The Holidays are Over; Bring on Reality!

I guess I went AWOL for a bit there, hey?  Sorry about that.  Things have been busy.

Christmas was good to us, I will admit.  Christmas Eve Day I got to exchange presents with K at Ella's Deli (yes, we exchange Christmas gifts at a Jewish deli).  That crafty lady made me lip balm!  Seriously; she MADE it.  How cool is that, right?  Anywhoozles, that afternoon I decorated sugar cookies while Hubby napped.  Maxine, in her Christmas sweater, napped along with him for most of the afternoon, and I spent some good time with my parents.

Christmas Eve dinner was, of course, fantastic.  Mom made the best Yorkshire pudding ever, and when I found they were out of hot cocoa mix, Dad made me some from "scratch" by heating up some pieces of Dove chocolate and mixing with milk.  I have to say that my family is pretty great, and that helps make my holidays so wonderful.  Would've enjoyed some snow, but, it was still lovely.

My parents got me a 3,000-piece puzzle (which is HUGE, btw) and a Jambox (which will come in really handy for school).  They got Hubby a Gentleman Jack giftbox (so, basically, good booze and two glasses).  They got Miss Maxine a bunch of toys and treats.  Oh, and best of all, they got us a new water heater!  (Apparently I was thisclose to getting an iPad, but they decided to get us something practical instead.  Ah, the joys of being a homeowner!)

Hubby surprised me by getting us a bunch of stuff we can enjoy together, including a remote control for our PS3 (so we can watch blu rays without fumbling over the controller), season 2 of "Big Bang Theory" and season 1 of "Raising Hope," and new controllers for the Wii.  He also got me a gorilla pod (that I picked out myself) and a monopod (that was a complete surprise)!  Yes, it was a successful Christmas indeed.  :)

Christmas Day was spent with my mom's side of the family, and then watching the Packers beat the Bears before heading back home.  The day after was Christmas with Hubby's family, which, while a bit chaotic at times, was nice.  I got to spend a lot of time hanging out with my nephew and taking pictures of him (he's so freakin' cute!!), but after being exhausted from all the running around that weekend (and feeling like I was starting to come down with something), I wound up sleeping in the recliner for an hour or two toward the end of our visit.  In my family, it's not Christmas until someone falls asleep in the midst of the festivities, so I guess I was just carrying over the tradition.

You'd think a 4-day work week would go quickly, but it didn't.  It dragged.  A lot.  And while I looked forward to our weekend plans, part of me would've been content just sleeping through the whole thing.  Alas, after a bit of a struggle, we made our way to Madison for S's graduation gathering.  We spent the night at my parents' and the next day had lunch plans with a friend of mine and his wife.  I hadn't seen Mr. P since his wedding, which was in November of 2009 (they moved to Georgia the previous year), so this lunch was LONG overdue.  We actually made plans to stop in on our drive down to Disney in March, so it won't be nearly as long before we see them next!  Color me pleased. 

New Year's Eve was spent with my second family.  K, S and J (my "sisters") had all gotten new toys (iPhones, Kindle, etc) and much of the evening was spent in the same room, but each of us on our respective electronic.  K's dad and his new wife stayed around for dinner, but left around 10 or so.  See, the new wife has a rescue dog named Princess (a bichon, for those interested).  Since she can get along with Eva (J's dog), we tried bringing Maxine into the mix.  Bad idea.  Bad.  Those two were at each other's throats like you wouldn't believe!  My best guess is Maxi made an inappropriate "Yo Mama" joke and Princess was having none of it.  I'm probably wrong, but it works in my head.  So anywhoozles, they ended up crating Princess upstairs in the "other" condo, since the two couldn't play nicely, and so they left early to make sure Princess didn't spend the whole evening alone.  

We had a great time anyway.  K always makes my second favorite meal of the year for New Year's Eve: shrimp and potatoes.  Between that and all the snack foods available, I was stuffed silly.  We played some Apples to Apples and drank to ring in the new year.  Then we crashed at the condo (me on the couch, Hubby on the recliner/floor, Maxi on another chair).  New Year's Day we headed home to drop off the puppers and headed back to see part of Hubby's family for the Packers game (go Matt Flynn!).  Thankfully, we had nothing to do the next day, and we spent it like a couple of lazy bums.  It was lovely.

This week has been... interesting.  But this post is long enough, so I'll save that for another time.

Red, White & Drag Queen Bingo

This past weekend was, of course, Independence Day weekend.  And being that K is around, it was full of traditions and fun.

Friday night we did go see our new nephew at the hospital.  He.  Is.  Adorable.  No kidding.  I know I'm biased and all, but he's seriously cute.  I even held him for quite awhile, which is a feat considering I'm normally scared to touch kids before they turn two or so (that fear of breaking them, you know?).  It was a nice experience.  :-)  And no, it didn't make me want kids of my own.  Just made me even happier to be an aunt!

Saturday was the day for Rhythm & Booms, the best fireworks you'll find in the Midwest.  For those not familiar, the fireworks are (loosely at times) set to music.  You just tune in to the local radio station and enjoy the show.  Rather than going to the actual park for the event (which, IMO, is a clusterf*ck and a half), we always go to my old elementary/middle school and sit on the hill.  We can see almost everything (excluding a handful of ground display fireworks that don't make it above the trees), and though it's much busier than when we first started sitting there, it's not nearly as crowded as the park itself.  

Of course, with R&B comes a party with K.  She invites family and friends over to her dad's place for food and fun before the fireworks begin, and then it's just a short walk to the old school from there.  One of K's friends has an adorable 4-year-old son who kept us all pretty well entertained, but it was the adults who played with the bubbles the longest (as the 4 y/o got fed up with a bubble sword contraption he just couldn't make work).  It's just so easy to get caught up in the pure fun that comes with bubbles.

The fireworks were beautiful, if not a bit short this year.  Budget problems would be my guess, as I know they were seeking donations (I gave them $15 - I love those fireworks) and really pushing people to come down to the park to support the vendors there.  I'm hoping next year will be better, particularly because I hope the damn construction surrounding the park is done.  Talk about a mess...  Oi.  Oh, and just to confirm, Maxi handled the fireworks just fine, though she didn't watch with the same intensity as last year.  At least she didn't bark her furry little head off!

On Sunday, hubby dropped me back off at K's dad's place so K and I, along with another friend (P) could go on an Oddball Wisconsin adventure.  See, one of K's friends got her the Oddball Wisconsin book, knowing that she loves all things odd or offbeat that you might find while driving, such as a giant wooden nickel (outside of Iowa City, Iowa) or a buffalo made of chrome bumpers (somewhere in Colorado).  So away we went with the book and a map.

We ended up driving about 314 miles that day.  Starting in Madison, we headed to DeForest to see the pink elephant and its nemesis (or so we're told) from across the street, a cow at a cheese shop.  Then it was off to Spring Green to check out some (not so) acrobatic goats.  There were other things there to keep us entertained while we waited for the goats to wow us, but it just never happened.

After that we headed to Platteville to see the world's largest 'M.'  It's 241 feet tall and 214 feet across.  Trust me; it's a big 'M.'  After a quick stop at Culver's for some cheese curds (nom nom nom) it was on to Dickeyville to see The Grotto, an interesting experience for sure.  Then it was a LONG drive over to Delavan to see the clown-stomping elephant (we skipped the nearby concrete frog since it was getting late), and then it was back to Madison so I could see my puppers.   

On the 4th, K and I headed down to the neighborhood bike parade that we were part of for so many years.  Kids made a good showing this year and actually decorated their bikes with more than a tiny flag.  We gave this year's parade a solid 7.5/10.  After that, it was off to Henry Vilas Zoo and, of course, Ella's Deli!  We can't eat like we used to, I swear, but we still managed to scarf down all our cheese fries.  It's a tradition, after all!  

I spent the rest of my day bumming around at my parents' house.  We eventually ordered Chinese (nothing screams patriotism like ordering sesame beef) and hubby showed up to take me and the puppers back home.  On the drive home, we had to have encountered probably 10 different fireworks displays.  It was nice, and I appreciated being able to see some fireworks on the 4th.

The 5th was no longer the weekend, but K came out so we could go to Drag Queen Bingo at BTW Lounge with her cousins and aunt!  Drag Queen Bingo is pretty much bingo with the balls being read off by drag queens.  But, we also got performances between rounds, so it was pretty awesome.  Of the 5 of us, 3 won prizes!  Sadly, K and I were the only two not to win.  Boooooo-urns.

So, as you can see, the past few days have been pretty exciting for me!  I hope everyone else had a wonderful 4th and hope you all have an excellent rest of the summer!  :-)

It's Official!

I'm an aunt!!  :-D  

Well, I should rephrase that.  I'm a biological* aunt!  If you ask some of my friends, I'm already an aunt to my friend T's son and daughter (and another soon-to-be son) as well as M's pugs (yes, they count).  Though not blood-related, they are still family to me, and I wouldn't want to discount them by saying this is my first chance at aunthood.  

Anywhoozles, my nephew was just born today and I can't wait to meet him!  I decided at 17 that I didn't really want kids of my own (and 10 years later, I still don't), but I have ALWAYS wanted nieces and nephews.  (I may not want kids of my own, but other people's kids are just fine.  I can spoil them, play with them, cuddle them... And when they fuss or cry, it's back to Mama they go!  It's a good system if you ask me.)

It dawned on me at some point in my childhood (maybe around 6 or 7) that I was never going to have nieces and nephews on my side of the family.  I'm an only child!  OH NO!!  

My mom pointed out to me that maybe the person I marry would have siblings, and then I could have nieces and nephews.  While true, I countered with, "But what if I marry another only child!?"  Mom didn't really have the heart to tell me that then I was shit out of luck, but she told me not to worry about it for now and somehow that was enough.  

Sure enough, I married someone with two brothers!  Double the chances of aunthood!!  And now, here I am, 20 years after my little freak-out, about to meet my very first nephew.  I am SO excited!!  I only hope I can be as good of an aunt as my aunts were/are to me.  And I hope I can put up with as much as they did...  (There was a period of time where whenever my Aunt C came to babysit me, I'd vom.  Every freakin' time.  I can't believe she still wanted to claim relation to me after all that puke!)

I want to spend time with my nephew.  I want him to grow up and know that he can come here if he needs anything: a break, advice, whatever.  I want him to think his aunt and uncle are pretty cool (for adults, anyway) and I want him to look back later in life and remember having fun with us.  I want to be there for him (and his future siblings and/or cousins).  

So, my dear nephew, welcome to the world.  There are a TON of people here who love you and can't wait to get to know you!  I can only imagine the wonderful things life has in store for you!

Love, 

Aunt Riki  

*Edit: Yes, I know I'm technically not a biological aunt, since it's through marriage, but this is the closest I'm going to get.