Goofy Runs (Really!)

I never thought I'd type that. That. Up there in the title. "Goofy Runs". THAT!!!

You see, I'm NOT a runner. Running to me has always been BORING. Well, okay, if you are running from first base to second base, or across the soccer field to shoot and SCORE, yah, that's kinda cool. You have a purpose. But running down the street, just 'cause...well. Bo-ring. Yawn. Not for me.

But...opinions have this nasty way of changing sometimes.

Especially when you have friends that talk you into doing a 5K. Well, not just ANY 5K. The Komen Race for the Cure. The Rock Concert of 5Ks (IMHO).

There was MUSIC every half-mile...live bands, fer crying out loud! And snacks after.

Hell, no one ever told me about the SNACKS. I like snacks, especially delicious, sugary ones. :-)

And...

I thought I would walk most the way....I didn't.
I thought I would be sore and tired after...I wasn't.
I thought I would do this and not want to ever do it again...I was wrong!

In fact, I did another damn 5K the following weekend. And I had to stop myself from signing up for one the weekend after that! I'm signed up for one next weekend.

I am officially addicted. Not really addicted to running. I'm not dying to get into the gym to run the treadmill, and I'm not dying to pound the pavement around my block.

It's the RACES that get me. The MASSES of people, all running to the same finish line. All in a HURRY. All sweating, but SMILING. The COMPETITION and SPIRIT of it all. THIS is what gets me up at the buttcrack of dawn to go do something that I viciously hated just a few short weeks ago.

Well, okay and the SNACKS don't hurt either.

RA Sushi - Unsolicited Website Critique

No, you didn't ask, but here's a website review I felt compelled to write about "RA Sushi", a sushi restaurant chain that appears to be located out of Scottsdale, AZ. that is opening up a new location in Kansas City.

I tripped across this website when I read that RA Sushi was opening up a location in Kansas City. I have just returned from a vacation in Lake Tahoe, where the sushi is served up like McDonald's cheeseburgers. I had eaten my share of delish sushi from Tahoe, so I was ready to commit to sushi more in my wonderful home town of Kansas City.

Problem is: Not too many sushi places here do a Happy Hour. We absolutely LIVED on sushi happy hours in Tahoe. Same delish sushi. Half-price. What's not to love?

Anyway...I found the website for "RA Sushi" - http://www.rasushi.com/ and pulled it up to take a look. And I looked. And I looked...and I couldn't find anything to click except for "Get a RA Gift Certificate".

Really, it's obvious what they want you to do on the site...buy gift certificates. That, or join their email list.

I wanted neither.

I wanted restaurant locations! Menu! What about a happy hour? I couldn't find this anywhere. Even when the cursor turned to a pointy-finger, I clicked and nothing came up.

The background music is very soothing, but where's the beef?! Er...sushi?!

I was cursing the web designer under my breath when....I saw it. Wrapped subtlely around the RA Sushi logo, THERE were the links I was looking for.

Yes! They had an happy hour. Yes! The menu was online.

But...

When I clicked on the menu, there was no option to PRINT. What?!

Memo to restaurants: PEOPLE WANT TO PRINT YOUR MENUS! It's awfully cute and visually-appealing to put your menu in a scrolling Flash area, but I CAN'T PRINT THIS!

Nor can I copy and paste this in an email to my sushi-loving friends.

Nor can I post this on my food blog.

Nor can I tweet about this on Twitter.

Really, RA, you are shooting yourself in the foot. It's all very pretty and cute, but inevitably UNUSABLE.

I really hope your sushi is better than your website.

Canine Assault and Battery

Once you have kids in your home, pets take backseat. It's unfortunate, but it just happens. But I had an experience yesterday that brought our beloved dog Murphy firmly back to the front seat.

We were taking our evening walk, and were almost back home, when we saw that two neighborhood dogs had gotten out (again) and were running free. They ran up to us to say "Hi". The Rottweiler came up to nicely and I remember thinking, "I'll just grab his collar and walk him back home."

Then looked over and saw my dog on the ground with the other dog's jaws wrapped around the scruff of her neck, shaking her back and forth. Murphy started yelping. My Mama Bear instinct kicked in and I dropped to my knees and started trying to pry them apart. I remember thinking, "Okay, this is exactly what you are NOT supposed to do when two dogs are fighting," especially because I was literally grabbing this dog's mouth and trying to pry it off Murphy!*

But Murph was in trouble and this lab was unrelenting. I popped the lab on the snout a few times. I grabbed his collar and tried to pull him off Murphy. His collar came over his head and in the process, made him release his hold. Then he decided he was done, because he popped up and ran away. Murphy got up slowly and gingerly walked down the sidewalk, giving a few yelps as she walked. I didn't want to run her home, for fear she was really hurt and running would make it worse, so I tried to calmly walk down the street.

I had this neighbor dog's collar still in my hand and didn't want it there, so we walked towards our neighbor's house. At that point, I realized then that my hand was bleeding. Somewhere in the middle of the tussle, I had gotten bitten. Wonderful. My neighbor was out in front of his house and I bluntly told him that one of his dogs had attacked my dog and bitten me. He reacted like it had happened before but was apologetic.

I brought Murphy in and checked her up and down. She had a lot of dog spit on her left shoulder, but no blood that I could see. I called the vet at and a kind staffer told me to keep an eye on her for strange behavior, lethargy or vomiting, but unless we saw that, just pamper her.

Later that evening, I decided to go wipe her face and mouth down, because it had gotten dirty during the tussle. I hadn't done this immediately because she was very freaked out and didn't want to be touched. Um yeah, I was too. I used my hands to put some pressure on her shoulders and neck to see if she was sore. Then I saw it....a red blossom of blood on her neck, closer to her chest than where I had seen the dog chomped down on her. Damn! She had gotten bitten. I investigated further and actually found a puncture hole. I grabbed my hubbie and we simultaneously soothed, disinfected and antibiotic'ed the wound. We had to cut quite a bit of fur away to see what we were doing.

I think she got about four biscuits during the course of the night. We all felt sorry for her and for dogs, food = comfort. She took them willingly, which (per the vet staffer) was a good sign.

I'm leaning towards taking her the vet today, just to get some reassurance that she doesn't need a stitch or two.

It's unfortunate that it takes a traumatic event like this for us to re-focus our attention on our family pet of 10+ years. If you have a family pet, give them a special hug and some attention today, and be glad that they had a boring day.

* Later that night, my husband reminded me what you are supposed to do: Get behind one of the dogs and pull them away by the tail. This was the last thing that would have come to my mind.

UPDATE 7/12/09: We ended up taking Murph to the Emergency Clinic on Saturday. Not because we thought she had an emergency, but because our vet and the two other vets close by were booked solid! $200 later, Murph has a shaved neck (very odd-looking on a husky), a disinfected bite wound, and 3 prescriptions (antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and pain killers). She has to have food with each of her prescriptions, so she is very happy about having all the snacks. And we are sure that she's okay, and that's well worth the cost.

Goofy Visits the Cable Store

So I call up my buddies at Time Warner Cable to figure out how much blood I will need to shed in order for my new HDTV to actually get an HD signal. Surprise of surprises...it's FREE! I didn't think anything from the cable company was free! Not even their silly version of the TV Guide is free ($2.75 a month...ouch!)

All I need to do is disconnect my cable converter box, take it into the Time Warner store and exchange it for an HDTV converter box.

So I did. And this is what happened...

As I walk in the door, I notice a large gathering of customers, each clutching a different species of cable box in their hot little hands. I also notice a very-large-print sign on the door declaring that they are out of HD converter boxes and they won't have more until next week.

I ignore the sign. I take a number. I wait. I realize how heavy a cable converter box is.

Finally, my number is called.

Me: Hi! (smile and pause) I'm HOPING that you all have an HD converter box for me. (smile again, sweetly)

Time Warner Cable Girl: Um...that IS an HD converter box you have there. (points to the metal box in my hands)

Me: Um...NO! It's not.

TWCG: Yep. It is.

Me: No, it's not!! (what are you...stupid?) We've had this box for a year and a half! (No, I'm not sure what my logic was here, either)

TWCG: See the HDTV logo on the front. (points) You've already got one! (now she smiles sweetly)

Me: (stammering now) Well...why aren't we getting HDTV then!?!? (Huh? HUH??)

Me (answering my own question): Wait...Oh...yeah...we didn't get an HDMI cable yet...that's probably why. (starting to eat a nice-sized portion of crow now)

TWCG: Yes, you will need an HDMI cable. Just plug that in and....blah, blah, blah......

Me: (nodding, not listening to instructions because I'm feeling stupid now that I unplugged my HDTV box to go exchange it for another HDTV box...duh)

TWCG: Well, that was easy! Have a good day!

As I turn to leave, I notice that other folks in the cable waiting room are eyeing my HDTV box hungrily and realize that I have something that they cannot get until next week. I hug my HDTV box (!!) tightly, run to my car and speed off.

Ready for Christmas?

Christmas trees decorated and lit...

Presents wrapped and under tree...

Santa Treasure Hunt gifts hidden and clues scattered throughout house...

Gobs of cookies baked (ginger snaps, spritz, nut butter balls and good ole chocolate chips)...

Stereo loaded with a wide mix of Christmas tunes...

Fridge packed with groceries procured from a noon-hour-fight-the-hungry-crowds grocery store trip...

Chinese menu at the ready (for dinner, of course)...

Bottle of Chardonnay chilling in the fridge...

Christmas may now begin...

Lil Goofy's Literature Hour

Lil Goofy reads some selected passages from his favorite novel "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?"


(can you tell we read him this book EVERY night?)

Mmmmm....Banana Cake

This weekend was filled with sugar. Filled! I had some bananas getting that lovely brown color that usually means I will be making Average Jane's Banana Bread soon, but instead I discovered a Banana Cake recipe. My sugar tooth was calling, so I tried it. Wowee! It's fabulous. And fairly easy, for a cake. Okay, you cheat and use a cake mix, but I'm not holding that against this delicious cake. Also, I'm a big cream cheese icing fan. I believe you could put cream cheese icing on a shoe and it would taste great. But it's much better on this great cake!



Banana Sour Cream Cake

1 pkg. (2-layer size) yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3)
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup oil
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 pkg. (16 oz.) powered sugar (about 4 cups)
1 cup walnut pieces, finely chopped


Heat oven to 350 degrees. Beat cake mix, eggs, bananas, sour cream and oil with mixer on low until moistened. Beat on medium 2 minutes. Pour into greased and floured 13x9 pan. Bake for 35 minutes or until toothpick in cake centered comes out clean. Cool cake completely in pan.


Beat cream cheese and butter with mixer on medium until blended. Gradually add sugar, beating well after each addition.


Remove cake from pan. Carefully cut cake crosswise in half using serrated knife.


Place 1 cake half, top-side down, on plate; spread top with frosting. Top with remaining cake half, top-side up. Frost top and sides.


Press nuts onto sides. Sprinkle a few on top if you're feeling sassy. Refrigerate leftovers.


Oh yeah...After making this on Friday, Goofy Junior and I went to a Cinnamon Roll class on Sunday and brought home two pans of cinnamon rolls.

We had to take turns peeling each other off the ceiling. Yowza!

Goofy Goes to "Fork & Screen"

I was invited to a 'sneak peek' of AMC Theatres' new in-theatre dining concept, Fork & Screen, last night, and it is SPECTACULAR.

I'm also giving away coupons for free admission and more!

Read all about it here:
KC Word of Mouth

Brotherly Love

Awwwww...it warms my heart to see both of my boyz together - happily sharing the computer.

NOT!

The Great Escape

Lil Goofy shows us how he gets out of his room after naptime.

Notice the "Aw, shucks" attitude after the escape.




NOTE: No toddlers were harmed during the filming of this video.

New Presidential Candidate!

Check this out. She will certainly get my vote!

http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=357563&altf=Hppgz&altl=Hjsm

Lil G is a Boogie Machine

Not only does he dance in the car....

he also dances on the coffee table*...



but he's not so crazy about Pink...



*seriously, if a song comes on that he thinks is "danceable", he climbs up onto the coffee table and starts dancing. Yes, we have our own little Coyote Ugly dancer in training. I think I saw a tip jar there yesterday!

Woobie!

So Lil G needed a "woobie"...otherwise known as a "lovie" or an "attachment object". Right about the time our pediatrician mentioned it, he latched onto one.

A small white stuffed dog. (Yes, that's Baby Tad mocking the stuffed dog!)

Great, right?

Er...not so fast there, Dr. Spock.

Problem was...this was Goofy Junior's little white stuffed dog. And not just ANY little white stuffed dogs..this was Mischa. The little white stuffed dog that we gave him right before we traveled to Russia for the first of three trips. The dog that I told him to hug when he missed us. The dog that I told him we could TELL when he hugged and would send him hugs back...yes, all the way across the world. Yes, I have a pretty wild imagination.

So when Lil G latched onto Mischa, Goofy Junior was pretty horrified. He tried to switch Mischa with the Big White Chicken (sitting in Baby Tad's lap in the pic above).

Lil G was not fooled. He wanted Mischa.

We tried to reason with Goofy Junior. He has 8,342 other stuffed creatures...couldn't he let Lil G "borrow" Mischa...just for a while?

Finally he relented. Whew!

What's ironic about this whole story is that of all the stuffed creatures we have, this one we got for FREE. From our bank, for crying out loud!

In the end, it all worked out well...and there was peace in the Goofy household. Aaaaaaaaaah.

Olympic Beach Volleyball Swimsuit too Small?

No!

I am sick of hearing complaints about the Olympic beach volleyball women's "tiny" swimsuits.

Anyone who has ever actually, oh I dunno, PLAYED beach volleyball understands the reason.

The details...
- Loose swimsuit = chaffing + jiggling of the sisters upstairs
- More-coverage swimsuit = hot (it's fricking hard to MOVE in sand...hello?)
- One-piece swimsuit = restricted movement

In short, anything other than a skin-tight, small, two-piece suit will result in a distraction to the athlete. I'm sure some athletes would play naked if there wasn't a risk of sand in their girlie-bits. Been there. Owie!

Olympics!

I really like the Olympics. They are so inspirational. The fact that someone has a dream and is so completely FOCUSED to spend so much time training for that dream just gets me.

I never cry at movies (nor a lot in real life), but when Michael Phelps took the podium to get his gold medal, I had a tear in my eye. He's 23 and this is his THIRD Olympics - he's been swimming since he was 11. His mom got him into swimming to "burn off his extra energy".

It's just so cool.

Dara Torres is racing right now. She is one year younger than me (she's 41) - the oldest swimmer to compete in the Olympics, ever. Have you seen her? Goodness...she's got the body of a 25 year old! It's all about focus and training. Oh, and she has a two-year-old little girl, did I mention that? She FINDS the time for her dreams. How cool is that?!?!

US just took silver, with Torres swimming the last leg - possibly breaking a record with her leg of the race.

What an inspiration!

What's For Dinner?

First off, let me just say that the Goofy family eats out. A lot. We don't always eat OUT, but we bring carry-out home pretty often, so I suppose I should say that we don't really cook at home a lot.

However, since neither of us is gainfully employed at present, we figured we should probably eat in a bit more.

Sigh.

This has lead to a War of Wills between Number One Son (Goofy Junior) and I about what consitutes a "good meal".

Goofy Junior is not a big eater. One day he ate an English muffin for breakfast, a hot dog bun (sans dog) for lunch, and then wanted to get away with only eating a roll for dinner. And getting ice cream for dessert.

VIOLATION!!!! Call the Nutrition Police. In other words, he didn't get dessert.

Eating is one of those Parent Topics that is frustrating. You don't want to give your kids food hangups, but you can not MAKE a kid eat. You just can't. You also can't make them sleep or poop, but those things eventually happen, like it or not.

So we struggle with selecting foods for dinner that Goofy Junior (aka Picky McPicky) will eat. He is very much into the "look" of food. We had a Mushroom Lasagna the other night and he was freaked out about the "black things" (um, they are mushrooms!) in the lasagna. Arg! And I REFUSE to make two meals. Mr. Goofy chides me for this. But no, I will not make one meal for one picky kid and another for the rest of us. Life is too short for this.*

But in a moment of clarity and brillance, Mr. Goofy came up with an idea: We will let Goofy Junior select the dinner menu every so often.

I have to admit...I was a little scared about this. Our only constraint was that it had to be a nutritious meal (no ice cream and cake for dinner!).

He chose pretty well: Macaroni & Cheese, Carrots** & Dip, and Garlic Bread.

A little high on the carb scale, but not too shabby. GJ's dinner menu is served tonight.

Bon Appetit!


*Can I just confess right here that I (yes, me) was a super-duper picky eater when I was little? And my parents supported my habit. I didn't eat a salad until I was 25 years old. Never ate peanut butter - still to this day. And I still order my cheeseburgers plain...no ketchup, mustard, pickle, onion, etc. If it's on there, I can't eat it. I really don't want to raise another Me!

**from our garden!! Yippee!!

Goofy Gets Sirius

I've been spending more time in my car, now that we have our new son home. (I know it doesn't make sense...more on this later*) What's driving me crazy is the state of terrestrial radio nowadays. If it's not some lame-ass DJ yammering about how guys are this horny and girls are always frigid, it's a commercial, or it's some whiny John Mayer song that I could care less about.

Ugh. It's simply painful.

For a Christmas gift, I bought Mr. Goofy a Sirius radio subscription and have benefited from the use of it while riding in his vehicle. I typically listen to audio books most the time I'm in my car, but with New Kid, I figure I better at least pretend to pay some attention to him (it's called "sarcasm" by the way, folks...)

Anyway, I finally had the last straw late last week and started looking for Sirius radios. Since Mr. Goofy has a subscription, it's a mere $6.99 per month for me to sign up. I scored last season's Sirius tuner on eBay for $56 (not too shabby - Sirius' price for the same model was $109).

...and I am waiting impatiently to get it. Yippee!!!! Good music! Jim Kramer on demand! Whee!

Yes, I am a Late Adopter. Late, but I get there eventually.

* Lil G LOVES to go! Anywhere. Price Chopper. Target. Garden Store. Post Office. It's all New! and Fun! for him. The Russian word for "Bye" is "Paka". After breakfast dishes are cleared, he starts pointing to the door and/or putting his shoes on, and saying "Paka!" "Paka!", as in "Let's go!"

He's definitely not a homebody! He's living it up now that he has two chauffeurs!

A Goofy Complaint

A brief timeout from motherhood topics to lodge a complaint...

I love blogging. I love Twitter. I am able to keep tabs on friends that I don't see for months at a time with these tools. I also have made new friends. I'm also reading about people that don't even have a clue that I exist, yet they inspire and motivate me in one way or another, typically on a daily basis.

All these social media tools are wonderful additions to my life.

Yet....

I really miss the fine art of face-to-face conversation. Sitting down over a coffee, a beer, a glass of wine, dinner, a slice of pie (or preferably...all of the above!), and talking. Live. Chatting about the meaningless. Gabbing about the obscure. Deep discussion about the meaning of life.

Preferably without little kidlings interupting to tell me that they've recently farted.

Does anyone else miss this? Will there be a resurgence of the dinner party in response to all the "faceless" conversations we have on a daily basis? Or are they gone for good?

Is it just me or are we all missing out on something good?

Fun with Nicknames

Over the past week-and-a-half (has it been that long already?!), we have come up with some nicknames for Lil G, based on his behaviors.

Here they are, in no particular order:

"The Closer" - If there is an open door in the house, Lil G will find it and close it. No, let me correct that...SLAM it. Closets, pantries, cabinets, refrigerators...they are all fair game. I go to take the milk out of the fridge. I turn around to put it back...and the door is closed and I hear little feet padding away. And giggling. You'd think this skill would be a good one. But I'm just waiting until we get locked out of our house by The Closer.

"The Flopper" - Lil G has got a will of iron. When his will is not served, he throws a tantrum. The tantrum consists of a full-out DIVE to the floor, where he lands on his belly and puts his hands over his eyes. The Flop is hilarious because it is usually silent. And no kicking. Just The Flop. We found out quickly that The Flop can easily be broken down with some strategic tickling....

"The Beast" - This was the first nickname he got. This kid eats like there is no tomorrow! He seriously eats TWICE as much as Goofy Junior, who is FIVE! And we have yet to find something he won't eat. Mexican, Indian, Chinese, American...he happily gobbles it all down. Spicy? No problemo. He chows it.

First thing in the morning, when The Beast awakens, he wants to go IMMEDIATELY downstairs and EAT. No stopping for a diaper change, a hug, or even to get dressed. This kid is HUNGRY! Is he skinny? Heck, no. He's a little chunk. But he is always eating. He yells and points excitedly when he sees food. He absolutely must have a snack between breakfast and lunch, lunch and dinner, and sometime before bed. He wakes up in the middle of the night. Why? The Beast needs something to eat! Milk usually does the trick quickly, thankfully.

"LL Cool G" - When we get in the car to drive, if there is music out that can be danced to, Lil G will start swaying, swinging his foot in circles, nodding his head, and raising his eyebrows. This combination is guaranteed to make even the most serious person bust a gut.

Check out the hilarity for yourself (make sure to watch the eyebrows!):

The Papparazzi Strikes!

Surf's up, Dude!

When's Dinner?

Me, cute? Nah...

Big Brother Alex loves his new "Toy"...

...but decides he needs some "ink" to be taken seriously. (no, that's not a pretty pink butterfly, it's a, um...dangerous stingray, yeah, that's what it is.)