Lago Tacos - My New Obsession

Having been raised on an island in the Pacific, I'm use to not having to travel that far from my home for what I need, be it the grocery store, restaurants, shopping etc.  I think that has a lot to do with why I love living in Excelsior, Minnesota.  Everything I need is nearby.

Until recently, we were in need of a Taco place. For months I've obsessed over the opening of Lago Tacos on Water Street in Excelsior.

Peering into the windows, willing them to open

Finally last week they threw open their doors and introduced the town to their 28 different types of tequila, Street Style Tacos, and massive Burritos. I've already been there four times, and I'm happy to say that they were worth the wait.

I've worked my way through about half of their menu items.  Right now my favorite is their Steak Quesadillas. Their Walleye Tacos and El Pastor (Pork) Tacos are also at the top of my list.

Steak Quesadillas

Lago Tacos serves lunch starting at 11am, and dinner with a Happy Hour from 3pm-6pm. Starting March 16th they will be serving breakfast on Saturdays and Sundays when they will open at 8:00am. I'm counting the days until March 16th when I can try their breakfast menu.

If you see me running...

Anyone who knows me well knows that, if you see me running it means I'm being chased by a zombie, or Bradley Cooper is in town, meaning a restraining order against me will probably follow.

If I'm running a zombie is coming or I'm after Bradley Cooper

 Even when I use to work out regularly, running was not a part of my routine if I could help it. This may all change for a good cause. The Jake O'Conners Luck o' The Lake 5K Fun Run is March 16th right here in Excelsior.  The 5K benefits Community Events such as Art on the Lake, 4th of July and others.

It kicks off at the Excelsior Brewery, which is a plus.  I'm not sure where it ends, but I know for me it will end at Jake O'Conners Public House aka: Our very own Irish Pub in Excelsior.  More than likely I'll be doing more walking during the 5K than running.  Either way, I'll be out supporting a great cause in our community.

You can sign up for the 5K by visiting this link Jake O'Conners Luck o' The Lake 5K.  You can also support community efforts buy purchasing a fabulous Luck o' The Lake 5K hoodie.  I'm wearing mine here.

You can purchase a hoodie at the following Excelsior businesses:

Patisserie Margo
Brightwater Clothing and Gear
Excelsior Brewing Company
Jake O'Conners Public House

I've signed up for 3 5Ks but I've never done one. It's on my bucket list to do one, so this one looks promising.

Hope to see you there! Dressing up to show your St. Patrick's Day spirit is encouraged, unless you are Bradley Cooper, then just show up topless in a speedo.

Just Call me Judge Natalie

Word must really be getting out about how much of a food enthusiast I am.  Recently I was invited to be a judge at the first annual Southshore Sizzle, which is a Lake Minnetonka Iron Chef style competition benefiting the ICA Food Shelf.  Four Lake Minnetonka restaurants went head to head to compete for the Golden Cleaver Award.

Competing restaurants were:

Ike's Minnetonka
318 Cafe
Joey Nova's
Hazellewood Grille

My claim to fame as a local food enthusiast is that I was the first Excelsior resident to eat one of everything at our local European Bakery, Patisserie Margo.  At least I'm pretty sure this is why I was invited to sit at the judges table with National Meteorologist Paul Douglas, MyTalk 107.1 Talk Show Host Bradley Traynor, Around Town TV Host Carla Beaurline and President of InVision Optical Anthony Bosca.

Senior Editor from Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine Melinda Nelson, was the emcee of the evening.  The woman is just a hoot and a half!

Sizzle Judges with Emcee Melinda Nelson

Because I was going to be eating a decent amount of food, and drinking as much free wine as I could get my hands on, I wore my tried and true compression garment known as Spanx under a dress that was forgiving in the waist area. Nothing helps you remember to keeps your Abs in, and encourages good posture like full body Spanx.

I digress, this is supposed to be about the Southshore Sizzle, not how I hold in my muffin top.  The participating chefs were able to choose ingredients from a table and were given the "secret" ingredient, which was Filet Mignon, along with an Italian sausage.

 I have to be honest. I lobbied for the secret ingredient to be one of my all time favorite meats, Spam.  Being from Hawaii I've had a lifelong love affair with this succulent canned meat. Needless to say my idea was shot down, which I thought was surprising being that Spam is produced here in Minnesota.

As judges we were given a dish that each Chef put together.  We judged each based on Taste, Presentation, and Originality.  Though all were delicious, one stood out.  The winner was Joey Nova's, who happened to be the underdog.  Here are the judges, emcee and the team from Joey Nova's.

I had such a great time taking part in this event. I've now judged a cooking competition and pageants, so my judging resume has really expanded.  Though, I think I prefer these cooking competitions over judging Pageants because the food is better.  

It was a bonus that my bio was read correctly at this event. During one of the pageants I judged, as I turned facing and waving to the crowd, the emcee announced that I was a "Popular Lake Minnetonka Communist!"  The sheet said "Columnist".  I just shrugged my shoulders and took my seat. I figured I'd been called worse.

Doggie Yoga at Adogo Pet Hotel

When your oldest kids are in college and your youngest can wipe his own butt and feed himself, how might a Lake Minnetonka Mom spend her time?  Doing "Doga" Doggie Yoga, of course.

I grabbed my pups TJ and Loki and headed over to Adogo Pet Hotel to experience "Doga" with my daughter Shelby and Yoga Instructor Milissa Link from Tree of Life Yoga.  Enjoy the video.

3 Women in Their 40's Go Ice Boating

A few of my fellow Lake Minnetonka moms and I have been working on our "Life List".  It' basically a bucket list, but life list sounds better.

Today we crossed "ice boating" off our lists during an Arctic Fever event that happens each year in our community.  Special thanks to the very brave Terry Foster for taking us out on his ice boat on Lake Minnetonka.

Scientology and Lawrence Wright's Book "Going Clear"

The Church of Scientology continues to experience a massive shit storm of negative media.  It's raining turds for a group that refuses to admit any wrong doing.


Last night NBC's Rockcenter aired an interview with Oscar winning Director Paul Haggis who left Scientology, and Pulitzer Prize winning author Lawrence Wright, who just wrote a book on Scientology called "Going Clear ".

If you didn't catch last night's episode of Rockcenter you can see it here: "Director calls some Scientology teachings 'madness'."  Be sure to watch the second part, which shares what happened to one family broken apart by Scientology.  Sadly, they are one of many.

I'm amazed that the Church of Scientology thinks they can get away with claiming they don't put the screws to parishioners to "disconnect" (cut ties) with people who leave Scientology.  A big reason many remained trapped in Scientology is because they know the Church will make sure that any relationships an individual leaving has with other Scientologist is ended.

It doesn't matter if they are your mother, child, friends or bosses.  The Church fears that the few remaining Scientologist will find out what the rest of the world already knows.  It's the same reason why Scientologist are indoctrinated into believing that they can not watch or read anything that contradicts what they are told in Scientology.

When you leave Scientology your remaining friends and family are called into the Church and "briefed" on what an asshat you are.  Often they are told lies about you in an effort to turn your friends and family against you.  When my family and I left the Church, many of our friends were called in and told some pretty outrageous things about us, and why we left.

We heard from friends who told us what they were told.  They said they knew it wasn't true but had to disconnect from us or they would loose their own friends and family who remained in the Church.  They continued to believe that their spiritual freedom was in the hands of Scientology, and without it they would suffer the Christian equivalent of going to hell.

The Church even uses social media to spread the word to your friends and family across the country that they need to disconnect from you. Below is a facebook message that was cut and pasted from a message sent from a Scientologist in the Twin Cities named Megan Finstrom, who goes by Megan Parfitt on facebook.  It and messages like it were sent to multiple friends of mine on across the country.  She and other Scientologist are instructed by Church staff to do this.  The Church often has its parishioners do its dirty work, so they can appear to have clean hands.

 In Megan's case she refers people to Karen Wesling who is a Twin Cities Church of Scientology staff member and probably Megan's handler.  Megan was kind enough to even provide instructions on how to not only unfriend the Stud Muffin and I, but also my parents, just to be on the safe side.

An "HCO order" is a document that the Church creates stating your offenses against the Church, often made up.  They post this for people to see in lunch rooms and common areas, thereby warning Scientologist to stay away from you.

"PTS Type C" is Church jargon which means that we threatened to take legal action against the Church.

"Org" is short for Organization meaning the Church.

From: Facebook <notification+m-j5j51_@facebookmail.com>

Subject: Megan Parfitt sent you a message on Facebook...

To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Date: Sunday, January 10, 2010, 3:06 PM

Subject: Important

Hi,

There is an HCO order posted in the Twin Cities org regarding Natalie and Brad Hagemo. They are declared PTS Type C. Please remove them from your facebook friends asap. Their family members should also be removed: Corey Wilcox and Donna-Gail Wilcox.

You can do this by going to "friends" and hit x for delete.

Please go into the org and see Karen Wesling if you have any questions, data to report and to view the order.

Thanks, Megan

(For those of you out of state, you can reach Karen by calling 612-338-5111)

Many friends disconnected from us.  In the three years since we left, many friends have reconnected with us.  Some have left the Church themselves, fed up with the demands for money, abuses and manipulation. Some maintain the appearance of still being with the Church, so as not to rock the boat for their friends and family who are still brainwashed by the false control the Church exerts.  Some remained disconnected completely, fearing that they risk their spiritual freedom if they were to speak to us.

The thing is, the Church of Scientology, like any cult, only has power over you if you grant them that power.  They play on an individuals fear, they use threats and other manipulative tactics.  Take back your own power and sense of self, and you see that they are nothing more than a bully on the playground.

I'm reading Lawrence Wright's book "Going Clear".  It is shedding further light on what I was involved with and why you feel trapped in Scientology.  It truly is a prison of belief.

Virgin Carpet, Potty Training and Holiday Fun!

Despite the cloudy, drab, cooling weather, there is a sense of excitement in my household.  After 15 years, 3 kids and 3 dogs we are finally replacing our carpet and having the upstairs painted.

This carpet is so gross, that I have often wondered if it hasn't mutated into a living organism.  We have taken to refering to it as "Fred".

Knowing that we are just a few weeks from fresh, clean virgin carpet, I've been working hard to finish potty training the new puppy, TJ.  I've spent the last two years trying to get our other dog Loki, to stop pooping in the house and eating it.

Disturbingly, despite my best efforts, Loki has passed this behavior onto little TJ.  I've been at my wits end with the poop munching.  I thought that maybe a little shame and a time-out would get Loki to shape up.

Loki on his time-out

As crazy as it sounds, I think this worked.  Though far from 100%, Loki has taken to pooping outside and NOT eating it when he does it in the house.  I'm sure TJ will follow his lead, as he does with everything else.

I'm also super excited about the holiday season.  For me the holidays start on November 1st!  The only reason my house isn't filled with Chrismtas decorations yet, is because of the coming carpet installation and painting.  But, don't think I haven't already pulled the box out.  Plus, I've been listening to Christmas music daily.  I just love it!

Acceptance and Growing Up

I've been absent, neglectful and not present in regard to my blog for the month of October.  If my blog were a child, child protective services would have taken it into custody.  That, or my blog would have become a crazy, wild feral child that ate it's own hair and grunted for food.

My absence was, if not with good reason, with an understandable reason.  October 26th marked the one year anniversary of my mom's passing.  Thoughout the month, each time I sat down to write, I just could not do it.

My mom, dad and I in the backyard. We lived on Oahu

Today is October.... hold on where is my damn phone?  Here it is, one of the dogs was sitting on it.  Today is October 28th.  I could go on for pages trying to explain my last month and what it was like as this anniversary approached, but I won't.

The short story is it sucked ass at times.  In the last year I've shed more tears than a Kennedy, and ate more Lindt chocolates than Kirstie Alley.  I've actually eaten Lindt chocolates with Kirstie Alley, so I know what I'm talking about.  That's another story.

On the anniverary of my mom's passing I took a bottle of wine along with my "mini mom urn", to what was one of her favorite gardens.  It is a Japanese Garden at our local Arboretum.

"Mini mom" and my wine in the Japanese Garden

It was there that I had what was probably my most healing realization.  I realized that I was truly the adult in charge of my life.  My mom would have probably said that I've been in charge since I was 16.  In truth, I was able to go out and conquer the tight rope of life, be fabulolus, crazy, and at times productive, because I knew I had a safety net.  That safety net was always my mom.

Despite having three kids of my own, two of them grown, I never saw myself as the adult in charge.  I was resposible (for the most part) but I always felt I had a safety net.

The good thing is that by realizing that I was the adult in charge, I also finally accepted that my mom was gone.  Physically gone anyways.  I swear I can still hear her criticizing my driving and lack of cooking skills at times.  She finds ways of making her continued presence known.

Despite being 42 years old, (though I totally can pull off looking 32), for the first time in my life, I think I finally feel grown up.  Don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean I'm giving up drunken karaoke, or ghost hunting.  It just means I'm okay with navigating the tight rope of life without a safety net.

Why Condoms Remind Me of My Mother and How a Tampon Saved My Life

My mom didn't always understand me, but she always accepted me.  Thankfully we shared a healthy sense of humor.  If we hadn't she may have strangled me before I got to High School.

The five words I've heard most from her were "What is wrong with you!"  It was always a statement and not a questions, usually following me putting magnetic bullet holes all over her car, or throwing fake dog poop at her after convincing her it was from one of her dogs.

It's been 11 months since my mom died.  I've been thinking about her more often as the anniversary of her death approaches.  Today I was at Target for pens, though I ended up coming home with pens and these sexy footie PJs, which I know the Stud Muffin will just love.  They just scream "Take me now big boy!"

I was also in the pharmacy section looking for some acne wash for the teenage boy when I came upon the condom and lubrication area.

The condoms reminded me of my mom because I would often take her to Target and throw a bunch of multi colored condoms in her cart when she left it unattended.  She would only find them when checking out as she embarrassingly tried to explain to the cashier that they weren't hers.  I would be one lane over pretending not to know her and laughing my ass off as she yelled, "What's wrong with you!" across the aisle.

I was merely trying to show her that she needed to be more alert when shopping.  She had a bad habit of leaving her purse in her cart and walking off to look at something. So you see, my prank had a point.  In truth I was teaching her personal safety.  Maybe the next time she thought about walking off from her cart she would remember the condoms and not do so, thereby protecting herself from purse thieves and random people who might throw condoms in her cart.

After doing this to her on three different occasions, she stopped walking away from her purse in the cart.  The more I reflect on what it must have been like to have me for a daughter, the more I realize someone should have given her a medal.

The same goes for my significant other.  He rarely questions my behavior.  Once in awhile he comes across a mystery surrounding me that he just must get to the bottom of.  As was the case when he found this cup with a tampon and a piece of chewed gum in it, in my car.

Him: "I hate to ask, but why was there a tampon with blood on it, in a plastic up along with chewed gum in your car?"

Me: "That tampon saved my life the other day.  I was at the bus stop picking up the kid, when a wound on my arm started bleeding profusely!  I couldn't find a tissue to stop the massive hemorrhaging that was occurring, so I did what any fast thinking ER Doc would do.  I took a tampon out of my purse and used it to stop the bleeding.  I put it in the cup because it was the hygienic thing to do.  The gum was there because I was done chewing it and I don't throw things out of the car window because I'm civilized like that."

I didn't tell him that I was picking at a mole/wart thing on my arm, which he told me NOT to do, and that is what was bleeding.  Thankfully he didn't ask why I was bleeding, he was only concerned with why the tampon was there.

Him: (Sarcastically) "Well I suppose that makes sense now doesn't it?"

Me:  "Would you rather I bled to death at the bus stop?  Our son would have found me, bloodied and dead because I didn't think outside the box and use a tampon to save my own life!"

He knew what I was saying made sense, so he just walked away.  He knows he can't win these arguments with me as my logic is impeccable.  It's also why he usually doesn't want to ask in the first place.  He has learned to not put me in a position where I have to explain myself.  Sometimes it's just easier to let it go, and keep going.

Battling the Plague While My Dogs Talk to Me

For the last several days I've been doing battle.  I've been battling a plague that my son brought home from that germ pit known as "school".

For two days I was sick, then on the third day I felt fabulous, so I ran around town all day celebrating my last day of summer.  Unfortunatley, probably infecting the masses while I was at it.  Please accept my apologies if we were in close proximity on Thursday.  I truly felt fine that day.

Apparently this virus lulls you into a false sense of security, making you think you are well, so that you will go forth and spread it, ensuring its survival among the peoples of Earth.  The day after running around town, I woke up feeling worse than I did the first two days.

Needless to say, aside from sleeping, doing shots of Nyquil, and taking hundreds of photos of my dogs, jack shit got done this last week.

"Hold my bone, shit just got real!"

TJ and Loki are in my lap in this next photo.  It just occured while looking at this pic, that though I've been showering, I've been wearing these PJ pants, those socks and this sweatshirt for four days. Note to self: Change clothes today.

"Did you just fart?"

These dogs have some nerve! For the record I did not fart.  As a female I am incapable of such activities.  When the dogs started talking to me, I realized that it was time to back off on the Nyquil.

Another sign that you need to back off on the cold meds is when you check your phone in the morning, and realize that you emailed the following photo to multiple friends telling them that you found the perfect entertainment for their holiday party this year.

My friend James needs to take some responsibility for that one, being that he sent that photo to me first, which is how it got in my phone to begin with.  He is such a bad influence on me, which is of course why I love him.

Anyways, today is a new day.  At this moment I'm still feeling under the weather, but I'm going to shower, change my clothes, maybe even put a bra on and pants that zip and button.

My Last Day of Summer: Boats, Beer, Benefits, Disorders and Politicians

My last day of summer was quite eventful.  I attended a "Keep the Vibe Alive" boat cruise on Lake Minnetonka to support three wonderful candidates running for office in my town of Excelsior, Minnesota.

I'm pretty sure I made it out of there only offending one person. The stud muffin is right, I really do need to install a speed bump between my thoughts and my mouth.  I suffer from a disability known as "Foot in Mouth Disorder."  To date, there is no known cure.  It's a condition exacerbated by crowds and alcohol.

After telling the stud muffin what happened and how mortified I was, he said, "Repeat after me. It is NEVER appropriate to tell a man that his photo looks like he just got busted for prostitution!"  In my defense, when a man doesn't smile in a photo, it looks like a mugshot.

My Foot in Mouth Disorder otherwise known as "FMD", is just one of the many reasons why you will never see me running for office, which is why I want to support those who can and will do a good job in our town.  They have my support, even if I'm not invited back to anymore events.

I truly am trying to do better, it just doesn't come naturally to me.  Apparently when mouth filters were being handed out I was in line for a double dose of the "loves wine" gene.  I'm thinking of starting a 5K to benefit finding a cure for Foot in Mouth Disorder.

Here I am on the boat cruise with John from the Excelsior Brewing Company.  He is NOT the person I offended, as you can tell by this photo where he is smiling, and not looking like he just got busted for prostitution.

Coincidentally after the boat cruise, I was heading to meet some friends at the Excelsior Brewing Company, before heading to the Taste of the Lakes Gala benefiting the ICA Food Shelf.  It was a busy day!  After a wardrobe change I headed to my next gathering.

Mona, Trish, me, Jill, and Cheri who came all the way from Utah

Mona and her fabulous husband Mike, (who is not so fabulous at taking photos with my phone, as you can see here, though I do look better slightly blurry), love beer.  What better place to take Mona's sister and her husband who were visiting from Utah, than to our very own local brewery!  Not everyone from Utah is Mormon.  So, before you think we made the faux pas of taking two Mormons to a brewery, we did not.  Though from Utah, they are not Mormon, which made the brewery an acceptable venue.

Other than some face licking, which I had nothing to do with, we enjoyed a lovely visit together before Jill and I had to head to the Taste of the Lakes gala, just down the street.  My friend Jill is quite the foodie with a fun blog called Sassy Family.  Being a foodie she was the perfect person to attend a food tasting event with, plus she doesn't complain when I put extra helpings of free food in my purse for later.

One of my favorite comedians is Kristin Anderson, who is also a friend, and she was the co-host of the Taste of the Lakes Gala.  Kristin always makes me feel so normal.  When I get around to creating a 5K and Gala for Food in Mouth Disorder, I'm going to have Kristin emcee it.

Kristin and I at last night's Gala

It's always a pleasure to see Excelsior Mayor Nick Ruehl.  I let him know how he was stirring up my abandonment issues by retiring as Mayor.  I've known Nick for about five years, and despite my Foot in Mouth Disorder, he continues to be photographed with me in public, and remains a friend.  If we do find a cure for FMD, I may name it after Nick for being such a cool guy.

With Excelsior Mayor Nick Ruehl

My last day of summer was very busy.  When Jill dropped me off we congratulated ourselves on being such wild party animals, despite being in our 40s.  Of course it was 9:00pm, but hey it was a full day.

Apparently I Stink, Am Broke and Need Viagra

Like most of you I get a lot of spam, and not the good kind.  Not the yummy hormel meat in a can that I love so much.  You can say what you want about any other food, but talk crap about my beloved Spam, and I will cut you!

Email spam infects my computer like Herpes at a frat party.  I can't help but wonder how or why my email address ended up on some of these email list.  Some of them make sense, but others leave me with a WTF taste in my mouth, and not the good kind of WTF as in, "WTF is Christian Bale doing in my bedroom".  No this is a "WTF, why am I getting Christian Singles emails." Not the Christian I was hoping for.

My most recent batch of spam emails are these:

These basically say that I'm a stink ass in desperate need of a bath who is broke and lacking in health insurance.  But, Dr. Mrs. Veronica is coming to my resuce with 2.5 million dollars that she wants to transfer to me from Nigeria, which will give me the cash I need to buy tons of Viagra from the Canadian Pharmacy.

A few of these are not that far off the mark, but most of the time my spam email makes me question just who I am, or at least what I'm putting out there about myself.

What do your spam emails say about you?

Washington Politics, Future Husbands, and a Dab of Semen

This was my annual trip to Washington D.C. as a representative from Minnesota at the "Zero Summit to End Prostate Cancer."  I became involved with advocating for Prostate Cancer Research through my BFF Tamara Jett, whose father has fought Prostate Cancer.

Tamara and I traveled together to the summit, and visited with our State lawmakers to advocate for support in tackling a cancer that effects 1 in 6 men. You may remember my BFF Tamara from "Please Don't Speak Directly to the Title Holder" and our trip to Puerto Rico a few months ago.

Tamara and I seeing if the Obamas were at the Capitol and wanted to hit happy hour with us.

No such luck on having happy hour with the Obamas, so we went to a Congressional Reception instead.  We were happy to be reunited with our friend John who is a Physician's Assistant in St. Cloud Minnesota.  We met John at last year's summit.

Natalie, John and Tamara at the Congressional Reception

John is a great guy, and very knowledgable.  During the summit I realized that I may have over medicated myself and feared I would OD right then and there on the floor of the Summit while Congressman Barrow was giving a speech.

I didn't want to interrupt what was a fabulous talk, so I texted John who was two seats over to make sure he knew what medications I was taking, so he could share that info with the paramedics should I pass out.  John assured me that it was impossible to OD by taking Zyrtec, Midol and Advil together.  I think his phone died after that because he stopped responding to my text messages.

Aside from what we learned in the summit, I learned a few other things about Washington D.C.

1. You should never say "Let's photo bomb that press conference" in front of police holding giant guns while at the Capitol.  For those who don't know, "photo bomb" means to jump in the photo when you aren't supposed to be in it.

2. You can not take photos in the cafeteria of the Senate building, or you will meet the Secret Service, who will eye you intently until you leave.

3. D.C. is a great place to meet potential husbands for your daughters.

I met a very impressive young man at the Summit who is at the top of my list for potential husbands for one of my daughters.  He spends his summers in D.C. interning, when he isn't back in high school in Miami.

He is too young for my daughter now, but I gave him my card and said to stay in touch as in 10 years I thought they could make this work. He liked her photo, so I have high hopes.

They left our table and never returned shortly after we spoke, but I'm sure it's just because they wanted to go add "Marry Natalie's daughter" to their future calendars.

Tamara and I have traveled quite a few times together and we work like a well oiled machine.  Despite that a few things occured that made me question her commitment to our friendship.

First off, on our return home she refused to switch seats with me when I found a semen stain on my seat.  I always give her the window seat because she likes to lean on it and sleep during our flights.  I'm thoughtful like that.  She knows how grossed out I get by these kinds of things, but she remained unhelpful during my plight, beyond laying down a piece of paper for me to sit on, covering the semen stain.

It's obvious what this is!

On the next leg of our flight there was a seat between Tamara and I.  Thankfully one without body fluids that we could see.  I decided to kick my shoes off and spread out a little, so as to decompress from the last flight and trauma.

Tamara had the audacity to say my feet were "hummin", which apparently means the same as stinky.  After all I had been through, you would think she would be more understanding.

Tamara giving my feet the evil eye

I sat in semen on the other flight to ensure her comfort.  I thought it a bit rude that she would complain about an alleged slight odor. I gave her a chance to redeem herself by buying matching cheesehead hats while we laid over in Wisconsin, but she would have nothing to do with it.

Me trying to get Tamara into the spirit of Wisconsin

Washington D.C. is always a great place to visit.  The Prostate Cancer Summit was a success and we were even able to squeeze in some fun, shop for a husband for my daughters, and narrowly escape getting an STD from an airplane seat.

Puppies, Humping and Hoping for Strippers

Like most new mothers I'm short on sleep and showers.  Work isn't getting done.  My hair is in a permanent greasy ponytail and I'm running late to everything.  Totally not my normal.

The kids and I would like for you to meet the reason why I'm currently rocking the homeless chic look.  Say hello to our newest addition, TJ.

TJ during his first trip to the store for his own leash

TJ will never replace Dexter, but he is helping us to heal, and he is proving to be a fabulous addition to our family.  Here he is with his brother Loki, who joined our family almost two years ago.

TJ and Loki, keeping it real

We wanted to name him "Thor" being that his brother's name is Loki, but after spending time with him we realized it wasn't a good fit.  Based on our first day with him I wanted to name him "The happy humper", but the stud muffin said that was too long a name. We settled on TJ, which is short for Thor Junior.

The happy humper having his way with Loki

TJ is about 13 weeks old right now and is a Maltese, Long Haired Chihuahua mix.  He came from the same breeder as Loki, who is a Maltese.  

I'm looking forward to having TJ fully potty trained, and use to our home and routine.  I don't function well without sleep. Yesterday I tried to sign a credit card receipt with a tampon I pulled out of my purse.

Today I had a belated birthday lunch with my friend Tina.  I'm sure I sounded either drunk or like a stroke victim.  Breaking in a new puppy is not a sleep friendly activity.

When I walked into the restaurant to meet Tina, late of course, my birthday surprise caused me to jump out of my dazed, sleep deprived fog.  Tina showed me what she had gotten me for my birthday.  There stood a  tall, dark and handsome man, with arms that could lift a water buffalo.

How you doin?

I thought to myself , finally someone got me a stripper!  I've been asking for one for years.  Though  I was surprised that this was going to go down in the middle of a restaurant, but hey I was tired and needed the boost so who was I to question the situation.

Just when I was ready to start pulling dollar bills out of my purse, Tina pointed out the flower arrangement that the Greek God was holding.  Apparently the flowers, not the man, was my present.

Despite the misunderstanding we had a lovely lunch served to us by Mr. Hot Body, who turns out was our waiter, Nick.

I definitely need to start getting more sleep.