Today was like a Bill WIthers song (Lovely day, lovely day)

71 and sunny on March 11 - what!?

Free lunch @ my work place with a bonus presentation on reflexology and the chance to finally introduce myself/ talk with a woman who is also an affiliate where I work and was a dear friend of my Moms. She was totally delighted that I said hello based on the fact that I introduced myself as one of the MTs from the 3rd floor, then when she processed that I was Helen's daughter, she about freaked with joy. She hugged me, I hugged her and she exclaimed lots of things like " Oh my god, you have your mothers eyes!" Oh my god, I feel like I am hugging your Mom!" "What a great day"!

She is teaching a meditation class next month which I told her I plan to sign up for, and this only increased her delight.

Then , a 4 hour break in my day until I had clients to enjoy the 71 degrees. I came home and went for a jog with Rufus, which I had not done before, it went pretty well. Rufus is a champ, I am not surprised at all that he could apparently jog/trot for miles and miles and miles. So we made our way over to Tremonts' Lincoln park, did a loop and came on back.

Then Perren and I moved a carload of boxed books, DVDs, etc. over to the new digs.

Then, I got myself a green apple salad from the Souper Market and swung by Taj Merugu to see what was up. Fortunately, I did not set off any alarms summoning Cleveland's finest, and was just in time to see big Kai post nap, and see him devour some cereal. He is a beast!

The I had 2 appointments with one of my husband and wife teams of clients, who love their massages and give me fat tips and pay me all in cash because they know what's up- no ones keeping a record of that shit, thanks y'all!

Really, a lovely day. Tomorrow it's off to PA for a chillaxed weekend, rain, proceed, I've got books and movies, bitch.

On a whole different topic, I have been looking thru photos for the upcoming b-day observation REALLY looking thru LOTS of photos for any sign of the birthday girl. I (we) leafed thru these albums and loose photos after my Mom died so some seem familiar but it has been a while and this time I am looking more thoroughly. First awesome thing I discovered is a family photo of the 4 of us with my Moms good friend who lived in Missouri and some guy. I flip it over, and it says in my moms writing " Visiting Bruce at the Federal Penitentiary, May 1984" - Reallly!? So I asked my Dad the other day ( I do vaguely remember this guy, defintiely remember my moms friend and trips to visit her), and my dad is all " Ah, yes. He was in for murder. I think your mothers friend took up this relationship after he had been in prison for a while, she met him as a pen pal". SO, we have a family photo at some Federal Pen. Sweet, and did this influence my brother's career path? Perhaps -?

Secondly is this great bunch of photos from a 1979 trip to ocean city, NJ including my family minus me, a super pregnant DD, Kathy, my dads sister Sue, and I have no idea who else. It was clearly a rawkus good time, though. there is one page of the photo album which my mom entitled "Reefer Madness" then thought better of that and scratched it out with a pen, where reefer madness is written in permanent marker so no secrets there, and re titled one of the photos of my dad eating an enormous plate of food "Ken at his favorite pastime" which I reckon refers to reefer madness, not simply dining. Classsssssssic. Ask him about that shit, V, when you see him next week. He will totally squirm in front of the German.

In closing, I met Piddy and Sa-lex @ the Happy Dog this evening when i got off work and had myself a drink and a dog. This evenings dog I got with kim chi, cucumbers, whole grain mustard and a pickle spear atop. DE-lish.

Last one I had a few months back was the house ketchup and mustard, habanero pickled red onion and potato chips atop. maybe one more topping, i don't remember. Before those of you who are not familiar with the HD judge me, the HD is no hot dog inn. They serve you up a bomb ass all beef delish frank, no pieces, no parts, no nasty. And as you can tell from my selections, the over 50 toppings is one amazing list - brie? sure peanut butter? of course, cheez whiz? no problem for an extra buck. It's ridiculous, affordable, and I love it but fortunately do not go out enough to make a habit of it b/c even if it is a GOOD hot dog, it's still no good to do that once a week. Particularly with those fucking PERFECTLY cooked tater tots on the side.

And with that, a good night to all and RIP Corey Haim.

Today's Lessons in Parenting

Please note: both lessons impart knowledge that is known before lessons are given to parents, however, parents often fail to realize that such knowledge will, in fact, become reality.

Lesson learned.

1. When eagerly anticipating the achievement of some milestone, do not become anxious when child does not perform when you think he should. As with all things in life, he will do things when the time is right. Remember what Grandma Kroeger always said: "No child goes to kindergarten not potty trained or still sucking their thumb (or using a paci?)." Remember this.

2. Real food equals real shit.

Yesterday, taj jr. rolled over for the first time, completely on his own, with no encouragement or prodding from me.

He decided to do it while I was changing his first diaper that contained REAL SHIT. Yes, those peas I so lovingly fed him came back to greet me in a form that surprised me. I've become so accustomed to the almost sweetness of the yellow stool, imagine my complete surprise when I was faced with the reality that my child, will in fact, poop. And he chose to roll in this poop, thus covering his entire bottom half. I can only be thankful that his hands were occupied with a toy, and not another part he has recently found, thus sparing me a complete breakdown.

Like I said, lessons learned.