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Wednesday was pretty good. It was 40’s, sunny and spring like so I took the girls to the Zoo to meet up with a few of her friends. Morella and Neeners had a blast and it was mostly preschool and toddler aged children there and sparse. There were not that many animals out when we got there. We did get to see the tiger up close and personal as it was doing it paces right next to the glass window. Then while we were waiting for the friends to arrive we noticed that the giraffes feeding cage was being filled with hay. We pointed that out to the kids and asked them what it was and what they were doing and they correctly guessed hay and it was food. Soon thereafter the giraffes were let out into the yard and Morella screamed like a little fan girl and jumped up and down in excitement. It was so darn cute. We also checked out the polar bear, and the flamigos doing the famous flamigo polka before heading to the carousel. They have a new policy this year which requires the adult to stand there and hold on to them buy a token too. Lame. They only got one ride. I was proud of Neeners though for sitting on the unmoving giraffe without screaming in fear.

My Wednesday night was another heading out the door with no definite plans. I went over to Laima’s so I could try out an idea that Tim and I have had about hammering bottle caps into mini cones for a jingle dress. Laima has some anvils and fancy hammers that she was willing to let me use. After a few experiments I found a great system for pounding them out and folding them so they look great. I will be heading over there on some Monday’s so that we can head to her basement studio, work on loud crafts (her welding, glass grinding, blow torching…etc) while listening to the radio. It will be like we are dudes working on our cars in the garage. Ha ha.

Then I left her place so she could go to sleep and headed over to Sigrid’s unannounced. Her husband had just let to the UK for two weeks so I wanted to see if she wanted company for a few hours. She was in the process of redoing her bathroom so I rolled up my sleeves and got to work rough sanding all the wood work and molding. It was a nice way to spend some time since I don’t do loud home improvement type things at home all the time.

Today I got up groggy, but recovered fast after some coffee and breakfast. I got the girls and myself dressed and we headed over to the Dream Park in Monona for a playdate with some more of Morella’s buddies. It was much better than the last time we were there because Neeners wandered around a bit more and Morella was in heaven playing with friends (Tracy/Aubrey — finally a girl to play with, and Emily/Leo) and running around. Maybe Neeners was better because no one tried to climb the structures since there was a bunch of big girls running around playing. We went for another little hike through a sand pit, to a coniferous forest, found some magic feathers, saw some mountains and walked the cliffs of doom before snacking on some cheese puffs. I was proud of myself for remembering to find the sanitizer and sanitizing the kids hands because they handled bird feathers before eating. After that we picked up Lowen and went to our first garage sale of the year as a group. I did go to a garage sale last week with Neeners while Morella was napping and got some awesome old timey dishes, some weird art work and a crappy electronic toy. This time I found a hand saw, some command wall adhesive stickers and Neeners found this ridiculously large, blue car that she hauled around and had to defend from a trio of hispanic girls twice. Morella, not to be left out, picked out a little red car. Later, when we got home, Morella won the battery lottery. By that, I mean, when we put batteries into the cars…hers worked but Neeners did not. Oh well. It was 12.5 cents each.

Loot in hand, we left and headed over to Ihop for lunch. Kids eat free on Thursdays. I love Ihop, except for that serving Pepsi business. Sadly, Neeners mistook the 15 minute snooze on the ride back to drop of Lowen and go home for a real nap. After nursing and resting for a few minutes we all headed out to the back yard where I picked more creeping charlie while they wandered around and played. Oh I also picked up sticks using my ever awesome, handy grabber, and sawed a few bigger sticks to put in a pile for the brush campfires we will have in the spring/summer.

Stephanie and her son Wyatt came over around 4 for a playdate. I tried to put a super crabby Neeners down for a nap but she wouldn’t have any of it. If that girl had her wish she would be attached to my boob all freaking day. We went outside and visited while the kids puttered around and I held Neeners for the majority of it (and picked up sticks and bits of garbage the dog spread around). Tim came home early and reheated leftovers for the girls. When Stephanie left and we made plans for checking out her backyard next week, we fed the girls. Neeners is in this annoying habit of sitting on my lap to eat, and being fork fed bites. Morella, not to be left out again, demanded Tim to fork feed her as well before they declared themselves done and left. Tim got Morella’s jammies on, I got Neeners ready and the girls were in bed and sleeping shortly after Tim left at 6:00 for his Thursday night game.

Left with enormous amounts of free time, I went through and set recordings for a bunch of movies. We have a free week of movie package on Uverse this week, so I wanted to take advantage of it. Then I wrote in my journal, read the internet and now I am posting … all before 10:00. I wish I had this sort of free time on a daily basis, then I would feel like I know what to do with every minute of it. Oh well, free time is free time.

What else…oh Laima and I are having a friendly competition to see who loses the most arm chub mass after a six week period. The winner is treated to dinner at the restaurant of their choice. I sort of picked Graze right now and she has Harvest…as far as I can tell this whole venture is a win win.

Two other things of note:

1. Neeners had a pencil the other day and was pretending to draw on Morella. Morella then said “Don’t draw on me. I not paper!”

2. Morella asked me where a toy was, I told her it was on the kids table. She then said “Go get it,” to which I replied “No, you go get it. You can do it yourself.” A couple minutes later she said “I want a new Mommy. A new Mommy who helps me when I tell her to do something.”

Ha ha ha.

Today is one of those days that feels a lot more like spring. We were able to get out of the house and play in the backyard for while with only our winter jacket on and mud boots. No hats or mittens! I told Morella that in a couple of weeks we won’t even have to wear our coats, and a few weeks after that she won’t have to wear shoes or socks. She’s very, very excited about summer. A common theme the last couple of days is to talk about all the fun things we are going to do once it gets warm.

-garden
-go to beach and build sand castles and play in the sand
-go to the park
-parades
-festivals
-go on walks to other parks
-build fairy houses
-play in the water
-garage sales
-picnics
-bbq

and on and on.

Today didn’t go as well as I had hoped. I went to H&R Block for my appointment sans girls. I got there and the year round, experienced person was double booked and I got bumped to an octogenarian who did not know what he was doing. He kept trying to tell me that he would need a couple of hours or days to figure it out and that he would go through it with the experienced woman.

—-much later—-

It is now 15 minutes before bedtime. The girls had taken a long nap earlier and I had to drag them out of bed to take them to Ho Chunk language lesson. They took a little warming up but eventually with outside with Gaga Ranada and explored her sleeping gardens. Meanwhile Tim and I worked through the translation of Good Night Moon. You *think* it would be fairly straight forward and easy…and yet. The Ho Chunk mind set is a very interesting thing with regards to language.

We got home at 6:00 and I took some tyelnol to get rid of a rather sudden headache. I managed to pull together an awesome dinner. Okay not really, but it was super fast and easy to do. Buttered toast with baked beans, and princess grapes. Yesterday I had to go to HyVee (for what might be the last time since Woodmans started carrying Morella’s milk again) to get her soy milk. While we were there I told the girls they could have any fruit they wanted. advertising worked wonders on the eye level little girls and they spied princess grape. a bag of grapes with a picture of Cinderella on it. geez.

I gotta stop now. Neeners is getting up in my grill.

Morella was up until 11:00 last night. I would have expected her to be a complete mess this morning, but instead it seems as if Neeners is the mess…as usual. Morella is already dressed and had requested that we go somewhere today. I am not sure. I have a feeling if i take them someplace right now they will fall asleep and there goes the possibility for a good nap. Unless I leave them in the car that is, I might have to find a new book on the Kindle to read….and it is sunny out so we wouldn’t freeze if they took a car nap in the drive way. I got dressed too and feel a little sausagey. Hurry up spring and get here so I can get out of the house and be more active.

In other news, today I am push up 28. Tim started this thing at the beginning of the year to do as many push up as the day of the year. He started on January first and, with the exception of the last few days, is up to an impressive amount of push ups. While I can’t really see myself doing 365 push ups by March 1, 2012…it’s not entirely possible. At first I thought Tim was a little nuts, that was until I saw what two months of doing progressively more push ups can do. I mean, wow…Tim has arm muscles and is getting definition in his back and shoulders. It was just…impressive. He did nothing else but push ups. So I thought to myself, “Self, you can do that too.” And so I am. Except you know, I can’t do a full fledged army style push up, so I do the modified girl push up which is from my knees. Maybe by next March I will be strong enough to do actual pushups and will switch over to that. I don’t know. It’s also good for me to the modified because I still have a weak link in my left left from the back surgery I had a decade ago. Oh well, it beats being wheel chair bound, you know?

Yesterday I was a little disappointed near bed time that I had already done all my push ups for the day (a feeling I am sure I won’t feel much of in the coming days). I guess I had just felt stronger and better after being sick and stressed out for a week.

As for yesterday, I did do my taxes. Hurray! We aren’t getting as much back as last year but that is because Tim started claiming one dependent at his new job, instead of claiming none. We used to not take any dependents because we usually owed money on taxes and it was an easy way to not have to write a big check at the the beginning of the year. So that was one big thing that I did that felt like a lot more than it was. Oh I also “hand crafted, two genuine artisan tutu’s” from stripes of pink and white tulle and lots of different colored ribbons. They are matching, which is necessary because these girls fight about everything and love to wear matching outfits, shoes, tutus, etc. There, I did two very important things yesterday.

Now onto today. What important thing can I accomplish today other than getting dressed? Ha ha. I could try and leave the house. Oh I paid the water bill, and a few other bills. I should get Neeners dressed now and find these girls some socks.

Hey folks what’s up? It feels like forever since we sat down and had a chat. This weekend was meh. I had been fighting a cold since last weekend and Wednesday it finally burst through my nose. I felt miserable Thursday and Friday feeling like a piston was exploding in my right nostril every five seconds. What’s worse is that Neeners came down with it too and has been a comfort nursing maniac. I feel like it’s manifested itself in Morella, who is feeling jealous of everything Neeners this whole week. I feel bad for the poor girl. Tim is outside now in that below freezing weather picking up poop and pushing her on the swing. At least it is sunny.

I should really do our taxes. I found out that I have pay taxes for the girls too. I hadn’t realized that I needed to do it and so I didn’t do it last year. I have an appointment set up with H&R Block for them on Tuesday. I am pretty confident that I can do my own though. I am glad I found out now instead of too late. There had been a massive pile of mail stacked up on the green table from over a month of ignoring it. Sometimes I wish I could pay myself to be my own secretary. I would be so on top of things then!

Since I was sick we haven’t done much. We didn’t leave the house for three days. Tim slept most of yesterday in an effort to erase the built up stress. For dinner last night I decided we would have ice cream. So I bundled the girls up and we went to Woodmans to get some ice cream. Then we had pizza and home made pop corn while watching Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. I told them that we were having a party. They loved it and everyone went to bed 8:30. I forgot I was thawing bread out so I stayed up a little later baking it and then headed to bed myself at 10:00. It was another rough night because Neeners was up so much with a frog in her throat and wanting to be attached to my breast. It is times like this that I look forward to when she is weaned, but at the same time I know I will miss it. I will miss having my little baby cuddled up next to me, caressing my neck with her soft little hands.

I have been working on catching up with little tasks and organizational projects around the house. Things like clearing off desks, sorting through toys and putting things away or creating a spot for them to be.

Friday night we had a little excitement. I was laying down for a little rest while Tim was playing My Little Pony with the girls when we heard a loud boom. The neighbor two doors down was having a tree taken down. The workers dropped a branch on an electrical wire and blew a fuse. Twenty eight folks, including ourselves, lost power for two hours. It was near nightfall when it happened so I went around light a bunch of candles and found some flashlights for the girls. Morella and Neeners were a buzz with excitement and Morella couldn’t stop talking about it. Miraculously enough they went to bed and slept a little past their bedtime. I guess a bonus is that our house smelled like the candle section in a Hallmark store for the night. I can just imagine how much of early birds we would be if we still relied on candle lit power at night. I remember reading an article that said people in the old days got about 10 hours of sleep a night because they went to bed soon after nightfall. I believe it. Though who stayed up to stoke the fire? Did they naturally remember to do it or did they just wake up to the cold?

Well I planted the taxes bug in my head so I should probably go ahead and start doing that while Neeners is napping and Tim is gone with Morella on a bike ride.

You know when you are prompted to put in your password and username to word press, it has been awhile. I wish it weren’t so. I have thought about posting every single day for the past week…since the last post, but just haven’t. I guess that is because of a mental block.

On Monday we went up to Neillsville to confront the District Attorney regarding his decision to not press criminal charges. It was amazing. There were about 30 Ho Chunks and two non-HoChunks. Everybody who wanted to speak were given a chance to do so, and there was a lot of great commentary and words spoken. I was really impressed with what can come out in the heat of the moment, or maybe some of them did prepare statements, but I don’t think so. Anyway, long story short we made the District Attorney uncomfortable and grilled him for two hours. He tried to pass off inaction to the cops, but they weren’t gonna take it, and didn’t look very pleased to have been pulled out from whatever it was they were doing to be accused in front of everyone by a weasly little DA.

Of course we didn’t change his mind. I did not go into that meeting with that thought. Why I set it up and went was because I wanted the DA to face his actions (or lack of) and explain himself. The only things that he was sorry for at the of the meeting was putting in that my Dad struggled with alcohol and his underdeveloped brain theory (he later changed his tune to beyond a reasonable doubt). Our next step is to appeal the decision with a judge, but a judge who is not from Clark County. The DA did say that he would talk with the current judge to recuse and refer the case to another judge, lets hope he does that at the very least. Many of us do not think that we would get a fair chance in Clark County.

So there we go. We are back to waiting. Our attorney filed a John Doe appeal today and it will take some time.

The other crap going on in my life is constant warring over who gets to play with certain toys. OH NEENERS HAS JUST CLIMBED INTO MY LAP. I WILL TRY FOR MORE POSTING LATER.

Last night after the girls crashed from their daylight savings time party, I had time to tackle some things that had been weighing on my mind. Though I went to bed after midnight, I did so with a sense of satisfaction. Maybe not as deep as I would like. I suspect that will take more than one evening of applied ambition. Maybe I can keep that going.

Last night I wrote a nice, long letter that was at least a month overdue. I packaged and wrapped two summer dresses and a few extra presents for two birthday girls in the Dells Dam area. I was proud of myself for doing more “spending out.”. A concept I have been rather obsessed with the last couple of days. I just can’t throw stuff away or donate it. I need to use it up or give to someone that it would be meaningful to. So in the course of last night I used ink from a pen in that long letter, five pages of graph paper, an envelope, a box, tissue paper, crepe paper (I used it as a ribbon around the tissue wrapped packages), wrapping paper I have had for years, handmade gift tags made from old Christmas cards that I got from a garage sale over the summer, two gift boxes and I got rid of some of that extra stuff I keep around for emergency filler gifts – things like sidewalk chalk, bubbles, glow in the dark bracelets, etc. Oh and I also finally finished a roll of flower packaging tape that I have had for years and years.

I also wrote my mom her mail for the day, which is a St. Patrick’s Day card. This leaves morning time for me to catch up on the news, read some articles and post!

Now that spring is in the air, I need to get off my butt and renew my efforts to …do. I have made some good progress on things like getting out more, maintaining friendships, and working through personal stuff regarding my father’s case … but I can do more! I have to do more if I really want to start the second half of my life, and my middle age off with a bang. I wonder what it would feel like to be on top of things so much that it would allow for new ideas and projects to come in and get some working time.

Anyway. Yesterday I went to Target to buy some new underwear be use Tim said I desperately needed some ( when your husband tells me to buy clothes, it is something I shouldn’t ignore. Heh. ) then girls were with me and somehow ended up with matching purple heart, bedazzled Mary Jane canvas shoes. Truth be told, I tried to get them to pick different shoes, but they tried on so many until they both had the same pair on and declared they were happy. Geez. Well if it keeps the peace, right? They are such little copy cats.

Well I should probably stop standing at the stove and typing and get dressed. I got some new mascara and eyeliner to try out. My other stuff was getting dried out and crusty. I have to go to the bank to deposit some checks that have been gathering dust, and go to the post office before we get back here and enjoy this very awesome day.

Working through my full camera.

Me and my friend Amy up at the Capitol on a cold Wednesday night.

We got a nip at Paul’s club to warm us up.

My old high school friend A.J. came down from Ashland, WI to get his protest on. He got a lot of compliments on his sign.

The girls got a free ham sandwich and apple for lunch.

These were the guys who made it.

I guess I was wrong, there are palm trees in Wisconsin.

The metal detectors inside the Capitol.

The cool officers who talked with me and the girls while A.J. waded his way through security. I talked primarily with the older guy.

The girls have had an early demonstration of what democracy looks like…several times over. Ask them what is disgusting and they will tell you.

It was a good weekend, but busy. This afternoon we spent a few hours all piled into our bed amid the comforters and flannel sheets reading books, playing with balloons, talking and cuddling. The girls loved it, and I was able to get warm and not have to exert much energy. It was just one of those days were I wanted to spend it all sitting on the couch, going to bed to read or sitting on the other couch.

This afternoon we met up with our friends Ann and her son Noah to watch the St. Patrick’s Day parade. Morella and Neeners came away with a huge back of candy, a couple necklaces and a new found appreciation for parades. Awesome! Morella is finally at an age where she *gets* it. Just think the next parade will be warm. Oh and she was personally handed a bunch of candy from Mayor Dave, and Tim got a pat on the shoulder. Ha ha. I bet it was because he was holding Neeners though. Ahh..spring is in the air. This Thursday it is supposed to be near 60. I also noticed that there are some crocus plants by the front step poking through. Before you know it the Snow Drops will be blossoming.

Saturday morning we were at the Capitol again to see the mighty Tractorcade — 50 or so tractors from farmers around Wisconsin “Pulling Together” in protest of the budget bills. There were so many people there, I would say there was even more than the second Saturday protest a couple of weeks ago that said it go 100K. They say it was between 85-100…but … I think it was more than that. We broke up our protest with a play break at the Children’s Museum. I am so glad that I got the membership back in October, it has paid for itself through and through. We finally left around 2:00 because the girls were tired and we had to get ready for a 4:00 birthday party. We came back and Neeners took a short nap while I wrapped the presents and found a card. The birthday party was for one of Morella’s neighbor friends who was turning 3. A future classmate. The party was really good and we stayed until 7:00, came back and put the girls to bed.

What we didn’t do this weekend was major cleaning, or going to Milwaukee to see the nephew — Canaan. I guess we will have to go next weekend. But I should probably call. I have been having a heck of time returning phone calls and writing because of the heavy nature of what is going on with my Dad’s case. I am nervous about how it is going to go tomorrow at Traditional Court and look forward to Shane and Gaga Lori’s report. The lawyer said he would also be present, so that is reassuring.

I won an hour long massage last month at an open house for Elevation Spa and Salon. I called and made an appointment last week when my head was bursting with pain and I was tense. My appointment is for tomorrow at 10:00AM (Exactly the same time Traditional Court convenes). I am nervous about putting the girls into their Kids Zone for an hour, but I was assured that no one has ever had to be called out of an appointment early. I hope so. I hope they are good with the girls. Neeners has been very beastly and clingy the last couple of days. Her bottom jaw is swollen and looks all rumply. Tim thinks she might be getting four teeth at once. Poor kid. But wait, poor me! All she wants to do is nurse, nurse, nurse. How can I deny her the only thing that comforts her?

Last night for my Wednesday night off I went to see True Grit at the AMC (formerly Star) cinema over in Fitchburg. We brought our own snacks (various candy) and then afterward ended up at the Alchemy for some flourless chocolate cake and sweet potato fries. We were treated to some live entertainment while we were there.

I found out after the movie that Madison had exploded because of the low tactics Republicans have taken to get their way, but instead opted to hang out with Laima and enjoy the slight reprieve in headache madness. I thought I had a migraine for a while there because the headache would not go away, but after awhile I saw patterns in which anything to do with my Dad’s case would make my head pound more. When the evening was done, I found that my head was pain free and I was actually quite tired. It was nice to go home — after listening to Tim talk about what happened because I didn’t have the energy to spend hours on the internet and sleep. I feel like lately I have been able to sleep in too to around 7:30 because Tim has to get up and the girls get up with him. Lately though, it’s Neeners that gets up early and hangs with him until the noise wakes Morella. I am fairly certain she will be doing her own version of sleeping in tomorrow because she is still awake here at 10:00. It is funny considering she used to be such a good sleeper when she was little.

I liked True Grit…it was mostly a girls story of vengeance….appropriate for my own story.

The metaphor that I came up with, is … I am told to go to the kitchen to bake a cake without a recipe. I know the kinds of things that go into a cake, but I can’t say definitively how I would go about it. There is some flour, some salt, some kind of oil or fat, sugar, an egg or three. There are folks who keep asking me how that cake is coming along and I want to answer that I am making the best damn cake I know how, but that’s the problem. I don’t know how. I am fumbling along, trying to do my best. Trying to do right by everyone that knew Dad and knows us, but not sure how to go about it.

As it stands now, we received that official letter from the District Attorney stating that he will not press charges because the girl has an underdeveloped brain and we don’t want too mar her future or ruin her life. I have a million thoughts on this, but even writing about it now stiirs the headache. We have a date set to talk with the DA about his decision set for March 21st. It was obvious in the preliminary meeting set up that he did not want to speak with me or my family by asking if we had received his email and then letter. A part of me thinks that he thinks his argument was sound enough for us to not want to take up any more of his precious time. For indeed, it must be truly precious for him to not want to do his job and seek justice.

I faxed his letter and the email that he had sent this morning to the Ho Chunk Nation, who is taking it to the Traditional Court to discuss this upcoming Monday. Our lawyer and my brother Shane will be in attendance to represent the family.

We are going to appeal the decision with the next step, and yes are still going to proceed with a civil suit eventually. Remember, the civil suit is essentially us only dealing with their insurance company. The results will have absolutely no bearing on this girl or their family, except that their premiums might go up a bit. No punishment or any indication to the girl that was she did was more than just a tragic accident. Because, it was not *just* an accident. It was more. It was blatant negligent driving.

Anyway. What more can I do? I can rally the troops, as I have been doing. I can ask that people speak for and attest to the character that my Dad had and how important he was to the community…but when it comes to legality…it is all new territory. A territory that a numerous TV shows hasn’t fully prepared me for.

Look, it is already Thursday night. This week had been speedy, exhausting, depressing and trying. The best parts about it are my wonderful friends, my kids and my angry husband.

I wish I had some True Grit.

Life has been very full the past couple of weeks, and this weekend was no different. We had an out of town guest from way up in Ashland come and stay with us for the weekend starting on Friday. He came so that he could go to the Capitol and protest. I feel like anything I can do to help towards the injustice going on with the current political climate is worthwhile, even if it just means I offer up my basement and air mattress. I was able to take the girls with me up to the Capitol on Friday to get our protest on with our friend for an hour. We were able to get into te…my ___ key just stopped working.

Te letter abcdefg ijklmnopqrstuvwxyz …. can you figure out te letter? Crap.

ow can I write a post without te ….well tat was just an autocorrect…h there we go! I rebooted the typad if you were interested there.

Anyway. We were able to get into the Capitol on Friday with the help of a slew of friendly police officers and fellow protestors. Trust me, pushing the girls around in a massive double stroller isn’t as easy as one would expect it to be, especially for an old building like the Capitol. We went through a metal detector, had the stroller and the girls looked at, and a hand held metal detector swabbed over us before we made it to the rotunda, but by golly we did it. I even had a long conversation with a State Trooper who expressed his happiness that the Capitol was open and he was able to help people in to read the signs and demonstrate. Very cool. We also got handmade ham sandwiches and free apples from other protestors, along with a cookie and bad cup of coffee to pass for lunch. It was the most positive experience yet! A big change from when I had gone Wednesday night on my free night with my friend Amy. Then we were shooed way from the doors and even that upper Capitol steps at one point.

The rest of the weekend I wasn’t able to make it downtown because of other obligations. Tim managed to get downtown with our friend A.J. on Saturday. Tim was very well dressed and carried a sign that read “Slobs for Labor” with little flies drawn all over it. A.J. carried a sign that read “Douchbaggery” with a no sign over it. As you might have guessed, it was a very popular sign.

Saturday morning was a 3rd birthday party for Morella’s friend Leo. It was the first cake of many that the girls and myself were about to consume. I think I have had enough cake to last me all month. If I had a scale, I am sure that it would attest to that fact.

The afternoon and Saturday night was devoted to preparing for, setting up and having a wonderful babyshower for my dear friend Lowen. Five of us total put together one of the best parties I have ever had the pleasure to co host. The decorations, space, table centerpieces, cake, and food were all just incredible. I MC’d the event along with my little helpers (Morella and Neeners) successfully with four games. The prizes were great, the guests were generous and awesome and best of all Lowen was the picture of grace as a the Guest of Honor. The event was done and I was home by 9:40, which worked out well because no one could sleep without my motherly presence at home (really it was Neeners). I had an OK nights sleep that could have been longer and less interupted, but I will take what I can get. I had been up ridiculously late Friday night making sure I had everything ready and packed — and was up early thanks to Neeners.

Really, I should be in bed right now.

Today I got up, reheated some breakfast burritos for everyone, made coffee and saw my friend A.J. off. He introduced a new phrase to me. He said that he was going to head back to Ashland to “spell his wife.” What? Spell? What the fudge are you talking about bro (incidentally we went to High School together). Apparently, it means ‘to relieve one of duty.’ They ran out of gas yesterday and his wife had been manning the firestove, in addition to taking care of two young boys. Spell comes from dispell.

It reminds me of the other phrase I learned a couple weeks ago of “american chop suey.”

“What is that?” I asked. “Like the chop suey in a can?

“It’s ground hamburger, onions, elbow macaroni, and tomato …”

“You mean goulash?” I asked.
“I guess if that is what you call it. We always called it American Chop Suey,” replied my Maine friend.

I laughed and told her that here in Wisconsin, some people like to call that “chili,” in which case they are wrong because all know that chili does not have pasta in it.

Back to today. Our new nephew Gus Gus has his baptism this morning in Milwaukee. Tim, the girls and I were all suffering from case of being too darn tired. We rallied and I drove us all to the church service where we arrived late enough to have missed the actual sacrament. Whoops. Really, why do have to do it at the beginning of the service? Seems like something they want to get out of the way. It worked out though because the girls has only enough attention span to get through the rest of the service. It also goes with Tim’s record of missing the last three in a row because he has had to take Morella to the kids area lest there be a meltdown.

There was an after baptism party at the in law’s house. It was another bountiful spread, and we ended up spending the rest of the afternoon just hanging out in their living room while all the kids ran around and played. It was so relaxing. Such a nice change from the frenetic activity of the last week. The late nights and partying caught up with the girls and they passed out almost immediately on the drive home. I got us back safe and sound and they went to bed right away and have been sleeping since. I am looking forward to getting back to normal for a few days.

i watched the second half of The Hogfather and made crepe paper streamer flowers. There is a list mile long of the things that need to be done around the house, of the writing and reading I want to do, and things I want to do just for myself. Sometimes, I have to remind myself that just watching a movie, working on a putzy craft thing (using crepe paper that is spread all over the living room from the girl’s helping me) is … uh cleaning up.

I miss posting everyday. I wonder when I look back on these days will I have had enough written to really recall my life well? I guess only time will tell. I should seriously look into getting a paper copy of this blog. That is 10 years here.

Other things…Sigrid gave me a belated birthday present — another easy reach grabber. My other one broke a couple months ago and I have missed it almost daily since. I swear that the next person I know who had their 2nd kid, I will be gifting an easy reach. It is just so useful when you spend large portions of your day holding a baby.

My friend Jess sent Morella and Neeners an envelope with some cool paper, hot coco and a sucker. It totally made Morella’s day. Thanks Jess!

Also, thank you for the sympathy regarding the latest news on my father’s case. I’ll keep you updated, but I do appreciate all the words.