Back On The Wagon!

One glass of wine, a few Buckeyes from my friend Julie, and a new MAC have inspired me to get back to blogging. What is the hold up? Bobby is eight years old and Trooper is almost thirteen! Wow. Let's see if this works. I haven't done it in almost year!

Reporting and Interviewing

Well, today I received the bad news that once again, I had been rejected. Although Senator K received Norm Coleman's tickets, she did a lottery and I did not recieve any tickets. Bummer. Bummer. Bummer.

Although I have not gotten tickets, I am at least grateful that her office has kept me up to speed on what has happened and let me know I was not on a random makr-beleive list waiting for Santa to bring my tickets. I simply cannot say the same for Keith, and as such, am pretty much totally finished with him--although the Dusty guy from his office is nice.

On the upside, I received a call from Nancy Marshall-Genzer, today. She is a NPR Biography Assistant Producer in the Newscast Unit. She is going to interview me tomorrow on NPR! I am going to talk about going to the Young People's Ball and how Clinton and Gore did not come until after we left. What a major let down!!! Anyway, I am very excited to be interviewed--and at this point it is the only fun thing that's happened to me since I voted (except for my fun party).

It should be fun! I am looking forward to going to St. Paul!

After I found all of this out, wouldn't you know that I see Bobby's teacher and she asks us to come to class and give a report of what happened? Cool. We will have to see.

I was thinking about getting a Flip Minio like Tara has to take some mini movies of our activities, and let Bobby take some too--not sure if Steve still has a discount or not....if so it seems like it might be fun to do--just to upload my experience and also do some mini interviews with Bobby while we are there. He can be a little Anderson Cooper--especially since we have been learning so much about the City and its history.

More to come. Wish me luck tomorrow.

One Week Left

One week to go and we are ready to welcome a new president. We are reading the "Capital! From A to Z" and Bobby was interested in learning about the candy desk. Apparently, this desk is located on the Republican side of the Senate chamber, and has been stocked with candy and treats since 1968. Not sure if it still exists.

We are getting so exicted to see our friends and family. Rob's parents are going and so are mine. My brother will also be there. It should be cool. Beyond that, we now have plans to o to a party on 1/20 so we will be getting dressed up and going out!!! Wooohooo!

More to come.

I also just bought two posters from the PICA committee. I am not sure why I keep buying stuff--since it's the People's Inaugural and I have tickets to nothing--but it will be a nice keepsake to sock away for Bobby.....

9 And Counting

So it is nine days until the big Inauguration. Bobby and I need to get out scrapbook together a little bit better and renew our Library Books. We have been reading about the city and learning the historical significance of some of the sights. I think this will be a cool trip, and I hope that Bobby enjoys himself, despite the crowds.

Earlier this week, Earlier this week, I had a massive temper tantrum. I was already pissed that I did not get tickets from Ellison--it's hard to believe that he really gave all of his tickets to people in his District (never had a good experience with him anyway.....) but you would think that there would be one benefit to owning a house in the North.....anyway. I logged onto the blog and tried to get tickets to the parade. Apparently, they were selling 5,000 parade tickets. I sprinted back to my desk after the field trip (see previous post) and huffed to my desk. Logged on and go on the phone line. The tickets sold out in under a minute on Ticketmaster. Apparently, there also will be standing room that’s first come, first served, so Jamillia and I need to decide where we're going to stand.

On the upside, I got a note from Amy K's chief of staff letting me know she got some of Coleman's tickets and will be distributing them by lottery to people who have asked to be placed on a waiting list and who can confirm that they have arrangements to be in Washington on Inauguration Day.

Since I have been trying to buckle down and spend less money, it is sort of (okay, really disapointing) that we have spent so much money on plane tickets and have no plans to speak of. I am sort of bummed out and embarassed to keep telling people that we have plane tickets and no plans. BUT-on the upside, I get to spend the Inauguration with the Ferris ladies, which is outstanding, and Bobby will say that he was there, which is outstanding. And, I have a place to stay downtown, which is amazing. And, on the upside, Senator Klobuchar is hosting an open house reception at her office at the Hart Senate Office Building on January 19--so Bobby will get to see where daddy was a Page. Right?

Field Trip

On Friday, I went to Minnesota Public Radio with the St. Louis Park Junior High School "Breakfast Buddies" and the members of the Junior League committee. It was fun. Although the girls were not initally excited to go, once they saw the beautiful modern offices, and the friendly and passionate staffers, they got pretty excited. One of the most interesting things that my group learned was that fame is relative. The kids were very excited to know what "famous" people had played in the studio. When Steve, our tour guide said Yo-Yo Ma, the kids were like who? I thought it was interesting that they had mot considered that some people outside of their immediate frame of reference, might actually be famous to someone else. All in all very good.

Cheap Wine Review

Okay. I just drank some wine that was not finished fermenting. Puke. Worse yet, it was from my favorite retailer, Trader Joe's.

Moving swiftly to the "Do NOT Drink" list is:
Trader Joe's
French Market
Cabernet Sauvignon
2007 Vintage


Yuck. Yuck. Yuck.

No other words.

Fearless Reading

In the spirit of encouraging Bobby to be a fearless reader (school's word, not mine), I told him to bring home some books with words, not just comic books. So, in an effort to listen, he brought home two books with actual words. Amazing.

Except, one of the books was, "In The Night Kitchen" by Maurice Sendak. I have read the book before and have found it to be sort of boring. As we read, we began talking about the illustrations--the little boy in the "Night Kitchen" looks a lot like Max from "Where The Wild Things Are"--with one major exception. He's naked. Super naked and being baked, dunked into milk, etc. The stuff that 7-year old giggles are made of.

In the spirit of not making a big deal out of it (we were doing fearless reading afterall), I Googled the book, and informed Bobby that the book was a banned book. We had a great disucssion on what banned books are and looked through the list. We learned that Harry Potter and How To Eat Fried Worms are also banned. Interesting. Certainly a worthwhile teaching moment.