Murder Mystery!

After a couple years of playing kid games like Hulk Smash and Buckaroo and travel Hungry Hungry Hippos, I’m pretty psyched to be graduating to the real classics. My older son is just about to finish 3rd grade and seems to think he’d like Monopoly because he played the 5 and under version a couple years ago at a birthday party. Since most family game nights end in tears (not everyone can be a winner – especially not me) and since my kindergartner hasn’t yet mastered high finance, I am happy that we found another option.

Clue!

Yup, one of my favorites when I was growing up, Clue is fast becoming a feature of our occasional game nights. So much so, in fact, that we’re now contemplating a Clue-themed dual birthday party for the boys. Their birthdays are 3 days apart, so we’re thinking we’ll have a joint party. Live action clue, using adults as characters, rooms in the house, and the kids teaming up to solve the case.

Stayed tuned – it’s not until August, but dude it will totally rock.

Double Digits

Check it out – just celebrated my tenth anniversary. Ohhhhh yeah! Actually, the big day was Thursday, but we couldn’t unload the kids until Friday (and they’re gone till Sunday morning!) so I precedented a new word: It’s our span-iversary.

As in it spans several days.

OK, well you don’t have to like it. I’m not married to you (unless this is Carol reading, in which case you already laughed at the joke so…we’re good right?)

Actually, I think we should send out anniversary notifications for anyone who pays as little attention to those little Facebook birthday etc. reminders like I do. Nothing fancy like baby shower invitations or whatever, just a little head’s up for friends and families to either (1) offer to watch the children for an evening (or couple of days) or (2) stay the hell away while we drink wine and watch movies when we finally unload the kids.

Makes perfect sense, right?

Remodelling the basement

I’ve been remodelling the basement a bit. Actually, modelling it might be more accurate. It was unfinished when we moved in, and gradually, over the past several years, I’ve been working on it. We wired it quite a while ago. The first round of outlets, not just a series of extension cords with wire covers. Then when we were doing the second floor addition, we added a sink with a pump for water downstairs.

About a year and a half ago I started framing out walls in the basement, mostly with scrap left over from the addition. And just before last Christmas I finally sheetrocked those walls. I added some more outlets too. I’m still waiting for help on the ceiling this Summer, but a couple weeks ago I finally did the floor. I opted to cover the raw concrete with vinyl tile. Not the cheap peel and stick you usually see, though. This stuff is thick with a beveled edge and you can actually grout it like regular tile if you want to. I’m loving the new basement floor.

Tee Party

Speaking of modified t-ball <shameless plug for my last post> I can’t help mentioning something else. There are a fairly large number of families, just like our own, that moved to this area from somewhere else. In the communities that share our little league boundaries (a little different from the school districts…most of the kids in our league are actually in a different school system) there happen to be a lot of transplants from Long Island and/or the Bronx. So I hear a semi-familiar…accent quite a bit.
Now I’m not saying this as a value judgement or anything. I’m not trying to imply some sense of superiority (or inferiority for that matter). It is really just and observation. But every once in a while when one of the 6 year olds crowds the baseline and a runner knocks him or her over…let’s just say I wouldn’t be surprised to see some Bronx accident attorneywith bad home made commercials on Cablevision showing up with a camera, a cast and a contract.

Tee It Up

So my kindergartner is in Little League. Modified T-ball is what they call it. That means the coach pitches about 10 balls (18-20 if it is one of the coaches’ kids) and if there is no hit by then, they bring out the tee. It’s not bad, really. Pretty enjoyable, actually. And the kids are very cute. All between the ages of 4 and 7, they are making huge progress.

The biggest problem, as is to be expected, is the parents. There are some who drop off and don’t care. There are some who bring their beach chairs and congregate in such a way as to completely miss the entire game. There are some who help out and pay attention. And then there are the ones who take it WAY TOO SERIOUSLY.

For one thing, this league uses real Major League team names. So my guy ended up on the Mets. I suppose it could be worse –  he could be on the Red Sox. I say that not as a shot against the Red Sox, but rather because we are, after all, in New York, and let’s face it – people are idiots. How do I make that judgement you ask? Well, I had to listen to Mets bashing from the parents and grandparents of kids on the team for three games before it finally petered out. No lie, adults were saying things like “I’d rather be dead than root for the Mets” and “I’ll cheer for the team but I’m not cheering for the Mets.” Yeah, brand loyalty – Major League Baseball style – knows neither bounds nor tact.

But what really makes me crazy are the parents who focus only on their kid and refuse to listen to the coaches or have concern for any of the other children. When their boy breaks position and vailts across the field, knocking over team mates and ultimately pushing the little girl who caught the grounder and pulling the ball from her glove, do they scold him? Do they say “stick your position” or something like that? No. They say good hustle. Way to go.

Have to be honest on this one, it really pisses me off. You try to teach your child to follow the rules and be a team player, and one or two kids hopped up on sugar totally blows that plan out of the water. Remember that old Saturday Night Live sketch with John Belushi when he eats little chocolate donuts before running a marathon? That was funny because he was a chunky dude. So why are people in the 21st century MAKING their kids eat chocolate donuts before a little league game…FOR ENERGY.

Why don’t we just call it like it is – have a couple of donuts to kick your hyperactivity disorder into overdrive and in a couple of years you can enjoy that Medicare plan cause you’re going to have all kinds of expenses tied to your adult onset diabetes.

One step forward, two steps back.

Rinse and repeat.

Rockin’ the 20

Last Saturday was my 20 year High School reunion. First reaction? Holy poop I’m getting old! Seriously. And that was just the beginning.

Finding a jacket and pants combo that looks reasonable and has no stains easily hidden by carrying my baby girl around? That was a big challenge. For sure.

Then I looked in the mirror for probably the first time in a month. I mean, I glance in the mirror out of the shower and finger comb my hair almost every day, but I rarely look. But when I took a solid look, man…what’s the best way to get rid of blackheads? I mean, these days. Have there been any major technological advantages here?