Mourning a fish and an incredible piece of steak

The past weekend was full of events and a general blast. The weather was amazing, and we enjoyed some good foods. It makes me even more excited for summer!

Olive had a doctors appointment, weighed in at 14 pounds, 24 inches long. What a big girl! She is loving her veggies and cereal. Baths are also a special time. She has begun to stick out of the baby tub so we put a little water in the bottom of the tub and see what would happen. She has now discovered the joy of splashing!

She also enjoys being in the bath with Omri. It's quite fascinating to see the bond that has already formed between them. Basically, Olive loves Omri. She sees her and instantly laughs and/or smiles. It's adorable.

So Friday begins with a 10 to 6 work day, that actually lasted until 7 due to some last minute nursing home deliveries. Frankie and I had made plans to go out, so Aunt Kerry was over to watch the girlies. Since they both go down around 7 or 8, we had them asleep before we left so it would be an easy job for Ker. Our original plan was to go to Olive Garden. I'm pretty sure that we always plan on going there, but never actually make it. We drive by, and of course it's a wait on Friday night, so we set out for other options. The Olliver House downtown became intriguing, so we set off. We arrive and walk in, through Maumee Bay Brewing and end up in Rockwells. Instantly I feel underdressed in nice jeans and a shirt in this fan-cay establishment. We go anyways. We decide to get a bruschetta for an appetizer, and I had some Pinot Grigio (sp?). That bread was amazing! The roca tomatoes were so juicy and marinated delicously. Then there was the mozarella on top. REAL mozarella. AH-mazing! We then wait patiently for our steaks to arrive. Our server arrives and informs us that we need to be careful, because our plates are a scorching 500 degrees! I hear the juices from the meat sizzling as she sets down perhaps the most beautiful piece of cow that has ever been seen by a meat fanatic. The aroma was mouth-watering, and I was ready to dig in--although slightly cautious of the hot plate! The first bite is nothing short of heaven. It was cooked to medium rare perfection, and I thought to myself, if I get Mad Cow, it had better be from this most damn delicious filet that I have ever been in company with. Needless to say, it was worth every penny (and it was a lot of pennies)! I told Frankie something along the lines of : I am going to cry with every other food I eat, because it will never taste as amazing as this. This surely must be on everyones list of what to accomplish before they die: EAT AT ROCKWELLS. A glass of red wine later, we decide to head downstairs to Mutz. Except, we are informed that Mutz no longer exists. The other bars in the downtown area are a no-go due to a Hens game that just let out. So we head home, with a pit stop at Doc Watsons for one more beer (just plain ole Bud Light).

Saturday morning, the fam plus Ker head to Bob Evans for some breakfast. I love their food, even if I did work there for 4 years. Country Biscuit breakfast with sausage gravy is the most yummiest! We proceeed to drive up River Road and back down again, to stop off at Lickity split for the first soft serve ice cream of the season. I'm pretty sure they have the same signs for the past 10 years. Afterwards, Ker, Ollie and I head to Target for odds and ends, because who DOESN'T love a good Target trip?? That night the girls and I ended up at Raeann's camper. Omri had a blast, wanted to play at the beach (which was the box) or the water (which was the actual beach on the lake/pond. We had some hamburgs from the firepit and Omri rode on a bicycle for the first time. Well, more like Nate pushed her around the drive on the bicycle.

Sunday was yet ANOTHER beautiful day. It started of very strange though. Omri woke up that morning crying. When asked what was the matter, she said "cookie monster". Well, what was wrong with cookie monser? "He's sad." Why is he sad? "He went poopoo in the potty" She then goes on to repeat this, except with Elmo. She was VERY upset about this for most of the day, and I'm slightly concerned that this could impair potty training.
We headed to Borders in search of Duck Tales DVD, and ended up scoring on a good handful of kids books for a dollar each! I love their 'bargain' books. Picked up Frankie some khaki shorts, and headed home because Ollie was getting cranky. Later that evening, we had an impromptu cookout with the neighbors (Kyle and PJ). Some ribeyes, corn on the cob and fried taters were on the menu. To drink: only the most WONDERFUL drink in the whole entire world: Framboise (Fram-Bwaah). A raspberry Belgian beer that tastes nothing like beer, only goodness. Another thing to put on a to-do list: Drink Framboise. The night ended up with one hour of screaming from Olive, only to discover that she may possibly be teething. Oh geez....

Monday: nothing exciting, at least not that I remember.

Tuesday: our fish Achoo was found floating beside the filter. I'm not sure how Omz is going to take this, but we call her over to the toilet anyway. She sees Achoo in the potty and is confused. I explain that Achoo is sick, and he is going to the ocean with Nemo to get better. And the screaming ensues. Another traumatic experience with the potty... it's pretty much her nemesis. The only thing that calms her down is the promise of a replacement, which will probably not happen, because a goldfish tank is impossible to keep clean--they are listed as the 'dirtiest' fish, and no amount of cleaning/water replacement/filtration will keep this water clear! I think our cat and dog will be fine in keeping the pet department occupied for a loooong time now.

Alas, I have just written a novel. Time to reverse the carpal tunnel thats setting in...

Swamp Water

As a child growing up, I was never a fan of Kool-Aid. Just wasn't my thing. The amount of sugar was never right, leaving you with either not enough or a complete overload. It was not until I met Frankie that I gave Kool-Aid a second chance, and thus, my love of Swamp Water began. Basically, it is just a mixture of lemon-lime and orange Kool-Aids. It turns this disgusting green color that looks like a mix between well, swamp water/baby poo/babyfood/boogers. Despite it's appearance, it is most scrumptious and we made our first batch in a long time tonight. I couldn't believe when he poured out the required amount of sugar that it was ALL going in there. The displacement of water due to the obscene amount of granulation almost overflowed out of the jug. To mark this special occasion of the rebirth of swamp water, we drank it out of wine glasses. So refined we are. We also decided that we were going to freeze some in ice cube trays and call them.. Snot Pops. Omri will surely go 'Ew! Gross! Yuck! No ways!', but she'll cave in in due time.

I have alot of things I want to talk about, but I have home work that I should really do so I can watch the first new Grey's Anatomy in about a month!

Street rat? I no buy that..

Ah for all those Disney lovers out there (or parents!), the movie of choice at present time is Aladdin. Yesterday Omri was walking around singing Aladdins song about being a street rat, in her language of course. Very funny. I love it when she goes into her own little world and sings or acts out her favorite parts. She knows the movements and basic phrases of the opening, and its pretty hilarious when it gets to the part about prehistoric tupperware.. you just have to see to understand. Now I would love to post such a video, but we are currently without photomaking capabilities. I bought a camera in January, a Nikon coolpix that was easy to use, which is of highest importance to me.. I just don't get cameras! Only a month later, and it's nowhere to be found. The house and car have been searched sevenfold and no camera. I keep putting off buying another because I'm convinced that as sooon as I buy one, I'll find the other. But now that I realize that i have about 3 pictures of olive from the last three months, I feel lots of guilt--especially compared to the grotesque amounts that I have of Omri. I am searching ebay for a good deal, but havent found anything amazing yet.

So this whole getting a dog thing is literally like taking care of an infant. Going outside for potty breaks is never ending (although accidents are almost eradicated!), and the new trend is that Jedi will only poop if I'm out there with him. Go figure. On the other side of the pet poop front, our katze Kenny has a mean stink to his excretions. He is famous for it. A few weeks ago, I noticed that he was spending an abnormally long amount of time in his litter box with no effect. Instantly, my mom freaks, because a similar event happened to Thunder that almost killed him last year. Evidentely, cats can have crystallization build up in their kidneys, causing urine to back up, which ultimately kills them in a short period of time. Thunder required a $600 surgery. Now I love Kenny, but not THAT MUCH. As awful as it sounds, its cheaper to put him down and get another kitty. However, there is option 2: switch to brand name cat food. One reason I have great love for Kenny is his love for Kroger Value brand cat food. Seven bucks for 15 pounds-- for some perspective for the catless, $7 would buy you maybe 7 lbs. of brand food-- and he actually refused the 'nicer' stuff on teh occasions that I would get it for him. Apparentely this is the culprit of this kitty epidemic, so now.. I switch him to Purina Indoor Cat formula. Bad idea, the poor guy got the runs--with extra stink! So I got some Friskies today, hopefully this will do better. These pets give me more stress than the kids do!

Olive has become a huuuuge eater recentely, probably around 30 to 36 ounces a day. She has cereal most days now, but with her becoming increasingly hungry, I am going to jump the gun and feed her some veggies tomorrow to attempt to satisfy her hunger. I do need some tips on making your own baby food though--help Sarah! Also, Omri is becoming more and more interested in interactive play. I am forced to become the horrible actress that I am to keep her happy. Let's just say I have no career in children's movies, TV shows, etc. One of Omri's Easter presents was The Cat in the Hat Comes Back. We read it tonight. I forgot how much I loved that book, compared to the first one! My Dr. Seuss collection is decent, although I still need a few classics: There's a Wocket in my Pocket, Hop on Pop, and others. I dont really want any other material thing for the girls except for a complete Dr. Seuss book and Disney movie collection. The new fangled things just can't beat out the classics. Plus, I enjoy them too!

Only 3 more weeks of classes left--thank god! I'm exhausted, and I haven't read any books in a loooooong time. I know there's at least 3 James Pattersons, and a few Chuck Palaniuks. I really want a hammock to have in the backyard for reading, but I keep having these visions of Omri plummeting headfirst into the ground, and ours is not soft!

Allright, time to end all this 'ado about nothing'. The news begins in T minus 3 minutes. Gotta get my fill of Ch. 11.

Peer reviewed journals just aren't my thing

My next assignment due in my Prevention and Control of Disease class is an review of a peer reviewed article based on disease prevention. Using Google as a search engine for this has only given me links to articles that are impossible to understand. I may have found a keeper just now, regarding Vitamin A supplements and it's correlation with reducing Malaria in Africa, but at the late hour, I'll save that stress for tomorrow. It's only due tomorrow night at midnight!! Ah..

What a beautiful day out today. Since Frankie has been quite under the weather, I took the girls to my moms and did some laundry. Omri was outside all day; playing with chalk, pinecones, shovels, balls, Logan. Olive spent some time in her Exersaucer, but kept throwing her toys in the dirt. I don't think she ingested too much!

Came home, and watched Superbad. Now, I was terribly skeptical of this movie. I am not a huge fan of crude, rowdy comedies of late, and I figured this would amount to nothing more than a boob fest. Suprisingly, I found myself quite amused at the banter between the two best friends as they finished out their senior year trying to get alcohol to impress some girls at a graduation party. I think that the one guy in it (also in Juno), was a pretty skilled funny guy. Makes me want to go see Adventureland. Probably wont, but alas, it may be a VOD (Video On Demand) possibility for the future.

Speaking of movies, Starz and Encore movie channels were free this weekend! This enabled us to watch Superbad, and I'm recording Gone Baby Gone overnight. Also watched Vantage Point off and on at my moms--it was ok. Might have worked out a bit better if I would have sat through the whole thing. VERY excited for May 15th, Angels and Demons comes out in theaters. Even Frankie's looking forward to this. Also, Harry Potter in a mere 3 months! Ah... it's sad to think that there will only be one more movie. Even more sad that there are no more books--this also goes for Twilight. Alas, it's always best to go out on top, rather than to drag it on and on and on until the story is soap opera-esque.

SNL's Best of Amy Poehler is on. LOVE her. must watch. farewell.

Now blog it out

Arrrrgh. It's been far too long bloggity-blog. Two 40 hour weeks, a handful of exams, and I am pooped. haha ADD kickin' in: Frankie is watching VH1's 100 Greatest 80's One Hit Wonders and they were talking about this guys career after his hit. Apparentely he was a producer for Christina
Aguilera, No Doubt and Miley Cyrus, but when they said Miley Cyrus, they showed a picture of Stevie Wonder. Silly editors.

So what's new you ask? Well Omri is growing up way too fast, she even has a pimple on her face! (No joke, I was shocked, but I am exercising GREAT restraint in not popping it). She also went poopy in the potty the other day. While she was incredibly proud, she has no interest in repeating this. The beautiful princess, Tinkerbell, and Elmo underpants have no effect on her decision. She'll wear them, and destroy them. O well, every box of Pampers= one vaccine for a disadvantaged kid, so I guess she's doing her part, eh?

Do you realize that buy vaccinating every single person for all vaccinatable(?) diseases could eradicate smallpox and other such ailments from the world!?! Or so my Prevention and Control of Disease professor says.

Anywhos, Ollie is almost a quite grown 4 month old. She rolled over (from belly to back) for the first time a few days ago, yet I have yet to witness it because of work. She is enjoying cereal, and I can't wait to start on veggies here in the near future. She is also sleeping an average of 10 to 11 hours a night. AMAZING! I LOVE IT! SLEEP HAS RETURNED!

Or so I thought.... The next order to discuss: the pup. So we decided that we didn't have enough on our plates and that we REALLY needed a dog. A few days of scouring The Blade classified led to me driving out to Curtice after work to pick up a Boxer. Why a Boxer you ask? 1). Kid friendly, 2). trainability, 3). overall cutness, 4). guard dog capabilities. So I picked out a male fawn colored 7 week old and headed home. The reaction from Omri is worth every pee puddle and whine: "Hi Mom--ahhhh!" Hands to the face, total and complete shock. She apparentely didn't believe me on the phone when I told her I was bringing him home. We christened him Jedi, and set forth to pethood. He and Omri are bestest buds, which is perfect when she is craving more attention that is taken up by Olive.

Time to go. Dog had an accident.. newest story of our lives. More later.