oh, my liver

(FYI, I started this post Saturday morning. It's now Monday night.)

Actually, I haven't really had any beer since Tuesday after work, but I drank enough Saturday and Monday to last awhile. I'd say our booze fest was a success. Alfred and Mike both finished their cases on Monday, and I finished my half case. I think Katie was within a couple of beers, I'm not sure about Maureene. Lucy, Ilya, and Mercedes all joined in for part of the day too. We played a whole bunch of flip cup. Only a couple of puking incidents. Not bad at all. The rest of the week was fun, even though I had to work a lot and couldn't join in in all of the festivities. I could make pizza, though! We had it 5 times total, twice for breakfast. Katie left on Tuesday, and Mike and Maureene left on Thursday. Now it's just us again. But we have pictures!

energizer bunnies!

So yeah, another busy weekend and week. Last Saturday was Ellie's first birthday party, as you may have guessed by the picture. They had a keg of beer and a bunch of Easter eggs hidden around the yard with lots of candy inside. So yeah, a good party. Sunday we spent most of the day with Alfred's family. Robyn wasn't feeling well, so we got to learn how to make their traditional Easter ham loaf and tomato pudding. It came out ok. Not quite as good as when she makes it, but ok.

Every night this week has been full, too. Monday night we went over to Lucy and Phil's for leftover beer and barbecue from their party. Tuesday and Wednesday we scrambled to get various chores and cleaning done for this weekend. We did laundry, ironed, loaded and unloaded the dishwasher, washed dishes, and cleaned the whole house. We have a big weekend coming up: Mike's on leave, so we're having a big get together! He, Maureene, and Katie are coming for a long weekend, and Tony and Cathy are meeting us in Orlando for the weekend. It's going to be quite a boozy weekend. Expect some drunk posts. We'll be in Epcot for Around the World on Saturday, then a Case Day on Monday, and who knows what else. My liver is trembling in fear!

non-moving news

Actually, a tiny moving note first. My mom correctly guessed that we had 7 expired phone books in the old house. However, we have already arranged the furniture in our living room, so that prize is no longer an option. You can arrange the kitchen instead. Congratulations!

Last Thursday was Tony's birthday - happy belated birthday! I actually managed to call him on his birthday, and was even the first of his siblings to do so. Technically, Mike did email him before I talked to him, but he didn't call. Granted, he's in Iraq, but that shouldn't really be an excuse. This picture is from when we went to visit in 2008. He was a tiny bit drunk. I'm sure we'll get some new entertaining pictures when everyone comes to visit later this spring. Anyway, happy birthday!

On to the next order of business. We had to say goodbye to a dear member of the family last Friday: Copper the Dog. He turned 15 in December, and has sort of been hurting for the past few years, so it's not like it was totally unexpected. This picture is probably kind of mean, considering he was just put to sleep less than a week ago, but it looks like he's trying to put himself out of his own misery, and it makes me laugh. Poor little guy. Now Munsen is the lone dog on campus, although there are still plenty of cats milling around. Why couldn't one of the animals I'm terribly allergic to have kicked the bucket? Farewell, Copper. Enjoy lying on all the couches you want in Doggy Heaven.

long time, no blog

I know that people aren't checking this as often, most likely because I'm not writing as much. Sorry, it's just tough to find the time right now. Mainly because we still have the internet card that we used on our trip, which Alfred takes to work every day, so I don't have internet access when I get home from work, which is when I generally used to at least start writing my posts. It just seems harder to write now, too. Ah well. Excuses, excuses. Anyway! On with the news of the week!

Celebrations: it was a big week for events. Katie and Ingo kicked it off last Saturday with their wedding, then Katie continued the fun with her birthday on Tuesday. Tony and Cathy were also celebrating their anniversary on Tuesday. Wednesday was both Egee and Max's birthday, which we were able to celebrate with him. Then yesterday we went to Mercedes' birthday party; her birthday is this coming Tuesday. Lots going on.

Work: we're having a Halloween festival, so the other girl I work with has been stressing herself out over that for the past couple of weeks. She's the type to plan things out way in advance and then worry about it for as long as possible. Pretty much the opposite of me in that way. But there's a scarecrow riding a bone motorcycle on display out front now, so that's neat. We have rats living in our ceiling, we put out some poison, and I found a dead rat in our break room on Friday. There's lots of construction going on, so we have lots of shirtless men roaming around, none of whom are worth looking at shirtless. It's a shame.

Weather: suddenly, it's fall. Today's high is only in the 60s, although it's supposed to be back in the 80s later this week. It's a nice change. It makes me want to bake some brownies or something.

I don't think our break in guy was ever arrested. There was an article about the guys who beat him up being arrested, so I have his name, but google doesn't tell me anything about him being arrested.

water sports

Luckily we're busy making granola and on the phone trying to get our satellite service working again, so I got to finish this post! Finally! I've been intending to post these for years. Days, anyway.

So we got this really cool waterproof case for our camera, and Tony and Mike took it with them diving to test it out.



This is the same place Katie got certified last summer. This picture is so cool. It's looking up towards the surface from probably 30-40 feet down. I'm guessing, I wasn't there, but I've done this dive.

Ok, enough of that. What we really want to see is cute kid pictures! Here's Ella getting ready to go.

The kids playing under a fountain at the first hotel we stayed at.

We spent a few days at the beach, too. They loved the water (Ella especially, she was boogie boarding like a pro), but we spent some time playing in the sand too. Here's some evidence.

They just look like they're having a blast here.

And Mason, chill-axin' after a rough day of fun.

Another weekend at work, another weirdo

I just say here and watched a woman change her kid's diaper on the seat of the trolley they park out front to attract customers. Um, we do have bathrooms. Just sayin. I'd love to be nosy about this family, they have 2 one-year-old girls, one looks white, the other black. I mean, they could be cousins or something, but I'm curious. But alas, I will not ask. Oh, the grandmother just came in to use the restroom. Hope that trolley seat wasn't too hot for the little girl. It's supposed to be in the 100s today. It was 90 when I got to work at 10:00. Nuts!

So Tony and Cathy and the kids left yesterday. Ella, Mason and I made cupcakes on Thursday night. They helped me measure and pour and everything, then picked colors to dye the cupcakes and helped me decorate them. With sprinkles. Which, in hindsight, was not the best idea. Well, the idea was fine, it was the execution that was the problem. Sprinkles everywhere. Mason went through almost an entire container on 1 cupcake. I got a couple of pictures, I'll have to post them later.

This weekend kicks off our month (or so) of house sitting for Ilya and Mercedes. They're in Spain for a few weeks, so we get to hang out with the kitties. It's a good distraction so we don't have to notice how quiet the house is without guests. Ok, time for my leftover mac and cheese lunch and some more "work."

cathy's pictures

I just downloaded Cathy's pictures and wanted to add hers to Mom's from yesterday. First up, a couple of shots of Mike and Cathy grabbing hold of some double D's. And in Disney World, no less!













I just think this one's cute.

And now, back to the drinking. Luckily Cathy had her camera with her when we were out in search of dessert Saturday night. We made a stop at a gas station at one point to buy more beer (which we then carried up and down the road before hiding it in the bushes in front of the hotel) and for some reason Alfred bought a can of cat food. And then took not one, but two bites.













Ugh. Moving on. They gave us crayons to keep us entertained and out of trouble while we waited for our food. Mike apparently got bored by coloring on the paper table covering and went for Cathy's face instead.

And then I got my water, tried to take a sip, somehow stuck the straw up my nose, and then dumped it into my lap.













And one last group shot. Good times.

my bad

As Katherine pointed out to me today, I haven't posted in 5 days. I've just been so busy having fun and whatnot. Today was my first day back at work since last Thursday, and so along with the end of my 24 hour a day, non-stop fun comes the return of the blog. First up: Orlando!

Everyone flew into Orlando on Thursday, and we headed down there to meet them after we both finally got home from work. Clearly, we did some drinking. Friday we went to Disney!

The kids had a good time, although they got a little tired of walking at times.

That night, more drinking took place. Obviously. I think that was the first night we did a power hour. That hotel had a little balcony that we all crammed onto and got drunk on. We did a whole lot of swimming before that. Ella is a crazy woman in the pool. She swam non-stop for like 2 hours. It's no wonder she's so tiny, she should be eating all day to keep up with the calories she burns.

Saturday Mike and Tony went diving (they took our new waterproof camera case with them, so at some point I can post pictures that they took underwater) and the rest of us hung out at the waterpark at the hotel.

We had to switch hotels that day, then off to a pirate dinner adventure. It was fun, with an extra pitcher of beer. Mason was laughing his head off watching one of the pirates get whipped. How adorable.

And another power hour that night.

Ella helped us keep things tidy. She also earned some good money in tips by pouring us our shots.


We were using our new power hour program on the computer, so we knew that none of us were sober enough to drive by the end. So instead we walked around, up and down the road that our hotel was on, looking for some place to get pie for an early birthday celebration for Mike. Eventually we settled on Denny's, a mere 100 or so feet from our hotel, after walking back and forth for an hour or so. Mike went wading in the retention pool in front of the hotel. Alfred ate cat food. I think there are pictures somewhere.

And then we left. Tune in tomorrow for episode 2: the beach!

happy birthday Tony!

Yup, my favorite oldest brother is another year older. He is, in fact, damn old. We lamented the fact that we're old and fucking boring when I called him earlier. It could be worse, though. We could be dead. If he read this, he'd probably like this picture. The rest of us will just have to enjoy it for him. Happy birthday!


We have a new guy at work who has the same first and middle name as Tony. I told him that, and he said "I knew that, because you're my sister." The Tony at work I mean, not the Tony who's actually my brother. In other words, it was kind of weird. Mike met him last week, he pointed out that he looks kind of like Dad. I had noticed the same thing earlier that day. But only when he's wearing a hat. So he looks like my Dad and has the same name as my brother.

We're watching the SNL from a couple of weeks ago, where TV on the Radio performed. Alfred corrected identified the lead singer as the guy in Rachel Getting Married. I just assumed he was being racist. Cause that guy's black. But nope, he was right. It's now official, he's not racist. In case you were curious.

power hour live blog: the aftermath

Our shot glasses have been approved for future power hours. Ok, from this sentence on I am not going to edit my typos. We just got off the phone with Tony and Cathy and the kids, Ella wants silly string for her birthday burt she isn't going to tell her mom, cause her mom wil freak out! So I'm totally buying her silly strong. her birthday's coming up. That means my blog-aversary is coming up. Woprd. Our pizza is baking, hopefdully it's awesome. It's a rasta pizza plus half a pizza worth of banana peppers. For those who do not know, rasta pizza is pepperoni, green pepper, and pineapple. It's fantastic. Wow, it's awful how many typos I have. HBowever, it's an authentic representation of the fact that I have completed a power, plus half a beer, plus maybe 2 sups of another. Dang, I keep wanting to correct my speelling but I commited to bot fixing it. Mike just said cream.

belated anniversary

Tony and Cathy's anniversary was last week, the 13th, and I realized that I forgot to blog about it. Looking at the pictures made me want to post some, although I decided to stick with normal ones since we're so young looking, instead of going for the funny ones. We took a road trip out to MN for the wedding, we were so young.

Aw, aren't they cute. I guess that's why they made such cute kids. I don't really remember the cake, but I bet it was good.

Until our own wedding, this was the only picture we had of us together in nice clothes and posing nicely. We used this picture for our wedding announcement in the paper, Robyn gave away frames with this picture in it for rehearsal dinner favors... I feel like we used it more, but I can't remember.

The best part of of this one is Katie. She was only 12. I was 20. One of Tony's relatives on his mom's side thought Katie was me. It was a little embarrassing.

Ok, I know I said no funny pictures, but how could I resist this one?

I've made a huge mistake

I miss Gob. Also, blogger is pissing me off. I've tried posting this like 4 times and the spacing keeps getting messed up. If it's still messed up this time I'm just leaving it. So that explains any potential weird gaps.

My huge mistake was trying my new coffee liquor with milk, since I finished all of the fat free half and half last night. Yup, delicious. I think I'm going to become an alcoholic.

And now, the return of the baking blog! I haven't baked anything in awhile, my mixer was lonely. I made some of my famous cookies, and of course Alfred's tiramisu. As I mentioned last night, I made the lady fingers from scratch:


I got the genius idea from someone on the allrecipes website to do them like this. I traced the outline of the pan I was using onto the parchment paper, then filled in the circles with the batter and baked them. That way they fit right into the pan and I didn't have to deal with cutting and fitting the little cookies together. Genius, I tell you. Tonight I made the custard filling and had to give up some of my precious coffee liquor, and put it all together.

I'm now an expert in separating eggs. I've separated a total of 15 eggs since last night, and only messed up 1. Yeah, this bitch has 14 eggs in it. Leave it to Alfred to pick a protein-rich, carb-light dessert (he's cutting back on carbs to lose more weight, which has meant I've cut back on carbs a bit too. It totally works. Which sucks. I love carbs.)

I also remembered the story I was going to tell yesterday about going to buy my booze. The guy rang it up and told me the price, but didn't ask for my ID. He didn't ask for it until I gave him my credit card to pay. I asked if he was carding me for my credit card or age, and he said both. But then he said "I'm not stupid, I know how to answer a question like that." So, did I really not get carded? And why does it bother me? I seem to have passed into the next stage of my life. For a long time, I wanted to look older, or at least my age. I actively disliked looking younger. I mean, it wasn't very flattering to be mistaken for Katie when I was 20 and she was 12 (it totally happened, at Tony's wedding.) Then I got to the age where I didn't mind either way. I was happy if someone guessed my age, but just as happy if someone told me I looked younger. Now, it seems I want to look younger. Apparently I'm getting old. Dammit.