The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Gather round my children as I spin you a tale. I'm here tonight to tell you of things bright and wonderful as well as the grim and depressing. All types of news are welcome here I say! We'll look back at the weekend that was and ponder our week to be, so sit down, strap in and enjoy the popcorn.

Our weekend was set to be about perfect; nice weather, family coming to visit, geocaching with the kids and my yummy new GPSr. Well as luck would have it, nothing quite turned out as expected. Isn't that how life always ends up. Between garage sales, hiking, cooking and relaxing it ended up as a decent time.

THE GOOD:
So to start us off on the good, we have my amazing find from a block away at the neighborhood garage sale. The wife has been wanting to get an art table for the boys since Liam was born. Well lo and behold, as I was driving home from the grocery store, I spotted with my little eye what appeared to be a Little Tykes setup. Quick into the garage, groceries on the counter and running the boys down the block. Hooray, I win! It is just what the doctor ordered and it's marked at less than I had planned to pay. While all this fun was happening, I got an email that my GPSr that was on backorder for up to 30 days shipped after only 4 days, oh goody.

Saturday, oh Saturday how I love you. Today we are going to take Gordon and Mary out hiking and geocaching in the Pheasant Branch Conservancy. After that it's barbeque and beer, a Wisconsin classic. It was nice to get out and enjoy the weather a little bit, perfect temps and the boys had a lot of fun. Then Sunday we are off to Devil's Lake with Madeline. We planned a picnic, some hiking and more geocaching. Perfect way to spend a summer weekend.

So theoretically someone in the Billing Department of UW Hospital has finally corrected the $1000 'Well Baby' visit that Liam and Luke had almost 2 months ago. She assured me that they were faxing the necessary information to the insurance company and would have this fixed in no time.

THE BAD:
Again we will start with a garage sale update. There is no freaking way I can carry this table and push the kids in the stroller. Poop, the wife is at work until 10 PM. Oh well, just think of it like layaway, pay now and pickup later. On the GPSr front, by Friday evening the tracking told me that it had made it all the way to New Berlin, where it would languish all weekend sad and alone.

Hiking a 2 mile loop pushing 50 pounds of whiny kids is not the greatest way to spend your day, but what can you do. Oh yeah and I had a forty pound pack on my back, plus we never did manage to detour off and find the caches in the park. So even though we spent all weekend hiking and enjoying the outdoors, I never did manage to find a cache. Unfortunately, I had no cell service at Devil's Lake and couldn't go hunting since my 60CSx was crying itself to sleep in New Berlin at this time.

Once my new shiny finally arrived today, I learned a terrible truth. Garmin doesn't really support Mac users for their products. Are you kidding me, I'm now the proud owner of a $200 paperweight. That's great, can't wait to explain this one to the wife! So after an evening of stalking computer geek and geocaching forums, downloading and installing countless applications and updates, and generally learning more than I need to know about the buttons on my toy I think I have it working.

I still can't believe that the boys went in for their checkups and vaccinations and it ended up taking every penny in my HSA as well as earning me a couple of overdue bills from the clinic. Even after I talked to the Billing Department and they assured me (the 2nd time) that the coding was corrected and resubmitted to BCBS, I learned that was apparently a load of shite. In my understanding of the world, if you do the same thing multiple times and expect a different result isn't that the definition of stupidity?

THE UGLY:

A Zoobound Disaster of Epic Proportions!

Good evening! Tonight I must bear grave news of a family trip gone horribly wrong. The Hopp Clan had thought that a jaunt to the zoo this morning before the wife went to work would be peaceful and relaxing. It's funny how Murphy can kick you right in the junk when you aren't paying attention.

The adventure began because Liam was having a crabby, crabby morning. After about an hour of trying to let him eat breakfast on his own, we decided that if he ate we would make our way to see lions, tigers and bears oh my. Seems like a simple trip to solve a minor toddler issue. Well as the food was eaten, puggles were walked and crated, kids into the car and we were off. Fun times, here we come. The first problem that was to arise, Liam had a cup of water in the back with him. Our second issue, the wife drinks tea. These would converge in a perfect storm of pantwetting destruction, but I digress.

We had arrived at the Ancora Coffee shop on Monroe St so that the wife could get herself a cup of tea before the excitement we had planned. While she was in getting her tea, I looked into the backseat and discovered that Mr Liam had removed the lid to his cup of water and proceeded to dump it in his lap. All in all not the worst that could have happened, but still something that would need to be addressed. Minor crisis, this can be dealt with, no problem. So once everyone was back in the car, it was back on the road to the zoo. As we approached the zoo, there is a veritable sea of yellow school buses parked everywhere. Oh crap, we picked field trip day to come to the zoo. Unfortunately, as we turned to find a parking spot, the lid to the aforementioned tea popped loose and the wife got her legs bathed in boiling hot jasmine tea. Quick trip to Walgreens on the way home for burn spray and promising Liam that we would go play at a park after lunch and we can call it another successful family outing.

On a positive note, my car now smells like flowers.

Cache Grab: Ep. 2 (5/6/10 - 5/12/10)

So between inclement weather and a busy schedule, we only managed to grab one new cache this week. My oh my though, it was definitely a good one. The whole gang made it out to the Ice Age Trail near our house on Mother's Day. We had beautiful weather and found our little goody box without too much trouble. Then we spent a nice afternoon at Nana's house visiting with Abbey and Jason.

This week's successful trips:
4. Leopold Legacy: Spetember

So after spending most of the last week walking dogs in the rain, poop, today it was time to relax and spend some quality couch time. Just kidding, it's not to be, off to the gym for a workout, walking dogs, grocery store, playing with the kids. Are you tired yet? Dinner tonight was absolutely delicious, Creamy Chicken Primavera. Not too tough to whip together even with Liam helping me.

Creamy Chicken Primavera
1 tsp olive oil
2 red, yellow or green peppers; coarsely chopped
1 medium onion; chopped
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken; cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 jar Parmesan Alfredo Ragu
ground black pepper
8 oz linguine

First, heat oil over medium-high heat and cook red peppers and onion for 10 minutes or until golden. In seperate pan, cook chicken. You can season with thyme, oregano, basil, tarragon or any other herbs you enjoy. Then stir in the chicken and peas to the peppers and onions. Continue to cook and stir about 5 minutes. Stir in the alfredo sauce and black pepper. reduce heat and simmer. Serve over hot linguine.

Cache Grab: Ep. 1 (5/1/10-5/5/10)

Good evening everyone and welcome to a new weekly feature that I will be working on, Cache Grab. The family has taken up geocaching as a hobby, so I thought that once a week, I would recount our adventures, misfortunes and victories as we take on the challenges of geocaching.

For any Muggles not familiar with geocaching, it is basically a high tech treasure hunt where you use GPS to track down hidden caches of goodies. People will sometimes take or leave swag as well as move Geocoins and Travel Bugs from location to location. For additional information visit www.geocaching.com and learn all about a very enjoyable pasttime. Quite a few of the caches are kid friendly and Liam and Luke are really enjoying visiting new parks and trails around the city.

So Tuesday morning, before the wife had to go to work, we set out to find our first cache. A nice, kid-friendly location that was close to home for us. After a minimal amount of time wandering through the park we achieved victory. A box full of goodies for Liam to check out. This isn't so bad, I think we're getting the hang of it. Since Wednesday is the wife's day off, we planned to spend the afternoon out hitting some caches and enjoying the weather. So off we head to walk the dogs, you know work before play and all. Well wouldn't you know it there's a cache hidden right in the neighborhood we are walking dogs in. Okay troops let's get this one. So after wandering around for quite a while and getting ready to call it quits, we meet Chuck. Chuck is a very nice elderly gentleman who pointed us in the correct direction to find our cache. That was a very well hidden micro cache. Once that was all said and done, we ended up at a nearby park for a mile and a half hike to the cache site. Along the way we lost one of Luke's socks, later recovered on the way out of the park, were buffeted by hurricane force winds, and stomped through a marshy grassland in flip-flops but ultimately the cache was located. Inside were quite a few interesting swag items as well as a couple of Travel Bugs. We left everything as it was and hiked our way back out to the car. Everyone was thoroughly exhausted, but ready for more adventures.

This week's successful trips:
1. Blackhawk Park
2. Simply Simple
3. Leopold Legacy: January

Let me finish up my cerveza and the remnants of our grass-fed beef burgers to wish ou all a fine evening. So as I sign off, here's to a Happy Cinco de Mayo and I'll catch you next week for another installment of Cache Grab.

The Weekend Review: May Day Edition

Hopefully everyone has recovered from the celebration of Beltane, except for those of you who enjoy a more robust celebration and are still in the midst of our five day long Floralia festivities. As another May Day passes, I'd like to pay homage to the ancient Druids of the British Isles. They were the first to celebrate the coming of spring and new life each year. Did everyone remember to wash your face with morning May Day dew? It's my best kept beauty secret, keeps me looking so young and vibrant.

This week we tackled homemade potpies. Our Cauliflower and Mushroom Potpie with Black Olive Crust was delicious and surprisingly easier to make than I would have thought. Liam loved it so much that he decided to add 'potpie' to his ever expanding vocabulary of food related words. On Saturday, besides celebrating May Day, the boys and I managed to jam three seperate farmer's markets into our morning. We started out at the Dane County Farmers' Market on the Capitol square. Once we had maneuvered our way through the throngs of zombie-esqe idiots milling around uselessly, it was a quick trip to the Hilldale Farmers' Market as well as the Westside Community Market. All in all a pretty good haul of goodies. Liam munched on PB cookies and freshmade cheese curds, while I managed to pickup some grass-fed beef and green onions. Saturday night's dinner was a very nice combination of Vindaloo Pork Chops with Herbed Mashed Potatoes. Simple yet delicious, just how I prefer my meals when I'm trying to squeeze them into happy fun time with two crabby kiddos.

To all my fans in Hawaii, I'd like to say Aloha and Mahalo. Here's to a happy Lei Day for the islands.

PSA: Starting tomorrow it's National Teacher Appreciation Week!
Remember that none of us would be where we are now without the wonderful teachers who push us to our full potential. Say thank you to the special advisor or educator that you know, give them a hug and let them know that you truly appreciate the hard work and sacrifices that they make day in and day out.

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school" - Albert Einstein
"I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think" - Socrates
"The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts" - C.S. Lewis