Picnics, Four Square and The Muppets

This past Wednesday was my department picnic, which I very half-assedly arranged at the request of the Bossman. The good thing is that despite my half-assedness and the friggin' rain, it turned out pretty well. At the end there was only a half of a pizza left and some salad. I hate ordering pizza for 24 people. I know how to order pizza for one person – me! And I’m very good at it, but 24? ARGH! And the good thing about the half of a leftover pizza was that it was the veggie variety, so it's in my fridge. Yay!

Rain had been forecast but how often do the weather forecasters actually get it right? Exactly! When you have a picnic planned! Thankfully it started with a few sprinkles, so we had time to grab the food and pop and jump into our cars and drive to the other side of the park where there was a pavilion. After less than an hour the rain stopped (it came down HARD), and in an effort to get people involved in the few activities I had conjured up, I started playing catch with our summer intern, much to the amusement of all the men in the department. Yes, I throw like a girl. I'm a girl. I've come to terms with this. And when I try to throw the "correct way," the ball doesn't go anywhere near where I want it to go. Throwing like a girl works for me. Deal with it.

The problem with "throwing like a girl" is that my arm does the throwing, so it gets tired easily (and the muscles are achy). Somehow I'm supposed to use my body to propel the ball forward, but as I told some of the men who tried to teach me otherwise on Wednesday, I have been throwing this way for damn near 40 years (I wasn't really throwing as an infant), so it's just the way it is.

A few of us got involved in a hardcore game of Four Square. I haven't played since the University (I had already graduated, but was working there and after work I'd head over to the radio station to hang with my friends, so we would play outside the station with masking tape marking the squares). It's a fun game. Finally, the picnic broke up with a number of people going back to work (die-hards), a couple of people heading off to the a local bar, while some of us stayed and played Four Square some more. We finally headed home when flies started biting us. Little fuckers hurt!

Yesterday I only did an hour of the elliptical at the gym because I had an important mission. I had to find my tape of The Muppet Movie soundtrack, as I have no clue where my CD is. Years ago LB and YS started doing a puppet show to the soundtrack with the various Muppets they had received as presents (this was many years ago when YS was in single digits). Now every few years they break out the Muppets and put on the show for the latest generation of terror children in the family. This year it was my niece and two nephews turn for the show. They thought it was hilarious and got tremendously silly at first, but finally settled down and enjoyed the show. They need a new Miss Piggy as she's apparently falling apart (and looking quite skinny). YS and LB don't fit behind the couch as easily as they did in the beginning, but that's part of the fun at this point, since I've seen the show so many times. Miss Piggy makes eyes at Kermie, Fozzie does his Wokka Wokka look and Gonzo puts on a showstopping version of "I'm Going To Go Back There Someday."

What brought about the biggest laughs though (because my family is classy that way) was when LB farted while behind the couch with YS. It took a few seconds, but then the odor came wafting out as YS scrambled as quickly as possible out from behind the couch and we all escaped the room. The funniest part was when LB said, "I didn't know it was going to be so loud." SIL retorted, "The sound wasn't the problem." And we all lost it in gales of laughter once more.

That was my exciting last two days ending with my two terror nephews being complete smart alecks and calling me, "Sweetie pie." It sounds completely hilarious coming out of the mouths of a 5 and 4 year old!

I'm outta here early today because I'm going to a late lunch with LB, YS and Grandma! Rumor has it we're going to Greektown. YUMMY!!!

And don't forget that if you live in the Denver area, the Champ Cars will be racing around the Pepsi Center once again. Go down and check them out!!!