Gene Simmons Still Rocks!

I was about 10 when my teenage cousin, Mike, showed me his new KISS record. I had never heard anything so...terrible! I didn't understand why they wore makeup and I thought they were evil. Mike smiled and told me that some day I would like them. I absolutely did not believe him, but he turned out to be right. I was never a super fan, but I did have a couple KISS cassette tapes in high school.

I dressed up as Gene Simmons for the Central College leming race. Students elected a Grand Leming, dressed up and ran behind the Grand Leming across campus and into a pond. A few years later, TJ and I wore "Simmons Family Reunion" T-Shirts to a Halloween party. I was Gene again, and he was Richard! I've always wondered if Gene and Richard are distantly related. Does anyone know?

I spent most of last week at meetings at a hotel in Milwaukee. Half-way through the afternoon, this image floated by the windows behind the presenter. It was hard not to be a little distracted.

Then it drove by the window about ten more times throughout the afternoon.

The bus was sitting in front of the hotel when we got back from dinner, so we were checking it out. Some detective in our group noticed the California license plate and deduced that it was legitimately connected to KISS and Gene Simmons.

Then the bus driver came over and asked if we wanted to look inside. That was the second best offer I'd had all day, the first was the stuffed churro I'd had with lunch! The bus driver sells guitars at KISS concerts. Even though it wasn't exactly Gene's bus, it was pretty interesting.

Terrible picture of me driving the Gene Simmons bus

And I saved the best picture for last.

Bridget, Wendy, Angelia and ME (on the right) in 1994.

My Dad's New Boat - Part 2

Click here if you missed Part 1 of My Dad's New Boat.

Mom and Dad's Cabin

We needed to take the boat out of water in order to install the new propeller that was personally delivered by the boat sales guy. That's pretty impressive service when a sales guy personally delivers a part! Mom and I thought we could handle driving the boat about a mile across the lake, so Dad took the truck and trailer to meet us at the ramp. Dad had given Mom a quick driving lesson on the new boat. We got it off the lift and pointed toward the ramp. We knew something was wrong right away because the nose of the boat went right up in the air. We stopped and tried again. I got in the nose of the boat to try to weigh it down. It was scary up there! Almost everyone was out on their docks because it was the 4^thof July weekend. We were obviously having trouble, and there was nowhere for us to hide. Mom said we needed to get it up to 20 miles per hour, and it would level out. I was still up (literally) in the nose of the boat with the whole lake watching. We got it up to about 18 miles per hour, but I yelled to stop because I seriously thought we were going to flip over backwards. I bet we were moving along at about a forty degree angle.

We decided to take it slow, and stopped quite often to try to figure out the problem. Neither one of us had our cell phones. We finally got within sight of the ramp, and my dad was standing there, frantically waving his arms in an up and down motion. He was yelling something that sounded like, “Swim!” We looked at each other and decided that was a bad idea. When we got a little closer, we heard, “Trim!” That didn’t mean anything to me, but a lightbulb went off for Mom. She remembered that we should have put the trim down, which lowers the motor down into the water. That made a huge difference!

The weekend did get better. The new propeller worked great and we had many hours of tubing and skiing. And I don’t think my mom or I will ever forget about the trim. Sometimes you have to learn the hard way!

My favorite lake in all the land!

My Dad's New Boat - Part 1

I’m super fortunate to have wonderful parents. They have given me more opportunities than I’ve deserved, have been wonderful role models and are active grandparents. One of their best decisions ever was to build a cabin on Ponto Lake in Minnesota. They call it the Looney Bin. Get it? Because there are birds called loons that live on the lake. Ha! How lucky am I? My mom started going to Ponto Lake with her friend when she was in third grade. I think it’s really cool to know that so far, three generations of girls have loved these same waters. It’s timeless.

Here are Mom and Dad with Paul Bunyan's sweetheart in Hackensack, Minnesota. The person who made the statue of Lucette didn't do a great job, but I'm sure they put a lot of time and effort into it. Hopefully statue-making isn't their number one talent.

Last year, my parents got a new boat just before the 4^th of July, which is traditionally the weekend we spend together with my parents and both of my siblings’ families. We were all excited!

Stan and his boat

 The boat ran fine, but there was something minor wrong with the propeller, and it didn’t have enough power to pull a skiier. My dad was pretty mad. So he and TJ hopped into the truck to get it taken care of. Pretty soon they were driving slowly around a neighboring lake and my dad was looking awfully interested in driveways. TJ was starting to think they weren’t going to the marina. It turns out that my dad remembered what lake the sales guy lived on. And he remembered what kind of truck the sales guy drove. Oh boy.

My dad is one of the nicest 70-year-olds you’d ever meet, but he's not a pushover. TJ was hoping they wouldn’t be able to find the sales guy's house. But my dad is pretty astute, and it didn’t take him long to find the place. TJ followed my dad through the party that the sales guy was having (probably to celebrate selling a boat to my dad). Dad walked right up to the sales guy who was enjoying a beer. TJ was pretty uncomfortable at this point. The sales guy put his beer down and said he’d bring a new propeller out the next day. My dad said he would be back if that propeller didn’t show up. It’s never good when customers know where you live.

The guy brought the propeller and it all turned out fine. Come back tomorrow for Part 2 to find out what happened when we tried to take the boat out of the water. It's one of my better stories!

Pish the Fish is Very Cool

{Click here if you missed the introduction to Pish the Fish.}

When I woke up Gwen yesterday morning she told me Pishy was in the freezer. She said she was hot and Pish wanted to make her cold. 

So I went to the freezer and found him under an ice pack that I’m pretty sure I left in a cooler.

Pish isn't in the best shape of his life, so I carefully worked through the layers, as if I were removing an Egyptian mummy from a tomb. Here's how he looked when I removed the ice pack.

I also found a ducky neck pillow on the top shelf that I’m pretty sure I did not put in the freezer. I guess that's the back up plan. Or maybe the decoy.

I left the neck pillow in the freezer and brought Pish to Gwen. I have a feeling Pish will be spending more time in the freezer, and I really hope he keeps his fins off my ice cream!

Potential Spa Treatment

I was poking around the website of the Riverside Casino and Resort while I was making a reservation for Kelly’s wedding. The first thing that caught my interest was the spa. I briefly wondered if I should ask them to comp me a massage in exchange for a detailed review on my blog. But then I remembered that they might read my blog and realize:

A) I don’t reach a huge audience

B) Most of my readers would not be in the market for their classy spa services

C) Chances are high that I would not give a serious review

D) All of the above

D is correct.

One spa service in the massage category caught my eye: Tranquillescense. I’m sure I’m behind the times, but I have never heard of it before. Here’s the description:

Tranquillescense~30 Min $45

This treatment involves a constant stream of warm oil over your forehead. Designed to relieve stress and anxiety while bringing clarity to the mind.

Doesn’t it sound a little like water boarding? But I do kind of want to try it, just because it’s fun to try new things. Remember how much fun I had with eyebrow threading? Too bad about the $45 though. I’d be in for $15. I wonder if they’d give me 10 minutes for $15. It seems fair.

In an effort to thoroughly research my posting, I googled Tranquillescense. There was only one result found, for Riverside Casino and Golf Resort. Hmmmmm...I take back that comment about being behind the times. I think Riverside Casino and Golf Resort might have invented it. Surprisingly, it doesn't seem to be catching on.

Next, I googled "warm oil constant forehead". It looks like the more common word for the treatment is shirodhara, and it's supposed to awaken your third eye.

In truth, the Riverside Resort and Casino looks exceptionally nice, and I’m looking forward to staying there!

By the way, I know of a farmer who paid for his daughter’s wedding by selling some sheep semen because he had a very fine ram. (At first I wrote seaman, but that didn’t look right. I also learned from the Internet that a male sheep with testicles is called a ram, and one without is called a wether. Spell check does not recognize wether or Tranquillescense, but I assure you that I have spelled both correctly. Also, spell check did not catch my seaman error.)

PS. For those of you who normally buy me birthday presents, I would like a Tranquillescense. If it’s more money than you’d like to spend, please email me and I will coordinate a group gift.

Car Alarm in the Middle of the Night

A couple years ago, TJ and I woke up in the middle of the night because a car alarm was going off in our driveway. TJ went out to investigate. After a few minutes, I went to see what was taking him so long to disable the alarm. Our SUV was sitting in the driveway, behaving like a spoiled child in the stuffed animal aisle of the Toys R Us. (Stuffed animals: every child wants another one, no matter how many they have at home, and every parent hates them because of their ability to overtake closets, rooms and homes.) The car alarm was altering the sleepy peacefulness of our quiet street, and the flashing lights were sending an SOS message through our neighbors windows.

The problem was that SUV doors were all locked and the keys were hanging in the ignition. We desperately searched for the spare keys. It was complete chaos, and we couldn't get it to stop! And then...it stopped. We were starting to calm down when it started back up again. I'm not sure if this kind of thing has ever happened to you, but a car alarm going off in the middle of the night sounds ten times louder than it sounds in daylight hours.

As we were waiting for the locksmith, the alarm would alternate every few minutes between off and on.TJ was pacing around the living room and peeking out the window watching for the locksmith. Lights were coming on in our neighbor's homes as our little emergency disturbed their sleep.I was on the computer desperately googling things like "car alarm keys locked inside" and "car alarm won't stop." The only advice I found was to disconnect the battery, but we couldn't even open the hood without the keys.It was a helpless feeling!

Finally the locksmith arrived. He lifted the door handle of the SUV, and to our surprise, it opened right up! TJ took it for a little drive and parked it inside the garage to deaden the noise if the alarm went off again.

We solved the mystery the next day. TJ had put a load of laundry in the dryer before going to bed. The laundry included a little stowaway. The missing spare keys! All the buttons were getting hit in the dryer, which explains the alarm, locking and unlocking. It also explains why I couldn't find a solution on google.

Pish the Fish

Pish is Gwen's very best friend.

Pish and Gwen

Pish used to be a vivid orange and white clownfish. He's lost most of his color and microbeads over the years, but he's still beautiful to Gwen!

Moshi, the company who made Pish, went out of business, so we can't exactly replace him. We've tried similar toys over the years.

Gwen likes all of them, but her heart belongs to Pish. What's not to love?

Gwen has been asking all summer long for a Pish windsock that she sees swimming in the breeze outside the Flowerama. I surprised her with it last week.

I didn't realize what a good value this was until I got home. This is a direct quote from the packaging:

Premier's Swimming Fish, designed by Christophe Goy of Switzerland, are a cross between a weather vane, a windsock, and a pet.

"And a PET?" Seriously? I'm in marketing, but I think that's stretching it, don't you?

Here's a link if you think I'm making this up!

Please let me know if you happen to have a Moshi microbead clown fish pillow. I would love to have a new one! Then again, I suspect she will always prefer the original, ragged Pishy the Fishy.