Gassing rats and cooking bacon

So what kind of fun things did you get to do today? My boy Joisey Ken bought a '66 Tbird convertible to flip for a quick profit. That's pretty fun! I couldn't compete, but I was able to gas some rats.

What was that now?

Gas some rats.

Ummmm, come again?

Gas some rats. Okay, I'll explain. There's a rat hole, actually two, in OUR backyard. Of course, they came from our neighbors, but that's little consolation. After seeing them hopping through the backyard on the way to our OTHER neighbors' garbage bin, I decided it was time to get out T-Rex. Unfortunately, the T-Rexes had rusted with age, so I had to go buy new ones. They didn't have them at my local Home Depot, so I went to Menards. Not there either, but they DID have these bad boys:

Poison gas tubes! Yep, you light the fuse on these guys, drop them down the hole (fuse first) and then cover up the hole. The gas comes out, fills the hole, the rats breath it in and die (hopefully). The first one I tried, worked, but didn't as they dug through their second exit hole which I had covered up. So I tried again, but this time put big rocks on top of the holes I could see. We'll see what happens in the morning! By the way, I went to another Home Depot and was able to find more T-Rexes, so they are plan B now. 

Also, lobster tails were on sale, so I picked up a few of them for dinner. Yum. So that was fun too. 

Lastly, my little girl, all of 15 months now, said "Penguin" while playing with a penguin, broccoli while eating broccoli and then climbed up our spiral staircase again, which she can do at will now. She's also taken to coming over to me while I'm eating breakfast and sitting on my lap "reading the paper" and sharing my breakfast with me. So that was pretty fun for me today too!

At her 15  month checkup, she remains in the 75th percentile for height, but dropped to the 50th percentile for weight from the 65th percentile. No big deal, but noteworthy. 

On Father's Day, my second by the way, I wanted to cook bacon dippers. These things looked pretty awesome and were indeed tasty. 

So you start with pancake batter in a long rectangular shape. I used buckwheat flour, but the recipe calls for Bisquick. 

Then you place a cooked piece of bacon on the batter. 

Then drizzle more batter on top. Flip it over like you would a pancake. 

And voila!! Bacon dippers. A tasty breakfast treat!! Dip them in maple syrup and it's just delightful. 

Tough week

It was a tough week for our little angel. On Monday she was running through the house and tripped on the start of the rug in her room and face-planted on a toy, leaving an abrasion on her forehead. Poor girl. Then last night she got up three times in various states of unhappiness. Today was her 15 month checkup (did I mention she turned 15 months yesterday?) which meant two shots (MMR and something else). Nobody likes shots, but especially toddlers. Marissa was happily investigating things in the empty waiting room of her doctor prior to the appointment. Then a few mothers and their children came in and some started filling out forms, some were checking in, the usual. Suddenly Marissa is on the ground after a 3-4 year old boy apparently took three big steps towards her and then shoved her to the ground. Nice freaking kid. They were behind me, otherwise there's no telling what I would have done. LL was there to quickly comfort Marissa, but obviously she's not used to that kind of violent act. The boy's mother was horrified and raced over and grabbed him. She repeatedly tried to get him to apologize to Marissa, but he wasn't budging. It was tough to be around that type of event and not kick someone's ass to be perfectly honest. Fortunately, but for some unknown reason, I kept my cool and that was that. I guess since I didn't see it, I kept waiting for the boy to apologize and recognize it was an accident. LL told me in the office that it was clearly intentional. Ugh. Tough few days for our sweetie.

Here's a video from happier times out in the back yard.

So much has been going on and this week is just going to be crazy busy, so how about some pictures and short videos?

Marissa loves to chase her shadow around the yard. Very funny stuff.

Just love this video....it's my favorite of all time now!

The calendar turned. Look how small she was!!

George McCaskey, the Chairman of the Board of the Bears. I saw him at Wrigley when the Yankees were in town and HE came up to ME while I was waiting in line for food. Then I saw him at the Hawks game (game 7 against the Kings) when he just happened to be standing by the entrance where and when I just happened to come in. I went over to him this time and he said "Hey Joe!". Then I saw him a few days later a reunion event for the season ticket holder advisory group. 

My last trip to Halas Hall for a while I fear. It was fun though. We got to watch a practice and they served us lunch. Good times.  

The Bears gave me a Kyle Long autographed mini-helmet for my friend and big Bears fan, Liz. Liz has stage 2 breast cancer (very simplified diagnosis I'm sure) and is undergoing chemo and various treatments now as she will be for a few months. She appreciated the visit and kind thoughts from the Bears! 

This is our "who wears it better" picture. Ha! Big Baby Mender on the left in this picture (I actually met Liz through him).

Sort of a random picture, but interesting. They are putting Trumps name on his building and it's causing a stir for being a bit over the top for the city.  I took this picture because the letters weren't completed yet and I thought, "how many people are going to have pictures of TRU Tower??"