I picked the Twins to win. Nope. I friggin hate the Yankees.
I picked the Braves to win. Nope, not so much.

I did pick the Rangers. Got that one.
I picked the Phillies too. Of course I picked them to win it all, so maybe I’m not as dumb as I thought it was.

Now Robbie officially becomes a Rangers fan. I pick the Rangers to beat the Yankees. Of course the Yankees are totally going to destroy them. I friggin hate the Yankees.

Over in the National League I am picking the Phillies again. The Giants are good, but not that good.

Please, please, please beat those friggin Yankees. I hate the friggin Yankees.

Last night coming home at 10:00pm I ran into this:

A nasty construction induced traffic jam. It was the result of this:

Yeah… I-95 was closed. Thanks a ton.

This morning the traffic was terrible again. Everywhere. It all started with this person who decided red lights don’t apply to her, as I was pulling into the intersection with my green light:

Is it time to go home yet?

Well… not really good morning.

I worked a sort of second shift thing today and Jen’s company has a release tonight. I got home not long after she started. I’m waiting up for her because I love her and want to be able to kiss her goodnight without everyone on her conference call hearing.

So, I get my official October 13th post in a little early.

Oh, did I mention that after leaving work at 10:00 tonight I took the highway home. It was 10 freakin’ PM of course, so why would I expect the kid of horrid traffic that makes me chose the back roads. It should be okay at 10:00, right? Even if there is highway construction… right?

Nope. Route 128 North was closed in Waltham. I spent 15 minutes in traffic trying to get through the detour. Bite me. Just. Bite. Me.

I took my camera with me when I ran some errands this morning.

This is the back exit out of Methuen City Hall. Rather… vaultish, eh?

I had never been to City Hall before. I went today to change the address on my voter registration at the City Clerk’s office. The whole home owner thing will never get old.

I also took a minute to check out the war memorials in the square (I missed the name, sorry) across the street.

This one should be larger. Much larger.

My next stop was the library.

My goal was to get a library card for myself and to find out if my step kids could get cards too even though they are not full time residents of Methuen.

Even if they can’t get cards they can still borrow on my card and they can also use all of the facilities.

And that, ladies and gents, sums up my morning.

I said yesterday morning that the day had a high potential for being great. Little did we know how prophetic that statement would be.

The kids came over a little before eight. It was still mighty cold out so we put off the bike riding for a while and went downstairs to the mini-living room and watched a movie. It was the first time any of us had seriously put the set up down there to use. After the movie ended it was still too cold to go outside. The kids took a pile of toys into the cellar to play with and I grabbed a DVD for myself. It was an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. I plopped onto the couch while the kids were behind me playing on the floor. I think it took about 15-20 minutes before the kids were on the couch with me laughing their butts off. It was beautiful. They were laughing at the jokes they got, and a lot of the jokes they didn’t get, and by the time we reached the last segment they were joining in and trying to make jokes of their own. I don’t know if I’ve ever been so proud!

After that we had a quick lunch and headed out to the street. My step daughter is a bike riding pro now. She just hopped on and took off. My step son is still having problems getting started. If we give him a push he rides pretty well, although he hasn’t gotten the knack of turning yet. If we don’t give him a push he struggles a bit. He was determined to get off on his own though, and there was one glorious time where he did it all by himself. Neither of us could figure out exactly what he did differently on that one try and he wasn’t able to do it again, but I was ready to explode I was so proud and happy for him.

When they tired of the bikes we played a couple of card and board games while sitting outside on the front steps. It was great. I am pretty sure that is the longest I’ve ever seen them play outside. It was really great to see. The day was beautiful and we had a blast.

Eventually, as the afternoon wore on, it started getting chilly so we went back to the cellar. As luck would have it, Disney Channel was just starting a movie that they liked so they watched a little of that until it was time for Daddy to come and get them. We managed a little silliness upstairs with Mom before the end which was just like the perfect cap to the prefect day off.

Or so we though. hehe

While we were out bike riding I got a phone call. My sister in law was heading to the hospital and it was looking like her baby was going to be born a little earlier than anyone thought. Just after 4:00pm John and Mary had their second baby. A boy. Jen and I headed over to the hospital to meet him as soon as we could and we were both lucky enough to get to hold him for a few minutes. He is a handsome little devil.

I had made it to 37 years old without either of my siblings having kids. Now at 39 I have two nephews and a niece, and my sister is due to have her second baby in February. It’s like a baby bonanza! With my two step kids, my brother’s two kids, and my sister soon to have two kids my parents went from zero to six grandchildren practically overnight!

Congratulations to Mary and John on their beautiful little baby. (and thanks for letting me hold him! WOOHOOO!)

I suck at strategy games. I did just beat a seven year old though.

I did something today that I don’t think I’ve ever done. I sat on the ground under a tree and just relaxed. My step daughter was riding her bike and I was watching… And I sat in the grass under a tree.

PS: my brother, sister in law, and niece need you all to send them positive happy thoughts at about 4:00pm today. Thanks.

I’m sitting in the cellar watching MST3K. Pod People. My step son is trying to figure out how Joel got a gumball machine and a bowling pin up in space.

Huzzah!

Today has the potential to be a really great day. It’s Columbus Day, the day we celebrate the fact that Christopher Columbus couldn’t tell his left from his right (think about it for a second, you’ll get it) so I have the day off. Jen does not, but she’s working from home today.

The kids are off from school and I volunteered to watch them for the day. The will be getting here any minute and they are bringing their bikes. The potential for kids on bikes pictures is extremely high. I hope it’s not too cold out, I haven’t checked the weather.

But as you can see, the potential for a really great day is very, very high.

Here is a little oddity that comes from living on the state line…

I personally feel that it should read, “Exit to Civilization” but that’s just me.