The Madcap Adventures of Mama Grouch and The Creep and The Twerp

From the EP

Mama Grouch — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 19:12:20 GMT

This needs to be recorded for posterity:

Enjoy.

Canning Day

Mama Grouch — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 22:38:48 GMT

2 friends, 3 gallons of vinegar, 55 sterilized jars, 12 pounds of apples, 3 bunches of asparagus, 2 bags of green beans, pounds and pounds and pounds of peeled and cut carrots, assorted spices and whatnot...

7 hours later:

23 jars of pickled carrots
20 jars of apple butter
9 jars of pickled green beans
3 jars of pickled asparagus

One Thing about the Twerp

Mama Grouch — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 02:51:13 GMT

The Twerp, she is not a morning person.

Facebook Killed the Radio Star Blogger

Mama Grouch — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 02:35:00 GMT

I have managed to slide my eyes past the link on my taskbar that is represented by a small icon of a big-cheeked Creep (circa 2007) and the word "Madcap" for a very long time...until tonight when I accidentally clicked on it and was faced with the reality that I have not posted in over a year. The EP tried to help out last March with a bit of video, but we all know that it was a sad attempt to breathe some life into this forgotten means of communication with the blogging world.

Facebook, sadly, has replaced this blog in my life. It is quick. It doesn't let you ramble on past 420 characters, therefore bypassing that guilty feeling of not spending enough time on a post. There is only so much time one can spend on 420 characters. On the blog I futz, there is a feeling of permanence that feels as if it deserves correctly spelled and grammatically accurate sentences...Facebook statuses fall off into the void of irrelevance within days.

I am also not as smart as I used to be. I don't want any arguments about this, it is fact. Words are harder to pull out of the recesses of my mind. Punctuation used to be scattered with ease, now I belabor each comma and elipse (both of which I am quite sure I have misused in this post more than once), and with that I can say that writing is just not as much fun.

So why am I still here? I can't help but remember why I started this blog in the first place. The hope that some day the Creep and the Twerp will get to know me through the funny little stories and pictures that meant something to me at the time I wrote about them. That is important to me, important enough to not automatically throw in the towel.

So I was faced with a decision that I have been rolling around in the back of my head for some time now: do I shut it down and admit defeat? Decide that the only thing to do is give up and pay for it later in psychiatrist fees for the Twerp when I explain to her why her brother had hundreds of posts about his every poop and she has approximately 10? Or do I give it another go? Get revitalized by some flimsy excuse like (once again) NaBloPoMo?

I say bring it.

Hopefully...

So proud

Mama Grouch — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:23:05 GMT

The boy was willing to try ski jumping on Saturday and then on Sunday he hooked a brown trout (for three seconds) in Wisconsin. I can't express how proud I am of the guy.

California Bound

Mama Grouch — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:44:01 GMT

(Third Annual Art Sled Rally, Powderhorn Park, MN)
(This is one way that Minnesotans combat the winter blues)

The winter hath overtaken us, to the point where anything over 10� seems reasonable. The days are short, the nights are long, and I try not to think about everyone in Canada because it would mean that I have to stop feeling sorry for myself and I am not interested in seeing this particular cup of self-pity as half-full.

I have a history of depression and have, in the past, taken anti-depressants on and off to help get through the rough spots. I stopped taking them altogether when I was pregnant with the Creep because it turns out that I am one of those super-glowy pregnant women who is extremely content and happy for the entire 9 months of gestation. We were on super-watch for postpartum depression, but it seems that I am one of the lucky percentage of women that can joke about eating my children without actually following through with it. I never went back on medication, deciding that as long as I could keep my depressive tendencies in check though diet and lifestyle choices I would try to avoid the hassle of the side effects and what-have-you.

This means that several times a year I really struggle with awful soul-crushing (eh, maybe just instep-crushing...I am too sleep deprived and busy for the really dramatic stuff anymore) sadness and feelings of inadequacies - usually manifesting around my relationships with people. Luckily, over the years, I have learned that that feelings of "nobody likes me, everybody hates me" are mainly in my head, which keeps the public displays of crazy in check, but no matter how many times I tell myself "this feeling isn't real, it is all in your head"...the end result is that I still feel sad and lonely and friendless and exhausted from trying to keep it in check until April. At this time of I am particularly sympathetic to the schizophrenics who see tentacles growing out of people's noses because, man, even if you know it isn't real that has to be just disturbing as hell.

So when I turned to the EP the other day and asked if I could go visit my friend Frank* in California, he lovingly replied "For the love of God, go!"

I am off to California, with a mere 5 days notice. It is not the sunny "toes in the sand" part of California - San Francisco/Sacramento - but it is the part of the world that is 50� warmer than where I am at the moment. Frank has found us a room at the (I kid you not) Hotel Frank, then we will bum around San Fransisco for a day before going to Sacramento hang out with her two adorable children and sweetie-pie husband for a day. I will then promptly turn around and come home. But it is enough. Enough that suddenly the (very cold) birds are singing and the (extremely bright due to the incredibly low temperature) sun is shining and everything seems just that much better.

And I am the hell out of here.

-MG

*no worries of infidelity here my dear readers, this is simply a nickname for my girlfriend...it is a long story which culminates in her calling me "Mary"
__________________________________________________________________

In Other News: In light of the recent Tiger Woods fiasco, we are considering grooming the kids for a career in Rock and Roll instead. The Twerp tries her hand at a minute and a half into the video (for those of you who may not appreciate the finer points of the electric guitar and find you need to fast-forward).

New member of the family - E.P. post

Mama Grouch — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:22:24 GMT

Check it:

Baby Maggie- E.P. Post

Mama Grouch — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:31:02 GMT

She takes after her momma.

Un, Tu, Tee, Ma....Whoaaaaa

Mama Grouch — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:19:05 GMT

The Twerp loves some Sesame Street Feist. She will ask for it by rocking back and forth and saying "Un, tu, tee, ma," and then giving a good "whoaaaaa" sustained note, just in case we weren't entirely clear on the concept.

Apple Orchard (or, Our Disgustingly Happy Family)

Mama Grouch — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:25:59 GMT

To prove that we are still alive, and that I am paying way more attention to my camera than my blog, I give you: The Apple Orchard (or, My Husband is Crazy Awesome)