Offf. Julie, I am so sorry. And Scrappy, many hugs.

Uh, juliana, wanna come out to Baltimore in a week or two?

Oh my gosh, of course!! And if she came the weekend of the 25th she could come to our very last show!

Hee! If I had the plane fare, I'd totally come and be the chauffeur/negotiator/soothing-type person. That would be a blast!

Considering Owen had a birthday party for a classmate, his own birthday party and we got Easter baskets, I think the kids are sufficiently candied up. As is their mother.

The Birthday Boy is anxious about his cake.

Olivia surveys her Easter loot.

Happy belated birthday to Owen! He's such a handsome dude.

In other funny-and-sleezy at the same time news. Denny Neagle was a major league pitcher.:

***********

So the other night we facebook friend Denny Neagle, just because. He did throw parts of two seasons for our favorite big league team. Then he was traded to the Yankees and things went downhill, but it is a moot point.

Our girlfriend calls the next morning and asks “Who is Denny Neagle?”

Immediately we are thinking that this cannot be good. We ask why she would like to know that. Aparently old Denny boy took the liberty to ‘friend’ her on facebook immediately after we friended him. She noticed that her and Denny’s only mutual friend was us. She didn’t know who the guy was from a random stranger.

...She went ahead and accepted the request. And then Denny boy showed that he’s still up to no good. Next thing we know he is offering up “pokes” to our girlfriend. He doesn’t do that to all of his facebook friends. He didn’t poke us. Denny, we feel left out man. It’s alright though. You’d just think that a guy who signed a $51 million dollar contract a few years ago could do better then poking a ‘fans’ chick on an online social site. I mean dude, go buy yourself some ass. Oh wait you already did that. Bad advice.

This is what we get for facebook friending anyone who has had ties to Major League Baseball.

Me, I LOVE hearing about Sarameg's house and The Zmayhem Easter morn and Liese's scary water and Kat's totally deserved toddler smackdown and all the news shared here.

I would totally subscribe to this magazine!

Happy birthday, Owen!!!

I am not going up home for Easter, which I'm a little sad about, but I am making myself some ham and I bought some peeps and Cadbury caramel eggs. And I will relax and eat them up (not all the peeps and chocolate) and watch Amazing Race & Little Dorrit after I finish getting everything I need to do this weekend done. So, I better get started on that.

Hugs and commiserations to all what needs 'em.

Matilda and Emmett stories are, as always, incredibly cute.

Owen and Liv look SO big.

Lewis and I skipped out on the zoo excursion and instead went to the outlet mall for some necessities. Glad we did, too-- one of Abby's favorite stores, Limited Too has rebranded themselves as Justice, why, I know not, but it worked out great for us, since they were selling all of their old Limited Too branded clothing at STUPID discount. We're talking 2.99 for stuff that last summer and fall would have been near the twenty-five or thirty dollar mark.

Since a lot of it was fall/winter stuff, I got it a couple of sizes too big and honestly, some of it looks so cute and comfortable, that if the girl doesn't want it, I'll keep it to beat around the house in.

Emmett and I have braved the day (very pretty in SF). We walked (well, he took his scooter) down to Haight Street, poked around at Booksmith, and got burritos for lunch at Zona Rosa.

At the bookstore, Emmett contentedly huddled in a corner with one of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, while I flipped through Hot Chicks with Douchebags which catalogued the nine identifying traits of douchebags and then did a Field Guide type rundown on all their regional variants.

I had been wondering what were the signal style cliches of the Oughties and here I had a full compendium!

Identifying Traits of Douchebags:

1. Flipped collar.

2. Spikey, gelled up hair. You know - like Angel or the cast of Friends. Bonus points of horribleness for either the fauxhawk or frosted tips.

3. Shiny foreheads. (From the hair product melting down onto their greasy faces.)

4. Jesus bling. Has to be obvious and over the top.

5. Shirtlessness.

6. Douche-y aura. This has something to do with entitlement and Axe body spray.

7. Douche-face. That kind of sneering, kissy lips, tongue lick, obnoxious face for the camera.

8. Throwing hand signs.

9. Ten degree hat tilt.

Any sort of general Federline-ness also qualifies.

Of the specific types I recall Frat Bags, Tat Bags, Euro Bags, Yuppie Bags and Abracabs (lifting the shirt to show off their six-pack abs).

From the book description:

Greasy foreheads. Spiky frosted hair. Oiled-up faces dripping with Tag Body Shot spray. Armani Exchange T-shirts and rank cologne wafting off their backs like fetid pollen clouds as they pump their fists and attempt to grind into any hotties nearby. Young beauties oblivious to the hulking monstrosity clutching at their butts like snapping turtles on Red Bull.

From sea to douchey sea, ours is a culture plagued by this festering blight. By the dark forces of über-douchebaggery.

Oh yeah, I forgot about Tag Body Shot and fake tans.

The blog from which the book derives is instructive.

Me, I LOVE hearing about Sarameg's house and The Zmayhem Easter morn and Liese's scary water and Kat's totally deserved toddler smackdown and all the news shared here.

Indeed.

Bobby and I went next door to eat good stuff with the neighbors. Full now. Feet up ready to veg out with a chick flick now.

I had my feet up and then I got restless. In the past hour and a half I've swept off the balcony, planted two pots full of pansies and made banana bread. My feet are back up, but I'll be getting up again in an hour or so to take the bread out of the oven and make dinner. I think it's the weather. After having sloth inducing wet and/or dreary weather for what felt like ages, it finally got up to right around 60, today. I've got windows and sliding doors open to take advantage. It's hard to sit still when it's so nice.

DH mowed the lawn and I did some weeding, then we sat out on the porch for quite a while enjoying the day, letting the dog loll on the grass, observing some avian behavior. Pretty darn nice, but I forgot to have lunch 'til just now.