Greg’s weblog

I worked late last night for the first time in a long time last night. Erin’s Mom and Grandma are in town for a visit. The two events are completely unrelated. No, seriously.

We had Jim & Judy and Jess over for supper to celebrate Jess’ birthday, and otherwise spent a fairly quiet night at home. William jumped on his plate of spaghetti, sending sauce flying everywhere at one point. Then when he was serving the dessert, he turned too fast and sent Raspberry whipped cream and strawberries flying everywhere too. He was pretty tired by the time he went to bed, and he slept in, so I don’t know if they went on the field trip to the WDM at school today. I’ll have to find out a little later.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “A cup-holder! Bart, we’ve got to stop and get a cup!” – Milhouse

Poker went poorly for me last night – I wound up down $4 on the night, and was pretty card dead all night. Oh well, can’t win every time. When I got home, the kids were still up and bouncing off the walls. It was about midnight before everyone was in bed, and after that before everyone was asleep. Everyone was a little bit tired this morning apparently.

Erin’s mom and grandma are coming out next week for a visit. It’s been a while since we had anyone stay at our house, so it will be interesting to see how Julia deals with it. She’s really entertaining lately – from her facial expressions (anyone who’s seen them knows exactly what I’m talking about) to her dancing, to her pretending to be a dog (woof woof,) she’s a pretty happy little girl most of the time.

Meanwhile, William is quickly becoming the largest concentration of energy in North America. Picture the tazmanian devil after having a bunch of cappuccino, being chased by a rabid dog. Now play that mental movie at double speed. That’s William sometimes.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Hmmmm. Look at his eyes. He’s trying to hypnotize me, but not in the good Las Vegas way.” – Homer

I’m not sure when that lesson will sink in. We went to East Side Mario’s for supper last night, and William climbing up the walls combined with a couple of mistakes on the order (like the salad coming after the entrees, and Erin’s pasta being the wrong sauce) made for a less than relaxing time.

After that, I had to go shopping for a new shaver, because my old one ceased functioning earlier this week. Why do some places treat their customers like criminals when it comes to electric shavers, while others don’t? Of the four places I’ve looked, two of them have shavers locked up behind glass, and two have them out on the shelves so customers can read the packages and make a decision without having someone hovering over their shoulder. Bah.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Hi. I’m Troy McClure. You may remember me from such self help tapes as ‘Smoke yourself thin’ and ‘Get some confidence, Stupid!’” – Troy McClure

Today be Talk Like a Pirate day. Y’arr. Yestarrrday we brung in th’ garrrrrden, picked th’ carrrrrots and th’ sunflowarrrrs. Oh, and potatoes, tomatoes and beans. Arrr. I’m not very good at this.

Ye scurvy savages. Ye traitorous troglodytes. Bashi-bazouks! I be tryin’ me best t’entertain ye, and th’ best ye can come up wi’ is to criticize me pirate talk? Avast. Ye’ll be walking the plank and feeding the flounder, ye freshwater swabs. I learn’d me trade from one o’ the best.

Simpson’s quote o’ th’ day: “Batten down the mizzenmast, mates” – Captain McAllister

Three days of preschool in, and William is still enjoying it. After Tuesday’s class, he said he didn’t like it. His reason was that he didn’t want to do the Hokey Pokey. The reason he didn’t like the Hokey Pokey? He only likes turning himself about at home.

Last night William went downstairs to where the “out of circulation” toys live, and got his fish from last year’s magnetic fishing rod toy. He and Julia had a lot of fun chasing each other around with fish sticking out of their mouthes. When we got back from the gym, both kids were overtired, and needed to go to sleep. Julia was nearly asleep, but William’s screams woke her (to be fair, they’d probably wake the dead.) Erin and I switched kids, and she got him to go to sleep without too much difficulty, but by then, Julia was getting her second wind, so it was late-ish before we got to bed. We have been doing a lot better so far this week – I don’t think we’ve seen midnight yet, which is something that used to happen at least 2-3 times a week.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “I’m Principal Skinner, yes. And how, may I ask, did you get past the hall monitor?” – Principal Skinner

An early morning thunderstorm greeted me today, and so I was forced to break out the jacket for the first day in a very long time. It’s still pretty grey out there, though I don’t think it’s actually raining anymore.

Erin was at another meeting last night, so there’s not much new with us yet again today. This week has kind of flown past, and I’m still nowhere near caught up from last week’s trip down East.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “A cup-holder! Bart, we’ve got to stop and get a cup!” – Milhouse

Erin had a meeting to run last night, so the kids and I stayed home and hung out. Julia has become a bath-hound of late – wanting to have a bath from the moment she wakes up until the moment she falls asleep it seems. It’s funny, because she was terrified of the bathtub until pretty recently, when I acclimated her to the bath routine over the course of a few days culminating with her getting plopped in with her brother one night. She was pretty scared at first – a little bit of hyper ventilating and a scared look on her face. About 10 seconds later she was splashing though.

Last night she was exploring pouring, and making rubber duckies go for boat rides, while William occupied himself downstairs. By the time Erin was home, the kids were basically ready for bed – she took William up, and he wouldn’t settle. Then she took Julia up, and just before she went to sleep, William came tearing up the stairs and woke her. I got William to calm down some, and Erin had Julia asleep before too long. William was asleep before too long too.

So, other than that, not much new around our place. We have to start getting geared up for winter, which seems odd when it’s as nice out as it is – it’s the middle of September though, so cold days lie ahead of us in the not too distant future.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Oh, you Americans with your due process and fair trials.” – Devil Ned