Suzanne Calling

The above picture shows the reason why I haven't taken a hacksaw to my foot. When I'm not working (and soon while I am), I am wearing my Crocs. Are they ugly? Sure are. Do they keep me from screaming in agony from foot pain? Sure do. There's another pair not pictured that I keep at work for before hours and break time if I have to walk. The Ariats are great, but the Crocs have more springiness, which I need. Today, I ventured over to the mall, because my employer says I can wear Crocs-just not the backless ones you see here. Well, no, you don't-the black ones are at work (the ones without holes in the top). My mission? To see if the Alice style will rub against the wound site on My Stupid Leg (trademark pending). The good news? They have the appropriate amount of springiness and they don't rub against my wound . My feet are getting happy just thinking about it.

Today is more of a soundtrack of someone else. My Dad. Today would have been his 80th birthday. If I had to say one person influenced my love of music, it would be Dad. Was he a musician? No. However, he loved listening to music and fostered Giggles and I in taking music instruction. We spent a lot of time in his car together, going to lessons, the mall, out to eat, on vacations. He'd get his news fixes, sure (I think that also fostered how Giggles and I became news junkies), but most of the time in the car, we had music. What was cool is that we girls would get to choose what we listened to as well. As different as our tastes might be, we somehow listened to it all. His big band, swing and golden oldies, my new wave, Giggle's top 40-it all got air time in the Dad mobile. I think he got a kick out of my love for Jazz. I made a tape for his car of Basia's Time and Tide after I'd moved to Maryland and Giggles griped that she was subjected to that tape over a...

Living with Chef, you're guaranteed several laughs a day. The kid is funny. He just is, and at nearly 9, he knows how to work the room. He was playing the Wii recently, and had acquired a needed object in Legend of Zelda. (He's since conquered the game) All he kept saying about it was "My Precious," sounding exactly like Gollum in LoTR. My nut job. I mentioned the Zapps the other day. I got an email from a friend on Wednesday asking about them. Of course, this put them in my head and I had to go open one of the bags Ed brought home. Salt and Vinegar, to be exact. Chef sees the handful of chips in my hand and asks for some. I gave him half of what I had. A few minutes pass and I hear the sound of the bag being picked up in the kitchen. I look over to the doorway and there he is with the bag in hand. Now, we don't deny the kids food, but they have to ask before taking it. I asked him exactly what he was doing. Next thing I know, the child is trying to ...

Once again, it's payday. Yes, right now, I get paid (bi)weakly. I'm hoping that the way traffic was today bodes well for the future prosperity in my wallet! :) Not many customers, but a lot of quality time with each one. As we did a few weeks ago, a few of us ventured to a nearby restaurant. It was a spur of the moment thing, otherwise, we would have had more companionship. The lack of bodies did not mean a lack of laughter. Once again, warped minds flock together. Two of us ganged up on a third when the bread was but a small morsel, both thinking "Please Sir, may I have some more?" from Oliver. (The fourth dining companion realized we're twisted when we started singing "Thank you very much" from the same.) It's good for the mental health to get out and de-stress about the jobs with your colleagues. I think we have to just put up a sign that we're going out on payday to get more takers. Lessons learned for the evening: We didn't ge...

I'm borrowing from the always witty, sometimes sarcastic (frequently both) Mandy . (Donna, if you don't have Mandy in your read list, you should!) The A-Z Meme Attached or Single: attached Best Friend: Donna Cake or Pie: Pie (pecan, please) Day of Choice: Wednesday (my Saturday) Essential Item: My laptop Favorite Color: Blue Greatest Accomplishment: Two kids Hometown: North Merrick, NY Indulgences: wine, cake, cheese, chocolate January or July: July. My birthday month! Kids: 2: Gameboy 12, and Chef almost 9 Life is incomplete without: Family, good food, wine, chocolate, books, friends Marriage Date: August 31st Number of Siblings: Eight: Legacy, Liar, Pete, Lori, Peg, Socrates, Lyndie, and Giggles. (The first three nicknames are bad, the last is good) Oranges or Apples: Depends on the day. Apples aren't nearly as good here, though Phobias or Fears: Bees (not sure if I'm allergic), blood clots Quotes: Voltaire "I disagree with what you say, but I defend to the de...

There are those jobs that we all think "Wow, that would be SO cool to do that!" For each of us, they're different. Donna has one of those jobs that people think is awesome. She's a travel agent. Granted, it does have some awesome qualities. She gets to immerse herself in going other places. However, its for other people, not her. Kind of a drag sometimes. She has to keep on top of what the hot destinations are, where it isn't safe to travel, where company XYZ is having their annual convention and basically keep track of a lot of stuff like all of us do in our jobs. However, there's a lot of information she's got to keep on top of that isn't as great. When's the rainy season in Europe? Is there a drought in Greek Isles? What's the conversion rate versus the dollar, anyway? Still, sometimes, if you're lucky, there are some nice perks. She finally has an employer who believes that their agents should have first hand experience wit...

A coworker's mention of Lasagna had that on my brain. Since I had the frozen pasta sheets, I decided it was time to make some again. Seriously, if you've never used these: they take the cumbersome task of making lasagna into the realm of "Quick and Easy". I had some fresh red peppers from the farm stand, so I made homemade marinara as a base for this today. Two peppers and one large onion diced up and sauteed in olive oil. I did something different for me: my marinara doesn't have salt in it. Many things I cook don't, because I use a lot of other spices. When I made baked ziti for work, I was told something was missing. As a result, I figured a little salt wouldn't hurt. Kosher, of course. This is the ready for the oven dinner: That part of the meal done, onto the bread. French bread. From scratch. Hank and Willie has a very simple recipe to make French Bread . Here's the dough after the first rise: Today's dough made the Kitchenaid wor...

No offense to the blondes I know, but this is so funny that I had to share it!

We hit it lucky last month. WalMart locally started carrying Zapp's potato chips. Yummy, crunchy, flavorful potato chips. By the time I could get around to it, they only had Salt and No Salt. Salt works for me, they've got more flavor than any other brand on the market. Tonight, Ed walked in the door with the motherlode. He found that WalMart got them back in: Tabasco and Tomato, Salt and Vinegar and Hot and Spicy. The only ones that they didn't get that we want to have (again, in my case) Crawtaters. I hope this is a sign that we'll have them around for a while. Crunch!

In tagging posts tonight, I found this blast from the past and thought I'd bring it back. At the time, I think I'd had Sitemeter for two months and a readership of 10 to 15. **************************************************************************************** Saturday, September 08, 2007 The Archaeological Dig, Otherwise Known As 'Cleaning The Kid's Bedrooms' Today, I had a glorious plan in mind. In it, the boy's rooms would have floors you can SEE, rather than ponder their existence. What color is the carpet in them? If I didn't remember that the builder made me choose the same color carpeting for the entire house, I'd be hard pressed to tell you. It started at 10am, this wonderful idea of mine. Of course, the boys thought that they'd just *pretend* to be cleaning (Chef Jr) or outright complain that cleaning was boring (Gameboy). They probably figured Mom would tire of telling them that there would be no TV, games or out of the house travails u...

Yes, my leg is still stupid. Just because I'm not writing about it all the time, doesn't mean I have changed my mind about taking a hacksaw to it. So, what's new with it? Not much. I was using the DuoDERMs, but I've run out of them. Once things get rolling at work, I'll be contacting the woman I bought them from on eBay. It's much better to get them at 2.00 a dressing, as opposed to what they go for in a medical supply. Without the DuoDERMs, there's a constant road rash/burning sensation on the wound site. The pruritus is also driving me insane. I'm finding some small measure of relief if I slather Aquaphor onto the wound, but it doesn't get rid of the itching completely. Sometimes, it's such a pain to be allergic to all the things you'd use to combat the itching. The RSD is tolerable. Now that I keep the compression stocking on 24/7, Vern Troyer isn't stabbing my leg as often. He still sneaks in every once in a while. ...

Hometown Musicians. We've all got them, those artists that you heard on local radio or saw in the clubs before they hit it big. Growing up on Long Island, we had plenty of talent that did hit it big. The first that I can remember is the Good Rats. Mainly because my sister and her husband, by virtue of managing My Father's Place, knew Pepi Marchello and the gang. I remember being in a pizza parlor and bugging Mom for quarters for the jukebox (as I always did.) I was so excited when I saw "Tasty" on that juke! The next one that hit it big was Billy Joel. I was pretty young when I heard the first song on radio, "Captain Jack". I think it was on WLIR in '73 or '74. Thus began the local radio's love affair with the Piano Man. If you want to see him in concert in the NYC metro area, prepare to have fast fingers, stand in a long line or pay a scalper way more than face value on the ticket, because the man is well loved and puts on an incredible...

While I sat here reading blogs. I asked what was so funny and he describes a site of Photobombing on it. Some of it is NSFW, but all of it is hilarious. Somehow, I can totally see some of my family and friends doing this. You know who you are!

Grandy shared once again "Things You'd Hear at My Desk", an amusing look at the things that she has to say that prove common sense is optional with some people. I tend to block out the worst interactions I have in the work arena, but I can tell you plenty when I'm the customer, especially if it's a phone conversation. The following rates as the dumbest sales call I've ever had. The scenario: I was an authorized user on my Dad's Montgomery Ward card. When he passed away, the account became mine, but apparently, all of his information carried over. I was 24 at the time. Note this, it's important. Montgomery Ward had a program called the YES club. It was offered to people over 50 years old. For a small membership fee, members saved 10% every Tuesday. I was well acquainted with the program and its benefits, having been a Montgomery Ward employee. One morning, about six months after Dad passed away, I got a phone call, inviting me to join the YES Cl...

Recently, I blogged a small list of movies that I haven't seen. The list is far greater than what was written, but the full list would rival the phone book. Among the ones that I haven't seen: Jurassic Park. C felt that I was a horrible parent for not seen it yet, considering I have two boys (said completely tongue in cheek, btw) One of my other coworkers said something a few days ago and I laughed. Apparently, it was a line from Brother, Where Art Thou?. Again, my lack of seeing a movie was met with surprise. This morning, I opened my drawer at work to find the movie. Rather, the movies. C feels I need to remedy the fact that I haven't seen these two ASAP. Check the popcorn stores, I think the next couple of days will include some movie watching...

Here in Florida, the first day of summer isn't the celebration that it was growing up in the north. The temperatures have been well above 80 degrees for what seems like eons. Growing up, 80 meant summer was here. Now, 95 is that sign. Summer to me means having the radio cranking, American Top 40 or whatever radio station played the most songs without commercial interruption. Today, some of the songs that will always remind me of summer. Note that some of them have nothing to do with summer, it's just that they came out during that time frame. I've been meaning to put these into an iPod playlist, but I haven't gotten around to it yet... Summer Breeze-Seals and Crofts I Can See Clearly Now-Johnny Nash (came out in the summer) Cruel Summer-Bananarama Saturday in the Park and If You Leave me Now-Chicago (the second came out in the summer) Walking on Sunshine-Katrina and the Waves Beach Baby-First Class In the Summertime-Mungo Jerry Moonlight Feels Right-Starbuck Ariel...

At work, we've got a Pepsi vending machine. My preferred soda in that machine is Dr. Pepper, since I'm not a Pepsi fan and Mountain Dew is the drink of last resort. Over the past month, I've consumed 9 Dr. Peppahs. Currently, they've all got codes to win fabulous prizes, all because Indiana Jones is in theatres. One in six wins. By that measure, I should have one and a half prizes, right? I entered eight caps and got the "You were SO close, Suzanne." You know, like if my horseshoe was in the next county? Number nine was the big winner. Are you just the slightest bit jealous? I mean, I WON. I actually WON. Oh, you want to know what it is? What is my fantabulous prize? Wallpaper. Yep, I get to download Dr. Pepper/Indiana Jones wallpaper. It looks like Harrison and Shia aren't too pleased to be in the picture. You can see it in their faces "Some schmoe is supposed to be excited that they get to download this?" Don't believe me? Tak...

While in the oven, a pepperoni roll bakes. I had to cut it in half, so there are two pepperoni rolls. Some coworkers and I are each bringing a lunch item to share tomorrow, as we've got a stretch (or as my company calls it, Bell to Bell). I originally offered up making garlic knots, but realized we didn't have a lot of protein in the offerings. I figured the dough recipe could quickly be rolled up into one big roll, rather than a bunch of little ones. Serve it with some marinara for dipping and voila, it's like we're back up north. Now the house smells like an Italian restaurant. That's good. However, it as eliminated all the yummy smells of dinner: Roast Beef with a red wine gravy and smashed taters. Oh well. It seems that my days off are spent puttering in the kitchen. This one doesn't have a lot of counter space to work in when you like to cook, but I'm combating it by doing the dishes as I go. I know Chef's enjoying all the food, because I h...

Today, I had a vision for something to try. It required a cornmeal dough recipe, one that could be rolled out. Alas, I couldn't find one quickly, so I ventured to plan B. Tonight's dinner was a Taco Tamale Bake. It involved browning taco beef, then making cornbread from scratch. This is what the finished result looked like: It was a good start. My lessons for next time: Add a little sugar to the cornmeal. A little sweetness is always needed to counterpoint the savory. (though honey would probably be better) More meat and more cheese. Lots more. Even if I end up with the roulade that I had envisioned, more meat and more cheese will work well. What worked: I have to give kudos to the person who recommended using creamed corn as the moisture. Wow, it really does keep things moist. Quick rising cornmeal does not lie. I'm glad I tried it, instead of just using the semolina. baking in the 13x9 pan. If the roulade doesn't come to fruition, I will make it this way a...

I would have thought you were crazy, if twenty years ago, you told me: I'd eat chipped beef, fried green tomatoes, grits or gator-and like it all. That I would like sweet tea that wasn't anything like Long Island Deli Tea. (there is a HUGE difference) That I'd drink coffee. That I'd find that I was allergic to even more stuff than I was back then. What about you? What would have boggled your mind twenty years ago? (forgive the lame post. My mind is percolating a new recipe for tomorrow's dinner. If it works, the pictures will be very pretty...)

For Italian Ices. A few weeks ago, when leaving my landlord's and stopping by Jill's to cat sit, I saw a sign that said "Coming Soon-Rita's Italian Ices." I think I even mentioned it here, because I was stoked. Since then, Chef and I drove down there and discovered the sign was gone. Pout, whimper, whine. Last week, I had a customer come in and the conversation turned to the fact that it was his day off from his business. "What do you do?" I asked and boy, was I happy to hear he owned an Italian Ice Shop. Score! We chatted about Rita's, Ralph's and the merits of various ices. His was more like Ralph's, there were over 70 flavors and I wanted some right away when he told me they made Cannoli cream ices. Tonight, we finally made our way over to Rocco's Italian Gourmet Ices. It was definitely worth the trip. The shop is chock a block with freezers with frozen confections that for such a hot climate, we were woefully lacking. Until n...

I'm setting the wayback machine for June, 1994 and a day at the Capitol Jazz Festival. At the time, I was an avid listener of DC's Smooth Jazz station. One day, there was a commercial for the Capital Jazz Festival, a weekend affair in Manassas, a couple of hours away in Virginia. The Saturday lineup was enough to have me hyperventilating: Craig T Cooper Nelson Rangell Pieces of a Dream Yellowjackets Ramsey Lewis The Rippingtons I owned three of the Rippington's CDs and one of the Yellowjackets. This event was right up my alley, since the rest of the lineup were in regular rotation on the station's playlist. At work, we had a Ticketmaster outlet, so I went into Customer Service to see how much the tickets were. When I asked, I was handed the Events book, which had a flyer announcing the event. It would be held at Bull Run park, parking was 10 bucks, lawn seats were 35 bucks and reserved seats were 50 bucks each. Not bad for an all day event. Then, the piece de r...

All this idle time at work has given me time to come up with blog ideas. They're related to specific dates or Soundtrack Sundays, so you'll have to wait to see them. Sorry. Let's just say the well isn't running dry on the Blog 365 challenge. In three weeks, I'll be halfway through the year and at eight months of non stop blogging. Are you sick of me yet? Work also has brought some interesting happenings. On Monday, I came up with an idea to help us out that wasn't taken too well by one of our ranks. However, once it was explained HOW it helps (and not by me), the person who'd been most likely to 'snake' sales went from complaining about the system. He has embraced it. He and I chatted many times over today and I think we're gaining some respect for each other's ideas. He stated that he thought the idea was horrible, but now likes it. It's cool to be the 'answer lady' once again, and hey, a new nickname emerged. Nancy...

Over the past few months, I've had some of you bloggy buddies suggest Twittering. Ed Twitters now. The concept interests me, but I'm not sure if it's a good fit. Your opinions? Been watching The Next Food Network Star more intently this season. I've got my culinary POV and I've got my arsenal of recipes. Even though I'm not formally trained, I feel comfortable auditioning and holding my own among professionals. As in my job , passion for what you're doing makes it easier to achieve your goals. For those of you who have dined at Chef Suzanne's, what dish do you consider my 'signature'? What dish should be my audition piece? Or, is there something you think I could master and demonstrate well? I've got more thoughts on the NFNS audition and cooking, but I'll save that for another post.

Yesterday, I was going to give another go to Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. I got a mighty fine recipe for the dough that appeared to be spot on. Never having lived in Chicago, Uno's is my standard for deep dish-especially after working for them for a couple of years. A few weeks ago, I tried the recipe and goofed royally. The recipe stated it was good for a 9 or a 10 inch pan. My Chicago Deep Dish pan is 16 inches around. I halved again the recipe. Big mistake. Messy mistake. I had a very TALL deep dish pizza. As a result, much of the sauce deposited itself on the bottom of the oven. This time, I made the called for recipe and split it between two 9 inch pans. I also made one modification in flour. It now has 1.5 cups of semolina. This is before application of sauce. I also learned from a pizza man that his pizza (real deal NY style) has not one bit of mozzarella. It's made with white cheddar, and folks, it tastes right. So, the cheese on these pies is a 50/50 blend of ...

We're working on allowing the boys some measure of independence. They can stay home by themselves for short periods of time. So far, so good. Chef Jr, ever his father's son, worried about getting Gameboy to do things. Gameboy, on the other hand, probably was happy at the prospect of free reign, without Mom or Dad saying no to everything. Now that they've done this a couple of times, both are spreading their wings. Gameboy is showing more maturity than we expected. I ran out to the market a little while ago. The pantry and fridge are bare, with not even enough to cobble together dinner. There wasn't even milk for breakfast or bread for sandwiches. Both boys were engrossed in some sort of game, and honestly, dragging them along shopping is an exercise in "buy me this, because I saw it on TV and it must be good" or begging for soda. Lots of soda. When I go alone, I can get in and out of the market in under thirty minutes and spend half what I do when ...

Had a NICE sale today. They've been few and far between, so it was a nice ego boost. Tomorrow, I have a plan for a way to get some business. Cross your fingers. I'm off for the next two days. I'm planning on doing some grocery shopping and cooking. You'll get to see pictures of tomorrow's meals.

It has begun. One week into summer vacation, and Gameboy is at his worst. Screaming, crying, yelling at the top of his lungs. Over the stupid, freaking video games. Imaging your two year old's tantrums multiplied by a factor of ten. That would be Gameboy, screaming that "They're Cheating!", "I don't want to lose", "I want the Wii", "NO FAIR!" and "I'm not done playing." If this is what a week is like, Lord give me strength. I'm ready to commit the kid. Nothing is sinking in. He's been lectured and warned that I will take the games away for the summer. I might even get that phone number for an institution. Asperger's sucks. Royally.

Stole this from Jessa , who stole it from TX Poppet . This made the rounds originally as a list from a men's magazine, and people originally posted about their husbands, but now it's mutated into things I can do.... The Rules: Bold the things you can do and you leave in normal type the things you can’t. Sarcastic comments in parenthesis are encouraged. 1. Give advice that matters in one sentence. (Even used it this week "Don't shit where you eat", borrowed from Moonstruck, meaning don't find dating prospects at work!) 2. Tell if someone is lying. (Yep. Good at it. I poke holes in stories. Often.) 3. Take a photo . (Frequently found behind the camera. Be the subject of a photo? Hardly ever happens.) 4. Score a baseball game. (Now why would I want to do that? If you asked if I know how to score a swim meet, I'd be able to say yes. How many people can say THAT? I don't think you can!) 5. Name a book that matters. (Just one?) ...

If you asked Ed when we had our first date, he'd tell you the summer of '87. Huh? Is that right? Kinda. I haven't really gone into the "How We Met" story because for a long time, my blog was read by those who have known us IRL or from online. I won't go into the whole story, but we worked together at a gas station. When you worked in the fish bowl, you couldn't have visitors. Either you were there with another employee (rare) or you were there by yourself. We listened to A LOT of radio, because we were by ourselves a lot. Listening to radio that much, you ended up dialing in to hopefully be the 12th caller to win...well, you get the idea. In our tenure at the gas station, between us and my ex, we won: *WNEW's musical jeopardy (I've got my WNEW mini locker around here somewhere) *WBAB's grafitti sweatshirts, t shirts and various CDs (while another friend worked there, even) *Pete Fornatele's Mixed Bag prizes at least five times that...

that I am evil. All because I went to tickle Chef's tummy. That's okay. He ran away, then after telling me I'm evil, he came back and told me he loves me anyway. Then gave me a smooch. Watching NFNS-Soundtrack Sunday after that's over. Taking pointers for my turn! ;)

Right now, Chef is with AJ (Aunt Jane) at the drive in. Yep, lucky kid is getting to enjoy a drive in double feature tonight with his aunt! Since there's only two of them, they're probably enjoying those movies from the front seat of the van. Oh, and when they called during intermission, he was so STOKED about being there. This is way past bedtime for the kid who actually puts himself to bed, so I'm crossing my fingers that he lasts to see the whole "Indiana Jones" movie. If not, I suspect he'll be bugging me to go back to see it again this week. Gameboy didn't want to go. Asperger's strikes again. You can't get the kid to try new things, but once you do, he realizes he likes the activity and will do it again. It looks like I'll have to twist his arm to go. At least has the family movie buff with her. Every week, he'll ask to go see two or three of the movies in theaters, or to go buy the latest on DVD. He's definitely channel...

Good ones: Showing up to work and finding that the 12 hour day you thought you had was really an 8 hour day. (that was monday) Leaving the store for break to grab some bandwidth and saying 'the heck with it, I want a Moe's taco', thinking that I'd blog offline and upload later, then finding out that Moe's has WiFi. They don't advertise it because the building was constructed before the WiFi boom and only has one electrical outlet that can be used by customers. The bad: I spent nearly the entire break surfing the various boards, so I didn't do a full blog entry, anyway! :) Did I scare you with that picture? Oh, and give a Hooray. Giggles now has entered the world of the wireless with her new laptop. I'm expecting the phone call later to tell her how to get those DS's on the 'net to play against others. Meanwhile, I'm going to get a second router for the DS's, so they can use WEP-we're set for WMA and I'm not downgrading my en...

Sweetney asked, Jessa complied, I'm copying! :)

I realized that I haven't really updated on the foreclosure. In the past couple of weeks, I've had a bunch of hits to the blog from my post on BlogHer. I'll cross post this over there, but my readership is over here. We're firmly in the rental house. We like the neighborhood and the house. We're unpacked enough to get by, but still have quite a bit left to do. Some of our stuff is still in our friend Bob's garage on the other end of town. We need to get cracking on it-he may be in contract to sell his house up north and will hopefully be parking his cars in that garage by the end of the summer. (Bob, school starts August 16th. No pressure, dude!) On the job front: I found a new job and started the last week of April. It is still retail, and I'm getting those 40 hours I was so desperately trying to find. It's commission, and eventually will become management. I'm glad I made the switch-I feel much better about the job situation. Ed has star...

Tonight's dinner was two italian favorites, Chicken and Eggplant Parmesan. I fried up a bunch of eggplant and rather than make a casserole, I ended up with a napoleon inspired eggplant. This is the fried eggplant before assembly: Next, a bunch of chicken was prepared. Doing it this way ensured that everyone got their chicken with or without the accoutrements of choice: For instance, Gameboy went for naked fried cutlet, Chef Jr just wanted cheese and Ed and I went for the traditional. A few years back, I switched how I make Chicken Parm. Instead of preparing it like a casserole, I prepare it like one of our favorite LI restaurants, Borellis. The only thing I didn't do tonight was dredge in breadcrumbs. Instead, the yummy chicken breader was used. Those of you who've dined with us, my apologies for torturing you with pictures of a meal you've probably enjoyed. Heck, the eggplant has been known to make some of you travel five hours to see me! A delicious wine was en...

Seven weeks ago, I shared the story of Gameboy's arrival into the world. When he arrived, I thought that I'd gone through the roughest thing that having a baby could throw at me. Of course, I was wrong. Gameboy was a colicky baby without a normal sleeping pattern. This was fine when I was on maternity leave, but I returned to work the Wednesday after Memorial Day. We were adjusting and starting to get into a routine. We had a friend nanny for the summer and I'd worked out a good set schedule with my assistant manager to keep Gameboy with me or Ed for all but 15 hours per week. Since he was colicky, sometimes the best way to get him to sleep was beside me in bed. We'd catnap on the couch and that Monday night, we'd fallen asleep on the couch while he'd nursed. He slept a good 5 or so hours, then I got up and nursed him and got ready for work. I'd thought that I slept poorly on the couch, as my hip was in excruciating pain-like a constant muscle s...