Gmail didn't get the memo.

So you know how Gmail has those little blurbs that appear right above your inbox (I think the proper name is "web clip") with links to news topics or interesting websites or whatever ? I'm checking my email tonight and see something about Jagbomb and Minneapolis. I think, eh, I'm close to Minneapolis, maybe it's a new restaurant or something neat to check out some weekend when we have a sitter, so I click on the link.

No. None of the above. It's about where you can go in Mpls to get a "Jagbomb," or Jaeger and Red Bull mixed together. Apparently the sugar and caffeine from the Red Bull + the alcohol in the Jaeger = a really good time. Who knew?

As for Gmail, the good lady didn't get the message that the mere mention of Jaegermeister gives me the heebie jeebies. One lovely evening a good twelve or so years ago, I spent the better part of the night on my boyfriend's bathroom floor due to Jaeger and Rumplemintz (which I recall tasting really good going down, but not so good coming back up). To this day, I am nauseous at the smell of Jaeger. I keep thinking that someday I'll laugh at that whole experience, but that day hasn't come yet. At this point, I'm pretty skeptical that it ever will.

Saturday ramblings

After a truly hellish week at work that ended with an oil spill on the roof (late Friday afternoon, no less), we were all happy to greet the weekend. There were weather forecasts that included the words "sunshine" and "mid-40s," which is as close to perfect as I can expect right now. This is Minnesota, after all. The part of the weather forecast that I missed was "windy." Our big plans to go fly Reed's kite today were axed when I realized that he'd be flying away with the kite. And the mud, the mud! That's what happens when all of the snow we accumulate over the winter actually starts to melt. Anyway, hanging out at home seems to be the plan of the day. And I'm okay with that.

We went for another haircut for Reed yesterday, with a much better outcome. Against Alex's wishes, I bribed Reed with a toy. I told him that if he was good during the haircut, we'd go get a toy. Alex objected to this reasoning because we are calling two different things "toy" and he doesn't want a toy to become an expectation. For the record, I was talking about a $0.97 Matchbox car and he was talking about something much more expensive.

The haircut went well, except for Reed yelling "no hairdryer, no hairdryer - it's too windy" the entire time. We promised him that there would be no hairdryer, but as long as it was in his sight, he was worried. I finally covered it up with an extra towel and he settled down.

Earlier this morning I got a good look at Reed's hands and saw that his fingernails needed trimming. I went for the clippers, and he grabbed them away from me and CLIPPED HIS OWN FINGERNAILS. I can't get the kid to sit on and use the potty to save my life, but he'll clip his nails? Geesh.

Cousins

Recap

The trip to visit the inlaws went much better than expected. I'm sure that's largely in part to the fact that I had extremely low expectations. I also realized that what I hate the most about going to visit isn't the actual visit itself; it's the act of getting there. Parking the car at the airport, taking the tram to check in, fighting with Reed about the stroller/escalator/elevator/whatever else he thinks he needs to do to exercise his independence, baggage checks and claims, being herded like cattle onto and off of the plane, and so on and so forth. If you travel, you get my drift.

Flying into JFK flat out sucks, and I think we have finally reached an agreement that we Will. Not. Ever. do that again.

I was also very impressed with Reed's behavior on this trip. He's been flying since he was four months old, so that wasn't my concern; I was more concerned about how he would act at his grandfather's house and with his cousins. He was so good and so well-behaved, and exceeded all of my expectations in the areas of sleep, sharing, and following directions. :)

The worst thing about the trip was that we all ended up with a cold. If that's the worst, I'll take it.

Another Reedism

Parked behind a Chevy pickup at daycare - he looks at the tailgate and says:

"C-H-E-V-R-O-L-E-T - that spells trwuck."

Ramblings.

In a few hours, we will be leaving to go to visit my inlaws in New Jersey.  We are flying into JFK, which is normally utter chaos, but also saves us a ton of money.  Since Alex knows NYC like the back of his hand, I don't complain too much when he suggests flying into JFK rather than Newark.  I can totally handle Newark on my own - but that's more my turf than his, you know?

So anyway, we're staying at my father-in-law's house.  His wife (I hesitate to call her Alex's step-mother, because Jack and Nadia married just a few months before Alex and I did - so she was never really in Alex's life until the last six years or so) will be working much of the weekend.  Alex's brother, his wife, and their two kids are also coming to stay for the weekend.  I'm slightly (okay, more than slightly) frustrated by this.  I know that it's more economical for them to stay at Jack's house rather than drive back and forth (over an hour) to see us, but Jack's house really isn't that big.  The more I hear about room assignments and sleeping arrangements, I have realized that Reed doesn't have a place to sleep.  What will likely happen is that I will sleep in the bed with Reed and Alex will sleep on the couch, but still, that kind of sucks.  I told Alex jokingly (or maybe not so jokingly) that I would scope out hotels close to Jack's house.  He just rolled his eyes at me, but I have a feeling that after one night at his dad's house, he might agree.  I keep telling him that we should be going to Austin rather than to New Jersey, but he's excited about going home so he's not finding that amusing.

Reed has a new friend at daycare.  His name is Riley, and he's as much of a pistol as Reed is.  I snuck in yesterday afternoon and watched them for a while.  The rest of the class was sitting down for Dee to read them a story, but Reed and Riley were playing with some Matchbox cars that Reed had brought from home.  Dee was asking them to give her the cars and come sit in the circle, and Reed told her no.  She asked him once more, and he told her no again.  She counted to five and then took them from Reed.  Riley just collapsed and threw a fit.  Reed, seeing Riley upset, started crying as well.  About that time, she turned around and saw me.  I think she was embarrassed that I'd witnessed that exchange, but heck, I deal with it at home all the time (minus Riley).  She proceeded to tell me that this is kind of a common scenario between Reed and Riley.  Without disclosing too many personal details about Riley, she told me that his homelife is not "normal" and that this type of reaction is not unusual for him.  She also said that when he and Reed are playing together and she tries to redirect them, Reed resists because he doesn't want to upset Riley, but when it's just Reed, he's agreeable and follows directions well.  It makes me sad to think that Riley has something else going on in his life that is affecting him so much.  

Cold weather whining and new kitchen cabinets. Yeehaw.

"They" say that this is going to be the last of the really cold weather. I'm hesitant to believe this mysterious "they" because I've been tricked into relaxing, only to be sharply awakened by negative temperatures. It was -9 yesterday on my way to work.

We have a gentleman arriving in less than an hour to tell us how much it would cost us to install custom kitchen cabinets. Alex calls it a "baseline." I call it shock factor. I will be heading to Menard's this afternoon to see how much they would charge us for pre-made cabinets.

And since I am still in my pajamas, I suppose I should get off my duff and at least become presentable before this mystery man who wants our money shows up.

For Sale: One three-year-old and two cats.

For some reason, my patience this morning is really thin. Reed has already been in Time Out once, and is working on another visit. He tries to help me type on my laptop, and when I remind him that the computer is off limits, he acts like a little smartass, smirks at me, and slowly moves his index finger towards the computer. The cats are just all over the place, trying to climb on top of every surface that they are not allowed on top of. The last I saw of them, they were playing soccer with a Fisher Price Little Person (singular of Little People, of course).

I just finished my coffee, but had I been thinking straight, I would've added a shot of Bailey's to it. Today is looking like it will be a very long day.

What is this "spring" that you speak of?

Spring is allegedly on it's way. Or so they say. The sun is out today, which is a major improvement over earlier this week, but it's still cold - hence my skepticism. It snowed two more inches on Thursday, which is just enough to muck things up.

In the meantime, Alex is so antsy for warm weather that he keeps firing up the grill. It's almost as if he believes that the more he grills, the sooner spring will arrive. I'm not sure if it is working, but I give him credit for trying.