It's Official

I have the cutest nieces and nephews.

[Liam (4 mos.) and his favorite cousin, Jane]


The photo above is merely Exhibit A of the Totally Cute and Kid-Filled Minneapolis Weekend that I arrived back in Seattle from on Monday night. I had the pleasure of meeting the newest addition to the clan, Mizz Ruby Leone Fadell, better known in Minneapolis as Lily's little sister and my goddaughter. She's a snuggly little sleepin' and eatin' machine and has the best thing of all — that new baby smell. More highlights of the weekend are below.

I had a fantastic time at home and was so very glad to see all my pals who made it out to Grumpy's on Saturday and other good friends in between. I didn't take nearly enough photos, but it was perfectly timed and the perfect duration, too.

Now it's back to my new reality of unpacking and trying to figure out why I have so much stuff, where all this stuff is going to go and how I get rid of the stuff I can't believe I paid to have moved out here. Either that or figure out how to build myself a new closet.


[Snoozin' Baby Ruby]


[Me and my good pal, Lily]

Victory!

I have furniture.

I know. It's very exciting. My stuff arrived on Saturday afternoon and I got to go to a truck stop! I went to be there while they weighed the truck and then weighed it again after unloading my crap. Guess what? My things didn't, in fact, weigh an additional 1026 pounds like the moving company was trying to charge me 89 cents a pound to drive to Washington.

Fuming.

I wasn't about to let these criminals leave with my money, so I told the dispatch guy he had three choices: he could give me the cash back, he could meet My New Best Friend, Officer Turner from the Washington State Patrol, or he could have his drivers sit in the lot of the truck stop, unable to move because of the Toyota Camry that was going to be parked in its way. It may say "Sensible Soccer Mom," but it's really quite an intimidating, badass vehicle.

They chose the cash route, which is good because I had to chase down a tow truck which had my car on it today in Belltown. Had to convince the kid to give me back my car, to the tune of $156.67. Little tip for those of you planning to visit: when parking is no longer allowed after 3:00 p.m., they mean it. I had a ticket by 3:03 p.m. and was running after the tow truck at 3:11 p.m.

But not to fear! The movers still owe me close to $200, which I'm sure will arrive at my house with a giant apology letter any second now. Even though I'll probably never see the dough, I'm kept warm at night by my moral victory. Well, that and the thought of the Twins potential starting five in 2007.

Heading back to Minny for the weekend on Thursday night, Hope to see some of you, if not all of you. (It's pretty much just my family reading this now, right?) Oh, and there will be more photos, too.

My first guests

It's so spacy! And needle-y!



Here are some "action" shots of Jenny Morgan and Doug Ranke and I when they came to visit me a couple weekends ago. Don't you want to have this much fun? I thought so.

So book your tickets already.





More pretty scenery from my new favorite "hidden" park Jenny's friend Deb showed us.



A preview of Jenny and Doug's Christmas card.




At the Old Ale House in Fremont. (Mom, they made me take them to a bar. I wanted to go to church, I swear.)



Me and the Rankster.




Fun was had by us all, but the weekend was way too short and my house too devoid of furniture. But there are certain advantages of knowing someone since 7th grade. No one can quite laugh at you that way. Now looking forward to a trip home in a couple weeks and hopefully more guests.

Win Twins!

Knock out a home run, shout a hip-hooray!

They did it. My boys actually did it. They went from 10 games out of first to not just playing great ball, not just making the playoffs, but WINNING the best division in the majors. What a weekend.

Cy Young shoe-in. The first catcher to win the AL Batting Title. Maybe an MVP. And every single one of these guys would give up any of those accolades for a World Series ring. Even if you don't like baseball, even if you haven't followed this team and bled, sweated and cried like I have over their ups and downs, you have to love this team or there's a cold, dark cavern where your heart should be.

Everyone keeps saying that even if they lose in three games or if they can't continue the tear they've been on for the past two months that they'll still be okay with our team. But you know what the best part is? THEY won't be okay with it. That's the beauty of scrappers. And that's what this team is.

It's hard to find anything to be negative about in October when you're team's in the playoffs. That is, of course, unless your team plays at noon central standard time on Tuesday and Wednesday and you live in Seattle. I think I feel a bout of 2-day baseball flu coming on...