appointment for the kids later this afternoon. Tonight I just want to sit at home and not move, I'm so tired!

The SBC workers are striking around the corner from where I work. Good Luck in those contract negotiations guys!
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Picked up Dylan last night, his flight was an hour late so we had to fight traffic pretty hard core coming in from the airport. Got some sausages and soda and grilled outside. Chatted with Jeff, Dale, Dylan, Tommy S and his wife Lia. Later on Mikey, Julie, and Dan showed up (Muench was driving back from Wausau) and took Dylan out, I assume to meet Matt and his wife.

Dylan never came home last night so I assume he's at Dan and Mike's now. Dr's appointment for the kids later this afternoon. Tonight I just want to sit at home and not move, I'm so tired!

The SBC workers are striking around the corner from where I work. Good Luck in those contract negotiations guys!
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It is a rainy crappy day. I learned today that because of all the rain we have had this month the city of Milwaukee has dumped 1.5 BILLION gallons of raw sewage into Lake Michigan. Remind me that I do not want to go swimming in the lake like, ever......ewww

Mya woke up at 2:30 am so I'm once again suffering from lack of sleep

Also learned today that Dale's Grandma on his dad's side has breast cancer and will need a breast removed. :( His Grandma is 83 but other than this she's pretty healthy. She won't need chemo or anything- Get Well Soon Grandma!

I have a facial appointment at lunch so I am looking forward to a 45 min catnap at Rouge! Picking up Dylan tonight so there will be much running around.
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DYLAN IS COMING TO TOWN!!!!!!!!! Dylan will be here Thursday Night at 3:20. Everyone is invited to our house Thursday night anytime after 6pm for grilled pork products on the grill and soda/beer and to chat with the Dylan. He will also be making an appearance at his HS reunion this weekend Saturday Night at Buck Bradleys in Milwaukee. See ya!
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Two things: 1. I am a winner this AM.. I won a signed copy of Frank Abignale's book "The Art of the Steal" from the conference I attended last week.

2. Congrats to all the samesexers in Mass. who are legally getting hitched this week. Good for you, now start paying the marriage tax like the rest of us.
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Holy heck was it a busy-arse weekend. Lets see, The band concert was really nice on Thursday-The piece that Rick wrote for my grandpa was very nice....The bands did a great job playing! The girls behaved well too!

Friday the girls spent with grandma-Friday night I had my Twins Group Meeting-I am in charge of fundraising for next year! I now have to scrounge some GOOD fundraisers and organize a Brewers Trip! Malinda stayed home with dad and had a crying/screaming fit (more on that later) and Mya went out for a fish fry with my parents.

Saturday morning Malinda woke up with red spots in her eyes and her face was all blotchy-went to the Dr. It appears her crying/screaming fit broke blood vessels in her eyes and face. Silly girly! She got a strep test (negative) and bloodwork (normal) so thats all good. Saturday afternoon we went to Grandmas and Grandma and Grandpa watched the girls overnight. Mom and Dad had a nice night to themselves. We also got to go to the store late late that night.

Sunday Dale mowed the lawn in the Am while I went to pick them up from the inlaws-we then went swimming later in the afternoon at Westwood with Grandma while Dale finished the lawn, and did some edging and cleaned the grill.

We stopped up at West to see the MB practice. Then we grilled out sausages and ate outside while the girls played on the grass.

Last night no one wanted to sleep (especially MYA!) because MYA is cutting tooth #2!!!!!!

This AM they decided to wake up at 4:30 am so I'm surviving only on like 5 hours sleep and a large Breakfast Blend from Stone Creek Coffee.

MW on Tuesday night, nothing for the rest of the week until Saturday which is Dale's reunion down here in Milwaukee. I'm sure that will be-interesting.

Today's quote: "Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared"-Eddie Rickenbacher
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Anyone that would like to attend my Dad's last Band Concert at West before he retires, where they are playing a piece my family had commissioned for my Grandfather (he died almost 3 years ago), is welcome to attend Waukesha West High School tonight at 7pm. :)
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GREATEST-DVD-PURCHASE-EVER. They have a dvd with 4 episodes of my all time favorite TV show (next to The Greatest American Hero, Muppet Show, and Twin Peaks) Eerie, Indiana! Yessss! Nicest 6.99 Ive ever spent.
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Mya broke through with her 1st tooth today! Hooray for Mya. She's one step away from eating apples and whatnot. :)
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Yea fixed code, look at me I'm a freaking Haxor. Bah.

Spent last night at Hobbytown with Dale, Scott and Malinda.....Took off early as the baby was tired....went home earlier than usual, got Malinda to sleep (perhaps the newness of sleeping in Mya's crib vs her own) and managed to catch the last 45 in of my TV show while I went through a weeks worth of daycare forms etc....and managed to get them in some sort of order (ie not in a nuclear pile on the floor/table/counter/shelf).

Dale and I then went nuts washing the bottles/dishes/stove and filling up tomorrows (today) bottles for daycare....

Managed to also get a book read (One for the Money by Janet Evanovich) and try to crack out a few chapters of Al Frankin (while I cracked up)

Tonight Dale is getting his hair cut by Jen (and maybe colored...who knows?!) while Mya and I have some Mommy and Me time...if its nice, I think a walk to the park for some swingtime is in order.

we have no less than 5 retirement parties to attend in the next 3 weeks. arg!
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bah
messed up my html code with the comments now I have to backtrack to see where i mucked up. I hate having to do that.

note to self, diaper genie smells like azz.
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Had a nice lunch with Muench....have Mikey's annual shindig on Memorial day to look fwd to...also have to sell mikeys mechs....(hope mark remembers to bring um to jeffs next time he stops by!) Had fun sitting out on the terrace watching people canoe the river!
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Well arent I loving the new blogger which actually works better on this Mac I have at work...I can use the easy post options etc...yippie for me. Busy Sunday...Mall for group pictures with the girls (turned out well), girls to grandmas for the afternoon, hung out with Dustin for the afternoon (francis was Busy or something....)

Lunch with Muench today, I'm thinking John Hawk's Pub http://www.johnhawkspub.com for Fish and Chips...Yum.... Also get to head to the gym tonight for the 1st time in 2 weeks, I plan on hitting the weights and the precor EFX thingymawabbie for a half hour as I laugh my arse off reading "Lies and the Lying Liars...." by Al Frankin....cracking my shite up...seriously.... Other than that no plans for today other than watching ABC butcher one of my all time fav. kids books "A wrinkle in Time."
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hola mis chickas and chickos...googled for the hell of it tonight and low and behold i popped into a webblog of an old pal....check out which is run by an old old pal, Damon Payne...We can safely say that without the existence of one Damon Payne we would have checked into the "throwing a major temper tantrum" bin sometime in 1994-1995.

It appears that he is the proud parent of one small and walking, Brooke. Why does everyone I know give birth to girlchildren? Who the hell is going to marry my daughters?

Anywho it appears several old faces also post on there every now and again... which is like old home week or something....so hey damon if he pops by.

Watched another Netflix Hugh Grant movie tonight, Love Actually-It was brittish and thats all. We have Wallace and Grommit and "Dickie Roberts" coming next week. Mona lisa Smile sucks more as it sinks in...off to read a book....

Oh for those that asked I have read in the last week:

The Smiths and beyond, 2 Mysteries by Joanne Pence, Both books by Anne Brasheries "The Summer of the Traveling Pants" and Second Summer of the Sisterhood". starting on a Rita Mae Brown mystery and at the same time Ed Sikons seminal work "on sunset blvd" which is the bio of Billy Wilder, the director. Chow-Chow. meb
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Personal note to Miniksan if he drops by...: They are opening a new sushi restaurant around the corner from where I work (so its like right around the corner from the Pfister going west towards grand ave on Milwaukee (i think the cross street is milwaukee, either that or Michigan....whatever) called (and I shit you not) SAKI TUMI.

I'm gearing up to have lunch there when it opens but im 100% sure the food will not be as good as : A: Nobu, B: Morimoto's or C: and sushi you could get over there in Japan.... and Im also reasonably sure there will be no uni on the menu...
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Well thanks to Kristy for informing us of the birth of the new addition to the kid-brood! Welcome Olivia, daughter of Jim and Crystal! Yippie for them!!!! :)
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I WENT TO A CONFERENCE GIVEN BY US BANK YESTERDAY ABOUT FRAUD. THE GUEST SPEAKER WAS FRANK ABIGNALE (HIS LIFE STORY WAS FICTIONALIZED IN "CATCH ME IF YOU CAN" WITH LEONARDO DICAPRIO) HE WAS AN EXCELLENT SPEAKER....ITS UNREAL HOW EASY IT IS TO FORGE CHECKS AND TECHNOLOGY HAS ONLY MADE IT EASIER. I HAD A GOOD TIME LISTENING TO HIM SPEAK.

AFTER THE CONFERENCE I TOOK MYSELF OUT FOR LUNCH AT JOHN HAWKS PUB HTTP://WWW.JOHNHAWKSPUB.COM AND HAD FISH AND CHIPS (VERY VERY TASTY!)

WATCHED THE 3RD TO LAST ANGEL LAST NIGHT, WAS BITCHIN GOOD, ALSO WATCHED "MONA LISA SMILE" WHICH DIDNT SUCK AS BAD AS I THOUGHT IT WOULD SUCK. GOD BLESS NETFLIX, WE WATCHED INTOLERABLE CRUELTY LAST WEEKEND AND WE HAVE SCHOOL OF ROCK FOR TONIGHT (I THINK ILL SKIP THE FRIENDS FINALE, WHATEVER....) BEFORE ER COMES ON!

THIS WEEKEND-PICTURES AND GAMING ON SUNDAY AND IM SURE WE HAVE SOMETHING TO DO ON SATURDAY, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT.....:)
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Well fun day today! reconnected with two old coworkers (hey julie Hey shannon) have decided we need to have an ex-ge lunch group-we just need to get minik back from japan (hey mike!) Shannon starts her new job on monday at medical college of wi and julie now works downtown in the treasurers office as a manager-Go Julie! Shannons son Gage will be 1 year old on March 14th and Julies son Jacob is 16 months-how time flys....

still waiting on word from Jim and Crystal to see if their daughter has been born yet....May is a busy ass month, dales 10 year in 3 weeks, picture day, mothers day, gaming day, getting ready for the nationals trip day....sheesh, im sure i can book some sleep time?

wed i get to listen to Frank Abignale speak on Fraud (frank was the subject of "catch me if you can" the leonardo decaprio/tom hanks movie)...that should be cool!
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Had a fun night last night, girls at grandmas-went to the store, dale mowed our crazy overgrown lawn. Did all our laundry (ugh!) and organized my closet and our linen closet. I have been going crazy trying to clean out junk from my house (so I can get the junk from the basement of my parents house (double ugh). New hair cut got many complements!
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The thing I have to get used to at my new company is that being called into the boss/owners office for a quick minute is not a bad thing. From working at a big company I have learned that when you are called in your bosses office it means you will get yelled at. Here, I got called in this AM for my boss (aka the president/owner of the company) to sit down with me for a sec to tell me how glad he is that they hired me and found me and how great its been to have me here etc...

Shit like that is nice. I'm so used to being beaten down and yelled at at the big company that I'm always nervous when someone calls me into their office. So its nice to have not to be freaked when your boss wants to chat with you for a quick second. :)

and then I got hollared at yesterday for leaving at 3:30 to get a haircut...so I guess it all evens out! Mail me!

Got my hair cut VERY short last night. Its now chin length and has blonde and bright crazy red highlights-kudos to Jen on the terriffic job....also congrats on the new pug puppy (which I got to cuddle with as I got snipped) Shelby!!
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Also forgot to mention, If Laura stops and checks in I mailed you a Organic Style Magazine and also a easter picture of the girls (that I put your old address on and got returned....)
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Spent a weekend in Door County, WI (sans kiddies) with my company. Dale and I drove to washington island (took a 30 min ferry ride) and drove around for a while (nothing was open yet!) We went a climbed a huge lookout tower and then took the ferry back.

We had a great dinner at C&C Supper Club with my boss Kristin, her husband Ken, and my future boss (as he will take over the company from his dad) Mike and his wife Kiera-it was fun! On Saturday night after dinner we went swimming in the 24 hour indoor pool! Sunday we had brunch with Mike and Kiera and Larry and Gail (larry currently owns the company! We drove back home, stopped at the outlet mall in Oshkosh (bought some summer outfits for the girls) and picked the kids up....Spent yesterday watching "Master and Commander, far side of the world" *(my rating-ih, just OK) and turned in early (after pounding out 2 loads of laundry and an hour or so of FF X2.)

This week I am getting a foot and a half of my hair cut off, colored etc....plus we have MW tomorrow night. see ya!
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Check out Laura's webpage to see pictures of the girls uploaded to her site!!
www.justlaura.com
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Been crazy busy! Had a fun easter...took girls to the park for swing time on Goodfriday, they had fun being pushed on the swings by a couple of baby crazy 5 year olds. Minda likes to give everyone kisses and gets mad when she cant give kisses to her favorite teachers at day care.

Dale and I are looking forward to our vacation in door county next week. :)

Happy late birthday wishes to Mark Schanen and thanks to Renee for the kick ass CD's and Tee shirt!
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have been really busy the past few weeks....have been swimming with the girls every thursday night, they seem to like it quite alot....have been doing some spring cleaning around the house...the siding is now up, and dale and his dad put on our storm door saturday....I now have a door for the cat to look out of!

We have about 10 pounds of junk from the siding and dead leaves to rake up (like i will have time to do that!) sometime this week.....

got a Cd care package from Renee (thank you hon!) with the new ani cd and 2 mix cd's (very very good music) and a tee shirt from a band called "mary"

We dont have any big easter plans, maybe going to dales moms house for ham and fun with robin.....we have to do easter pictures this saturday, so i have that stressfilled puke/cry fest to look forward to.

if you want to see how big the girls are getting heres a link to some pictures! Enjoy! http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b370103c25ca Mail me!

OK! We went to Jim and Crystals BBQ Baby Shower today and CONGRATS to Gary and Julie as they are pregnant with #1 (Gary also got his new Harley as well!). Visited with Jason, Jamon, Scott and his family, Mikey, Jim, Crystal, Julie, Gary, and Brian L!

Girls had a nice time over at their place which is 100% different from 3 years ago when I was there!

I can hear Malinda on the monitar and she doesnt want to go to sleep-silly baby!
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Today is jeans day at work and for the rest of the week and monday! yeah! Craig is coming to town next week wed for dinner with kristin and I @ Mr. B's! I bought a table from work for dales mechs, double yeah and its Jim and Crystals baby (cookout) shower on Saturday!
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Hey. Have been busy and sick. The girls have coughs and so that is making life happy fun fun for us. Mya wakes herself up coughing, Malinda wakes herself up when she rolls over. Its interesting.

Heard from derek in Japan-hes doing well-hes there till Jan '05!

My atty friend Craig is coming out next week from NYC to visit, I have to find an excellent place (read expensive) to eat. Any suggestions for restaurants are welcome.
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Congrats to laura on her new haircut, go on over to her blog to see the photo! LaUrA Busy week as always, work work work. Meeting the board of directors this Thursday before swim class. I am in an NCAA pool at work with my husband and brother, wish me luck!
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Ok, I am too busy to blog. The kids and I have a 24 hr flu bug-yuck. Working downtown has been fun so far. I work across from a bookstore (there goes my paycheck). Pictures were on saturday, robin visisted-that was fun. This week Toni goes to florida so we have to put one girl in daycare 4 days :(. Its also Marks birthday soon (happy freaking birthday Mark Schanen!)
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Sorry for not blogging lately, been busy. Last week the girls had their 1st swimming lesson! They went underwater, swam around, did some splashing etc...Mya loved it!! Malinda, well shes not so sure....and now I think she has another ear infection to boot (sigh).

Things are heating up over at Nationstates. Im in a "war" of words with the current leader, its a silly riot. Im laughing my ass off.

Girls go to get pictures taken this saturday!
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BUSY WEEKEND! Went to the autoshow yesterday, madison on saturday, took the girls for a walk or 2 since the weather is so warm (50 degrees)...Watched the Oscars last night, (LOTR won 11 of 11) and plan on doing some housecleany stuff today or tomorrow (if I have the energy!) Wish me luck at my meeting tonight!
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