Pillow talk

I've been married to Gregory for over 11 years. I've been sleeping with Gregory for, oh for the sake of my mom, let's just say a little longer than 11 years. I know how Gregory sleeps.

Night before last, my husband didn't come to bed. I went to bed about 10:15. I get up at 5:30, so that's about as late as I want to stay up on a "school night." Greg was downstairs watching something on TV (not unusual, obviously) and I went to sleep. At 2:30 a.m., Allie had a bad dream and called me to her room. I can't even remember the last time one of the girls has called for me in the night. I told her to think nice thoughts and go back to sleep. And I realized that Greg hadn't come to bed yet. He was still watching TV. At 2:30 a.m., on a school night.

Yesterday morning, he said he came to bed at sometime after 2:30. I'm thinking it was maybe 3:00 or so, which, even if he did nap a little on the couch, gave him about three hours of sleep for the night. And he did this voluntarily. Not because a child kept him up by throwing up at regular intervals.

Last night, I went to bed about 10:20. Greg came upstairs a few minutes later and climbed into bed. We talked a little bit. I told him that I was making a bet. I said, I bet that within two minutes of when you stop talking, you'll be snoring. He said nuh uh.

We stopped talking. I waited about five seconds and then started counting slowly, on the scale of One-Mississippi, Two-Mississippi, Three-Mississippi. I got to 52-Mississippi and he started snoring.

It's nice to always be right.

Picnic and lake

We were away this weekend, visiting Greg's family, after a disgracefully long time since our last visit. I think the girls grew six or nine or twelve inches since they last saw their Nana, Papa, and aunties. There was beautiful weather to be had, sunny and warm. Central Illinois has daffodils in some sheltered places, and lots of green grass everywhere. We had a picnic in the park and the girls played on a jungle gym.

Afterwards, we walked along the lake and tried to find unsuccessfully to find any hungry ducks. There was bread on the sidewalk, there was bread floating in the water, there was bread on the rocks. The birds were not at all interested in the bread in our hands. Allie and Julia were disappointed, but amused themselves watching Riley the dog swim and find new ways to get out and sprinkle people with nasty lake water.

All in all, a very nice weekend.

How de doo

I don't really have much to say; I just wanted to have one more post in the month of March than I've had the last couple of months.

Oh, and that bit about waiting awhile before we bought a car? We bought a car.

So Greg got a flat screen TV yesterday and a new car today. He's spoiled.

A good weekend

Friday night, we went shopping for a birthday gift for the party Allie would attend on Saturday (her best friend Sandra--movie and pizza) and we had Mexican food at Carlos O'Kellys. There's a Carlos O'Kellys in Decatur too, near where Greg's family lives. It's always busy. This restaurant is always only about half full.

Saturday, Greg went car shopping because we've been thinking about replacing his car now that it has over 90,000 miles on it. I took Allie to her party and then Julia and I hung out and partied like it was 1999. Then Greg came home, all fired up about buying a VW Rabbit. I wanted to see what they were like to drive and Greg wanted me to drive it too, so I went off to Madison and he handled picking Allie up at the theater. Later, I visited the bookstore alone (when was the last time I got to do that!) and then I brought KFC home for dinner. That was some nice variety compared to the deli chicken we usually get from the local Pick Your Nose.

Today, Greg and Julia went off to Madison and bought a new flat screen TV and two booster seats for her for our cars. We've decided to put off getting the car. Allie and I played games and partied like it was 2008. And then the four of us had the best time of the weekend. We went bowling.

Oh my goodness. I haven't been bowling since probably before Allie was born, and neither had Greg. Allie wanted to try it because she's been bowling on the Wii with Greg lately. She discovered it's a lot harder in real life. Julia actually got second place in our little contest behind Greg, thanks to a bowling ramp. And I think Greg got three or four strikes. It was fun and both girls really liked it. We're definitely going to have to go again.

Allie's spring break is over now and she's back to school tomorrow and we're back to our normal routine. Here comes another week--

The two extremes

Today at work, I was involved in the discipline of one employee and the firing of another due to a significant event that happened last week. Involving the fire department.

The first guy had a pretty normal reaction. He protested his innocence, then said other people had done the same thing and were they going to be disciplined too, then said the whole thing was a fucking joke and that he wasn't signing his fucking work violation. I've had more people than I can count have this reaction over the years. It doesn't phase me at all anymore.

I didn't have sweaty palms. My heart wasn't pounding. I wasn't worried about what I was going to say next and how he would react to it. I certainly didn't fear for my safety. That's partially because I felt in control and partially because in this case, his manager was also in the room and he's about 6' 5" and 300 lbs.

Regardless, the guy headed for the door, saying he was going back to work. I had to tell him to stop and that if he didn't sign the work violation, he was quitting. He stood in the doorway for a second, slammed the door closed, said fuck a few more times, and scrawled his signature. Then I told him he had to serve a one-day suspension. That didn't go over very well either.

Several profanities later, it was time to fire the other individual. He sat down, I told him we'd concluded our investigation, and told him the specific issues applying to him. He said that he agreed with the results of the investigation (in fact, he repeatedly said that he accepted responsibility) and then I told him that he was terminated. He said, "Thank you."

OK, now that's a first.

It wasn't as odd as it sounded. After he said thank you, he stood up and pushed past his manager to the door, saying he was leaving. We tried to talk to him about some of his belongings and some company items he needed to return but he took off. His manager followed him and about five minutes later, the employee stopped in my doorway while I was on the phone and dropped some company items on my desk. He seemed a little calmer.

I do think I'm going to remember this one however. I've had people cry (actually, lots of people cry). I've had people swear and pound on the table. I've sometimes warned my co-workers that if they hear sounds in my office that seem like trouble, they shouldn't be afraid to open the door to see what's happening (just a safety thing, it's never been necessary). I've had people laugh and then threaten me and the company (No, Mom. Not me bodily. Just say things like God is going to take care of me. Or that they know some day I'll pay. One guy asked me if I had children and then said he was asking because he didn't know how I could go home to them with what I had done to him on my conscience.) Lots of people threaten to sue.

This guy, he's the first one to say Thank You. But you know, I don't really think he meant it.

Ready for years of picnics

Today after work, my husband took our children to the grocery store to pick up a few things. He does this pretty frequently, much more frequently than I do, and I appreciate that. Usually, we have a running grocery list on the refrigerator door and he'll be sure to get those items. Greg does, however, really love to go up and down every single aisle in the store. I personally think that process is a colossal waste of time, which is one of the reasons we seldom go to the store together. If I know I don't need either baby food, diapers, or crackers and cookies, why head down that way and tempt myself. (The cookies, not the baby stuff.)

So Greg, Allie and Julia traipsed up and down the aisles today and Greg thought, "Hey, I bet we need ketchup. We always need ketchup." After all, the girls practically inhale ketchup, so this thought isn't too far-fetched.

However, when Greg picked up and purchased a large bottle of ketchup today (36 oz.), he neglected to remember that he took the girls to Sam's Club a few weeks ago. That day, he also thought, "Hey, I bet we need ketchup. We always need ketchup." As a result of Sam's Club supersizing, I now own a 36 oz. bottle of ketchup and 3 - 44 oz. bottles of ketchup.

That's 21 cups of ketchup. Plus what we have in the refrigerator. I'm looking for recipe ideas here, people. Anyone?

The first of many?

Julia told me her first lie tonight. We had been away for the weekend, visiting my family for Easter. When we came home, Allie and Julia opened the Easter cards that Nana sent them. She'd included a stick of gum in each one. Julia loves gum, especially since we only very rarely buy it.

I told her she could have the gum but that she needed to spit it out when it was time for her bath. As we were heading upstairs to do her bath, she looked at me with those wide blue eyes and said, Mommy, I spit out my gum. I put in my hand and then I put it in the garbage downstairs. And of course I believed her.

A few minutes later, as we were getting ready to get her into the tub, she stubbed her toe. She started to wail and I saw a piece of gum in her mouth. She'd lied to me.

I didn't even know what to say. Isn't four and a half too young for lying? I think Allie was about seven before we caught her in her first lie. I know, I know--different kids. But still.

Are we raising a liar?

The whole tooth

Allie lost another tooth last night, and this one without the hour of agony and crying beforehand. She lost her first bottom tooth before her fifth birthday and three years later, maybe that's actually getting better.

I think she knows that the tooth fairy's not real, because she asked to put her tooth in a small bowl by the side of her bed. Thank goodness, because believe me when I say that it isn't easy sliding your hand around under the pillow she's sleeping on, desperately trying to find a tooth that's about one third the size of a kernel of corn. And then I have to go back in and put the money underneath. She hasn't woken up during the operation yet, but maybe I'm worrying for nothing.

Last weekend, Allie asked if the Easter Bunny was real. Let's see--she already knows that my company put on the Easter Egg scramble we were on our way to at the time. She knows that her Auntie Pam puts out the eggs for the hunt at her house each year. And I think it's unlikely that at eight years old, she would believe that a bunny rabbit could deliver baskets around the world. So I told her that no, the Easter Bunny isn't real.

Greg yelled at me when I told him, but I really don't believe she still believed. How long am I supposed to lie about a rabbit? Allie started to ask more questions, but I told her we'd talk about it later, not in front of her sister, and it hasn't come up again. In the meantime, she's enjoying the candy she's already gotten for Easter and she's enjoying the two 50-cent pieces she got for this tooth. Maybe if I keep giving her chocolate, I won't have to answer any questions about Santa Claus.

A new game

Last night, Allie decided to play "9 1/2 Weeks" with her daddy. She didn't call it that, but Allie asked her dad to play a game and had him sit on the floor with a towel over his eyes while she fed him various substances to see if he could identify them.

He tried a grape, a peanut M&M, a piece of Kix cereal, a grape tomato, a Tic Tac, coffee (Allie was getting some help by this point), yogurt, a Girl Scout cookie, cream cheese, and finally a dill pickle. The pickle was what did Greg in. He didn't immediately identify what it was and something about it grossed him out, so he was done.

Julia, meanwhile, fell asleep on the couch again after dinner. She only sometimes naps now and her body is not necessarily still running strong by 6:30 p.m. or so. To say that she's crabby when you wake her up is an understatement. She hit Greg, who was only trying to be sure that she'd be able to sleep when it was bedtime.

And our family watched another couple of episodes of "How Clean Is Your House." Just another Thursday night in the Lee household.

Houston, Wii have a problem

Allie has been enjoying our new Wii, challenging her daddy to contests of bowling, tennis, and ping pong. Unfortunately, it's wrecking her life.

For the second evening, at bedtime, Allie came up the stairs from the basement crying. Actually bawling. Daddy won their contest.

We've worked for years to get our children to be good losers, but according to Allie, when you lose a competition on the Wii, a sign comes up that calls you a loser, and a face appears and makes a sad face at you.

So twice now at bedtime, she's been full of tears and with her face swollen and her nasal passages full of whatever and then she can't get to sleep. Last night, she was still awake at 10 p.m., now upset because she could see how late it was getting and she was worried about being tired in the morning. Somehow, she's gotten the idea that if she's tired in the morning, life as we know it will be over.

She gets out of bed repeatedly to tell us she's still awake. She cries and snuffles into tissues. She tries to count sheep or count her breaths and she practices Daddy's relaxation technique, none of which work. Last night, she said she couldn't stop thinking. She asked me to give her something else to think about. I told her to plan her next birthday party, from food to decorations to guests to cake and presents.

I'm guessing this means we can start planning on building a stable next January.

Trouble in paradise

Last night, Allie and Julia were playing a game with water. Those words don't usually strike trepidation into our hearts. They like to wash their collection of resin animal toys in the sink in the half bathroom, for example, and that's no problem. They like to play with their collection of Polly Pocket hot tub/pool accessories at the kitchen table (which is from Ikea) and that's no problem.

The problem last night was that Greg and I were chatting online with Dan and Kerry. Which means that we kept shushing the girls and asking if they could please play in another room than the one we were in. And they were playing with water, specifically containers of water in which they were washing Barbies and other little dolls. We paid them no attention whatsoever (fatal error).

This morning, I had an early meeting and Greg was getting the girls ready to leave the house. Right before they headed out, he realized that the dining room table had pools of water on it's surface. Yes, Marcia, the beautiful antique dining room table that you and your husband gave us had pools of water on the surface of the gorgeous wood. Pools that had been there since last night.

Fortunately, Greg saw the pools, dried off the table, and the only damage seems to be some lifting of the veneer at the center seam of the table. It could have been much worse. This does not mean that we are not going to kill our children later tonight.

We're taking them to tumbling class first. It's prepaid, after all.

Spring! Robins!

There were several robins fluttering around our yard today. The snow has melted away from the south side of the house, including where my tulips should come up in about a month. It's enough to give you hope for an eventual spring, even though it did snow a little this morning and there's still at least two feet of snow on the flat part of our front yard.

In other news, Greg and I had a fun conversation by Skype today with Dan and Kerry. They said they'd been to a St. Patrick's Day parade today (an early one, apparently) and they showed us the enormous helium balloons they purchased for their kids. (Not that I'm calling their kids spoiled or anything.)

Speaking of spoiled kids, Greg fulfilled an ambition that he's held for months this morning. He managed to be first in line at 6:15 a.m. at a local store and he bought a Wii when the store opened. Bowling has commenced!

Rudeness alert

Well, Allie's been excluded. Kids in her class have just this year begun having big birthday parties where classmates are invited. Allie went to her first big party in January, which included getting her hair and nails done at a local beauty school, followed by a pizza party. There are 9 girls in her class and 12 girls attended that party, so it was obviously inclusive.

This week, one of her classmates handed out birthday party invitations to, according to Allie, all of the girls in the class except her. The invitations were distributed right in front of her.

Allie said she asked the birthday girl if there was an invitation for her and she was told that she'd bring one the next day. That hasn't happened and obviously, I don't care if she goes or not. But Allie does.

It should be round like a sausage and come out in an S-shape

We've been watching a lot of episodes lately of two shows from BBC America, "You Are What You Eat," and "How Clean Is Your House?"

The "How Clean" show is pretty straightforward, two lady cleaners who wear pearls and feathers on their rubber gloves find the most disgusting homes across England and clean them. We're talking seriously gross, including one woman who had a ton of slug trails under her living room couch and another who let her 11 pet birds fly loose in the lounge (living room), crapping and urinating on every surface. Most of the participants seem like borderline hoarders, or out and out hoarders. They remind me of Dan's stories about his neighbor, Eric.

The "You Are What" show features a woman named Gillian who's a nutritionist. She tackles individuals and families who are overweight and who eat unhealthily and tries to convert them, over six weeks, into people who love natural and organic foods and love their veg. People in the U.K. seem unable to produce the entire word, "vegetables."

Both shows seem to have an unnatural fascination with poop. They both call it "poo," which is so cutesy as to be silly. The cleaning ladies love to describe in detail how feces are coating every inch of people's bathrooms and the nutritionist said the quote in my title. She added, "It should still be attached to your bottom when it hits the water in the loo." In every show, she has people take a crap into a plastic container so she can open it later in front of them and comment on how she can tell they eat nothing but fatty and sugary foods from the look and the smell of their poop. She goes on at great length about how stinky things are.

I think I'll leave my comments at that.

Signs of the times

You know that it's been a long winter when your kids don't even want to go out and play in the snow any more.

Julia will go outside if we make her, and within a few minutes, she says her mittens are wet, her hands are cold and she wants to come in and watch a movie. Julia relishes when Allie's busy or away, because it means she normally gets control of what's on TV.

Not to say that my kids watch a lot of TV. Of course not, I'm so offended that you think that! Regardless, there's a clear distinction in our house between "Allie's shows" and "Julia's shows." Julia sees snow play days as her opportunity to watch DragonTales or Sesame Street.

And since Allie is a lot tougher than Julia, Allie will stay outside and play in the snow. We know that Allie is snow tough after this winter. She doesn't even blink when she has to walk home on the edge of the street because the sidewalks aren't negotiable (yes, she's been carefully trained).

Our newspaper has taken to spouting that there's less than 30 days to wait until spring. It was -6 degrees yesterday. The tulips had better stay in hiding!

Julia and Jaden, June 2029

On Friday night, we were driving home from having a belated Valentine's Day dinner in town. I asked Allie if she has a boyfriend these days and she said yes. I asked if she got a valentine from him and she said yes. Then Julia spoke up and said that she had a boyfriend. Julia has a pretty limited social circle when it comes to boyfriend candidates. There's the kids at our family daycare. There's the kids she sees at preschool one morning a week (four boys, based on the valentine list we processed). And there's the kids she sees at tumbling class (three boys).

Not surprisingly, Julia said that her boyfriend was Jaden, our daycare provider's son. Julia and Jaden have been raised together since 10 weeks after Julia was born, so there's a bit of an incestuous whiff about their relationship, but anyway. Julia said that she and Jaden were going to live together in his house, that his mom was going to cook food for them, and when they needed money, Jaden was going to drive his (electric-powered kid-size) four wheeler down to the drivethru at the bank. Julia said she was going to get two suckers each time they visited and Jaden would get one.

Greg and I have firm opinions about marriage. We don't think either of our girls should jump into anything until they're at least age 25. Unfortunately, Julia wants the wedding. Thank goodness, all area reception halls are booked for the next 21 years, because she's ready.

Public service announcement

Yesterday morning, a friend of ours called to say she had a strong smell of natural gas in her house. She was waiting for the gas company to arrive.

Turns out, the problem was that her gas meter was completely buried by snow. That meant a regulator with some kind of exhaust valve couldn't work properly, so natural gas built up under her siding and entered her house.

We know about making sure our furnace pipes aren't clogged by snow (nowadays they come out the side of the house instead of the chimney), but I'd never heard this one.

In other public service news, we have now broken the record for snowfall in one winter. They've been tracking this stuff for 138 years and we have now had more snow than any other winter, over 79 inches. It's snowing right now. It's supposed to snow again on Thursday. I give up.

Julia's New Swimsuit

Because we always buy her new swimsuits when it gets -10 degrees below.

She wore this around the house all morning, by the way.

Julia's ready, Mom - not so much

This week, before the storm of the so-far-at-least century, we registered Julia for kindergarten. I swear that she was just born about three years ago, so this was quite a development.

Ok, ok, so she's four and a half. She'll be 5 in July, so that means we can send her to school in September. I don't think I'm going to handle this particularly well. It was one thing to send Allie to school, since I had another little one at home, and I knew I wasn't done with that stage of having little ones. But now we're facing Julia being in school too. It's a whole different world.

She's excited. She wants to go to Allie's school and needless to say, Allie is practically panting to show her the ropes, to tell her how everything works, and to show off her school world. This morning, Julia disappeared upstairs and came back down dressed in summer clothing (sitting out still because of our Disney trip) and wearing her Tinkerbell backpack from her last birthday.

She marched around the house singing a song about summer and I had to smile. She looked so grown up. My little girl is going to be a kindergartener. I have less than 7 months to adjust to this idea. I think it's going to take longer than that.

No school again!

Allie didn't have school yesterday because of the enormous snowstorm that came through our area. Madison, north of us, got 13.3 inches. Orfordville, south of us, got 21. So we got somewhere in between, probably about 16 inches.

So school is closed again today. When I was a kid, we seemed to get many bigger storms than nowadays, but I don't ever remember having school cancelled two days in a row.

Hey, that's nothing. Several semi trucks had trouble negotiating a hill east of our town and they blocked the interstate. They blocked the interstate for several hours. How many? Oh, about 12 hours. People ran out of gas, and rescuers on snowmobiles checked to make sure people were OK. The governor sent the National Guard, who came in Humvees and 5-ton trucks and passed out water and military rations. 500 cars, 19 miles of backup.

And they said in the paper this morning, well, we couldn't stop more people from getting onto the interstate. We didn't have enough officers to block every on ramp and exit. You know what, park a city vehicle there! What stupidity.

I am so thankful that Greg didn't go to work yesterday. Allie and Julia went to daycare and I went to work, and barely made it the three miles back across town home.

We survived the storm of '08. And it's supposed to snow tomorrow!

Tripping to Disney - long version

So we took the girls to Disney World. Considering that Greg has been wanting to take them there since Allie was 4, I think holding out until her 8th birthday was pretty good. Honestly, I wouldn't have wanted to take Julia any earlier than age 4 1/2. She had so much walking to do and Greg ended up carrying her so much--thank goodness she's 40 inches tall now, so she could go on almost any ride, and she did!

When we left Wisconsin, it was -6 degrees. We ran in our light jackets from the parking garage into the airport and it HURT! I told the girls they wouldn't have to face cold like that again until we came home and after 20 minutes or so, we warmed up. The girls were both very excited about going up in an airplane.

Our flight to Atlanta was smooth, we didn't have any transition trouble, and then we landed in Orlando. Since we stayed on Disney property, we were coddled from that point forward (as long as you consider bus travel coddling). Our resort was almost exactly as we expected, except since Pop Century has over 2000 rooms, it was even more spread out than I thought. Three heated outdoor pools, and believe me, even when the evening temperature dipped into the low 50s, there were people in the pools. That first evening, we went to the Magic Kingdom to see the fireworks show, Wishes. Even though it was kind of a late night by the time we got a bus back, it was definitely a "magic" start to our holiday.

Our first full day was spent at Hollywood Studios. We went on or saw: Star Tours (a Star Wars simulation); Muppet Vision 3-D; Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set; Lights, Motors, Action Extreme Stunt Show; met the Power Rangers; Hollywood Studios Backlot Tour; the Great Movie Ride; Voyage of the Little Mermaid; the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (me and Allie); dinner at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant; and Sounds Dangerous with Drew Carey. Greg really wanted to go on the Aerosmith Rock n Roller Coaster, but he would have had to go alone.

The Tower of Terror was amazing and Allie was so brave. It's basically a falling-elevator ride (from 13 stories), but they actually pull you downwards faster than gravity and you drop and rise several times, according to a random computer selection. Allie said it was cool, but that was after she relaxed the expression of terror that was her face. We completely rose off our seats for what seemed like long periods of time, held only by our seatbelts.

The second day we went to Animal Kingdom. We went on or saw: Pocahontas and Her Forest Friends (a nature/singing show with real animals); Festival of the Lion King (a show with amazing floats and up to 28 singers/dancers/acrobats performing at one time); met Minnie Mouse, Mickey, Lilo, Stitch, and Goofy; DINOSAUR; Finding Nemo - the Musical; Expedition Everest (Greg only); Maharajah Jungle Trek; Kilamanjaro Safaris (our longest wait, about an hour); It's Tough to be a Bug; and Rainforest Cafe (for dinner). Julia and Allie both closed their eyes for most of DINOSAUR, a very rough ride in a jeep thing with dinosaurs popping out everywhere. They were both really good.

The third exhausting day was spent at the Magic Kingdom. We went on or saw: The Magic Carpets of Aladdin; the Jungle Cruise (which was hilarious, thanks to David, our guide); Pirates of the Caribbean; met Peter Pan and Wendy; Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (which Julia proclaimed, "Cool!"); the Haunted Mansion; It's a Small World (what a surprise, one of Julia's favorites); Peter Pan's Flight; Mickey's PhilharMagic 3-D Spectacular; Cinderella's Golden Carousel; Mad Tea Party; Tomorrowland Indy Speedway; Space Mountain; Dumbo the Flying Elephant (another of Julia's favorites); Stitch's Great Escape; Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor; Tomorrowland Transit Authority (the only thing we went on twice); Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress (weirdly fascinating); Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin; and dinner in Cinderella's castle, at the Royal Table, while fireworks exploded outside the arched stained glass windows and the Fairy Godmother sang Happy Birthday to Allie (and lots of other people).

I was surprised by how small the Magic Kingdom was, but it obviously enabled us to cover a lot of ground and see a lot of things. Splash Mountain was closed, but the weather during our trip was sometimes cool (relatively speaking), so we didn't mind. It rained a little when we were at Hollywood Studios but we were mostly inside. It was cold in the morning at Animal Kingdom, but it warmed up nicely in the afternoon and was sunny. The Magic Kingdom day was nice too, probably low 70s and sunny.

Our last big day was Epcot. We knew it was going to be the warmest day, mid 70s, so we decided to make it a short day, return to the resort, and have the girls go swimming. At the park, we went on or saw: Spaceship Earth; Test Track (cars that go 65 miles per hour--Julia was so brave!); Maelstrom; Princess Storybook Dining at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall (met Cinderella again, Aurora [Sleeping Beauty], Jasmine, and Ariel); Mission SPACE (Greg and Allie); Gran Fiesta Tour (me and Julia); Living with the Land; The Seas with Nemo and Friends; and Turtle Talk with Crush. It would have been nice to visit the United Kingdom pavilion to see if they carried Coleman's mustard, but it was just too far to walk with crabby Julia, who didn't get birthday presents like Allie and who just couldn't narrow down her own gift selection to one item.

We left Epcot at 4 and the time the girls spent swimming and splashing at the pool was one of the most relaxing periods we had. We ate dinner, the girls had baths, and we packed to go home. If you did make it all the way through, I appreciate your reading all of the stuff about the attractions we saw. I wrote it to remember what we did, and maybe to spark a favorite memory of something you saw once upon a time.

Our trip back was smooth, except that in order to get seats all together, we were in the last row of the plane, without windows. Allie got airsick and threw up in my hands and Julia was kind of naughty and it was -2 degrees when we arrived in Milwaukee. Allie threw up again as we drove home, and we all had to smile at Greg emptying her puke bucket by the side of the road and "rinsing" it with snow. We were so glad to be home and the cats were very glad to see us.

One anecdote: we were tiredly walking through the parking lot on our last night when we saw a VW bug with North Carolina plates and a carseat in the back. I commented, wow, those people drove all the way from North Carolina with a baby in the back seat. Julia spoke up and said, Is it dead?

You hadda be there. We had the best laugh of the trip.

Now we're basically all back in our normal routines and the weather is certainly back to how it's been this winter. We're supposed to get somewhere between 3 and 9 inches of new snow tomorrow. But we can dream and remember, green plants and flowering trees, chlorine and waiting in line, princesses and a birthday to remember. Happy birthday, Allie!

Ha! You're too late!

If you were planning on breaking into our house and ransacking our supply of Polly Pocket clothing, you're out of luck. We're back from Disney.

We're foot-sore, wiped out, poor, overly-stimulated, sick of each other, and done with the freaking magic already.

Greg has literally a gig of photos and short videos that he's posting, so you can all feel like you came along on the trip too.

It's 8:30 now and I have to go to sleep. More soon.

And Happy 8th birthday today, Allie!

Endless day

Julia has an unfortunately pretty common pattern. She'll come down with a fever, develop no additional symptoms to speak of, keep the fever for two days (during which she stops eating almost completely), and then gradually gets better.

Last night, she didn't want dinner, which is not so uncommon. She came over to get a hug and said her tummy hurt and on a hunch, I felt her forehead. Crap.

So today Julia was home with Greg in the morning and me in the afternoon. It was a very, very long day. She was very whiny and very needy and despite not feeling well and needing to rest, she only napped for 45 minutes.

Tonight, she finally seemed to be feeling better. Tomorrow should be a better day. And today, Greg and I earned another parenting stripe.

Still alive

We're still here, just busy not enjoying the 8 1/2 inches of snow we got on Monday. It was light, fluffy stuff, not at all suitable for snowman building, so the kids are bummed.

Apparently, this brings our total for the winter to some ridiculous number like 50 inches.

What I'd like to know, Mr. Hughes, is when you're planning on coming and picking up the show you say you want so badly?

Bundle me up

As we pulled out of the garage this morning, the thermometer on my car's dashboard said it was 23 degrees outside. By the time we got to daycare (three blocks away), it said 10 degrees. By the time I dropped Allie off at school (3/4 mile away), it said 4 degrees.

Tonight, it's supposed to be -5 degrees with a windchill in the neighborhood of -20. I am ready for Florida. Now.

Dentist day

Greg took Allie and Julia to the dentist this morning. For Julia, it was her third time in the chair and her first x-rays. On her first visit (1/4/07 if you want to look it up--I can't get the link to work), she screamed, alternately wouldn't open her mouth, and tried to kick the dental assistant (who was lousy with her, frankly). I had to hold her entire body and especially her arms as the dentist looked in her mouth.

On her second visit, she closely watched as Allie smilingly went before her, then things went smoothly. Today, she sat in the big chair all by herself (instead of on my lap--good thing since I was at a seminar), she opened her mouth, and she said she had a good time.

I love that my kids love the pediatric dentist.

The big news of the day, however, was Allie. After an entire year, she got the spacer taken out from the roof of her mouth. She says it feels very odd and she's not sure she likes it. I say, give her some gum and she'll forget all about the weird feeling. She's been pining for gum.

Fortunately for us, we won't have to miss that spacer for long. Dr. Wilson says Julia's going to need one too. I'm thinking it'll be in about 2 years. Genetic crosshatch, whatever that means.

Gregory, I may have doomed our children to someday have to wear glasses with my poor genes, but I'm putting this one on you!

Trying to slim down

Simon the cat did almost 2 minutes on the treadmill tonight.

He's trying to lose that little bit of a bulge in his midsection. Turns off the ladies, you know.

Julia, over two hours

"Mommy, I want to jump on the trampoline."
"No, Julia, you have to wait your turn."
"Mommy, I want to swing on the rope."
"No, Julia, you have to wait your turn."
"Mommy, I want to play on the long trampoline."
"No, you can't. It's not time for your class anymore."
"Mommy, I want to write on the chalkboard up there."
"No, you can write on this chalkboard."
"Mommy, I want to play on the long trampoline."
"I already told you no. That's for when you have class."
"Mommy, I want another piece of candy."
"No, you got a piece when your class was over. That's all you get."
"Mommy, I want a piece of candy when we get home."
"Maybe. You need to start listening to me."
"Mommy, I want to go get a drink of water."
"You've already had two drinks of water. You're fine."
"Mommy, I want a piece of candy when we get home."
"We'll see."
"Mommy, I want to open the door!"
"Wait until I get there. You're letting cold air in."
"Mommy, I want to skip."
"No, I need you to be careful and hold my hand because there's ice."
"Mommy, can I have a piece of candy when we get home?"
"No, Julia, you haven't been listening to me at all."
"Mommy, can I have that stuff in my hair too."
"No, I have other stuff to spray in your hair."
"I want to spray it in my hair."
"No, Julia. You'll spray yourself in the eyes."
"But I want to spray it."
"No, Julia. We're done talking about this."
"Mommy, I want to get out of the tub first."
"OK, Julia, it's time to get out."
"No, Mommy, I want to play a little bit."
"Julia, put the washcloths away and stand up."
"No, Mommy."
(Finally raising my voice.) "Julia, stand up!"
"Mommy, you didn't dry off my legs."
"Julia, you didn't have a nap today, did you."
"No."

8 Things Meme

I'm just helping out Dan with this one, since I don't believe anyone that he tagged with this meme has done it. Now I know why, it took awhile to think of good responses (or kind of good ones, you know what I mean).

8 things I am passionate about:
My family
Reading
Chocolate
Loyalty
Rules
Cats
Contentment
Learning

8 things I want to do before I die:
Have grandchildren
Travel the world
Celebrate my 50th wedding anniversary
Make a difference
Tell my kids stories about my childhood that they'll always remember
Organize my house
Read and learn something every day
Keep being happy

8 things I say often:
"Allie, chew with your mouth closed"
"Hunn-eee"
"What do you say?" (prompting please or thank you)
"I am so sick of this snow"
"No, you cannot have a piece of candy"
"I'll clean the cat box" (joke, not funny)
"Can I help you?"
"How was your day?"

8 books I have read recently:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling
The World Without Us - Alan Weisman
The Stand - Stephen King
Twilight - Stephanie Meyer
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
Stiff - The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers - Mary Roach
Little House on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder
Birnbaum's Walt Disney World 2007 - Birnbaum


1 song I could listen to over and over again:
Everything - Michael Buble
This is supposed to be a section with 8 songs, but the reality is that I almost never listen to music anymore. I don't know most new bands, I don't know most songs, I don't own an MP3 player or iPod, and I listen to public radio instead of music. My CD player is my car is really dusty and I don't know how the buttons all work. I do realize that this is kind of sad. It depresses my husband. However, it is reality for how I live right now.

8 things that attract me to my best friends:
That they are - Loyal
Intelligent
Non-smoking
Light drinking
Good with kids
Easy going
Liberal
Funny

8 people who should totally do this meme:
Greg (but he won't)
Dwayne (he won't either)
Donna
Bon Bon
Jeanette (another one who won't)
Sam
Kerry
Paul

400th post

Sorry, nothing spectacular, just post number 400 on the first day of a new year. It's taken me almost 4 1/2 years of blogging to get to this point. Not too impressive.

My day started today with a visit from the cats. The wooden headboard on our bed has a cap on it that's about 1 1/2 inches wide. This morning, both Rabies and Simon decided that they wanted to look down on me from the top of the headboard. You know how you can kind of feel it when someone is looking at you? Actually, that's not true. I didn't feel them looking at me until I heard them start washing each other's faces while they sat on top of the headboard. Weird cats; thankfully it was already 8:00, so I didn't kick their little furry asses out of the bedroom.

I've been feeling a little claustrophobic today, itching to go out and have dinner or shop or something. I've basically been in the house since Saturday afternoon, but of course nothing is open today. Dan called from England to say Happy New Year, which was very cool, but that's still not getting out of the house of course. To make myself feel better or something, I've been reading the blogs of people who are living and working at the South Pole. So now I have less self pity about not being able to get out.

It did snow today again. We missed the record for all-time December snowfall by 2 inches, but the weather people say that we definitely got our snow for the month in many more storms than normal. The only good thing about our winter right now is that the days aren't getting shorter anymore. How many days until spring? I'm afraid to figure it out.

It's gonna be a new year

It's New Year's Eve, 9 p.m., and we're home. There's laundry going in the dryer, I just yelled at the girls for the third time to go to sleep, and Greg has been upstairs for the last two hours on the other computer. In other words, it's a pretty normal weeknight. I have no desire to go out to "celebrate" the end of 2007. It was a good year--we were all relatively healthy (except for some dental stuff for Allie and me), Greg and I got to travel to Ireland (thanks again, Mom and Dad, for babysitting), and the girls grew at an exponential rate.

I started thinking of the negative things that happened this year to us and to our families, but really, why dwell on all of that. Some stuff happened, some of it was pretty bad, most of it just kind of sucked, and hopefully things will be better next year. I'm an optimistic person anyway, so I'm looking forward to 2008.

2008 will be the year that Julia starts kindergarten (be still, my heart). I can't think of anything else I can anticipate for next year that will change our family as profoundly as our little one heading off to school. I think she's going to be ready. I don't think I am going to be. Thank goodness it's over 8 months away.

Yep, 2008 can take one day at a time to come. I hope it's a happy year for us, and for all of you. Happy New Year!

Lame game

Go ahead, guess what it's doing outside right now. Oh, forget it. This game is way too easy.

Of course. It's snowing!

We getting another 4-5 inches of snow today. This is on top of the 1 inch we got on Wednesday night and the 2 inches we got on Monday. Some snow did melt last week, but that really didn't make a dent. For someone like me who doesn't particularly like winter, this weather is annoying.

My family was supposed to come and visit today (for the weekend) and obviously, they're not coming. They say they're coming tomorrow morning. All I can say is that Greg went grocery shopping in today's blizzard and spent over $300, so they better get their asses down here somehow. I have to pick the girls up at daycare in an hour and I'm going to walk the two blocks, because Greg almost didn't get the car back up our slightly-sloping driveway and into the garage.

We're going to Disney with the girls in less than a month. The Weather Channel says it's 84 degrees in Orlando today. I'm ready now.

Fine and dandy, except when we're not

We're all fine, here in the Lee household after Christmas. I spent a bunch of time picking up the living room, dining room, and basement last night, so most of our gifts are under the tree, or adjacent to the tree, or actively being played with, or they're on the kitchen table so we don't have anywhere to eat.

I wanted to make sure that the gift clothing that the girls received all fit, so I told them last night that it was time for "Fashion Show," which is our process of trying on everything. There's really no "show" involved, unless you include getting Daddy to take his eyes off "Hellboy" for a moment to say that she looks nice.

Allie removed her sweatshirt and jeans and started trying things on. Julia, who still sometimes struggles with not having a nap in the afternoon, was having one of those days. She protested taking her clothes off, then started crying, then said, with all the indignation her little voice could muster, "Fashion Show is BORING."

This was after I moved the toy she was playing with over two inches, and she yelled, "Mommy, now I can't find my mug (which is about 1/4 inch high, by the way) and I'll have to get a NEW ONE!" Then she started crying.

I told her she didn't have to do Fashion Show, and then she said, "Allie won't PLAY with me. Allie won't let me be the PRINCESS," and she started crying.

It was a long evening.

Merry Christmas to all

We're home again, the wrapping paper is mostly picked up, and we've opened 16 or so new toys today. Our girls are spoiled and so are we.

Thank you to everyone for the gifts. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Sing, sing a song

Yes, today was the day of Allie's "Winter Sing" (mustn't call it a Christmas concert). She did a wonderful job, smiling and singing whole-heartedly and not waving, which is against the rules. Her elementary school has a new music teacher this year who did a good job, though we were disappointed that the second graders were the only class who didn't have a song with choreography. And did you know that "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" actually sounds kind of sad. Oh well. She was very happy that both of her parents were able to make it and I'm sure Greg will be posting some photos soon.

Julia was busy today too, attending a short holiday party at her preschool. She brought a small gift and received one in return, a stuffed penguin which she hasn't let go of since she got home (probably since this morning's party, frankly). That's partially because she decided yesterday to give up her blankie. No, she hasn't given up sucking her thumb. She's just apparently giving up that specific prop.

I'll take what I can get.

For dinner tonight, Greg made turkey matzo ball soup, which was wonderful since the turkey cooked more that it had on Sunday. And now the girls are watching "The Nightmare Before Christmas" while Greg is snoring, sleeping sitting up on the couch. And he gives Dave a hard time for doing that!

Resigned

Guess what's going to happen around here today? Can you guess it? Do you have an inkling?

Aww, you guessed. It's going to snow.

Sigh.

Prep-for-holiday Saturday

This morning, Allie and I made a list of the things we need to get done this weekend. So far, we've made Church Windows, gone to a holiday party, and made dough for Christmas cutouts. Greg wrapped some gifts this afternoon so we're getting there on a fourth item from the list. Tomorrow, we need to bake the Christmas cutouts, decorate them, bake a chocolate cake for my department potluck on Monday, pick up Famous Dave's barbeque for the potluck, and wrap and sort more gifts. The presents are actually birthday and Christmas, since Ashton, Judy, Rachel, and Marcia all have birthdays between the 17th and the 28th.

What are Church Windows, you may ask? Well, it's really a technical, lengthy recipe. I don't want to be typing all night, so I'm not sure I should get into it here. I do have some other things to get done yet this evening. Oh, all right.

Put a stick of butter and a bag of chocolate chips in the microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir. Dump in a bag of colored marshmallows. Form into loaves and refrigerate. Cut in slices and you have Church Windows. Phew, I'm exhausted just typing about it.

The chocolate cake is called Almost-As-Good-As-Sex Cake. There's a Better Than Sex Cake recipe out there but this is not that. You bake a German chocolate cake mix like usual. Poke holes all over. Dump a can of sweetened condensed milk on top. Dump a jar of caramel ice cream topping on top. Cover the whole thing with whipped cream. Crush two Heath bars and sprinkle on top. It's really, really good.

I like to bake, but I love simple recipes. I used to say that the only recipe I had memorized was Nestle Tollhouse Cookies, but that's obviously not true because I just did these simple recipes from memory. You really should try them. Go ahead, stop reading blogs and go create something for your family and friends. Just please come back later, OK?

And by the way, we got another 2 inches of snow today. I think that brings the total to 26 inches. OK, God, we get the point--you wanted us to have a white Christmas and we definitely are going to. Now cut it out.

The girl who?

We're watching the cartoon "I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown," which I had never heard of, but apparently it's the "new" Charlie Brown special. It focuses on Linus's younger brother, Rerun, and because it's not the traditional Charlie Brown Christmas special, I'm not interested. The girls and Greg are pretty absorbed though.

Greg just paused the TV on a picture of Linus holding his blanket and sucking his thumb. He told Julia he's going to call her "The Girl Linus" now. She doesn't seem too happy about that.

If I thought that Julia would stop sucking her thumb if we called that name (without psychological damage), I think I'd consider it. Unfortunately, I doubt it is going to be that easy.

Changes

I'm getting a new boss today. Considering that my current boss has been with the company for 17 years, and has overseen my department for the entire time, that's a big change. I've been in my current position for 2 years now, but I've been with the company for 10, so a new era is about to start.

My new boss could be one of three people. I have a fervent hope for one individual, but that doesn't mean I'm going to get my wish. No one has asked my opinion. I'll know today, so keep your fingers crossed for me!

I want Kreacher

I was rereading part of the last Harry Potter book this weekend and I've come to a decision. I want a house elf. If you've read the books, you know that this is a controversial statement. House elves are slaves, bound to their masters or their master's family for eternity, or until they are given clothes (see the second Harry Potter movie for more information). But my family has a definite need.

We desperately need someone to help us with our clothing problem.

If you looked around my home right now, you would see a heaping basket of clean laundry waiting to be put away. You'd see hampers in Allie's room and in Julia's room. You'd see a hamper in the mudroom/laundry room/back hallway. None of these three is particularly full at the moment because I did laundry this weekend. And then you'd see the piles.

There's a pile of clothes at the end of the bed where Greg dropped them. I don't generally pick up these clothes, so when he does, that's when his clothes get washed. He has a lot of clothes so this isn't usually a problem. There's a pile of clothes in the middle of the living room from where the girls changed into their pajamas last night. I'd feel worse about the changing clothes in the living room thing if I didn't know that lots of people let their kids do that (including Dan and Kerry, hah!). I just want a laundry fairy or elf or someone to pick them up besides me. And it's always me (unless I yell at the girls).

The worst problem is the socks. Both Greg and the girls have a habit of taking off their socks wherever. And our cats like socks. I've seen Rabies many times with socks in his mouth. They end up all over the house--in every hallway, by the front door, in the middle of the kitchen. Until last night, there were two socks in the back corner, underneath the Christmas tree. I picked up two off the landing of the stairs yesterday. It's a little insane.

So until I get a house elf, I just want to put the warning out there to visitors--No, we're not begging for extra goodies by leaving extra "stockings" around. Yes, we do have a problem.

Crafty

It snowed again this weekend, what a surprise. BEFORE this last storm, the weatherman said that we were almost 12 inches above average for snowfall for the month of December. It's going to only be in the 20s this week, so it doesn't look like anything is going to melt any time soon. Enough of the weather report.

The Lee family went shopping this weekend, Greg with the girls for me and me alone for Greg. The parking lots were the worst part of the experience. They're rutted and still not well plowed, full of icy patches.

Today we stayed in and the girls and me did some crafts for people we like. All will be revealed in the next few weeks.

That phrase has more meaning that what I just typed, but I can't say anything further right now.

Shopping success

Allie went back to school today. She ate a little for breakfast, she wasn't dizzy or shaky, and she said she wanted to go, so we sent her. She said she put her head sideways on her desk a lot, and her teacher sent her to the office once to have her temperature taken (it was normal), but she made it through the day. What a trooper.

So Greg and I got to shopping. We started at about 9:30 and finished at 3:45 or so. We got presents for my mom's and Greg's mom's birthdays, two family-exchange participants, our daycare provider's kids, our daycare provider, Dwayne's little girl, and our two girls. It all went really smoothly and the snow held off starting until about 5 p.m., so we didn't have to deal with that mess.

The newspaper says we have 13 inches of snow and ice on the ground now and we're supposed to get another 3-4 inches by tomorrow. Greg commented earlier today that it seems we'll have a white Christmas. We didn't have snow last year, so I guess that would be OK. Then, the whole lot of it can melt on December 26th, as far as I'm concerned. Bah humsnow.

It must be winter

What are the signs:

o It's been snowing like a sonofabitch and more is coming tomorrow
o People at work are complaining endlessly (with some justification) about the state of the parking lots and sidewalks that they have to use. At least 10 people have fallen, 2 somewhat seriously.
o My co-worker hit a lump of ice in the driveway at work and tore the fender off her two-month-old car. $600 damage
o In the last two weeks, all of us in the Lee household have been sick

To delineate that further, I got a cold right after Thanksgiving that I'm still getting over. Julia spent that same weekend throwing up, mostly in the middle of the night. Soon afterwards, Greg had some stomach problems. Last weekend, there weren't any new illnesses but we couldn't really leave the house because of the weather.

Today, Allie got up as usual and went downstairs. When I came downstairs, she was lying on the couch and saying her stomach hurt. We assumed it was constipation and she perked up quite a bit as we left for daycare and school. About 1 hour later, her school called and said she'd thrown up in class.

Greg and I are very proud of her (seriously). She threw up into her hands as she ran for the wastebasket. She said she didn't get any vomit on her desk and maybe only a couple of drops on the floor for the school janitor to take care of. When I picked her up in the school office, she vomited again and didn't get any of it anywhere except a waste basket. After she got home, she threw up again and still didn't even get her clothes dirty. After Greg came home and I went back to work, she threw up several more times and never made any mess to speak of. That's pretty amazing for a sick almost 8-year-old.

Now, I'm hoping that the just slightly uneasy stomach I'm feeling is purely psychosomatic. Greg and I are supposed to get our Christmas shopping for the girls done tomorrow--we've both taken vacation--and if Allie is well enough to go to school, we're still on for that.

We're supposed to get another 3-4 inches of snow. I can hardly wait.

Ready for Christmas

Well, it snowed this weekend, and sleeted and freezing rained and rained, but it snowed this weekend, so outdoors is looking like Christmas.

Greg gave in to Julia's begging yesterday and brought up our two artificial Christmas trees from the basement. (Don't get me started on artificial trees--yes, they were easy and they look OK, but it's so not like it should be.) We put them up yesterday. Today, the girls went through every box of ornaments and decorated for an hour or so, so that looks like Christmas. We have one tree in the dining room window on the front of the house and one tree in the corner of the living room.

Allie and Julia sat down this evening after their bath and started their Christmas lists for Santa, so that's sounding like Christmas. We'll probably take them to see our favorite Santa at the mall one night this week or next, so that seems like Christmas.

So I guess we're getting ready. We just have to make Christmas cookies, consider actually doing a Christmas card (we'd like to do a photo card of the girls and I know, that's really easy to do but we never seem to do it), buy all of the gifts, wrap all of the gifts, mail some of the gifts, plan our holiday schedule, make holiday food, and do our holiday travel, and Christmas will be all set. I'm tired already.

The end of the world is coming

We're going to have a snowstorm today. And people are acting like the apocalypse is here. It's going to start at noon, last all day and into the night, and encompass as much as 14 inches of snow in some places in the state. We're supposed to get somewhere between four and eight around here, but then there'll be sleet and ice afterwards. The authorities are warning of possible power outages if worst comes to worst. I'm sure the local grocery is almost out of milk and bread, because even though most American homes contain enough food to last for a couple of weeks, people do panic when given enough news warnings. The Red Cross says they have 550 volunteers on reserve to set up emergency shelters if necessary.

Around the Lee household, we did buy milk, since we were almost out. We also bought oatmeal, raisins, and chocolate chips, because I firmly believe in making cookies when it rains or snows all day. And if we make cookies, we needed milk anyway. Greg is excited because it sounds like he's going to be able to try out his brand new snowblower. We have plenty of wood for the fireplace, some candles, lots of batteries if we could just find some of the zillion flashlights we own.

The worst part? We could lose internet access. Oh, the horror!

Standing for something

For the last few years, off and on, I've been fascinated by a Stephen King novel, "The Stand." If you haven't read it, I'll try a quick plot summary. A secret lab in the southwestern U.S. accidentally releases a superflu virus that kills 99.6% of Americans over about two weeks (and later the world population too). The survivors all begin having similar dreams at night, either of a dark faceless man (guess who he is) or of an old black woman. Gradually, the survivors band together and travel west to either Las Vegas (guess who's taken up residence there--thanks for the heavy symbolism, Stephen) or to Boulder, Colorado. The followers of the dark man are plotting to kill off all of the Boulderites and then something big and dramatic happens and a bunch more people die. Happy ending still follows.

They made the book into a miniseries a few years ago, starring Rob Lowe, Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald (gotta have Molly Ringwald), and few other lesser stars. I caught part of Part 3 the other night on some channel or other, which compelled me to get the book out again and reread parts of it.

Greg sighs when he sees me reading it again and frankly, I can't exactly explain why it so captures my attention. I think it's just thinking about what it would be like if you were one of maybe two people (in a town my town's size) to survive such a plague. All of your family members would be dead. Depending on when your family caught the flu, you might have to bury them. The plague also kills dogs and horses, but not cats, so I guess you'd still have companionship. The electricity would go out eventually, but there's lots of camping gear available and you could certainly pick and choose which house to live in. Scavenging for food would be easy and I guess no one is going to complain if you chop down your neighbor's tree for firewood. I don't know how you would handle the bodies everywhere, but if you got past that, then what? How would you live the rest of your life? How would you keep from going crazy.

A lot of the flu survivors committed suicide, but many of the Boulderites got busy clearing the roads, burying the bodies, learning how to be farmers, and fixing the power plant. Reestablishing civilization. But "civilization" and technology is how we got the superflu in the first place--oooo, deep.

A story

Sometimes you hear something that you just have to share:

George was sitting having Thanksgiving dinner with his wife, his daughter-in-law, his son, and their 9-month-old daughter. The baby was sitting on George's wife's lap, and she was feeding the baby mashed potatoes and gravy. The baby was loving it. She grabbed with one hand at the plate and got a handful of stuffing, which promptly went into her mouth. The stuffing had big chunks of onion in it. The baby choked and stopped breathing.

George's wife pounded her on the back. Nothing happened. The baby still wasn't breathing. The daughter-in-law took the baby and pounded her on the back. Nothing happened. The baby was turning blue.

George said all he was thinking was, we're never going to make it to the hospital in time. George took the baby, turned her over, and thrust into her diaphragm while pushing on her back. The chunk of onion flew out of her mouth and she started breathing. She started crying.

George knows he saved her life. He says he thanks God for the first aid course he was required to take as a manufacturing supervisor at our company, the course that he credits with giving him the tool to save his granddaughter's life.

What an amazing story. And yet things like this happen every day. They just don't always have a happy ending. Happy Thanksgiving, George! Thank god.

Thanksgiving

Ah, yes. It's once again the holiday of eating.

We're having turkey, garlic mashed potatoes, squash gratin, carrots, baked beans, stuffing, apple slaw, rolls, shrimp cocktail and little smokies for appetizers (because there wasn't already enough food involved in this day), pumpkin pie and pecan pie.

If no one's stomach explodes and Greg doesn't have a coronary while stressing over the deep-fried turkey, we'll have a wonderful day.

I need to go make apple slaw now. Happy Turkey Day!

Dust bunnies my ass

My home is dusty. I am not, and never have been, one of those people who dusts every week or who runs around with a cloth, swiping everything in sight. Nothing against those people who do do that, it just doesn't appear to be in my genetic makeup. As a result, we usually dust only when there's company coming (yes, we used to have a cleaning lady but that was like, two years ago--keep up, people).

When we clean house for company, as we've been doing for the last few days because my in-laws are coming for Thanksgiving, we take care of the most used rooms first. Bathrooms, basement (because someone is usually sleeping in our finished basement and we don't spend a lot of time down there otherwise), and living room/kitchen. We hit the bedrooms least of all, and our master bedroom definitely gets the short end of the stick because there is no reason for guests to go in there.

The unfortunate result is that the room where I spend the most hours at home is also the most dusty. Not awake hours, sleeping hours, but still.

It's worse at work. Oh, we have janitors (so-called) but they only pick up garbage and do very very cursory vacuuming. Because I'm in my office when they do the vacuuming, they never actually push the vacuum anywhere inside my doorway. As a result, I don't think the carpeting in my office has been completely vacuumed since it was installed, which was--let me think--about five years ago. The top of my desk hasn't been completely cleared and wiped since I moved into this office. That was two years ago.

Fortunately for appearances, my office is inside a factory. No one cares how my carpeting looks. It's not unusual to have undercoating (a tar-like substance) somewhere in the hallway. Most upholstered chairs have stains that have come from the clothing of visiting employees, especially paint. You just kind of get used to it. And despite improvements in the air quality outside my windows (which overlook the manufacturing floor), eventually weld dust gets inside everywhere. Did I mention the air conditioning system? It runs year round because we're located over the cafeteria and we get a lot of heat from the kitchen below and from the vending machines. Every once in awhile, the maintenance department must attempt to partially clear the ducts or something by back blowing, because I'll come in and my conference room table is covered with bits of black grit (it's right under the vent).

All in all, it's a good thing I'm not asthmatic. Not yet, anyway.

4:36

4:36 is a good time if it's afternoon on a weekday. The workday is almost done and it's time to head home, where hopefully Greg will have a wonderful dinner waiting that's not meatloaf.

4:36 is not a good time if it's morning. That's what time it was today when Rabies the cat started playing with his toy mouse downstairs. I know, I know--we are grateful it's a toy mouse, especially given a news story in the paper this morning about how 'tis the season for mice to move in to your warm, lovely abode and given Dan's story recently about mice visitors. Nonetheless.

I lifted my head off the pillow when he first started playing, making sure it wasn't a burglar or something. Simon the cat was laying on the bed with us, so I knew he wasn't the guilty party. It quickly became clear that it wasn't a burglar because they would never make so much noise.

He made so much noise that I couldn't get back to sleep. Of course, I wasn't inclined to actually get up and try to take the mouse away from him. That would have meant leaving my warm and toasty bed (we turn the thermostat down pretty far at night). Besides, the cats love these mousies.

Greg and the girls cleaned up the living room last night and Greg took the plastic and cardboard package of mice off the mantel, where it's been living for the last month. The cats were so interested in playing with the contents that they started sliding the container around the floor, batting at a package. I couldn't deny my cat some small measure of fun, could I?

The next time he does it at that time of the day, it's the basement for him!

For my family

A not-so-secret message: If any of you have time, it would be wonderful if you could pick up a pair of tights for Allie. She wants to wear a dress on Saturday and I didn't realize that she's outgrown all of her tights until we were packing tonight. She's wearing size 8ish now. Thank you very much.

And for the other three of you that read my blog, how's it going. Good, good. Yeah, me too--I just hate that old time change. Hope you're staying healthy. Have a great Thanksgiving! Talk to you all soon.

Life lessons

My family gathered around the TV this evening. No, we don't always have the TV on. As a matter of fact, Allie was finishing her homework and Julia was playing with her Polly Pocket doll on the end table. But we were physically in close proximity to the TV and Greg and I were watching it. We were watching "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern" on the Travel Channel. This is a show where a chef guy does nothing but travel to locations far and wide and eat weird shit.

It's rather fascinating to see someone who regularly eats around cartilage and tendons, who likes organ meats (especially hearts) and enjoys fish parts that most people throw away, not to mention that he likes bugs. He shows the "food" (and I use that term lightly) to the camera, then stuffs it into his maw, crunching (usually the stuff is crunchy, unless it's really really chewy) and then comments on how it tastes. Unimaginably gross, I would guess. Tonight, he actually commented on how delicious some cow intestines were, saying that he's eaten cow intestines before that weren't well washed and were from the lower intestine and not coincidentally, that those tasted, as he said, like "you know what." He also ate a tarantula, pulling off the legs one by one and then saying that the mushy abdomen tasted like the inside of a lobster. We all cringed when he ate a whole Madagascar hissing cockroach, flavored with teriyaki. Those suckers are huge. He liked the cockroach too.

Eventually, there was a commercial and I hit the mute while we all silently gave thanks that we had finished dinner more than an hour before. That's when Greg noticed that Julia's Polly Pocket was having a makeout session with a Spiderman figure. Polly and Spiderman were really getting in to the kissing thing, so much so that I'm sure if there had been more people around, someone trying to be clever would have suggested that they get a room.

I asked Julia if Spiderman was Polly's boyfriend and if they were going to get married. Greg asked if they were going to have a baby and I promptly inserted that they had to get married before they could have a baby. It's never too late to start indoctrinating the children, you know. And it's never too early to start convincing them that there are better ways to make money than going on a show like "Fear Factor." Even if I do like to watch it.

My cat is actually a dog

How do I know this?

o His new favorite toy is a stick

o He chases his tail

o He's desperate to get outside

o He puts up with Allie dragging him around the house in a most uncatlike manner

o He chews on rubber things

o He attacks other cats

o He carries socks and other things from room to room and floor to floor

OK, so it's not much to go on. But I'm pretty sure he's got some mixed-up dog genes in there somewhere.

Waving goodbye

If you've read my blog or Greg's blog for awhile, you know that my family has a cast-in-stone tradition every work morning. Greg most often leaves for work before the girls and I leave the house, so every morning, we wave goodbye to him from the window in our dining room. The "we" is usually me, Allie, and Simon the cat, who almost never misses. Julia, who you may be wondering about, can't normally tear herself away from the opportunity for two more minutes of children's cartoons before she has to go to daycare, so she only infrequently shows up to wave. Rabies the cat is indifferent to the routine.

You may not know why we have this tradition. It dates back almost 10 years now. When Greg and I were newlyweds, we packed up house and home and moved to Wisconsin, my home state and for Greg, the first time he'd ever lived in another state. We didn't know a soul in this town. To say that Greg was conflicted about the move was an understatement. He loved the new job he quickly (very quickly, damn his eyes) found, but he was tortured by how well he was doing at it (very well, obviously, since he's still there). So I started the waving tradition from the inside front steps of the townhouse apartment we lived in at the time. I was joined by a cat then too, the dearly departed Pig, but that's another story.

When I gave birth to Allie, she started joining me at the window, first with her little hand being waved from a blanket-wrapped bundle in my arms. Then she grew up enough to stand next to me, holding on to the window frame so she wouldn't fall over. Then she spent a long series of mornings waving while jumping up and down (something about preschooler energy). It got a little more complicated when she started school, because there was more to get done in the morning, like packing her backpack and making sure she combed her hair. But we always showed up to wave.

Now, Allie is almost 8. Her head reaches almost exactly the midpoint between my chest and my chin. She understands the subtleties of the glances her father and I exchange sometimes. She laughs at the right times at jokes that rely on surprising word play or puns. She knows a lot of big words. This child not only understands what the word "sophisticated" means, she uses it in correct context. But she's still a little girl.

Yesterday morning, I called her and told her Daddy was leaving. She normally takes a last bite of cereal, gets up, and comes to the window to wave. I called her again from the window as I started waving goodbye to Greg. She shrieked and ran but by the time she made it, Greg had already started to turn the corner in front of the house and he wasn't looking anymore. Allie looked up at me and huge tears welled in her eyes as her face crumpled.

"I didn't get to wave goodbye!" It was the end of the world.

Thank goodness for cell phones. She calmed down when she got to call Daddy (by now six blocks away) and tell him she was sorry she hadn't made it to wave goodbye.

I'm just thinking of how much longer she's going to want to do this tradition. And I wonder how soon I'm going to be waving goodbye to her being a little girl. Some days, it doesn't feel like too long from now.

I'm hating it

Most packaging these days is designed to be easy to open once purchased. There are some exceptions, like every frickin' children's toy in existence. With the approach of Christmas, I'm already thinking that our family needs to stock up on new scissors, hedge clippers, pry bars, chain saws, and blowtorches, just so we can open the toys that Santa places under our tree.

It's truly exhausting. You and your child can see the toy. You can see all of the amazing and tiny pieces of the toy (especially if your child is over 3 and they supposedly will no longer ingest said toy pieces the minute they're placed in their hands). You just can't get to the toy. Nuh uh. No way. You're going to have to struggle and sweat and deal with the tugging on your sleeve, the pleading, the huge eyes welling with tears as your child waits longer for the new toy than they've ever had to wait for anything in their short life.

Everyone talks about happy memories of the season and the joy of Christmas Day. No one ever speaks of the horror. Oh, the horror.

Ch-ch-ch-chilly

Allie's doing a project for school this entire week when she's supposed to record the phases of the moon and the weather outside. Unfortunately for her and her class, it's been cloudy and cold, sometimes windy, for three entire days (and nights) now. We first saw snow flurries on Monday, though thank god nothing stayed on the ground, and it's perfectly clear that Indian summer ain't coming around this year.

The good news is that we can now burn some wood in our fireplace. We thought that the fireplace was one of the nicest things about our house when we first saw it, but quite shortly after we moved in, we started having kids. Kids and fireplaces don't mix all that well, so we've had several winters when we used our fireplace only once or twice.

Two years ago, we bought a firewood rack (but didn't buy any wood for it) and this year, we finally purchased a face cord of firewood. We actually ended up with more than a face cord, because the guy brought a trailer full and we got the trailer full. Nonetheless, we've had two fires now, including tonight.

Outside, it's cold (30s) and windy, but inside by the fire, we're toasty. We're enjoying staring into the fire (especially the cats, who are utterly fascinated). I'm proving my fire prowess by poking the thing every five minutes or so to keep it flaming instead of smoldering. Everything is well. At least, in the living room, it's well.

Upstairs, we're paying the price for the downstairs thermostat being completely screwed up by how warm the fire has made the room. It's pretty chilly up here. I'm going to wrap up this typing, find my long underwear, and try to warm up the sheets for sleep. Lucky Greg will find things pre-toasted under our comforter when he comes to bed, and eventually the temperature will equalize and the furnace will once again work appropriately.

We're warm and toasty and cold and shivery. Sounds like a Wisconsin winter to me.

Alrighty then

I'm not sure what to say about this. I guess parties including these are all the rage in the U.K.

Dan and Kerry, I'm really hurt that you didn't throw one of those while we were visiting. (Sniff, stifled sob) No, really. It's (sniff) OK. I'm sure we can do it another time, like ten years from now when we (sob, sniff) visit you again.

At our home today

Julia (in tears): Allie is mean.

Me: Allie is taking a turn with your toy and then you can have it, Julia.

Julia: I don't like Allie. I don't want a sister.

Me (smiling behind her back): Do you love Allie?

Julia: No, I don't love Allie.

Reminds me of fighting with my two older sisters when I was a kid. Don't worry, Julia. In about 14 years, I'm sure the two of you will be the best of friends.

Giggles galore

I took the girls to the grocery store this afternoon and they conned me into taking the big red kid-transporter cart around the store. You know, the one with the cart on the front and the big plastic attachment on the back so two kids can sit comfortably and even stretch out their legs. It's incredibly difficult to steer, but the girls like it because they can hop in and out and sometimes Mommy drives in fun patterns if the aisle is wide and uncrowded.

We went through the produce section, then both girls got free cookies at the bakery, so they were happy chewing and riding for a little while. Of course, that didn't last. They started standing when they were supposed to be sitting and hopping in and out a little too frequently. Then they started giggling.

I'm sure to the casual observer, they looked awfully cute. They were giggling together and complaining loudly about the things I wasn't buying them and it was all very charming until they started to play hit each other. They thought it was incredibly funny, but they got louder and louder and I told them to cut it out more than once.

I asked them if it looked like I was serious about them calming down. I told them if they ever wanted to see their Halloween candy again, they needed to stop hitting each other. I asked them politely to quiet down.

Meanwhile people in the store kept smiling at them and the noise they were making. Of course, Allie especially just loves to perform, so on they went. I'm sure they're regretting things now that all of their candy has become mine. Thank goodness my evil plan has come to fruition. It's mine, all mine!

280 this year

That's how many trick-or-treaters (or, as Greg calls them, Halloweenies) we had visit our house in a 2 hour period last night. Yes, we do count them, something my family has always done. I know a lot of people who get no trick-or-treaters at all, or who get maybe 20-40 kids. We get a LOT of kids, partially because we live on a cul de sac and partially because we live in the depths of suburbia. Nonetheless, we were glad to see them.

Greg did his normal decorating job outside, black light for the porch light, strobes, creepy music, fog machine, and full size mummy. Thanks to Cindy, we gave away hundreds of Beanie Babies before we started giving out candy.

The reactions to my announcement that we were giving away Beanie Babies this year were priceless. Greg was a little afraid that the older kids and boys would not be thrilled to get a toy instead of candy, but he was grossly mistaken. At times, we had 10 or so kids just standing under the lights at the end of the front walkway, exclaiming and comparing which Beanie Baby they had gotten. Thank you very much, Cindy. It was very cool to share those with all of those happy kids.

Our two children did a satisfactory job bringing home an assortment of sugar-filled items. Now we just have to wait until the sugar rush wears off each evening and they fall into exhausted sleep, then IT'S FAIR GAME ON THE MILKY WAYS!

A long, long time ago and a long post

OK, so why haven't I written in over a month? Choose from the options below:

a) I realized that I could never compete with Dan's total number of posts and it threw me into the depths of despair, destroying my creativity and sapping my will to live

b) I was needed on a vital human resources mission to Mars

c) I decided that I loved chocolate more than life itself, and Greg banned me from typing after my messy fingers ruined three keyboards

d) I got out of the habit of writing when I spent a month researching our trip to Ireland and now that it's over, I've just become incredibly lazy

I feel like I should write more about our trip since I left people on our second day of vacation. That evening, Greg and I did the walk in the cow pasture that he wrote about, but earlier we enjoyed the atmosphere of an ancient stone circle at sunset. And before that, I bought an Irish fisherman's sweater and we had some amazing fish and chips in a little takeaway place that had just a few tables. We sat in the late afternoon sun and talked about how we couldn't believe we weren't at home, in the middle of a regular work day.

It's quite odd, you know. The whole idea of getting into a little tube, sitting in a little seat, and then getting out of the tube to find that you're in a completely different part of the globe.

At the start of the above (second) day, we toured the Waterford Crystal Factory, which was great. Then we drove across the country of Ireland, which wasn't great. I overscheduled us for driving on the whole trip. We had drives of mostly less than three hours, which sounded fine on paper. The problem was that driving each half hour on those roads seemed like an hour. We were really, really glad to get to Kenmare, especially after I managed to ding the car.

On our third day, we went to Killarney National Park, saw Torc Falls and Muckross House and Gardens, rode in a jarvey (a horsedrawn cart, totally touristy but there's a reason why tourists enjoy these things), Greg kissed the Blarney stone, and we battled our way through Cork to the airport. We were amazingly happy to park the rental car at the airport. Then we flew to Manchester.

How can I describe our two-day visit with Dan and Kerry and Amy and Evan and Paul and Jeanette and Archie. It was wonderful. It was amazing. Greg and I both admitted later than when we sat eating a fantastic traditional English dinner in Jeanette's and Archie's house, we thought, how cool it was that we were there. Eating dinner with wonderful friends who we didn't know until we met over the internet. I know, I know, people all over the world are getting married to and having babies with people they meet on the internet, but it's still a crazy idea. We were sitting in a Yorkshire town, eating dinner with wonderful people who treated us fantastically well, like we were special or something.

They'd probably say that we did the same when Dan and Kerry visited us in March of this year, but it's one thing to open your home to some neat people and quite another thing to impose on those people, to say, hey, we're coming to your neck of the woods, hope you're OK with that. For Pete's sake, they picked us up very late on a Friday night and drove us in the dark and rain to our hotel (that was Kerry). They met us at the hotel, just to welcome us to England (that was Dan, when Kerry brought us there). They picked us up the next morning, entertained us for the entire day, fed us, gave us gifts, let us hold their children, drove us all over kingdom come (thank you, lord, especially considering the roads in their area!), and made us laugh until our faces ached. And they brought us to a grocery store, so Greg could buy enough mustard to supply our hometown (you would think, even though he bought 8 tubes of Colman's and he's already on the third tube a month later).

We had a wonderful visit with all of them, experienced a real English pub (I'm pretty sure we were the only Americans in the place), sat in their garden and just enjoyed an English Sunday morning, walked along a gorgeous historic canal (though everything, it seems, is older than America), got to see Tower Hill in person instead of just in pictures, and genuinely felt welcomed and pampered. You were all wonderful. We can't thank you enough.

And then we flew back to Ireland, and as if to make up for the start of it, things started to go better. We enjoyed the Rock of Cashel early in the morning, we had a smooth drive back to Dublin, we found where to return the rental car without any problems (and they didn't charge us for the ding), and our last hotel was modern, clean, and rather American-feeling (Holiday Inn, you know). We toured the Guinness Storehouse, bought our last gifts, ate dinner, rode the local bus, and retired to bed gratefully. We came home the next day, to find a house full of family and food and our girls, looking healthy and spoiled and more grown up than when we left, I swear.

So quickly, we've slipped right back into our normal routines. The girls do cute things that have been going mostly undocumented, we enjoy excursions like pumpkin patching and shopping for a new winter coat for Allie, and the weather is turning colder.

Autumn is here, but we'll always remember the green hills of Ireland and Yorkshire. Thank you to everyone who made our vacation possible.

The Irish trip so far

Bad: We had to check our bags when we would have preferred to keep them (they're carry-ons but Aer Lingus has stupid rules)
Good: We didn't have to schlep them around the airport with us while we waited

Bad: Greg couldn't sleep on the plane
Good: Greg got to see two movies he was wondering about, plus Deb did manage to sleep for two hours because the plane had lots of empty seats

Bad: Our plane was about 45 minutes late arriving because we left late from Chicago
Good: Because we arrived later, we didn't have to drive in the dark (on the left)

Bad: Our first rental car had a dead battery because someone left a back door open
Good: We got a bigger car as a result, an Opel Corsa.

Bad: We got lost coming out of the airport because, yes, Irish road signage sucks
Good: Because of the extra time spent, we didn't have to wait more than 5 minutes to get into our first attraction in Wicklow and we had the place to ourselves for almost the entire tour

Bad: Greg almost killed us backing out of a driveway because of thick hedges
Good: Deb got to drive after that and liked it, since she had those two hours of sleep to go on

Bad: Greg felt ill for a good part of the day
Good: Because he felt ill, we cut some things from our itinerary and we got back to our room earlier to sleep (we went to sleep at 7:30 p.m. and slept until past 8:00 a.m. this morning)

Since we got up this morning, the day has mostly been good, other than the roads. Irish drivers are absolutely, positively nuts. Completely crackers. Stupid beyond belief. Road hogs of the worst sort.

Did I mention that we're looking forward to going to England tomorrow night because it means we get two days of being chauffeured around? See you soon, Hughes family! In fact, see you tomorrow.

Love to our girls, Mom and Dad!

The Americans are coming, the Americans are coming

Well, in the morning, we're off to visit the other side of the world (or at least Ireland). We're going to be renting a car, driving on the left (god rest our souls), and seeing the sights. Then in the middle of our trip, we're heading over to see Dan, Kerry, Amy and Evan (plus Jeanette and Archie, I believe) for two days.

We're very excited. They say they're very excited. I'm happy beyond belief to get away from work. Greg says he's not sure it was worth all the work he had to put in to take some time off, but he'll get happy--I'll make him.

I'm packed and my carry-on weighs 24 lbs. Greg is packing right now, muttering about colors of socks and tucking or untucking his shirts.

We're going to miss the girls like crazy, but they seem remarkably complacent about spending some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa. And those caregivers seem ready to go, especially since I gave them three pages of single-spaced notes on how to run our house and take care of the girls. You laugh, but they'll use every section, I'll wager.

Except for the girls' doctor's phone number and address. They can skip using that.

The semi-annual chore

Yes, it was time once again for the CHANGING OF THE CLOTHING!

We've had some cool weather and even though our children have warmer clothes, none of them were accessible. And in Allie's case, they needed to be gone through to be sure that things actually fit after a summer in which I think she grew at least an inch.

So I started at about 10:00 a.m. Went through Allie's pajama drawer and took out some that are very light and summery and some that are too small. Sorted through the undies to make sure they all still fit. Checked the tags on the undershirts. And then, then I tackled the socks.

Allie has a phenomenal number of socks, mostly due to her Nana. Nana bought Allie and Julia each 10 more pairs of socks when she and Papa last visited, so I think Allie's now up to about 40 pair (and this is after I pulled a bunch of small pairs out). Sorted through the shorts to figure out what won't fit next summer, likewise with dresses and short-sleeved shirts.

Checked the tags on all the warmer clothing, looked for stains on things from last spring, and made some big stacks. Put everything that she's going to need for fall away in her dresser drawers. And stacked up things that might fit her next spring for review next year for in her closet. So now it's 10:45.

Then I went in Julia's room and repeated the same procedure, with the added complication that I had to sort through the tubs of clothes that Allie doesn't fit into anymore, looking for 4T clothing that I packed away 3 years ago. This whole process is just so much fun.

I finished at 12:15 p.m. My kids have a lot of clothes. Way, way too many clothes. But they won't be cold this winter, that's for sure.

I'm just talkin'

Last night, me and the girls went to Madison to shop for Greg's birthday gifts (his birthday is Friday). Julia was drowsy and she ended up going to sleep on the 20 minute or so ride. Allie talked the entire way there, almost without pause.

Normally when the four of us are in the car, Greg and I talk to each other and the girls talk to themselves, or to each other. I think Allie felt that since Daddy wasn't along, she had to entertain me. I was entertained, too, by the way she could come up with an unending string of subjects.

My favorite was when she asked why you have to poke four holes in the top of a pie when you make it. After I explained in simple terms, she said, Oh, you have to let the pressure out! I told her that was exactly right and asked how she knew about pressure, expecting her to say from a school science lesson. She responded that she remembered hearing it in an episode of "Mythbusters." That's my girl.

When we arrived home, Greg immediately began pumping Julia for information on where we had gone. Allie clapped her hand over Julia's mouth and Julia put her hand over the top of that. They both got so many warnings on the way home about keeping birthday secrets that they weren't giving away anything. Nice try, Gregory! You'll have to wait until tomorrow, naughty man.

Flip, skip and (s)tumble

Back when Allie turned three, we started taking her to tumbling classes. These aren't gymnastics, where advanced equipment skills are acquired and skinniness is mandatory. These are classes where she learned to do a forward roll, backward roll, bear crawl, walk on a balance beam on the floor, and jump on a trampoline. She loved it and we went faithfully until she started kindergarten. Frankly, for a little girl whose middle name is Grace, we hoped she's acquire a little more grace, and she did.

And then we stopped going. She had gym class three times a week at school and it was getting tougher to entertain/distract her mobile little sister for the half hour of Allie's tumbling class.

Now that Julia's turned 4, and because we don't have our kids in any other kinds of structured activities, we decided to revisit the old tumbling class. Julia is in the tot group and Allie's in with girls about her own age, trying to learn how to do a cartwheel. Lots of cartwheels emphasized in this group and she doesn't have it yet, though she had gotten pretty close to doing one until we stopped going to class two years ago (selfish parents! bad parents!).

Tonight were their first sessions. Their classes overlap somewhat, so I couldn't see much of what Allie was doing in the other room. Julia turned unexpectedly shy, rather unlike her but she was being watched by about 8 other parents and I think that did it. After some encouragement, hugs, handholding, and high fives, she started participating on her own.

Afterwards, they both said it had been the most fun thing they'd ever done. They say that alot. Remember when it was true? That every new thing you did was the most fun thing you'd ever done. I miss that. Time to try bungee jumping, I guess.

OK, so we're going overseas

I'm exhausted from trying to find the perfect accommodations in Ireland. I've been reading website after website full of lovely-looking bed and breakfasts and guesthouses. Then I go to Tripadvisor, which has a fantastic area for reviewing such accommodations, and I find out that they all suck.

Oh, I exaggerate--there are some that don't suck. Unfortunately, they all cost about $250-300 per night. And the choices--there are literally hundreds of thousands of places to stay in Ireland. In some photos (even when the photographer is trying to produce a purely pretty photo), you can see a long row of B&B signs on the streets.

Greg is in favor of just winging it, of trying to just find a good place by driving down the undoubtably tiny roads. But I've read too many reviews about threadbare, gray sheets and disgusting bathrooms, not to mention surly landladies and noisy rooms. And when you have an infinite number of towns you could choose to make a base in, you can see why I haven't been doing much of anything except sitting in front of my computer.

We're going to see Dan and Kerry too. Since I've already booked the flight and the hotel, I can rest easy with those two days of the trip. They're going to take care of us. Right? Right?

My mission

Kerry, Killarney, Cork, Manchester, Waterford, Kilkenny. Onward through the research!

Tuesday, but it feels like Monday

Today was Allie's first day of second grade. She was excited and we were very calm about the whole thing, except for a bit of worry about where she was actually going to get off the bus at the end of the day (answer: same place as last year, idiots).

I would like to be writing more here, but I'm deeply immersed in an in-depth secret project requiring very extensive amounts of research. Enjoyable research, but lots and lots of research.

No, Greg, I'm not buying you a new motorcycle.

Boating on a holiday weekend

I fully realize how many lifestyles are out there that I really have no knowledge of. Trekkies, knitters, dog breeders, orchid gardeners, marathoners, mushroom hunters, swingers, and boaters--to name a few.

My family took a baby step towards understanding the whole boating thing yesterday. It's more accessible (and more desirable) than delving into some of the other lives I mentioned. Greg's parents were here for a long weekend and to celebrate their 28th wedding anniversary, so he decided that we'd rent a pontoon boat for a half day as a treat.

We've had abnormal amounts of rain in our area lately and some serious flooding (shades of your early summer, Dan!) and though our town wasn't affected, all of the nearby streams and lakes are high. As a result, despite Greg's desire to "let 'er rip" once we got out of the boat channel into Lake Kegonsa, he was restrained by a "no wake" rule--and the presence of the county sheriff, who passed us by twice.

Alas, despite our purchase of fishing licenses and a new fishing rod, no nibbles were to be found. Nonetheless, we all very much enjoyed the day. We'll definitely do it again with other visitors (you can guess who you are!). And hopefully, Greg will be able to indulge his desire for SPEED, RECKLESS AMOUNTS OF SPEED, AS MUCH SPEED AS YOU CAN GET FROM A PONTOON BOAT- FOR GOD'S SAKE.