FizzyLizzy

We wanted to see the left hand!

Hope you all are having fun!

Who can tell me what they did with the "season" finale of Master of Champions? It was supposed to be on last night but instead it was Gray's Anatomy. Will I ever know who the final Master of Champions is? Maybe they'll show it during next season. ; )

Just think what this kind of publicity could have done for Game Show Marathon. Everyone would have tuned in to see him dressed as a banana on Let's Make a Deal.

my brother and BRAND NEW future sister-in-law!!! (Sorry, this is the best photo I have of you two.) That was my big Hot Topic secret. Dave and Michele are on vacation in Europe with my other brother, Tom, and Michele's best friend. Dave let us in on his plans before they left and we knew it was supposed to happen between Monday and Thursday this week. So my mom and I are just sitting over here dying--waiting for the phone call. It happened this evening in Prague on a rooftop overlooking the city. There was champagne, and friends and family were present. Knowing Dave and his gift with words, I'm sure there wasn't a dry eye.

Dave and Michele, we're so happy for you and love you both so much! Congratulations!!

Today was the first weekday since summer break began that I didn't have to get someone out of the house before 10:30--or that we weren't on vacation. While I considered doing something with our day, I ended up just letting the kids run around the neighborhood. That, I suppose, is something in itself.

This photo doesn't do the transformation nearly enough justice. It's like we have a brand new limestone mantle! Except for the scotch tape residue revealed by the cleaning. While I hadn't gone in for the totally hardcore cleaning chemicals, I had unsuccessfully tried several remedies for removing 70 years of baked on soot. And my little Magic Eraser just took it right off!! I am so unbelievably excited about this. Am I a sad, sad person? Probably.

Notice any difference in the appearance of the two t-shirts after a day at camp?

Yesterday just before leaving for camp, one of my children had a huge meltdown over the fact that he wouldn't be bringing a disposable camera to camp like his sister. Who could that be? Does a five-year-old really need to bring a camera to camp? I gave in. I can only imagine what we'll find when we get it developed.

I really needed that mid-summer breather. The last day of Camp FL was a lazy one: Hot Topics with a mango smoothie and a walk around the lake. As a lasting reminder of the last H.T. of the summer, I rammed into a sharp corner at Caribou and managed to give myself a two-inch bruise on my leg.

A few weeks before camp, a booklet titled the Parent Survival Guide arrives in the mail. It contains stuff like the camp rules and what to bring. As far as I'm concerned that's the camper survival guide. All I need to know is what time to drop them off at the bus stop.

Yesterday was the 19th anniversary of my first date with Mr. FizzyLizzy.

Looks like my man Phil isn't in it. (That would be Phil Mickelson and the British Open for those of you who don't follow golf.) Yesterday at Hot Topics Kip let it slip that the reason men fish and golf is so that the women have to do all the work. Hmm.

Here's an example of my handiwork. The sweater, not the baby. According to my sources it was all the rage in Paris last summer.

Only one more day left.

Mystery solved: I called all around town to find out who had been trying to call several times yesterday and twice today from an unrecognizable number. It was my dad.

Mr. Hot Topics was a no-show at this morning's H.T. However, when I grilled him at the day camp bus stop he claimed to have no knowledge of The View's H.T. We all really know that he's a closet Barbara Walters fan. Today's topics included alcoholism, drugs, racism, gambling, and Queen Bees. Kip's wife, Lisa, was our special guest.

Today's Camp FL activities included finishing Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night and a walk around the lake while listening to the Phish concert Mr. FizzyLizzy downloaded for me. Two years ago (has it been that long already?), he was nice enough to take me to Alpine Valley for one of Phish's last concerts. It was a beautiful night up on the hill. We paid $20 to get into what I called the "Old Fart Parking Lot." This was for anyone who was pretty sure they didn’t want to spend hours getting high while waiting to get out of general parking. That was me and Mr. FL. When you've got two kids at home, the thought of risking jail time in another state isn't that appealing.

Mrs. Bickerson has a link to some intense BWCA fire photos. We've had dinner at the lodge on Seagull Lake. We've vacationed several times on Gunflint Lake and our neighbors have their cabin there. They just got back from up north and said that when they left the fire was only four miles away. Prayers for the firefighters and residents.

Have fun Mr. and Mrs. Bickerson! Don't do anything I wouldn't do!

Today's Hot Topics (welcome, Kip!) was a little more lively: homophobia, coveting neighbors' wives, divorce, lesbians, women who discovered they were lesbians and got divorced, women who discovered they weren't lesbians and got married, yada yada yada.

Mrs. Bickerson was wondering if we're doing a home version of The View. While I am aware of The View's Hot Topics segment, I've never watched it and I'm not sure if ours is supposed to be inspired by theirs or what. Mr. Hot Topics (a.k.a. Huckleberry Hound) supposedly invented our H.T. and its theme song (Hot Topics sung to the jingle for Hot Pockets frozen sandwiches). Because you're all dying to know, I'll get to the bottom of it and report back tomorrow.

Since today is all about me, Jodie bought me a mango smoothie at Caribou. Thank you! Amy showed up with a nice card for me. Thank you! And not to be outdone, Mr. Huckleberry Hound disappeared for a moment then returned with a moose-head-shaped caribiner/keychain for me. And thank you! Kip was empty handed, but we'll give him a pass this time for being an H.T. virgin.

After H.T. I had to stop at home, where our power had gone out. When I called to report the outage, the automated system said it would be back on at 11:21 a.m. According to our flashing digital clocks it came back on at 11:22. I find that freaky.

For the rest of the day: unsuccessful antique hunting, made up for it with a malt chocolate vanilla swirl/pink grapefruit sorbet double dip cone, and dinner at Christos with the FL family.

Thank you to everyone for the calls and e-mails.

Amy was absent from this morning's Hot Topics, but we had surprise guest Diane. She told me that she's been cleaning out their house as if they were moving. That sounds like a good project for me. Jodie gave me a taste of her (Cariboo) mango smoothie. It was dangerously delicious--dangerous to the waistline. Today's camp activity was a trip to the hair salon.

Tomorrow is the day of me--I'm lucky that it falls during Camp FizzyLizzy week. I think there's going to be a special edition of Hot Topics, possibly including special guest Kip. After that, ice cream and antiquing in Stillwater. I haven't decided where dinner will be. Probably something ethnic, maybe Christos or Tandoor. We'll see where the mood takes me.

If you live in Europe and were thinking of calling me tomorrow (or today as it probably is for you), your best bet would be before 8 a.m. my time. I hope I'm not assuming too much.

The first day of camp for the kids and the first day of Hot Topics for me, my gals, and Huckleberry Hound! I shared a hot topic but I can't reveal it yet. No, I am not pregnant. I promise to tell all when I'm at liberty to do so.

Today's Trip Without Kids was the Mall of America. A little disappointing. Not really anything cute that was full price, much less on sale. And too many tourists.

Even though it didn't get as hot as they thought, we spent an hour in 50º Mystery Cave.
























The heat, or advertisement of it, kept the crowds out of Lanesboro. We did not see one person on the bike path. Lots of tubers though.

My mom asked if we had brought any of those tasty lemonades. We had not.

I feel my parents have entered a different phase of life when their version of packing consists of putting clothes on hangers into the car. (Don't tell them I said that.)

I spy a quilt, a bed, and a "treasure chest lamp." This is where William wanted to camp.



















C'mon, use your imagination!

A cow moos at 7:20 a.m.--half the house is still sleeping. At 7:21 a.m. William yells, "CAN YOU PLEASE BE QUIET, COWS?"

Fillmore County and I have a storied past, though most of those stories are only a short paragraph. While not even close to literally true, I feel I have spent half my life there. Going to F.C. feels like spending the weekend reminiscing with a childhood friend.

And I have one more thing to say. I will get freaked out if you don't read my blog for two days and then Mom tells me that she had a weird phone conversation with you. So don't do that.

I think this is the best Happy Meal toy in a long time. Don't you love the eyeliner? William likes to make Captain Jack Sparrow kiss and hug me. "He loves you, Mommy." Hmmm.

We're leaving for parts southeast in a few minutes. Stay cool.

And here's the tennis star:
























It was her last day of tennis and I forgot to get an action shot. Two hours a day, five days a week for three and a half weeks and always excited to get to her lesson.

I just finished watching the strangest thing I have ever seen on TV. Master of Champions. I don't even know how to describe it. It was like America's Got Talent gone horribly awry. Horribly, horribly awry. There were three separate bizarre competitions between two "champions" in given genres: BMX bike tricks, figure skating spinning, and nerd machine builders. The "winner" of each competition (decided by studio audience voting) went on to the final, which was also decided by studio audience voting. Though don't think that means there weren't "celebrity judges." Believe me, there were ""celebrity judges."" At the end of the show the final Master of Champions got their name "enshrined on the Wall of Masters"--I am not kidding. I want to know what's going to become of the Wall of Masters when the show is done. Where will the names of these Masters be immortalized?

Here's the soccer star.

















And tonight's salad:



















Pepper slaw with jalapeño dressing--one of Mr. FizzyLizzy's summer fave's.

Shh! Next week's day camp. I don't want to say it too loud lest I be inflicted with the Curse of the Strep Throat. And boy do I need the break.

Have fun in Milwaukee this weekend, K-family. I bet you wish you were going down to burn up in Bluff Country with us instead! You know who I really feel sorry for? My friend Amy and her family who are driving across South Dakota this weekend. Ouch!

Every mower in the city must have been out cutting grass around Lake Nokomis and Minnehaha Parkway this morning. Ostensibly they're trying to make things look good for the Aquatennial triathlon this weekend--an NBC Sports trailer is already parked at the scene.

Here's a tip: If you wait so long between mowings that the grass clippings laying on the ground look like hay waiting to be baled--it doesn't look that good.

While not Greek, my new summer favorite is iceberg lettuce, grape tomatoes, and homemade blue cheese dressing.

We currently have an overabundance of raspberries. I made raspberry sorbet on Sunday but it was not a big hit with the kids. Another mark in the mac & cheese and tomato sauce column. In order to use them up creatively, I've been perusing raspberry recipes. Raspberry pie, raspberry tart, raspberry gratin, raspberry fool, raspberry...you get the picture. For this week I think I'll try something that does not involve turning on the oven for an hour.

I love all things Swiss. Therefore, when I saw this yogurt at the grocery store, of course I had to buy it.













It was alright. The grapefruits [sic] flavor was pretty good but was overwhelmed by the texture, which tasted like someone had dumped in a box of cornstarch. Even if the yogurt were great I wouldn't be buying a bunch more of it at $1.45 per carton.

Almost as much as things Swiss, I love things Greek. So when I saw this yogurt at the grocery store....













It's been fifteen years since I've had real Greek yogurt so this could taste like goat meat and I'd probably never know the difference. My first Grecian breakfast, giaourti kai meli (yogurt with honey), was the best breakfast I've ever had. Undoubtedly due to the location overlooking the Mediterranean and the fact that it was the first decent food I'd had in five days, but my favorite breakfast nonetheless. Though impossible to duplicate, if any yogurt can transport me back I know it will be this "yogurt of the gods." I also bought it to put in a refreshingly cool egg-lemon-cucumber soup that was one of my favorites while living there. And maybe some tzatziki (yogurt, cucumber, and garlic dip). When the mercury starts rising, all I can think about is Greek food and Amstel beer.

Looks like we could host quite the dinner party.



















We're on the Every Fourteen upgrade plan for dining room tables. The table on the left we inherited from my in-laws when we were married. They now have a new table so we got their old one--shown in the dining room. Stylistically I prefer the new one but its biggest sell is that, fully extended, it can seat ten--maybe twelve in a pinch. My only concern is the ability of its drop leaf ends to withstand an active boy.

The chair in the dining room is one of a set of six I bought for $50 about twelve years ago. They had been stripped and I had great plans for refinishing them. Yep. That project's becoming more urgent though as our current dining room chairs (hand-me-downs from Paul's grandparents) are becoming quite rickety. Mr. FizzyLizzy feels at risk for crashing to the ground whenever he sits in one.

It was just like reliving the 1977 SLP Girls 5th & 6th Grade City Championship.

We were going past Lake Calhoun this afternoon and William was rattling off everything he saw:

...volleyball nets and benches and signs and boobies...

What was that?

Boobies.

What boobies?

Boobies in the water.

Those are buoys, honey. Buoys.

If you didn't catch it, I added an art lesson to yesterday's post.

These photos don't really do it justice. There was an awesome grand finale, not pictured here.




















I don't know about you, but instead of being frightened I always laugh at those fireworks warning videos where the mannequin's hand and/or head is blown off. However, I did run for cover once last night when balls of fire started ricocheting from the tree branches overhead.




















Can you believe I was not inebriated when this was taken? I can't. [Addendum 10:02 p.m. - I finally figured out what this reminded me of. I'm Shiva Nataraja!]




















Today I'm suffering from a little post-holiday let down. Back to the same old, same old.

Happy 4th, everyone near and far. Though if you are an expat in Poland you will be decidedly un-American and watch the World Cup. While we're on that topic, way to go ABC. NBC is showing the women's quarterfinals at Wimbledon; where's the soccer action? Not everyone has cable. My sources tell me that the money's on Germany but the emotional favorite is Portugal.

Did the parade this morning as usual. These nerds, oh sorry, musicians are one of my perennial favorites. I don't know how they manage to escape from Valleyfair every year.















This is a new one this year. If you can't read the sign it's Edina Election Judges on Parade.















I'm not so sure this is P.C., but if you're 80 and a Shriner, who the hell cares.















Each year this parade disappoints a little more. When we first started going nine years ago it was a cute, local, small-time parade--pretty much anyone who had an antique car. One year a set of identical twins in their seventies signed up to participate. That was it, just them walking down the street. The two lamest participants this year were the Schwan's truck--just the truck, not even giving out samples--and the Icelandic horse drill team, which didn't do anything except crap on the street and not clean it up. Though it was somewhat entertaining to watch the rest of the parade avoid the piles--which they did successfully.

The party we're going to tonight has been billed as a "Pyro show." I am so there.

I hate it when headaches get in the way of posting.

Did you know that July 3rd is the bigger deal than the 4th in Chicago? According to my bro, tonight is the night for fireworks and parties--I'd be up for that, as long as I get to do both. It's all about dulling the pain. Did you also know that in Milwaukee all the kids go trick-or-treating the Sunday before Halloween instead of Halloween itself? See, aren't I just full of interesting things?

The numbers on the Juliet Prowse hit counter have slowed considerably. However, I do average about three hits per day from people searching the term "H R Puffin Stuff." Out of curiosity I Googled it and was surprised to find FizzyLizzy was fifth out of about 30,000 results. I believe that's probably because of my intentional misspelling of Pufnstuf in the original post. My real dream for this blog is to be number one in searches on David Hasselhoff.

Did you check out the Secret Agent Man video? Did you catch the white man's overbite? His raw emotions so perfectly conveyed the heart-wrenching life of a secret agent. I could really feel his pain. Really. Hasselhoff truly is the Shatner of our generation. A national treasure. I think he might be one of the judges on America's Got Talent, and now we know why.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Once again, Mr. Hasselhoff does not disappoint. Are you surprised that David Hasselhoff would go to a gym that has chandeliers in the men's locker room?

I had wanted to proclaim this "family fun" weekend, but I'm a bit grumpy because it's not turning out that way. Mr. FizzyLizzy was up until 3 a.m. and spent the better part of today trying to reclaim his hotmail and e-bay accounts that were hijacked by someone. For future reference, Microsoft has been quite slow in its customer support even though this is a security issue. E-bay, on the other hand, has been excellent. Mr. FL also has to work Monday so I guess we'll see if we can eke out family fun Sunday and Independence Day.