Inspiration and Easter

So how long have I been gone...oof, way too long! You could say a lot's gone on since I last posted. - things at work, kids all getting taller than me, towels toppling - so on and so forth. The biggest thing wasn't really me directly, but a health issue that came up in the family. In the interest of keeping it on the down low, the cathartic to have shared things that were going on.

Inspiration has struck me, though, in the form of a 16 year old who decided to start her own blog. Oddly enough, cause of me...go figure! My lil Carrot Girl...all grown up and blogging...sorta...maybe...ok, we'll see how this works out.  No, really, so far, so good - it's going to be interesting to see where it takes her. Oh - while she's going by that name, I did want to clarify, this is the Elfling we're talking about.

Easter evening and I'm here at work. It's been quiet and I have to admit, I'm feeling this side of tired. It started pretty early with at least one excited girl...I think she got me up to watch a movie but we wound up with Amer Hor Story - hey, did I get that right?? That show is it's own post, let me tell you!

Anyhow...*grins* my tradition with the girls is making up an Easter basket for each of them. I like to do a pile o' candy (of course) but with a couple non-candy treats like lip gloss or pretty soaps. This year it was really cute, mini notebooks with purple pens and Hello Kitty bandaids. They went over like a dream so, hey, a win!

Ham is usually the big thing around here but since I had work at 3, I decided to try something new. When dealing with a big honkin' piece of meat is no longer the plan, what do you do? Brunch, of course..duh and or hola!

Inspiration came in the form of Ina Garten - I've always, always, always wanted to make her smoked salmon frittata....course...I didn't today cause...let's face it, my budget doesn't allow for it and my grocery store had no fresh dill.  No dill..what the heck!?! Regardless, I thought I made a nice lil spread - it was perfect for the three of us - here's what was served in Haus der Fae:

Smoked Sausage Frittata

Fried Polenta

Fruit Salat

Joghurt

Granola (of my own doing!)

Carrot Cake w/Cream Cheese Frosting

Seriously - given the Diva went to town, even after being a total glutton with the candy all morning long, you know it had to be good! This was the first time I've made fried polenta that held its shape while being fried - I hope it's something that can be replicated cause I have a feeling it's going to be requested once again in the near future. 

 As the day trickles away - I hope everyone had a great Easter!

Chasing My Thoughts

Seems that's what I'm doing today.  It would have been quite a post if I put it all down in one post - but this is really continuing on thoughts I had from Monday.

As I mentioned in my last post, The Elfling and I stormed World Market in search of a birthday present.  While there, I couldn't resist a few treats.  Nothing really big - a pair of fans for the girls (cherry blossoms, of course!). Till we get to the chocolate at least....but really - I get dark chocolate so it's health food, right?  

Ok...so it wasn't all dark chocolate.  For years I've tolled a particular restaurant website and on the message board I've read so many accounts of chocolate syrups of yore that for some odd reason I couldn't resist a delighted yelp when I came across a bottle of Bosco.  As you can imagine, the first thing I did when I got home was mix up a glass.  Oh...my...GOD....it's so freaking good...I don't know why.  I tried to compare the ingredient lists between it and Hershey's and would you believe - Hershey's doesn't list their ingredients!  

Ah well...whatever it is, Bosco is so good, I bet it'd make even skim milk taste good!

For a lil bit now, I've  been promising that I'd make Spaghetti Carbonara and Sunday night  I finally did.  This isn't a first for me though I think it may have been one of my more sucessful attempts.  I used a recipe from allrecipes with minimal changes.  For example, I used less onion because E outright hates it and I used Canadian bacon because...well...just cause.  I didn't have bacon on hand and it's perhaps a preference.  I also reserved a cup of pasta liquid in case things got too dry while I was cooking.  I'm not sure it was as creamy as it's supposed to but the girls ate with great gusto. 

Served with a lovely salad and a glass of vinho verde it was a lovely meal.

No...I don't know what's up with me and all my linking as of late.  I think it's kinda fun, though!

Inspiration and Impulse Buys

About midweek, last week, The Elfling realized that her friend's birthday was this week and for the rest of the week we half-assedly tossed out gift ideas. Said friend apparently is big on cows...or seems to be going with that theme in her room these days. The Elfling's comment on that was “why can't she have a normal teen theme like zebra stripes?” It was seriously funny considering I'm pretty sure there's not one lick of zebra stripe in her own room...mind you....she's not really that much of a “normal” teen. Too much like me, I fear.

The weekend plea was for a trip to WalMart, where to be quite frank, she had no idea what she was going to get that was fitting of her friend's theme. On a Saturday afternoon during my day off, the very LAST place I want to be is there. Seems E was in agreement since we never went. I may have suggested better luck on Sunday, after work. Who knows why, but I don't mind going when I've been at work all day....go figure.

So on Sunday, I had a quiet moment and was pondering the whole gift situation...I did some searches on cow gift ideas and luckily didn't get actual gift ideas FOR cows....sent an link to the Elf via email for her to check out – hoping to inspire her so we'd have an idea where to go and not wander about cluelessly. A quick check of my email showed that I had a coupon to World Market so I mentioned we might go there and see if we can't find something neat...cowish. And so the plan was set!

Except....she made no mention to E about our plans...yargh! With the Elf in tow, E comes to pick me up, expecting a nice ride home only to find that we need to make a stop. There was a bit of grumbling on his part, a quick call to the Diva to let her know we weren't heading straight home and a mini-lecture to the Elfling about letting E know plans when leaving the house so he can put on shoes instead of schlepping about in slippers with the knowledge he'd be coming straight home.

Have any of you guys been to World Market? My first time there was a Christmas, where even before I went in, I felt like I should have had papers that indicated I was....ritzy... enough to go in...which I wouldn't be. The MacAuthur Center is maybe the first and last time I seriously felt that way – as a side note. Regardless of that, I think it has a lot of really neat things! First time there, I got this gorgeous dark chocolate and cayenne pepper bar – it was tiny but took a few days to get through. Such bliss! I've been wanting to go back and get a couple more and this was a perfect opportunity to do that.

So with the promise we'd hurry along, the Elfling and I headed on in and started poking around where we found....not a bit of cow to be found. Luckily, looking around really let us come up with a couple ideas for gift baskets. We wound up settling on a sort of bath pampering basket in shades of pink (the bday girl's favourite colour) and really got some cute things. It was inspiration!

 

Of course....then we come to the dreaded impulse buy....My coupon was contingent on spending 30 bucks to get 10 off....so I picked...a few things to help our purchase along....and wound up spending $50.....

On the bright side, the bday girl LOVED her gift basket. And I have another post I'll share with youse tomorrow.  

Not So Deep Thoughts....

My mornings start quietly...or well, today would have been relatively so if I'd been able to shut my alarm off. For some odd reason, no matter how much I hit “dismiss” on my phone, the damn thing would not shut up. So much for letting E rest in peace, eh? But still – after getting dressed, it was to my great relief to find the hammer was no longer laying, marooned on the middle of the stairs. Even seeing it, I'd likely trip over it and fall to my death...well...mangling, since it was more the middle of the stairs and thus, the fall would not have been that bad.

How'd the hammer wind up there? It was my fault, actually. There's a sort of half-wall (ok, I'll be honest, I don't know what the hell you'd call it, but it makes for a sort of shelf/landing spot that goes along the hallway of the 2^nd floor, following the stairs down. Anyhow....there was a bag of toiletries waiting to be put away so I grabbed it...apparently dragging said hammer along with it. In the dark, I didn't see it and had no idea what dropped RIGHT near my foot but it bounced on down said stairs. Yeah...I was too lazy to go down after it BUT...I did warn E. lol

So yes, hooray for an unimpeded trip! After a my morning meditation (farming in Northrend this morning), I popped into the kitchen to get lunch together. Flipping on the kitchen lights, was a bit like flipping on the light in my head. My kitchen was tidy. I think Flylady talks about how our habits and routines can lead to peace within the house. For the first time, it really made sense to me. I could see progress....feel peaceful, calm while getting on with my day.

Right now I can sit here at work and realize a few really important (to me) things:

• My kitchen is tidy.
• The laundry isn't piled up.
• Dinner is planned out for tonight (and the rest of my cooking week, actually)
• The downstairs bathroom is clean.

It's a small start, I know...but realizing those four things shows me that for the first time in a long time, I feel like I'm making strides in moving out clutter and gaining better organization.  

Thank God It's Over!

No, not my trip to NC...Spring Break.  Good god....what a pain in the ass last week was - just unrelenting, non stop chaos.  Or so that's how it felt.  But first off...let's talk a little about my trip....

I was thinking back on last week when it hit me how dismayed I am to not have gotten pictures of my furry brother (can we just go on and from now on call him MFB, since I haven't got a clue how to spell his name and let's face it....MFB is just faster to type anyhow) while there?  He really is an adorable pile of fluff...even if he did bite me.  I totally deserved it.  While in NC, my dad came home one afternoon to find me with MFB and his furry little head resting contently on my arm....it seemed a delight to him that we got along.  For me, it was a bit of a comfort to have a pet around since I was missing Freya...though perhaps not as much as she was missing me, since she'd spend nights looking for me while crying.

Leaving was bittersweet - hard to say goodbye and go....desperate to get home to my family and the normalcy of life.  Flying, I've decided, it a huge trial for me...hell, it is for just about everyone but for someone like me?  I've mentioned it the survey Delta sent me but I think it bears stating here - that all the staff that I dealt with was absolutely wonderful.  Coming home, I decided it was worth asking if I could pre-board the plane so I could settle into an empty plane and not freak out about the close proximity of people.  This was granted on both legs of my flight with no issue at all.  Greatest thing ever....if you don't take into consideration how uncomfy airplane seats can be.  It was still worth doing....definitely helped my nerves.

It was my first time in Detroit - mind you, just the airport.  My god...I don't know how it measures up to Atlanta but it was absolutely massive.  At least by account that I had to get from the far end of one terminal to what seemed like nearly the far end of another.  With what turned out to be seriously heavy baggage.  My flight from there was a great comedy of errors but I think we took it all in stride and I can always appreciate humour in a situation.

Welcome to Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Airlines indeed....they didn't break the plane so it was actually very funny!

You know...now that I've gotten this far...seems I had more to say about my trip than I do about Spring Break.  The big thing about that is this:

When it's fucking spring break and you want to go somewhere.....make bloody reservations!  We were busy all week, for certain but Friday night?  We were sold out.  Every hotel along the I35 corridor from Austin past San Antonio was sold out.  No...I don't have any rooms I'm holding back.  I'm sorry you're old and only need a bed - I don't have anymore.  I know, it's late - traffic's bad and your kids are tired.  I can't pull rooms out of my ass and sell them to you...though...what a racket that would be!  lol

So yeah...I had to work Friday night...it was a mad house.  I'm so glad it's over.

They Broke The Plane!

It's a touch of home away from home!  To be honest, I was going to wax poetic about a grey day - hot soup, good, Portuguese bread AND the comfort of a lapper to keep touch with the world...but my flash doesn't seem to be working on my phone so this is what you get.  My lapper and some really pretty flowers from mom's shop - really lovely smelling ones, I might add.  (:

Of things to dread, one is that flight back home...I'm supposed to land close to the 10pm hour and I have work in the morning...that....I'm not looking forward to.  I really should have planned for a better time to return home but really?   It's not something to dwell on - I'm tapping here from NC where I'm at my parents house visiting for the first time in eight years.

It boggles me, even this morning...how different and yet how the same things can be.  To me - everybody looks pretty much the same, which I suppose is really a bit of a compliment cause I'm saying that my parents and Grandma haven't aged a day since I last saw them.  But it's more than them...I don't remember the airport being so damn  big...the layout threw me for a bit of a turn since i didn't notice any real security area separating the terminals from...everything else...though i suppose there was since it's not like my mom came rushing down to see me....I guess the officer would have had to stop her and what a bugger that would have been - having to her bail her out and all.  lol  But seriously - they all look good.

The area...it boggles me - I wish i'd been able to take pictures of the ride from the airport.  Seeing places like Mcduffie's still around - still the same and yet all this new crap around it...it's somewhat surreal - the more things change, the more they stay the same.  The whole ride pretty much went that way, to be honest. Same with the house...pretty much the same - especially my sister's room...I think I spied Blueberry Muffin tucked away with her huge frog collection.  It was about 2am so I didn't explore it much beyond that...I'll need to...maybe snap a picture so everybody can be sated on their curiosity as to just what the hell I'm talking about.

I hear my "furry" brother making noise - going to check that out!

Oh wait...I did mention the plane....coming from Atlanta, they packed us into a plane and we're preparing to leave (to the point I'd turned off my phone) when the plane made three bumps.  Turns out the hitch or something broke.  The guy behind me actually was going into great detail to his seatmate about what was that meant.  It only made for a 10 minute delay while the mechanic decided it wasn't going to kill us upon landing...but crikey...lol

I May Be A Prodigal Son* But....

I feel more like a fatted calf....

My Grandmother has been visiting (living?) with my parents for some time now and originally the plan was that she and Mom would head this way for a visit.  Somehow I've either been talked into...or this weird moment of logic hit - you guys can decide....  And I'm headed East to NC to visit my family.

To put it mildly....I'm nervous.  How sad is that - you go almost a decade without visiting family and suddenly are a big pansy baby about it.  It's silly, I know that and yet ...meh....

I suppose I'm really just a homebody - I like being able to go home from work and just get into the rhythm of my family.  To minimize issues at work, I'm going on what would be my days off from it....unfortunately, that means all the stuff I get to do on my days off can't be done.  My days off are prime days to spend with E, who spends far too much time on his own - they're also the days I get to make lunches and fix hair - the moments of mommyhood that I miss out on with my early to work schedule. That being said, I take care of everyone in my family...leaving them just....feels very wrong.  Even if I did slave about getting some meals tucked into the freezer for easy prep so E or even the Elfling know what's available for dinner (without having pizza every night I'm gone) and can put it together easily.

One of my biggest hurdles to overcome with this trip is dealing with the travel.  I'm not so much afraid to fly as I am of small areas filled with people. Sounds funny coming from someone who's traveled overseas, right?  But I'm sure it's documented that I do NOT use on board loo's....that small an enclosed space....just thinking about it makes me queasy.

Nonetheless, my backpack's got the essentials - lapper, charger for my phone and emergency chocolate rations and my carry on's got some clothes.  After work, it's straight to the airport!

Who knows - maybe I'll have something new to add about going through security.  After all, I've got liquids this time.  Following that 3-1-1 rule, of course...god, I hope.  I may break into loud weeping otherwise.

*Btw, I realize I'm a daughter, not a son, but come on - you know what I'm talking about here.... (:

Resolutions...ha!

I can't believe I last posted January 1st and here it is,the last day of the first month of 2012 and I'm just now making it back.  On the bright side, it's mostly because I've been pretty busy around here and today I'm writing in pretty high spirits - hooray!

Generally, this is a quiet time of the month here at...the hotel... but we've had contractors afoot around here.  They're definitely keeping everybody on their toes - everything from faxes to out going mail to laundry services.  I'm kinda liking it though cause a busy day makes for a short day....woohoo!

The big thing that happened this month was Mom came to visit.  This was really a momentous event cause E hasn't seen her in 14 years, the Elfling and I in 13 years and the Diva was just getting to meet her for the first time.  In a way it kills me to sit here and realize what lost blog moments this visit was as we had a lot of lost time to make up for.  A few highlights go a bit like this:

I hope seeing her at the airport is a memory that is forever embedded in my mind.  We were all waiting down near the baggage claim when E suddenly took off into the crowd.  I haven't seen him move that fast in years - to meet his mom.  They hugged for the longest time and it was just...this beautiful moment - mother and son together again after such a long time.  Till she loosened her hold on him, smiled and then playfully tugged his beard saying, "Oh, I think it's cute!"  If I hadn't had a reason to laugh, I may have wept from the moment.

We had soo much FUN!  With no plan for what to do - everyday seemed a new adventure regardless if it was hanging out or hitting the mall. I had to work for most of the stay but coming home was always so exciting - who knew what we'd cook up or work on.  This visit was such a great chance to reconnect.

Now I may blog about this, but mom's super creative and she really helped leave her mark on the house in two arrangements we made.  Every time I see them, I can't help but grin.  She's also drawn a picture - one that's part of her series on fish - this one's my own, personal Angry Fish - totally cool looking!

Her leaving was the worst of it - and it seems even Texas was reluctant to let her go.  We watched her make her way through security before heading out to what turned out to be an incredibly foggy Friday morning and went off to run some errands.  Finishing up with them, she called to say that they delayed her flight...cause of the fog!  Oh...and then her plane broke down and needed to be towed back to the gate.

Regardless, we're already planning for another visit sometime this year (fingers crossed)...I can't wait!

Frustrations

I know my situation isn't a unique one so if I come off as bitching like I'm the only one who has to go through this, forgive me, skip the post, whatever.

This morning I got a call from someone at E's neurosurgeon's office because they couldn't get a hold of him.  No biggie, he generally doesn't answer the phone unless he has to so I figured he didn't recognize the number and ignored it.  So I call to relay the message and *I* can't get a fucking hold of him.  Argh!  So frustrating. 

That is the story of my life these days.  I work all day, come home to a housework, dinner, homework with the kids and quite frankly?  I don't do as good a job of it with ANY of it.  Fuck, I feel like a failure. I'm sitting here bored at work and right now it just has me in tears.  I SHOULD be at home.

 My home is a house - a messy house that I'm too freaking tired to clean properly.  After school, I should be there - I want to be there to have a snack with my kids, to be there for homework time - to suggest an article for the Elfling to do her weekly current events paper on - to nudge the Diva into writing about a book she read to turn into her class.  Dinner shouldn't be some frantically thought up thing based on something that E hopefully took out to thaw.  Yeah, in light of a time when we hear of so many people who's dinners come from fast food day in and day out - thank god I'm cooking...but I just wish it weren't so frenetic and depressing all rolled into one. 

I know, I know...baby steps and setting up routines is the way to go but what do you do when you're too bloody tired for even that?

The Crazy Week

That really sums up last week rather nicely.  Sunday snowballed into a real mess by Wednesday in regards to rooms to clean vs housekeepers on staff on any given day.  Wednesday was definitely the worst of it.  By the time my shift was over at 3pm, I saw a total of three rooms ready for the more than three guests we had scheduled to show up.  Maybe it shouldn't be in my place to worry over such a thing - I know some people would say that at least.  But this how I see it:  I am the front line of the hotel and the provider of rooms.  If I don't have the rooms or have people waiting, it looks bad and puts people in a bad mood.  Luckily, by Thursday, things looked like they were better in regards to our room issue.

I was talking with the night auditor yesterday and it turned out he had a bit of a wild weekend....well...our guests did at least... that included two naked women streaking through our lobby in some sort of drunken state.  By the sounds of it, there was a lot of that going on - drunken states, I mean.  Considering some of the characters I have to deal with, I'm really quite glad I don't have to deal with what goes on around here at night *laughs*

Speaking of characters, I have three to share with you guys this morning.  To be honest, I think this must have have all happened on Wednesday.  It was as if the powers that be looked down upon me having this sweet moment with a puppy and smote me by tainting the rest of the day.  Btw, it really was a cute moment! 

So victim number one called to confirm rooms that she'd apparently cancelled (in a drunken haze, perhaps?) back in the beginning of the month.  She had no recollection of it despite the tracking back to her calling the 800 number and confirmation numbers to the effect that she had, indeed, cancelled these rooms.  I don't know why, but over the course of the conversation, she admitted to calling them half a dozen times about these rooms so it sounds quite plausible, that she lost her mind and cancelled.  Unfortunately, so close to the reservation dates, I couldn't reinstate the reservations - we were booked!  I really felt for her....even if she did start crying about how I ruined her life and weekend.

Wow, now that I look up at that first caller, victim seems to be wrong....tormentor, perhaps?  Goof?  Even better!  Subject number two has a reservation- great! They are part of a group checking on on Xday and rather casually mentioned they were going to check in on Yday.  Uh...hello - your reservation is for Xday, if you want to show up on Yday, you need to make a reservation for that day - and you know...pay the price for that night.  *eyeroll* 

And finally, we have the person who checked in knowing he could have his room for four days but wanted it for five.  Everyday he came in checking to see if there was a cancellation that would let him keep his room for the extra day - a smart move!  However aggressively suggesting I "bump" someone so he could keep his room was a bit selfish, if you ask me.  Regardless, I wasn't authorized to make that sort of move and in the end, it looks like he got what he wanted.  Saving grace, I suppose, is the drunken women who were so belligerent at 6am about losing their room (and being given a different type of room), were downright chirpy hours later when they checked out.  Eh, go figure.

As you can all maybe see, it was another full week for me, which makes me grateful that I'm back to my regular schedule this week and gods know I need that with E actually having his CT scan this week.  Though you know what I didn't touch on?  My anniversary.  It was also on Thursday.  *laughs*

Outrage and Opportunity

A while ago E's neurosurgeon made an appointment for a CT scan with a contrast to better determine how they're going to fix the loose lead to his implant and of course time passed and then boom!  Green Lantern came out and we bought our tickets....for the same bloody day...yargh!  Fandango is great but you really need to keep an eye out because just when you think there's not going to be any offerings for a non 3D movie - they come out with the listing of them about five minutes after you've grudgingly purchased for a 3D showing.  Another issue is apparently when you make your own huge scheduling conflict and need to exchange the tickets (that you haven't picked up yet) for a different showing.  Now, I would be going on about how this process worked but alas, this is where we get to the opportunity part of my outrage.

The Fandango situation isn't actually the source of my outrage, though they really should be able to work something out when you order tickets and need to make changes before you even go to the theater. My source of ire comes most from the imaging clinic.

 Let's count the ways - two doctors who know E's current drug regimen missed this and I'm more willing to give them a pass because they might not be completely versed on the intricacies of the procedure.  The nurse who called to explain the procedure was told about medications and made to to tell E no less than five times that he could not have anything in his mouth so many hours before the procedure.  Arriving at the clinic, the nurse there, was told again what medications he's on and then while preparing for the scan, the attendant once again got a drug history.  It wasn't until the doctor came in to do the procedure that he looked over the E's history and found out that, yes, of course he's been taking his meds as directed by his physician.  Two of which have possible interactions with the dye that could cause severe seizures. 

You could insert screaming here...they had to cancel the appointment and we can't reschedule until his doctor figures out substitutions for something like three days prior and one day post procedure to keep him from scaring us to death.  Is it wrong of me to expect people to actually pay attention to the answers they get to the questions they ask?  I happen to think not cause this experience has really left a bad taste in my mouth.  My confidence in this group is a bit flagging now.

Despite the above, there was a bright side! The bright side being that because he didn't have the procedure, we got to go see Green Lantern!

Now the reviews I read were absolutely dreadful - this movie has been called something like the Battlefield Earth of 2011, that being said, I thought i was pretty good.  The story didn't drag as I expected it to, there were even some funny parts (though I did seem to laugh at inappropriate moments). I was amazed at how nice they made Blake Lively look...it really didn't look like her at all to me.  Which, I suppose, could be a bad thing.  I don't know, don't really care.  I think if the reviews are stopping you from seeing the movie, maybe discount them some cause I found the ones I read, were very harsh.

My apologies if this posting is a bit disjointed....I'm here at work and mein gott...it's been a busy one.

Who'za-What'za?!?

Have you ever had a post you wanted to make on your blog that, in your head, was so awesome, so filled with neat pictures that it would be epic in greatness? Have you ever sat down to do said post and found yourself up to your neck in trying to get those images to work right, your tounge to untwist and and utter inablity to put it together? And after making your epic greatness - the post of all posts, your magnum opus did you ever sit back and realize it was an epic fail? Yeah...me too.

It's occured to me that I could go on - post after post rambling on about the comings and goings of my life and I'd never get to this point. Which point is that? The point where my dear reader has no clue who the hell I'm talking about when I mention a name or show a face...though I don't know I plan on doing that. I've put this off for the longest time cause...well...I wanted to do it my way. This is, of course, done in a manner that is much harder than necessarily and perhaps a touch too much. All before being slopped on a plate and presented with a chirpy, "Hey! This is for you!" So, without any further adieu - I present to you the Cast and Crew that help make this blog the mess it is. (:

So me...let's see...I'm a stay at home mum living here in Germany. I think we've made it abundantly clear that I can't speak the language very well at all. I have a habit (good, bad, wierd - who knows) of mixing my languages up into one frightening sentance or paragraph or muttered obcentity. I've taken up blogging for a couple reasons - things like peer pressure, visions of gradure and a desire "feel better". Things I like include certain addictive online games, a pile of Adult Swim programmes, the colour black and the melty bits of ice cream in the bottom of a sundae dish. Some things I dislike include PeTA (Though I'm all for People for the Ethnical Tasting of Animals), shitty music and people in general. Oh, though I do love a good gathering. Did I happen to mention I'm also the singer in a Rockband? Hell yeah baby - good times had by all!

Being the epitome of laziness, I didn't even bother to fix this poor guy's name. This would be mein mann, der Erlkonig - or The Elf King...something like that. Much to his annoyance, I'm known to refering to him as E because der Erlkonig is too difficult to use in (my) everyday conversation. I like to think I inspired him to start his own blog which kicks serious ass - check it out!

As I mentioned above, I’m a mum here. I’ve got two girls – my growing to a gamer geek oldest daughter, the Elfling and my bouncy-bouncy Diva. Truth of the matter is, both these girls are high risk for the delightful affliction of Gamer-Geek. Moreso once we get down and dirty with playing Warhammer 40k. When I was in radio, both girls played strong parts during periods of my show where they really added a certain…je ne sais quoi (I’d tsk myself for using such a fancy term if I hadn’t needed to actually look up how to spell it) to my show. By usually having my listener’s rolling around on the ground laughing at our antics. The Elfling got her name, I like to think mostly, cause you can’t grow up always being known as “the Goblin Baby”. She has a pointy ear which kinda earned her an elfin nickname…that and it fits with well…us. The Diva’s nickname really fits her cause she’s all about the drama – flouncing about and just….oozing dramatics when it fits…or even when it doesn’t.

Gambit the cat. He often gives me the look you see in this picture and I’m quite certain he’s plotting my demise …or world domination. Likely both! Seriously, despite the pissed off teenager look he has going, he’s one of the most loving…or smothering cats I’ve ever had. Of course, we’ll see me try to say this as he trips me while I try to feed him.

Moptop and Danasha – more than just for breakfast! Ok…I wouldn’t know and really, really,really shouldn’t go there. These guys are two characters I play with on WoW (that’s World of Warcraft/Farming/Dailies for those of you who don’t know any better (Oh jesus Christ, yes, the it’s Warcraft – the other two are what I sometimes feel the name of the game is) and need a heads up) Together we raid, pvp (really, really, really badly in my case) and in general, help each other out. Oh another thing, these two darlings are actual real time friends. No, seriously, we sometimes gather round ye olde Xbox and jam out together.

Ded and Urs are friends of mine on another realm in WoW. Ursula (yes, yes…I’m switching things on your asses) is actually the short firecracker of a guild master…mistress? Anyhow, I was lucky enough to trip over...well, they ARE a gnome and dwarf…short lil fuckers… these two when I first came upon the realm of Trollbane and let me tell you – I’ve never met such a duo of warm, friendly cuddlebunniness. That being said, I should probably be shot for abandonment since I know I turn up these days with about as much frequency as a blue moon. I’m damn lucky to have such forgiving friends…though we’ll see how much that holds up when I post pics of them drunk and naked on their mounts.

Der Sam. Recently I was talking to this gent, of whom I’ve been friends with for a handful of years about how we met. It’s kind of funny to think that for quite a while I thought he was female. Not that he’s girlie, but because his character was and he really never made it clear otherwise. I was kind of looking forward to going on, and on about how he’s going to be a rising star in the field of sports journalism – after all, anybody who actually gets me interested in sports articles has got to be good. However, like many college students, he’s changed his major so I’ll someday get to go on about his many happy clients he has and oh my god that sounds so delightfully dirty he’s going to get me for typing this.

The Moms. No, I’m not the product of a lesbian relationship and likely both women would cause me serious pain for suggesting they’d lez out with someone so….you know, I’m going to stop digging myself deeper here. Anyhow – one mom’s by birth, the other by marriage. No evil mother in law’s here – that’s why she’s mom. How do you distinguish which one I’m talking about? Eh…we’ll figure it out as we go along.

The Demon…is yes, a washing machine. Mine, actually. He’s gotten the name because when I first got him, he had this awful habit of…well…moving around, especially during the spin cycle. I’m not talking about a ungentlemanly like rumble. We’re talking an Oh-my-FUCKING-god-why-are-there-bombs-going-off-in-the-basement sound that culminates with you going down there in a flak vest only to find it’s the Demon thrashing about the place like there’s a rave going on. He’s calmed down for the most part – sometimes he moves a lil bit but mostly he seems to have taken to playing with dice. Insert face-palm here…gamer family=dice in the laundry

That’s pretty much the bulk of things. I’m sure I’m missing out on people like Bella – whom you can read all about on her own killer blog and ummm…well, the rest of my family attached to The Mom’s but guess what, I can always add to this list.

Ninety Minutes?!?

So I was awfully quiet about Father’s Day, which was yesterday. I think a lot of people discount it as a holiday made up to counteract the glory of Mother’s Day by making sure all fathers regardless of race, creed, religion and miscellaneous ambiguity receive enough ties to choke Jabba the Hut…if we try really hard. With E working, we mostly celebrated on Friday, though I made a bangin’ brunch yesterday.

Truth be told, I didn’t blog about yesterday about Father Day cause I was busy actually talking to my own Daddy dearest. Just a note to everyone out there, I would NEVER actually refer to him as that cause now that I’ve gone off and typed that…it looks creepy as fuck. Calling home is something that does come very often from me, not so much because of the expense but because it’s so bloody hard to get a hold of someone. The production goes something like this: Call home….answering machine. Call mom mobile…voice mail. Call shop…ring-a-ling-a-ling. Call Laundry…well…you get the picture. There’s prolly a couple other numbers I could try – especially if could remember them but dear gods, I’d have better luck sacrificing a small animal in the name of my parents in hopes it summons their images into the ensuing pool of blood than I do calling them.

Surprisingly, my mom answered the phone when I called and for a good while I didn’t even realize my dad was home too. And then more than an hour into it, I discovered both my brother and sister were ALSO home…holy shit – it’s a clan meet going on and I’m not even there to join in! Talking to him – hell, talking to all of them just really reminds me how much I miss them all.

I hope all you dad’s out there had a great Father’s Day. Gotta get to my raid so I’m out of here!