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Friday, 27 May 2005
Right Between The Eyes
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Cool
I saw a billboard on my return segment of the road trip last weekend. It had a large picture of Kermit the Frog and the following:

Eat Flies.
Date a Pig.
Star in Hollywood.

Live your dreams.
Pass it on!


I'm going to take that as a sign and get crackin' on a dream :-)


Posted by lifewithkids at 12:01 AM CDT
Updated: Friday, 27 October 2006 11:07 AM CDT
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Wednesday, 25 May 2005
Road Trippin'
Mood:  happy
Topic: Lauren
The only real road trip I was ever on was back in my college days. You know the ones: drinking, joking, and long, interesting conversations. Ahhh...those were the days you say. (Pause here for nostalgic reflection)

Well, after this past weekend I can tell you that a road trip with a three year old can be just as fun and just as entertaining. Granted our drinks and snacks were of the diet coke, apple juice, and one muffin – “holey moley” sized – variety, but satisfying nonetheless. We had our music, Toddler Songs with a little Skynryd mixed in. And we had our interesting conversations, such as:

L: "I wish I wasn’t born."
Me: "Why? Then you wouldn’t be here."
L: "Yes I would. You could grow me in a garden. Grow me like a tree, like corn. At least dress me like corn – ha-ha-ha."

or

Moon Rats! Oh boy, let me tell you about moon rats. Moon rats are big ugly rats with no hands or toes. Or mouths or noses. Or eyes. These rats don't really do much other than just sort of lie there. You don’t have to worry about them being hurt though because there are pointy beaked birds that carry signs that say “Don’t step on the moon rats”


I can look back fondly on that one road trip in 1982, but you know what? That one time was enough for me. This new version of a road trip though, this I could get used to. And, besides being with my awesome daughter, one of the best things about it is no black out, no hangover, and no one telling me I had people turning their house upside down looking for aspirin ;-)

Posted by lifewithkids at 12:01 AM CDT
Updated: Friday, 27 October 2006 11:07 AM CDT
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Wednesday, 18 May 2005
I Knew This Would Happen
Mood:  smelly
Topic: Rants
I knew it - they should have consulted me before they went ahead and set up the toll lane. I've already had one rant, which admittedly was pretty much my own doing, but this time it's all on them.

The new toll lane went into effect Monday and there are already problems. The DOT maintains the purpose of the toll lane is "… not to increase congestion or maximize revenue…” Hmmm, guess where the problems lie.

Congestion

Last week, as they painted the new lane division lines along the toll lane - two solid white lines - to separate it from the general lanes, I knew right off the bat that there was going to be a problem. Every so often the lines went from the double white lines down to a dashed white line to indicate where the toll lane users were supposed to enter and exit the toll lane. It meant the toll lane users would have to “sit” in the general lane until they reached the entry/exit points. The idea behind these sections was to allow for a safer transition to the toll lane. Users wouldn’t be cutting across two lanes of traffic to get in the toll lane right away. Instead, they would take their time and gradually get into position to enter the toll lane. Like that was going to happen. They were still going to cut over. Even though they couldn’t get into the lane right away, they could, and believe me would, feel the need to, “get into position” right away. On top of that, I measured and while it’s generally a half mile, at one point the distance from one entry/exit point to the next is 1 mile! And there are two highway entrance ramps within that mile!! Combine that with the users being forced to “take their time” and to me it spelled disaster. And I was right.


Revenue

They said tolls would range from $1 to $4 during rush hour. While they did fall in that range, I was astounded to learn that from the beginning of the afternoon rush hour at 3:30pm up until 5:40pm (nearly the 6pm end) the toll was $.50. At 5:45pm when I drove past the sign that listed the fee, it was $4. While that seems fine on first take, the lanes are working properly with the fee going up as the lane becomes more heavily traveled thus causing the money conscious solo-drivers to not use the lane and keep traffic flowing at 50-55 mph, look again. If leaving the fee low for so long and only upping it at the end of rush hour is not enticing users to sign up I don’t know what is. Who, other than misers, wouldn’t pay $.50 to get home in half the time? Officials reported a rush to sign up for accounts Tuesday. No surprise. Accounts must be opened with a $40 balance and the transponder is $1.50 a month...

Congestion AND revenue

It used to be that solo drivers could use the commuter lane outside of rush hour and it was a big help let me tell you. When 6pm came there would be a flux of solo drivers moving over to take advantage of that third lane. It really got things moving again. Now, with the toll always in effect, solo-drivers without a pass cannot use the lane – ever! This has bogged up the general lanes and added up to an additional 15 minutes to some commutes. So sorry, they can’t move over to the third lane, but gee, maybe they should sign up for the pass so they could get in that toll lane – then they wouldn’t have to wait so long. Then DOT could up the fee because there are more people in the toll lane.

The director of the project said "...I don't think what we see this week has anything to do with how it will operate." Yeah, right.

Posted by lifewithkids at 12:01 AM CDT
Updated: Friday, 27 October 2006 11:06 AM CDT
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Friday, 13 May 2005
Okayyy
Mood:  not sure
Topic: Lauren
NOTE: We use the correct anatomical terminology around our house, but hell, if I received comments based on the word "snuckems", I can only imagine what would happen if I use the correct and complete word in this post. So, in the interest of avoiding any disgusting comments that probably would be made if I use the correct and complete word, I'll be using the first letter only. )

Apparently there have been conversations going on that I didn't know about because Lauren knows the difference between a boy and a girl. I found this out on a trip into a port-a-potty at the Race for the Cure. It was very crowded in there what with the both of us, our coats, and our bag of goodies, and we were having a difficult time moving around without banging into things. At one point, after loading Lauren up with everything she could hang on to, I told her not to touch the urinal. She asked what it was for so I told her that was where boys peed. She then asked how they reach their p up there. I casually mentioned that boys stand up to pee, but inside I was thinking "I didn't know she knew that word!" I knew she knew v because it comes up a lot when potty training, but p? That was news to me. Then the other night, after she walked in on DH in the bathroom, I overheard her say, "you have a hole in your p for the pee to come out". Of course, that prompted my grilling her on the difference between a boy and a girl to make sure she truly understood. Yup - she does.

Posted by lifewithkids at 12:01 AM CDT
Updated: Friday, 27 October 2006 11:06 AM CDT
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Wednesday, 11 May 2005
Let's Make A Deal
Mood:  sharp
Topic: Lauren
Lauren will make a great negotiator some day. She drives a hard bargain, that girl. Every day Lauren is working to hone this skill. She works at it in just about everything she does. Play, sleep, dress...you name it, she negotiates for it.

Her favorite time to put it to good use is during dinner. Once in a while we're successful in having her try something she doesn't want to eat, such as the time we wanted her to try a bite of onion. After much persuasion, she actually tried it; then promptly declared, "Just as I suspected - I don't like it." Ah well, she tried it anyway. The other night though her actions started me thinking that if we ever sell our house, she is definitely the one who will do the negotiating. She wanted dessert even though she had barely touched her delicious stir-fry dinner. We told her she needed to eat a bite of red pepper first.
She offered up "1 bite of tomato".
We countered with 1 tomato and 1 red pepper.
Her counter: 3 tomatoes.
Our counter: 2 tomatoes and a pepper and she could pick as to red, yellow, or orange.
Her counter: 3 tomatoes.
Our counter (just to test her resolve): 3 peppers - 1 red, 1 yellow, 1 orange.
She stuck to her guns: 3 tomatoes.

It went for 3 tomatoes.

But shhhhhhh, tricky parents that we are, we snuck in a red pepper ;-)

Posted by lifewithkids at 12:01 AM CDT
Updated: Friday, 27 October 2006 11:05 AM CDT
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Second Time Around
Mood:  d'oh
Topic: Blogs
I don't know how many people frequent my little ol' blog here, but if they do and they do so with any regularity and attention to detail, they may have noticed that almost all of my posts have an updated line below the post date line. It certainly looks like I just can't get it right the first time, doesn't it?. Well, in case you're curious (and even if you're not), no, I don't really update them that often. What happens is this. I start an entry and then, due to time constraints, have to save it as a draft to finish up later. When I post the draft to the blog, it posts as the day I started the draft, not the current day. This makes the posts out of order and order is crucial to a computer programmer. To be fair to Tripod, it is possible to change the date of the draft to post, but duh, I keep forgetting to do so. Then I have to go back in and change the post date so that the newest post shows up as the newest post. You'd think I'd learn.

Now I know you wouldn't want to miss even one exciting installment I have to offer, so I have worked diligently on this problem and am happy to report that I think I've got that part down.

Oh sure. No problem. You're very welcome. ;-)

Posted by lifewithkids at 12:01 AM CDT
Updated: Friday, 27 October 2006 11:05 AM CDT
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Tuesday, 10 May 2005
Mother's Day
Mood:  happy
Topic: Cool
This year, as every year since I started participating in 1998, the Race for the Cure was held on Mother's Day. The first time I took part was six months after my mother's cancer had returned and I ran in the 5K. There was a point in the route where you turned a corner and could see about a half mile ahead to almost the end. It was filled with people and I mean filled! It was a sea of white shirts, pink shirts, and pink caps and it was awesome. I had tears in my eyes for the rest of the run. In fact, there was one point when I really had to pull it together or I wasn't going to be able to keep running. Every year since then I have participated and for the last 3 years Lauren has participated with me.

This year the race was moved to a mall with more space which is much further from our house and made it much more difficult to get there by 9am. So instead of being there on Sunday, Lauren and I went to the Kids Fun Run for the Cure on Saturday. Lauren was so excited to be running in the race and she did a great job being around so many people. As we stood at the starting line, I had my moment of teary eyes. When I had inconspicuously removed the tears from my eyes, I looked down into Lauren's face and noticed the look she gets when she is about to cry. I’m not sure why she was feeling that way and I didn’t stop to ask. If I had she would have started crying and then we wouldn’t have been able to run. Besides, I don’t think she would have known or been able to articulate the reason anyway. So we got back into warming up to “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”, ran the short race, and Lauren collected her medal. Then we spent the afternoon together in the Mall of America. Grandmother (I’m sure she was with us in spirit), Mother, and Daughter.

A note about the tears: they are not necessarily because I miss my mom. I do miss her and am saddened that she is not here with us, but the tears are really from so many people gathering together in one place to honor those they’ve lost, to celebrate those who are still with them, and to work toward a cure for breast cancer. It’s getting closer every day.

To the many people who offer their time and money to support the fight against and the search for a cure for breast cancer – the event coordinators, the sponsors, and the participants - Thank you!

Posted by lifewithkids at 12:01 AM CDT
Updated: Friday, 27 October 2006 11:04 AM CDT
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Monday, 9 May 2005
"Apostrophes would be out of control!"
Mood:  irritated
Topic: Rants
"The University of Minnesota's Great Apostrophe Debate is over, and defenders of the much-maligned punctuation mark are in mourning." (See story here) Thankfully, we won’t have to go running down the street screaming “The apostrophes are coming! The apostrophes are coming!” For Laukka it may be "…more fun than anything", but there is a much more serious undercurrent going on here.

Personally, I happen to agree wholeheartedly with Ms. Carlson - the apostrophe would make the walkway appear exclusive. In my opinion, the promotion of any form of exclusivity is the last thing needed, especially when, at the same time, there is a strategic planning proposal to close the General College. General College has been around for almost 75 years and its mission is “to develop, through teaching, research, and service, the potential for baccalaureate education in students who are serious about fulfilling their previously undeveloped or unrecognized academic promise”. In other words, General College students do not come from families of doctors, lawyers, and CEOs, but aspire to be doctors, lawyers, and CEOs. Forty percent of the University's freshmen students of color are in General College and they come from the inner cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul and from rural, greater Minnesota. So the U wants to become one of the leading postsecondary educational institutions in the world - a world class institution. Well, it’s been said that diversity is what makes a world class institution just that and closing General College is eliminating an excellent source of diversity.

I can just picture poor Mr. Laukka over in the corner licking his wounds. Perhaps the Board of Regents should join him there.


Posted by lifewithkids at 12:01 AM CDT
Updated: Friday, 27 October 2006 11:04 AM CDT
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Wednesday, 4 May 2005
Grandma's Turn
Mood:  sad
Topic: Family and Friends
Yes, you read that right. Now it's my Grandma's turn. Yesterday was the 4th anniversary of her death.

My grandmother was truly an amazing person. Many times I thought if I could be like anyone in this world, I would want to be like her. She was such a giving woman, not necessarily financially because she didn’t have a lot of money, but emotionally, spiritually, and socially. She visited many times throughout my mother’s struggle with cancer, often staying for months at a time. When my dad passed away, she traveled from PA to WI to be with us for his funeral. The three of us kids may have been in our 30’s, but we were parentless and feeling lost in our grief, and it meant a great deal to us that she and my aunt would drive 700 miles to be with us at that time.

She was very adventuresome. She convinced us to take our first camping trip. We surely would have been in big trouble had she not invited the foreign student renting a room in her house to join us because he was the one that got the fire burning and kept it going. She traveled abroad both with my mom, my aunt, and me and alone (when she was in her 70s!).
She was also very artistic and loved to paint nature scenes. She especially loved sunrises and sunsets. Whenever we see a beautiful sunrise or sunset, we always think of her and how she must have painted that just for us to let us know that she’s with us and will continue to help us in any way she can.


Posted by lifewithkids at 12:01 AM CDT
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Birds Of A Feather
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Lauren
Not too long ago I posted about the books we love. Of course I only mentioned books Lauren and I read together, but it only makes sense that if Lauren loves books, she must have learned it from someone. Yes, that would be me! I happened upon this little article when getting on the internet this morning. So, not only do we love to read, but we love to do it in the best possible place :-)

Posted by lifewithkids at 12:01 AM CDT
Updated: Friday, 27 October 2006 11:02 AM CDT
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