Meet Big Nick

It's official. I'm in love with a guy with more body hair than should be allowed.

Good thing he's a corgi.

Meet Nick - or Big Nick, as Monkey Man has already dubbed him. The newest member of the pack here at Builder Mama.

Many, many thanks to Janet Suber with Mockingbird Cardigans for entrusting me with this little superstar. He is simply everything I have ever wanted in a puppy - adorable and sweet and smart as heck. This is going to be a blast.

It was a wonderful weekend - so many adorable puppies, the senior members of the pack Scout and Spencer, and lots of folks that love corgis. It doesn't get much better than that. I have to admit though, having people say, "Oh, you're Builder Mama!" is kind of cool. Either that or I really need a secret identity when I'm stalking corgi blogs. But it was awesome watching the puppies get evaluated for body structure and temperament, I felt like I was a member of a super secret society or something. I didn't learn the secret handshake though.

Off to get a little dinner with my boys, who have been drooling over Nick pictures. Monkey is scared to death that Nick will grow up before we get to bring him home, so Janet - if you could quit putting Miracle Gro in his food for a week or so, that would be great. ;-)

Life's a beach

We're back home, safe and sound. And what a great weekend we had...I think we're on a roll, people!

We rolled into town on Friday night in time to meet Malcolm and Paula for dinner at a raw bar. After having six cavities filled on Friday afternoon (and Joey had been to the doctor for a massive sinus infection), the only thing I really wanted for dinner was some bourbon. Luckily, they had really great oysters and crab legs so I had plenty to gum down. Not to mention some killer fresh tuna with wasabi and soy sauce, mmmm.

After that, it was pretty much time to crash for the night so we could get some fun in on Saturday before the big concert. We hit the beach right after breakfast - this was Monkey Man's first time EVER being in the ocean, and despite how freaking cold the water was he absolutely loved it. I mean seriously, the kid was laughing his ass off the entire time.

Joey's not much of a beach person, but a little birdie had told me what an awesome pool our hotel had so I dragged the boys up there and we spent a few hours there. It was niiiiice.

The outside pool was one of those infinity pools that made you feel like you were going to swim right off the top of the building - but the water was ice cold, so we stuck to the indoor pool where Monkey Man did cannonballs over and over and over. Nice to see all those swimming lessons paid off, heh.

We showered up, walked up the strip to this place called LunaSea for lunch - billed as "California cuisine" it was this odd mix of Tex Mex and...well, I'm not exactly sure. It was a really wierd place with killer guacamole and even better margaritas.

Later on we took naps and then went to Malcolm's to hang out before dinner - we went to our usual go-to favorite, Il Giardino which has great food.

And then it was time to rock.

The concert had Foreigner, Styx, and Def Leppard. I have to honestly say that Def Leppard's lead singer is really the weakest link in the whole group - his voice seemed to get a little stronger as the concert went on, but he was hard to hear and his range is really going quickly. I had noticed last year it was pretty lacking too. Foreigner really rocked, and Styx was surprisingly good too. Not to mention it was funny to see how freaking short Tommy Shaw is - no wonder he wore platform shoes in all the Damn Yankees videos.

Monkey Man loved it. He rocked through the whole thing. And he wants to go back next time.

That's MY kid. No doubt about it.

*****

In my continuing quest for new ways to torture myself, at 11:45 on Monday I have an appointment for a consultation for laser hair removal.

Please pray that they don't burn off my hoo-ha. Thank you.

*****

I feel like I kind of need to apologize for not being around much. I've been in a kind of self-imposed funk over the last two weeks and really get tired of whining so much, know what I mean?

I'm not happy with work. I feel fat. My kid starts school in two weeks. I have a friend going through some serious depression issues. I am stressing about the budget for our hopeful bathroom remodel. But you know, it's not anything major. And it's not anything I can particularly put my finger on.

Today, though, I realized that we reached a milestone yesterday. It marked a year since my dad's illness. And to think about how well he's doing - well, it just kind of makes me feel stupid for all the whining.

I'm so thankful. And I promise to get my ass off of my shoulders here, stat.

Proof positive

View from the skybox.
















Corby, Lainie, Me, Joey, and Lug Nut. Who had very sweaty armpits. And probably sweaty nuts too.















Rubbing my ass on the #24 car in silent protest. By the way, this outfit is comfy but makes me look fat. Therefore the bad attitude.















This driver is actually based close to where we live. The restraining order will be up in 6 months.















At this point, Joey had some serious wood. I think he even cried a little bit.

Explosive colon-cleansing goodness

Where to start? There's a lot of little shit going on around here. Not really sure where to start, so this will probably be fairly random instead of the well-constructed posts that you all are used to. Ahem.

I got an email from my dad today that he and my mom are headed off on a two-day trip. Granted, they're riding on a bus with a bunch of other old geezers, but this is huge. This is their first trip since right before Dad got sick and almost died. They called tonight and the excitement in their voices was palpable. Well, except for the part where my mom was bitching about having to eat at Cracker Barrel on the trip. But you can't win them all.

On the other side of the fence, my sister has been getting quotes on getting her kitchen redone. Apparently, her glass stovetop has an enormous crack in it and needs replacing, therefore it's one of those typical home improvement sagas where suddenly the countertop sure would look better if it was new...and how about maybe a little trim right there...and hey, let's rip down this wall too while we're at it! She's in a little bit of sticker shock right now because all of the numbers are coming in at least $10K over her budget. I suggested, probably despite my better judgement, that she call Cat Door M for an estimate. He rolled by Joey's office today to look at a room they need remodeled and he fessed up to Joey that he is almost out of work - so this could be good for my sister in getting a good, cheap price. Part of me is a little scared of having my sister and Cat Door in the same hemisphere together, mostly because she knows me as a sweet little sister and he knows me as a raucous broad who can cuss like a truck driver and drink you under the table. Methinks this might be a bad idea.

We had little ugly in-law action on Easter weekend. Basically, all I can say at this point is that it's amazing that two people who are in their 60's can't behave like civilized adults instead of spoiled, petulant children. And they wonder why we're not eager to come visit?

Speaking of shit, I picked up a little something at GNC today. A cleansing diet. Two girls in the office tried it and lost between 10 and 15 pounds and have kept it off for about 3 months. I have really been struggling in the weight loss department - of those 6 pounds that I gained over our vacations, 4 are permanently lodged on my ass and the other 2 come and go at will. So you could say I'm getting a little desperate. The theory is that you take a packet of pills in the morning, a packet in the evening, and drink some fiber at lunchtime. Not to mention that you're supposed to eat all-natural, all-organic food. That part will be the challenge - well, that and praying that all these herbs and fiber don't cause me to have what I would lovingly refer to as explosive diarrhea. Good thing my office is only three doors down from the bathroom. I think I'm going to put a sign on the door that says "Out of Order" so that no one goes in there and camps out, you know, just in case I need to go in there and camp out.

So now that I've shared my colon cleansing with you, it's time to share something that made my day. A few weeks ago, GMan and I had been e-mailing back and forth about music and I told him I was going to drop a little love bomb in the mail. A CD of some of my angst music - a mix tape, if you will. I'm assuming this now means that we're officially dating! But seriously, I sent it up there and then last week, I get this email from GMan:

"Can you send me a picture of you at your desk giving the “horns” ?" Not a request you get every day. You know that this can't be good. So it took me until Sunday to finally convince Joey to take a picture of me (which was a hilarious adventure, me making the devil horns on Easter Sunday and Joey just about pissing in his pants) and email it to GMan. And now, I present to you, the album art:

Builder Mama - I'd Rather Feel Pain Than Nothing at All, which will be available through the Time-Life collection for the low price of $19.99!

Do you like the studded collar that he gave me? I think it's pretty kicky. And if you look closely at my right arm, you see a tattoo of everyone's favorite boss:

EPOD

So, I leave you with that image. Tune in tomorrow for a big product review, especially all my PIM's who have kids going to Kindergarten this fall.

Devil horns and kindergarten. Boy, am I on a roll.

Surprise, surprise

It's here! Finally - the first "real" snowfall we've had all year. Kind of pitiful - only a half-inch or so, but it's snowing like crazy and I can't wait for Monkey Man to wake up!

Casa de Builder Familia

View from our front door

Da Woods

Back deck (excuse the paint can)



Our patio furniture that was delivered last fall and only used like twice - but doesn't it look lovely in the snow?