FizzyLizzy

Check out the oil slick on this chick! What is up with that sebaceous action? I think she alone could reduce the price of oil by two dollars a barrel.

I'm sure that someday in my far-off-post-menopausal future I'll be thankful for my oily skin. In the meantime, I'd be glad not to show up at my kids' school open house looking like I have the raging hormones of a teenager. Rock on, FizzyLizzy! Rock on!

If you love "celebrities" as much as I do, you'll want to check out Celebrity Duets on Fox. It was a 2-hour live broadcast last night. Celebrity Duets has it all goin' on: "celebrity" host, Wayne Brady, introduces "celebrity" contestants who sing duets with "celebrity" singers, who are then critiqued by "celebrity" judges, including Little Richard--he's worth the price of admission alone. I'm not sure why some of the real singers are participating in this game show; I would have thought that someone like Macy Gray still had some life in her. There is some sort of elimination process for the contestants, which I was unable to hang around for two hours to figure out.

Disclaimer: Mention of the show, "Celebrity Duets," on this blog or any other FizzyLizzy media outlet is by no means an endorsement of the show, "Celebrity Duets."

Don't try this at home or on a full stomach.
















William's the little dude on the left in the green car; Katherine is the white sneakers off to the left.


















Explanation: my dad is Robert and my brother is Dave.



















And of course we couldn't miss the "celebrity" crop art.

I just got back from our annual "girls gone wild"/hot topics weekend. This is the only photo I can post. : ) I was intrigued by this display in one of the many tchotchke-filled gift shops that populate the nearby town.

Birthday boat ride in Excelsior...
























...to engagement party in Arlington Heights.



















Chicago Air and Water Show (Oak St. Beach)



















The Blue Fairies (Williamspeak for the Blue Angels)

















Lincoln Park



















Oak St. Beach 24 hours later (that's us in the foreground)



















Not pictured: wonderful hospitality offered by the Lucarelli's, Michele, and Dave! Thank you, we had a blast!

He's not too grown-up yet. I suppose this is the last summer for cute little-boy jammies like these.

Saturday morning we're going on a boat excursion on Lake Mtka to celebrate Great-Grandma Sheila's 80th b-day. (No Vikings jokes!) The boat party ends at 11:30 a.m. From there we are driving directly to suburban Chicago to attend Dave & Michele's engagement party. The excitement about this Chicago trip for the under ten set has reached a fever pitch around here. The most totally cool aspect of the weekend: staying in an apartment that has TWO BALCONIES!!!

If you live in a predominantly Catholic country, like say…Poland, you get the day off of work! I was unaware of this religious holiday until I spent a summer in Greece, where the Assumption of the Virgin is also observed. Our expedition had good ties to the village we were staying in and we were fortunate enough to be invited to participate in their celebration on August 15th. In Greece, this holiday is probably most comparable to Thanksgiving in the U.S. in that everyone tries to get home to spend the holiday with their family. It was my impression that in Greece the holiday is often referred to as the Panagia—Panagia meaning “all holy” and another name for the Virgin Mary. My next Greek cat is going to be named Panagiotis (pronounced pah-nah-YOH-teece)--one of the coolest Greek names ever.

We saw some huge mushrooms this weekend. I had to take this from the car because it was raining. The scale is hard to gauge, but the biggest mushroom is probably ten inches tall.



















Officer down!



















Check out his piece!
























If you look carefully in the above photo, you can spot my latest apparel infatuation.



















A little more compatible with my lifestyle.

This morning I felt like the mommy tiger, watching her two cubs play-fight/test limits on my bed as only two siblings can. "This is my section." "Everywhere I'm touching is my section." "You're in my section." "Stop touching my section."

Mom, I'm going to bring my tigers [beanie babies] outside.

The grass is wet.

I know. I'm going to put them inside my sweatshirt.

Like you're a pregnant tiger mommy?

Yeah.

I made the mistake of buying InStyle's fall makeover issue. A couple of cute outfits like these were all it took to make me want to dig out all my cool weather clothing from storage. (Not smart when you still need the warm weather stuff.) I've fallen under the spell of the marketing people who want me to go buy fall clothing while it's still 85°. For me, August shopping is supposed to be all about making sure the kids have a few pairs of pants and shirts that fit and crayons and markers and boxes of kleenex. And it's not as if I have a lot of places to wear get-ups like these. But if you see me at church looking like I walked out of the pages of InStyle, you'll know from whence came my inspiration.

Not that I think it's a sign of the apocalypse or anything--just the dreaded and deadly West Nile Virus, but we found two dead sparrows in our and our neighbors' yards today.

A couple of weeks ago at t-ball camp, they let the kids reach in a grab bag of junky toys and pick something out. William chose an Animal Snap card game. This is one of the cards in the deck. I'm sure the toy was made somewhere in Asia where they probably have no idea of the implications. And it's not as if there is anything particularly negative or racial about this character. But it does seem unfortunate.

Speaking of grab bags of junky toys, who remembers the precursor of the happy meal toy: the Perkins Wishing Well.

HB Mr. FL

Welcome home, D & M

First I need to start off by telling you that yesterday I suffered the most terrible personal tragedy a woman could, that doesn't involve someone being sick or dying. My hairdresser told me that he is moving to Boulder. You might think I'm being funny, but it actually brings tears to my eyes when I think about it. I had been seeing him for twenty years. The level of comfort and trust I felt with him-—not just as a stylist but as a person-—are something that is hard to come by.

The big event of the day, overshadowed for me by this news but also the reason for my visit to the salon, was Mr. FizzyLizzy's 20 year high school reunion. (We got mine out of the way last year.) As a spouse it's pretty much a nonevent. As I see it, my only job is to help my husband look good.

This is what I wore:




















We went with another couple, and as it turned out I had gone to Sunday school with several of his classmates at the reunion. So I had a pretty good time. I've had a pretty good time all weekend. We've been child-free for almost 48 hours (soon to end). A taste of life fifteen years from now.

photo courtesy TK

Wow!! Way to go, Dave! Way to go, Michele!

I felt compelled to post after watching the video on Mrs. Bickerson's blog. To my untrained eye it looked like Hope might have been brandishing the inflatable sword that is one of the Pirates of the Caribbean happy meal prizes.

Monday evening we picked up Mr. FizzyLizzy at work because the air conditioning in his car is broken. On the way home we stopped at McDonald's so we wouldn't have to heat up our kitchen. (By the way, bless you NSP for letting us housewives off the hook on Monday by encouraging the nonuse of major appliances.) As we pulled into the parking lot William was chanting in the back seat, "Please be the sword. Please be the sword. Please be the sword." It wasn't the sword but he was happy with the pirate's notebook.

We had arrived at the golf course a little early for Katherine's lesson and were waiting on a bench outside the clubhouse when I heard William say loudly, "That man looks like Tiger Woods!" I bet you're thinking what I was thinking. I didn't dare turn around to look, but as he passed by I glanced just to be sure. Yep--mid-50's, moustache, visor. Nothing like Tiger Woods except the color of his skin. When he smiled and said Hello to William, I managed a feebly apologetic smile but just wanted to dissolve into invisibility.

This is old news to those of you with young children in sports activities, but last week I discovered that one of the most hilarious things in the world is watching four- and five-year-olds play t-ball. Hard to pick which is my favorite--base runners lapping each other, the downward chop style of ball hitting, or the defense's total convergence on the ball in the field.