I'm Just Saying

A Giggly Good Time

Kimberly Laczniak — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 16:20:36 GMT

This year we have season tickets to First Stage Children's Theater. We attended our first performance yesterday afternoon, Giggle, Giggle Quack. In a word, it was fantastic! If you are a fan of the Duck and Farmer Brown series by Doreen Cronin, you'll surely enjoy it as well. If you haven't read any of Cronin's Duck books (Duck for President and Click, Clack, Moo, Cows That Type to name a couple), you are missing out on the mischievous barn animals and their note writing abilities. The play was adapted by James E. Grote, with music and lyrics by George Howe.

Imagine back to when you were a kid, left in the care of a babysitter, and all the wild things you'd convince your sitter that it was okay to do. Ice cream and popcorn before bed? YES! Staying up late to watch television? Of course! My parents always let me!

Farmer Brown goes on vacation and leaves Duck, Hen, Pig, and Cow with his brother Bob. Bob, who is from the city, is extremely guillable and not only does he order pizza for the animals, he also hands out electric blankets to them. One morning Duck forgot to change the note that Farmer Brown left and the animals race across the barn yard in slow motion while the theme to Chariots of Fire plays. Will they get to the note in time? You'll have to see for yourself, the play runs through October 19th and my family highly recommends it.

Teavana vs. Sunflower Seed Cookies

Kimberly Laczniak — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 01:40:00 GMT

Okay, so I went a little bit overboard on Saturday at Teavana. I was out of my beloved Honeybush Vanilla tea, and was getting dangerously low on the Mate Vana/Rooibos Chai blend. How would I begin my day without it? And that German Rock Sugar, well I needed a refill on that too. I resisted the urge to buy a Perfect Tea maker to keep at work, because I thought my husband would have a cow, but I splurged and bought three tin canisters in order to keep my tea fresh. Oh, and I then I bought a cup of Spice Nut Mate tea, because well, I really needed some caffeine.

I brought all my tea (and canisters) home, lined them up on the counter, and watched my husband do an eye roll. He knew this day was coming, the day that I needed the tin canisters. They really do keep the tea fresher than the bags. Honestly.

So that afternoon we went to Whole Foods. I had a coupon for a free Seventh Generation laundry product -- ANY product. I wanted the big huge bottle of detergent, and I knew Whole Foods had the jumbo size. We love going to Whole Foods, one of the reasons being the free samples they have out. Zoe loves the Cheese Curls, my husband loves it all, and I love the bakery. When I told them we were going to Whole Foods my husband immediately piped up that he was getting a bag of the sunflower seed cookies. I admit, they are really really good, and I was hoping there'd be samples.

We get to Whole Foods, everyone goes off in their own direction, and the next thing I know they are both coming at me with armfuls of Cheese Curls (Zoe), Grace's Best sunflower seed cookies and beer (my husband). I counted all the bags they were stuffing into the cart, and seriously, it looked like we were hosting a party. Beer, cheese curls, and cookies. I gave him an eye roll, and he says to me: "They are two for $5."

Oh whatever, how can I argue two for $5? I can't. A little bit later we passed the cookie stand. $5.49 EACH. Not two for $5. I kinda cleared my throat, "Oh hello, they aren't two for $5." Then I made him put one back.

Tonight he was rummaging around in the snack closet, stuffing handful after handful of sunflower cookies into his mouth. Then he says, "I can't believe you made me put one of those bags back. All that tea over there (and then he pointed at the tea canister section on the counter top), that was waaaaay more than $5."

I Believe In Signs

Kimberly Laczniak — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:04:00 GMT

I believe in signs.

For instance, whenever I see someone make a Florida U-turn I know that it’s a sign from my grandpa, who died in 2003, he taught me what a Florida U-turn was. Another sign was when I was at the grocery store on the anniversary of the day that he died and I was paying for my groceries with my debit card when a penny shot out of the change machine right in front of me. It took me a whole day to figure it out, but the coincidence that a penny dropped out of nowhere on the death anniversary of a grandpa who collected his pennies for me (and my brother) was, to me, definitely a sign.

And then there is the sign from my other grandpa, Leonard. He died in 2002, and since then I get mail addressed to him … at my house. Yes. Mail. And he didn’t even live with me. It all started about a month after he died, and its been arriving a few times a year ever since. I’m not getting personal letters or anything, in fact some might call it junk mail. However I call it a sign.

So then onto yesterday.

It was my husband’s grandma’s funeral. Twelve years ago, when we were first married, she took us to a chicken dinner at her church. She made a huge deal out of it, and it really meant a lot to her, this chicken dinner. I’ll never forget it, it was mostly because of the music. I’m pretty sure there was a strolling accordion player playing a polka. A POLKA — and for some reason I thought that was just hilarious. Anyhow, there we are, at the funeral, which was at the church of the chicken dinner.

At first I sat in a pew on the far left, then I moved to the middle second row, and finally I decided to save the third row for my husband, his brothers, and his nephews, who were all pallbearers. I was sitting on the far lefthand side of the pew, and you’d think that the men could have come in from the right, but they didn’t. As a result, my husband and his family made me scoot all the way down to the other side of the pew.

I noticed right away that there was a bulletin in the book rack in front of us. It was from Sunday, September 21st, and I thought it was odd that it was there because it was Monday, September 22nd, and usually someone goes through the pews and removes anything that doesn’t belong there — like old bulletins. You only get a bulletin on your way out of church, not before. Anyhow, at one point, most likely to take my mind off of the funeral, I decided to flip through the bulletin. It was hard to miss the blue sheet of paper folded inside of it, and my husband noticed what it said before I did: Chicken Dinner & Raffle, Polka Mass, October 5th.

And there you have it. A sign. But for who? Him? Me? Us? My husband wasn’t too convinced at first, until he searched through all of the pews after the service to confirm what I already knew: we had the only bulletin left in the pews. The pew that wasn’t our first choice, second choice, but third choice. And if the guys would have filed into the pew the way I imagined they would, my husband’s nephew would have sat there, and it would have meant absolutely nothing to him. Instead, we are left with a sign.

(Cross-posted to Thoughts Outside My Head)

Wine Odyssey: ABC

Kimberly Laczniak — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 01:35:20 GMT

I love to shop for wine, and I was looking for a way to make choosing a wine more fun, and somewhat challenging. What did I come up with? It may sound rather silly, but I decided that I was going to go straight through the alphabet, starting with A and ending with Z.

I'll be sharing my wine choices with you as I go, and I'm going to begin with A, B, and C. All three wines were purchased from Sendik's in Brookfield.

A to Z Night to Day, 2004, Dundee, Oregon. $13.99. This was a red blend, and I thought the name of the wine was a perfect fit to begin my journey of buying wine in alphabetical order. The color was a dark garnet; nose was spicy; taste was very fresh and peppery; the finish was long. I had been wanting to try an A to Z wine for a long time, and I liked it a great deal. I served it with pizza and it paired well.

Ben Marco, 2006, producer is Dominio Del Plata, Mendoza, Argentina. $21.99. 90% Malbec, 10% Bonarda. The color was a dark ruby; nose was lavender; taste was spicy and lush; the finish was good. I really liked, I served it with hamburgers and chips, but I think it would have paired nicely with a steak.

Conn Creek Limited Release, 2004, Conn Creek Winery, Napa Valley, CA. $23.99. Cabernet Sauvignon. The color was a deep ruby red, no legs; nose was a light aroma, perhaps cherry; taste was very light; not a lot of tannins for a Cabernet; the finish was short but silky. My overall impression was that this was not a very robust Cabernet, it was very light, and I could have easily mistaken it for a Pinot Noir.

In the coming weeks and months I'll continue to tell you about my wine odyssey through the alphabet. Feel free to share in the comments your favorite wines, or follow my ABC wine list and compare tasting notes. I will warn you though, most of them will be red wines. Cheers!

Hidden Mickeys

Kimberly Laczniak — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:42:03 GMT

That's right, I'm up to my eyeballs searching for the Hidden Mickeys, down here in Disney World, specifically the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Now, before you go and get all jealous that I'm down here, and you are up there, I've got to tell you that it's raining. RAINING!

Raining. On. My. Vacation.

With thunder too.

So, isn't that lovely?

However it does leave lots of time to find the Mickeys that are hidden around my resort. We've got a sheet of paper with instructions for 15 different hidden Mickey Mouse Ear locations, and so far we've found about six of them. Some are pretty easy to locate, others are terribly hard. And the thing is that once you start looking for them, you end up calling a lot of attention to yourself. My family and I were searching the wall around the pool slide, and suddenly we had company, yet they didn't know what they were looking for.

And, you can't have four people staring up in the lobby, discussing and pointing towards the lights, without people coming over to join in.

If it doesn't stop raining soon, we'll have run out of Hidden Mickeys at our resort, and will have to move on over to the next one.

Sprinklers and Rain

Kimberly Laczniak — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:15:14 GMT

I remember getting up at 3 o'clock in the morning to let the dog out, and the sprinklers were busy watering my lawn. Of course, now it's raining.

Miller Park Gone Wild (or Life Outside of the Luxury Box)

Kimberly Laczniak — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:34:00 GMT

A few weeks ago I wrote of my experience watching the Brewers game from a luxury suite. Today, I will be writing about my experience in section 203. On Friday night we had tickets to go to the game, again with my husband's department at work, and I didn't get the tickets to see where we were sitting until we were on the way to the game. Section 203. Well, I've already admit that I don't go to the game very often so I had no clue where these seats were. My mom, who was sitting in section 437, in the upper deck, informed me that I was on the field loge level, and that I had "good seats".

She was so wrong.

As we walked around the stadium, in search of section 203, we passed homeplate, first base, and the outfield. Huh? And then we came to Section 203. The bleachers. The freaking bleachers.

Are you kidding me? I can't sit in the bleachers. I realize that coming from the luxury box the only way to go is down, but this is the bottom as far as I'm concerned.

We found row 10, and needed to get to seats 6, 7, and 8, but they were in the middle of the row and the people who were on the end offered to just scoot on down. So they scooted down, Zoe sat down first, right next to a guy in his 20's who had clearly shaved his legs. The (drunk?) girl in front of us then turned around, stroked his legs and said to my 7 yr old: YOU PROBABLY THINK HE'S A CRAZY MO-FO.

Whoa. Did she just say "mo-fo" to my child?? So I said to her: CAN WE NOT SAY MO-FO TO MY 7 YR OLD PLEASE?

I think she gave me an eyeroll, whatever.

Then a very drunk guy comes back to the row in front of us, and as he trying to get back to his seat, the (drunk) girl notices that his fly is down -- and then she reaches inside his fly and pulls out his privates. Right there in section 203, row 9.

But wait, she wasn't just about public nudity for others, she whipped out her breast for a group photo, which I think my family may have been in the background for.

My husband got security, and then we left the section, watching the game instead from section 437, chair hopping among the 20-some seats that my family was in for my grandmother's 82nd birthday celebration -- where life wasn't quite that of a luxury box, but at least everyone was properly clothed and no one used "mo-fo" in a sentence to my kid.

One Clean Shoe

Kimberly Laczniak — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:27:01 GMT

Yesterday, before I left for work, I put the sheets and our duvet cover into the washing machine. I stripped the bed, throwing the sheets and pillowcases onto the floor, and then when I had the duvet off the down comforter I picked up everything and put them directly into the washing machine. When my husband got home he flipped the laundry into the dryer, so when I got home from work at 5:30 p.m. the sheets were clean and dry.

As I'm emptying the dryer, first the pillowcases, and then the sheets, which I carefully shake out because there is usually a stray sock tucked into the pockets of the fitted sheet, I find my husband's hiking shoe. It's just sitting there, in the dryer, as if it's on display or something. And it's warm, so I know that no one is playing a trick on me by tossing the shoe into the dryer when my back is turned. I hollered to him: WHY IS YOUR SHOE IN THE DRYER?? And he, of course, hollers back: MY HUH IS IN THE WHAT?? So I took his shoe to him and said: YOUR SHOE. IT WAS IN THE DRYER.

Now, I have to tell you that he's totally opposed to washing his shoes in the washing machine. According to him, that'll ruin them for sure. And I don't really want to admit that I washed his shoe. It would be better if I admit that he dried his shoe. But from where his other shoe was located on the floor in the bedroom, I'm pretty sure that when I threw the sheets onto the floor in the morning and then scooped them up, his shoe must have tagged along. I don't know how he didn't notice his shoe when he put the sheets into the dryer, but he did say that he wondered why there was a thunking noise when he turned the dryer on.

So there you have it, he's got one clean shoe. And it's one of the shoes that he wore when he used a sledgehammer to help my brother demolish his kitchen a few weeks ago. It's considerably cleaner than the other shoe. CONSIDERABLY.

Life in a Luxury Box

Kimberly Laczniak — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:26:27 GMT

This past Sunday we had tickets to the Milwaukee Brewers baseball game, and let me tell you this, I’m sooooo not interested in baseball. In fact, since the Brewers have gotten the new stadium, Miller Park, I’ve only been there twice before. I can’t even begin to tell you how many tickets I’ve given away because I just did not want to go.

So my husband survived the downsizing at his job, and as a celebration he and others from his department were treated with tickets to their company’s suite at Miller Park. Tickets to the luxury box? Oh yeah, I’m totally going. I didn’t care if I didn’t watch any of the ball game, but I was going for the experience.

Parking was prime, and then once we found our suite — which happened to be on the field level right behind third base – I settled right in to life in the luxury box. The suite was like a hotel, and who wouldn’t want to watch a sporting event live from their own hotel room? There was wi-fi, there was our own potty, and best of all there were bottles of wine. DECENT WINE. None of that Little Penguin crap. I poured myself a glass of cabernet sauvignon, and okay, so I couldn’t find a wine glass and I had to drink out of a plastic cup, but I lived.

My daughter was busy filling herself up on potato chips, chocolate chip cookies and fudge brownies. Seeing as she wouldn’t touch a hotdog to save her life (can you blame her?), I called the concierge to see if I could order her a kids meal of chicken fingers. SURE, they said, WE’LL SEND YOUR ASSISTANT OVER WITH IT.

My what? My Assistant? Well, okay.

Sunday’s paper was waiting in the luxury box, so while the crowd cheered I read all my favorite sections: Cue, Entree, Business, and Metro. My husband and I have this thing where we try to guess if the house of the week in the Entree Section will be either IN DOOR COUNTY or NOT IN DOOR COUNTY. We both picked Door County this week, and the house wasn’t, so we both took a drink.

Next thing I know the assistant is there (My Assistant?) deliverying not one, but two huge pizzas. The first thought that came to my head was DID I ACCIDENTALLY ORDER PIZZAS WITH THE KIDS CHICKEN FINGERS? My Assistant assured me that I did not, and then handed me the kids meal.

Okay, how come I never got one of those kids meals whenever I went to the ballgame? It was in a paper bag with comics on it and came with chips, Oreos (more cookies!), a juice box, and a Topps baseball card for some Suppan guy that I’d never heard of. (Even though I’d never head of him, I had to admit that the baseball card was pretty cool.)

During the 7th inning My Assistant came in and boxed all of the food up into containers so we could take home any leftovers. She even labeled the boxes with what was inside too.

Lets see, we had visitors in the luxury box: Bernie Brewer, the mascot, stopped by for a visit! And a face painting lady came around to paint the kids faces too.

Midway through the game some of the people who were sitting outside got up and came into the suite, so we moved from the indoor bar area to the outdoor seats. That was when the game started to get pretty good. I don’t know what got into me, but I even stood up and cheered the team on when the bases were loaded and someone hit the ball way out into the field and no one caught it!

The game was tied 4-4 after the 9th inning, so it went to extra innings, which meant we got to see NOT ONE, but TWO Sausage Races.

We left at the top of the 13th, the score was still tied and there was no end in sight. Of course, as we were wandering around in the parking lot trying to remember where we parked, the Brewers hit a home run and won the game! We missed Bernie Brewer sliding down his slide, and the fireworks too.

I’ve decided that maybe the ballgame isn’t so bad after all, but what I really want is the life in the luxury box. Now that, I could totally get used to.

At the State Fair (or: A Mop? Not A Chance.)

Kimberly Laczniak — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:41:00 GMT

Last night we went to the State Fair where Zoe actually asked if she could do the bungee jumping slingshot thing. HELL NO! I’m still slightly afraid that she’ll slither through the slots on the safety gate while on the sky ride that takes us from one side of the park to the other.

What did we do? Well, let’s see, we ate, I walked through the Wisconsin wine tasting bar, we had ice cream sundaes, Zoe milked a fake cow for 60 seconds (4 oz worth), and then we took the sky ride. We meant to look at the animals, but somehow got sidetracked in the Expo Center where Zoe made a beaded lanyard thingy at the kid’s “make it and take it” art table, and we watched a Chinese acrobat show.

And then, *we (and I use that term loosely to mean *my husband) found what we came for: Magicloths. It was the Magicloths booth, his Holy Grail of the State Fair.

Ever since the water tube to the refrigerator sprung a leak a few weeks ago and soaked the wall, the floor, and the carpeting, all he’s talked about is Cham Wows and Magicloths. I’m not sure why he decided on Magicloths over Cham Wows, but whatever. Our daughter is a sucker for any and all wonder-gadgets (MOM, YOU KNOW WHAT YOU NEED? IT’S MUDDY PUDDY. AND ROLL N GROW. AND GREEN BAGS.) so it was no wonder that she was mesmerized by the Magicloths demonstration. I walked around a bit during the demo and came back just in time to get hit-up for the moolah by my family. Just as I was pulling out my last $20 from my wallet, the vendor says: OKAY, COME IN CLOSER, I’VE GOT A DEAL FOR YOU. SHHHHH, THESE ARE LEFT OVER FROM THE FIRST DAY OF THE FAIR AND I THINK I’VE ONLY 5 LEFT, AND IF YOU COME BACK LATER AND ASK FOR THEM I CAN’T GIVE THEM TO YOU, BECAUSE THEY’LL BE GONE, BUT INCLUDED IN YOUR MAGICLOTH PACKAGE FOR ONLY $20 (+TAX) IS THIS…

And then she pulled out a mop.

A MOP! And folks, that’s where I draw the line on what I will and what I won’t be buying (or getting free) from the State Fair. I turned to my husband and said: I CAN’T DO THIS. I CAN’T BE A PART OF THIS. A MOP?

And then I handed him the cash and got as far away from the place where a mop is included with purchase as fast as I could. When the coast was clear I did turn around, because I just had to get a picture of this. (Excuse the quality, I had to use my cell phone)

As it turns out, he explained to the vendor that his wife said NO WAY JOSE to the mop, so she gave him an extra package of Magicloths instead. I’m cool with that.

But I made him carry it to the car.

Subdivision Rummage Sale

Kimberly Laczniak — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:31:18 GMT

This Saturday, July 26th, from 9-4 my subdivision, Brook Falls, will be having their annual rummage sale. It's located off of Lilly Rd, right across from Lamplight Farms, just north of Hampton Avenue. You can enter on Camelot or Brook Falls.

I'll be participating in the sale, and I hope to have all my stuff together tonight, in the garage, and properly labeled. Most of what I have to sell is clothing, toys, and books that my seven year old daughter has outgrown. Due to favorites, and of course, growth spurts, there are some that she's never even worn.

My daughter is pretty excited about setting up her own little table this year, which was supposed to be for cookies, lemonade, water, and snacks. However she's been working on some crafts like mad for the last few days. Gosh, I hope someone buys them. She's struggling with a price point right now. Her father and I are trying are best to push her towards the $0.25 mark, we'll see what she decides tomorrow, I guess. Perhaps her grandmother will be able to talk some sense into her.

If you'd just like to stop by and say hello, please do! I'm the first house on Brook Falls Drive, the one with a giant Rainbow Play Set in the backyard. Ya know, what I should do, is offer a babysitting service for parents so that they can drop their kids off in my backyard to play on the Rainbow, while they rummage with ease through the subdivision. Now there's an idea.

Have a great weekend!

The Dark Knight

Kimberly Laczniak — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 14:04:30 GMT

The last Batman movie I saw starred Michael Keaton, or possibly George Clooney, I’m not entirely sure. But I think I had mono, and I swore I was dying, and someone had to DRIVE to Blockbuster to rent a movie. Yes, it was a very, very, very long time since I’ve watched a Batman movie. I love the roller coaster ride a Six Flags though, LOVE IT!

Zoe went to my parents for the night, and that means one thing: MOVIES! NON-G-RATED MOVIES!!! And well, in order to see Mamma Mia!, I promised we could see The Dark Knight first. I ordered tickets online, and even though we got to the theater 25 minutes early, we still had to sit in the second row. FROM THE SCREEN. It was 4:50 in the afternoon, and for as much as I love movies, I have this problem where I fall asleep during them. It’s something to do with the dark lights, and the fact that my eyelids get really really REALLY heavy. I crossed my fingers that I wouldn’t fall asleep, just so that I could SAY that I DID NOT FALL ASLEEP.

And I did not fall asleep, but I probably should have seen Batman Begins prior to watching The Dark Knight.

WOW! The movie blew all of my expectations straight out of the bat cave. It was, in my opinion, probably the best movie I’ve seen all year! And, if you recall, I did see every last one of the Oscar Nominated best-picture movies in a marathon fashion one crazy Saturday not too long ago.

Someone needs to check my forehead, do I have a fever? I just declared a caped crusader movie the best I’ve seen all year! Me? I don’t even like Spiderman!

And all the buzz going around about Heath Ledger and his role as the Joker, it’s true. He was phenomenal! He deserves any and all nominations that he receives. Absolutely.

By the way, Christian Bale? Oh he’s a MUCH better Batman than Michael Keaton.

That's How You Know

Kimberly Laczniak — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:48:00 GMT

In May I got a brand new Kenmore Elite He5t washing machine with the Quietpak 9 and a matching He5 Steam dryer - also with the Quietpak 9. I didn’t know that I could love a washer and dryer this much. The very second that Sears drove away after delivering and installing them I had a load of wash going — and all the laundry baskets were neatly lined up so that I could wash clear into the middle of the night if I chose to.

I’ve kept those machines running on a fairly regular basis ever since. If something needs to be washed I scope out all the dirty laundry until I’ve got enough to fill a load.

And the Quietpak 9? Well worth the money. My laundry room is on the first floor and it’s right next to the living room, dining room, kitchen, and my bedroom. I needed a washing machine that did not make a peep. And this one is UBER QUIET.

Did I mention that I love it?

So this morning I threw in a load of sheets, and tonight I flipped the laundry into the dryer, and started the next load. Then I took a shower. And when I got out of the shower I noticed that the washing machine wasn’t running, and instead was flashing F32 on the screen.

And the door was locked.

And it kept flashing. F32! F32! F32!!

Yes, yes, F32!! But what does it mean?? I grabbed the owner’s manual and searched for all the error codes, F20, F21, F22, but no F32.

What!?

I started punching buttons on the machine, and finally had to unplug it from the wall to get the door to unlock.

Whew! I got all my clothes out of the washing machine, because even though they were dirty clothes, I felt relieved that they weren’t locked inside! I know, odd.

My husband came in the laundry room and tried to figure out what the problem was, and finally announces that “we’ll have to call for service”. Lucky for him the door right behind him is magnetic and there was a Sears Home Service magnet — which I grabbed and handed to him.

“It’s 8:30 at night, they won’t be open.”

“Ya never know.”

I fully expected him to go back to watching his tv show, and I was still wrapped in a towel, so I went to the bedroom to get into my pajama’s. I can see the couch from the bedroom, and I saw him sitting on the couch, then I heard him explaining to someone that the washing machine wasn’t working and it was giving him an error code.

Could he really be calling Sears? At this hour?? For me???

Sure enough, he called!

And I wanted to burst out into song like Giselle in Enchanted — twirling around in my pj’s That’s How You’ll Know!

(Cross posted @ Thoughts Outside My Head)

Running Partner

Kimberly Laczniak — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 03:11:13 GMT

Over the past few weeks I've been running outside, rather than running on my treadmill. My dog, Maisy, has been my running partner. She does pretty good actually, and I'll bet we ran close to 15 miles last week, only taking Wednesday and Sunday off. Perhaps you've seen us running through the subdivisions off of Lilly and Hampton?

The only problem with running with my dog is that I don't want to push her, and in order to make sure she stays properly hydrated, I bought one of those Camelbak packs from REI. It's not the big one that goes on like a backpack, but rather a smaller one that actually I wear like a fanny pack and the water bladder rests on the small of my back. Surprisingly, it holds 48 oz of water, and Maisy is pretty good at drinking it straight from the hose like it's a bubbler.

Tonight Maisy and I were getting ready for our run, and I don't know if it was the water pack that got my daughter, Zoe, so interested or what, but she decided to come along with us. I thought about just doing the 3/4 mile loop through my subdivision, but she was doing so well that I keep on going my normal route and in all we went about 2.5 miles. Sure, we didn't go super fast, and we walked here and there, but I'm so impressed that my 7 year old actually did it! Our pace was slow, due to the walking, as well as I tried to teach her not to burst out full steam ahead.

Even though we both had our iPods on, she talked the entire time. Over time she'll learn to concentrate on her breathing, and maybe not talk so much, or maybe the talking will turn out to help her. Personally, I can't really talk when I run. Anyhow, normally I'd have dropped Maisy off at the house and then gone out again by myself to do another loop, but it was getting late so I didn't this time.

Thursday night I'll Storm the Bastille with my husband and my sister-in-law. My brother and my nephews are supposed to be running the 5K too, but we'll see, they changed their minds last year. This run is my favorite run of the year. I'm really looking forward to it!

Cross posted @ Thoughts Outside My Head

Waiting for the Parade

Kimberly Laczniak — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:51:20 GMT

I must confess, I don't care about parades. At all. Maybe it's because I spent a great deal of my childhood marching in parades, both for the Robinette's (I was a baton twirler) and for the Templeton Middle School marching band (I played the clarinet and the flute). Once I got to high school, I quit the band because it was mandatory that we had to march, and I'd had enough marching.

On the way home from work yesterday I took note of all the people along the Menomonee Falls parade route who were scouting out their spot for tonights parade. It almost made me wonder if the parade was last night, instead of tonight. This morning all the stakes and string and caution tape and lawn chairs, and other marking devices were there. My daughter, who is seven, asked me: What is going on? Why are all these people in areas that are marked off with caution tape?? And I had to explain to her that it wasn't police tape in this instance, it was areas that people were marking as their own for the parade which is later tonight.

And this is what she said to me: But it's just a parade.

My point exactly. It's just a parade. I don't get it. What ever happened to showing up for the parade right before the parade started? Where the kids sit on the curb as it passes by, and the adults stand on the sidewalk? Does that not happen anymore?

Qat

Kimberly Laczniak — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 12:47:27 GMT

Here’s the background: We’ve been listening a lot to Snacktime, by the Barenaked Ladies. It’s a children’s CD, but it’s fun enough for parents to enjoy too. There is this one song, Crazy ABC’s, where they go through the alphabet and list a crazy word for each of the letters and a definition of it.

Here’s the scenario: We were at dinner with my parents and my nephews. My mom was playing hangman with the kids when all of a sudden my husband comes up THE WORD to END ALL WORDS! The MOST FANTASTIC HANGMAN WORD EVER! He’s positive that they’ll NEVER EVER EVER guess it before their hangman is hung.

He tells them: _ _ _

Someone says: A

He fills it in: _ A _

Zoe says: Q

He gets a look of shock as everyone else at the table thinks our daughter has just made the dumbest letter guess ever because there isn’t a place for a U in those three slots, especially with the A in the middle.

And then she says: “qat, it’s an evergreen shrub” (quoted perfectly from the song, mind you).

I Superan

Kimberly Laczniak — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:58:16 GMT

Last night my husband and I ran the Superun 5K. It’s through Lake Park, and this run is challenging, but we love it anyways. Our times? Well let’s just say that we finished, and our times sucked. I hadn’t run in over two weeks, and my husband (who finished around 22 minutes last year) ran at my pace (which is no where NEAR 22 minutes).

It did not rain, and there was no beer on this race. It’s was all sunshine and hills.

The next 5K is Bastille Days, which is in July and is my favorite one of them all. I believe my brother, sister-in-law, and nephews will be running it too. That’ll be interesting. My nephews, who are 14, are now taller than me. They’ve got loooooooooooooooooooong legs and I’m willing to bet that they are going to sprint to the finish line.

Speaking of my sister-in-law, I found out that she joined a triathlon class this summer, thinking that it would teach her the skills necessary for if she’d ever want to do a triathlon. Well, guess what, the class is ACTUALLY GOING TO DO A TRIATHLON. Yes, that’s right. She’s doing a triathlon. I think it’s a great idea, I wouldn’t want to do it — maybe one of those mini tri’s though, I could handle that.

Maverick

Kimberly Laczniak — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:16:33 GMT

On my birthday I decided to make a flowerbed in my backyard. It was something that we had been meaning to do since we moved in two years ago, but no one really wanted to dig up the grass. Not because we liked the grass, but because it would be really hard work due to the fact that the ground is mostly clay. I started out with plans to dig a space where I could plant a clematis by the arbor, but ended up with a garden that extended to the corner of my yard along the fence, about 6′x6′x8′ in a triangular shape. It looked huge up close, but when I turned to look at the rest of my yard in comparison — it’s really small. Let’s call it ‘quaint’. From the sidewalk you can’t even see my quaint birthday garden actually.

I really wanted to go straight to the nursery to pick out a few plants to put in the flowerbed, but waited so we could go together on Saturday. We picked out some tall grass, catmint, a small juniper, and a burgandy sedum type plant. Once you get close enough to see, it’s really pretty.

After we finished the flowerbed, my husband said to me, “see how much easier it is when we work together as a team to get something done, rather than going about it in your usual maverick way?”

Maverick way? Moi?

Okay, to be honest I hadn’t ever really thought about it, but I suppose I am a bit of a maverick. I like to do things when I want to do them, not before, not after, and I want to do them my way. Is that so bad? I mean, it got us a quaint little birthday garden, right?

Happy Birthday to Me!

Kimberly Laczniak — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 05:01:00 GMT

Today is my birthday. I’m not sure what my entire day will bring, but it’s starting out at the eye doctor with my daughter, Zoe, then we are going out for coffee. Well, she’ll most likely have chocolate milk and I’ll have coffee. The rest of the day is up in the air. Perhaps we’ll bum around at the Lakefront Art Festival, it begins today and we’ve never gone, but Zoe is way way WAY into art. And, I am too, but she’s at least got a shot at being an artist, I’ll have to wait until retirement to pursue it. And now, since it’s my birthday, I am a year closer to it. Right?

I already got my birthday present two weeks ago, an iPod Touch. It’s, in a single word, AWESOME! I love it!! It’s probably the coolest gadget I’ve ever had. It has wifi on it and I can connect anywhere there is a hot spot. We were driving home from Door County on Tuesday and I needed to get an email from one of my classmates, did you know that Two Rivers has hot spots in the city? It does. All of a sudden I had connection and I’m telling my husband: “Stop the car! Pull over!”

Anyhow, the iPod Touch is so very very cool.

Did you get me anything? I am accepting gifts, iTunes is a great idea ya know. Or bottles of red wine. That’ll work too.

Have a great day!

Washingon Island Experience

Kimberly Laczniak — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 14:46:42 GMT

I am vacationing in Door County with my family, which includes my husband, seven year old daughter, parents, and two 14 year old nephews. We are staying in Fish Creek, but yesterday we decided to make a day of it on Washington Island. I've been to Door County many times in the last 12 years, it's become a yearly excursion, and somehow we've never been to Washington Island. What would it be like? What would we do there? What adventure awaited us on the other side of the ferry?

There were seven of us, so we had to take two cars. Round trip tickets for a car is $24 (JUST the car), adults are $5.50 and children are $3.75. When we got off the ferry we immediately headed towards the Lookout Tower in Mountain Park where the view from the top of the tower was amazing! After that we split up for lunch, with my husband, daughter and I going to a restaurant on Main Street that promised breakfast all day, soup, sandwiches, wi-fi, and a baby grand piano in the dining room, oh and let's not forget the kayak tours. Close your eyes and imagine it with me, do you see a fireplace? Someone playing the piano? Customers lounging around, laptops open, blogging away? Coffee bar perhaps?

Okay, now you need to snap back to what I'd like to call: the reality of island life. The restaurant was about the size of my living room, the baby grand was in the corner with a fence (FENCE?) around it, zero laptops, no fireplace, and only two other tables of customers. The waitress moved on island time, and she even stopped taking our order at one point so she could help someone else find a fork. However, it must be said that that was the best darn grilled cheese sandwich I'd had in a while. AND I was able to log onto wi-fi with my iPod Touch so I could email my brother and check on my dogs.

After lunch we met back up at Jacobsen’s Museum were we met a life long resident of the island. Then we visited an Art & Nature Center, where I searched for a painting to add to my Door County collection (didn't find one though). My nephew bought a boomerang, which my husband immediately tried out in the parking lot. He threw it towards the woods, and I'm sure he expected it turn around right before the trees, but it didn't, and my nephew had to trounce around in the trees until they found it.

Note to anyone with a boomerang: learn to use it before you throw it towards the woods.

We decided it was time to head back to the ferry. My dad's car got on no problem, but we were told we'd have to wait an hour for the next ferry, so we pulled off to the side to wait. Next thing we know we are being waved ahead, once we got up to the ferry it was pretty clear that only one of those little Smart Cars would fit on the deck. The guy leans into the driver's window and says to my husband, "okay, what you're going to do is turn around here and backup onto the ferry, (and then he pointed) sideways there behind that car". And then I looked and saw him point towards my mom, who was already rummaging around in the cooler that was in the hatchback of their Equinox. My husband and I looked at each other, surely this is a joke, right? He didn't just tell us to back up on the ferry, did he? And then we laughed. And from the look on his face we realized that it wasn't a joke, and that we were going to be backing up sideways on the little itty bit part of the deck.

So that was our once in a lifetime Washington Island experience. I think that it'd be a perfect place to go for a bike ride. Maybe next time!