Under the Same Sky

How can it possibly be almost December? Didn't this year just start? I am pretty sure that Evelyn's rainbow birthday party in May was just a few weeks ago, and M's parents--well, I'm pretty sure that we're still waiting for THAT to happen. How time flies when you get old.

I regret to inform you that my beautiful anniversary weekend alone with the boy was somewhat lessened by illness-mine. I came down with a sinus infection, self-diagnosed, and I actually managed to get through it without copious antibiotics, which was swell. It was touch and go there for a while--I was headed to the doctor on Saturday morning, but finally decided against it. We still had fun, if a little less actively than planned. I was feeling good on Friday and got a ton done while M was at work. We had a nice dinner at a steakhouse (Longhorn) but I was feeling pretty tired by the time it was over. Saturday and Sunday were fairly low-key, but it's still fairly fantastic to have the house to the adults only upon occasion. By Monday, I was feeling well enough to actually enjoy myself while shopping. When we were done, we headed up to pick up Evie-Kadevie and have dinner with my parents. As for her, she had a great time. I think she missed us some but she was just fine with my mom. Sometimes I think she'd move in with them if I would let her.

(This is not actually true. She wanted to come home--she just wants to spend more time at Granny's than she gets to now. It probably sounds like she is always gone, but her overnight visits are pretty rare now.)

When we came back home, we only had two days of normal before we headed back up for Thanksgiving, which was nice. I had a pretty serious headache, which wasn't great. The best part of Thanksgiving day at my house is after it's over and the dishes are done, we all hang out around the kitchen table and we pore over the Black Friday ads. We make lists and talk about gift ideas for all the kids. It's... I don't know. It sounds lame, but it's a lot of fun. It was a little less fun this year than in previous years. Not sure why. In any case, we headed out to Walmart at around nine. I really didn't have a single thing on my list, but I was going for the sake of the family bonding. It was CRAZY.

I know some people feel strongly about Black Friday being absurd, but it's something that I participate in mainly because it's a fun thing that the family does together. I usually don't buy much. It's a lot of fun to actually grab a coveted item, even if you're not grabbing it for yourself. Last year, while my mom waited in a line that stretched back to eternity for a DS (for Evie, though she ended up getting one for herself, too), I amused myself with running all over the store to fetch items. I was bringing stuff back for the people next to my mom in line by the end. (Which sounds funnier than it actually was. It happened to be someone that we knew--the ex-step-mother of my best friend in kindergarten. Small towns are fun that way!) Anyway, in previous years, there was a certain camaraderie in the whole thing. We were a bunch of people out shopping at the ass-crack of dawn and it was wild and crazy but we were all in it together. I was never really worried about those trampling stories because... I was going Black Friday shopping in a small town. In the south. As a general rule, we're friendly here. I have never loved the idea of having my kiddo with me at the big five a.m. rush, but I usually have her by about seven and it's been fine. (M has to work on that day, which we all accuse him of doing on purpose--bribing his boss, etc, because he does NOT want to join in with us on this. Anyway, he would get E ready and bring her out to us before he left town.. since it started the night before this time, he didn't have to do that this year.)



Anyway, this year, it wasn't like it was in previous years. I think that having it be an evening shopping trip instead of an early morning shopping trip brought out a different sort of person. It was CREEPY when 10 p.m. came and people started clawing at the pallets to get their items. Pushing and shoving and the works. Maybe I sound naive, but I've never seen it like that before. We started doing this years ago, but it's become such a big thing now that really, too many people are going and the retailers are putting out worse deals every year. I don't know. I look forward to parts of Black Friday every year, but I am not sure I will want to go next year... although whether or not I can get out of it is another story. Creepy moment at ten aside, we had a good time. I didn't buy much, but I did find a $3 pink t-shirt with Candace from Phineas & Ferb on the front. Evie loves Candace, because she's bossy like her. Yes, well, at least she's aware of her shortcomings? I don't know. Anyway, I'd have paid more for that. Evie will love it. (I also bought her a Perry shirt from the boy's section that's almost like the one M has. She'll loooove having a matching shirt with Daddy.) And, we had fun, especially the next day. As much as I disliked the mood at Walmart that night, I loved what it did for Friday shopping. We went home and slept for a while, and then got up and were ready to leave town by about 7:00. We made it to Lexington before the early bird stuff wore off, and I finally got to go to a store that Iwanted to go to. Kohl's, of course. The stores were kind of busy but not much more so than on any other Saturday in December, and the stock levels were pretty good to boot. I wonder what the outcome of this year's experiment will be.

M has decided that he no longer needs to sleep, apparently, and it is now after midnight and we're both awake. I hear that when you get old, you need less sleep. As I am still a spring chicken (never mind what i wrote earlier in this very post) I need my beauty sleep. :)

Better late than never, right? We have been back a week and a half now, and life has finally settled back into its normal routine. Last week was a little rough, because we were all still jetlagged and waking up at six in the morning. Plus, I felt a little aimless and lost, kind of like you feel after the presents are opened at Christmas. I've been planning this trip for SO. LONG. Now that I'm home I'm not entirely sure what to do with myself. :) I'm glad to report that I am feeling much more myself this week.


This is my desktop background right now. Isn't M a cute Viking? We took a day trip to Sigtuna, which is one of my favorite places. It's a manageable drive outside of the city and yet it's a small town. I have always said that's where I'd want to live if we moved to Sweden. We wouldn't, of course, but it's a nice daydream. Anyway! We went on a Viking boat. It was touristy and silly but a lot of fun. M was the official steering dude. Is there a word for a Viking boat steering dude?
( clicky for more )

We have three days left here in Stockholm and we're trying to figure out what exactly we want to do with them. We've done a lot of shopping, we've done some touristing, but we have sort of decided against going to see Vasa tomorrow due to lack of supreme interest. Everyone has seen it except Whitley and no one really wants to see it again, and Whitley isn't like falling over herself to see it herself, so... it seems kind of silly to trek out there. It's a boat, guys. It sank, and then major amounts of money was pent to pick it back up. It is actually cool; I'm not trying to minimize it, but it's also pretty much something you can just hear the story and see the pictures, if one is fifteen and not personally interested in Swedish history. Anyway, Vasa has been scrapped and we did spend a bunch of time in Gamla Stan today, so.. not sure what we're gonna do tomorrow.

Evie spent the day with Farfar and Farmor today for the first time, which was kind of cool. We went out shopping (and walking!) in the city and then made our way over to M's sister's house. Evie would have H.A.T.E.D. today's trip so it was good timing. I was sort of dreading the whole day, actually, until they asked if she would want to stay with them this morning. We bought a lot of junk. Even Whitley got into the spirit of things and purchased a few items. She's mainly been walking around trying to figure out something to buy, and then falling over in despair at the prices. :)

Yesterday was all about Skansen, which was fun. Skansen is a zoo/open air museum (as they seem fond of pointing out). Evie had fun but she got way too tired. M abandoned us when we left there, heading off to spend a little time with his BFF.

Sometime on Monday, we took enough pictures that they no longer show up on this computer when I try to transfer them. Never saw anything like it, but the computer recognizes the camera but refuses to list the remaining photos. So... I have a great excuse for not posting pictures... at least of the last two days. :) Pictures when we get home, probably more than you really care about seeing.

Have you ever been sitting on a plane, ages past boarding, and you’re waiting for the thing to actually move, and then suddenly someone bursts onto the plane looking disheveled and anxious, and you think smugly to yourself that these people should really plan better so that they don’t show up at the airport so close to their departure time?

Yeah. Welcome to our world yesterday.

Let’s put everything into perspective, though, and start on Saturday. We met my parents and niece for lunch, and then we brought my niece with us to the hotel near the airport, where we were spending the night. Both the girls fell asleep in the car on the way there. When they woke up at the hotel, Evie’s eyes were gunked up. YAY PINK EYE. We’re two hours from her doctor with an international flight going out the next day. I asked at the desk and found an Urgent Care center nearby, so we took off to the doctor. It was easily confirmed as pink eye—this is our first parenting experience with pink eye. It is not fun. So we pick up her medicine and drive around in circles for an hour looking for somewhere to eat. I finally gave up and picked the closest McDonald’s on the GPS. We drove for ten minutes and guess where it led us? To the ValuPark lot at the airport. Yes, the GPS was sending us INTO THE AIRPORT FOR DINNER. No thank you. That was really just a sidenote though because we finally ate and made it back to the hotel and the freezing ”heated” pool, where fun was had by all. When we get back, I am going to look into swimming lessons for Evie. She loved it.

After a restless night’s sleep, we get up and get our stuff ready to go. (This includes twenty minutes of trying to get Evie’s matted and puffy swollen eyes open and then medicated. Is this a good time to apologize to the flying peoples of the world for bringing pink eye onto a plane” Yeah, sorry about that.) We get to the airport, check in with minimal problems—although we did have go to through the security line twice because when we got up there, we found an issue with our boarding passes. Evie is grumpy, and none of us can blame her because HELLO, PINK EYE. We go through security, where I beep like mad. I was carrying all four passports and presumably they have a metal strip in them… according to the security people but I beeped several times later on so I have no idea.

After security, we have a couple of hours to kill and then I remember lunch. There’s only one place past security to eat in our general vicinity, so Whitley and I stood in line for 35 minutes. (Incidentally: after those 35 minutes, I waited an additional five minutes and then paid 22 bucks for two paninis, two bags of chips, two drinks, a one dollar orange that Evie wouldn’t touch after all and a bottle of milk. Whitley got a bottle of juice and a club sandwich for twelve, so I guess I can’t complain in comparison. The food sucked, too.) When we got back to the place, it was time to board.. or it would have been time to board if our flight wasn’t delayed. We had a few tense moments with thinking we were only going to have forty minutes to make it to our next flight, but eventually, a really nice gate agent really helped us. We decided to go to Newark and he put us in as backup on a flight that went out the next day. He even drew the route on a map of the Newark airport and told us how to get to the C terminal from A. We left before originally scheduled, so we had an hour and twenty minutes before the flight departed. We were GOLDEN.

HAHAHA. That is when this story takes a turn for the AWFUL. We get there and we are still rushing like mad because it’s a big place and we want to get to where we need to go as soon as possible, just in case. We ride the shuttle, we walk aaalllll the way through the C terminal to the gate, where we….. are told that we need to be in Terminal B. We’re not on that flight. We have 45 minutes at this point. M is pissed because he knew we wouldn’t have time to make it because of a Continental employee’s directions. The woman directs us to the Continental Customer Service, where we had to wait in line again. There, the woman ridiculed us for waiting at line (at yet another Continental employee’s direction) and basically just told us to run, knowing full well we wouldn’t make it. Yet, we had to try, so we ran. I mean, RAN. Two adults, one teen and one carried three-year-old, running like mad through a crowded airport. We get to the shuttle and we ride to the next terminal and can’t find the gate on the signs, so my brilliant husband heads to the SAS check-in counter. We were second-guessing that decision at the time, thinking that we might be killing precious minutes, but it was the only thing that saved us. They started messing with boarding passes and passports and affixed a beautiful green dot on our boarding passes that let us go through priority security lines, called the gate to let them know, and told us basically to run. I sent M on ahead at first, but we got back together at security, where we got to skip the mile-long lines. Then there was more running, still with the carry-ons and the Evie being carried. (We all took a turn, with M doing most of the worst of it, Whitley taking over in the middle and me finishing up. She weighs 40 pounds, by the way, and we stupidly decided against the mei tai, even though I was going to bring it for just this very sort of thing.)

And… we made it. After Security, M ran on the last few minutes to the gate—yes, the farthest one in the terminal--by himself, while we were struggling with the girl and the stuff, so that he could alert them that we were there.

WE MADE IT.

We burst onto the plane with everyone staring. We were red-faced, hot, sweaty, exhausted and really just operating in a state of shock, but we made it. Our reserved seats were apparently reassigned, but since there were two together for Evie and someone, and then someone behind that seat, we didn’t say a word about it. I got to sit in a window seat on the other side of the plane in the aisle behind them by myself, so M got to do baby duty for the entire flight. She was pretty good, he said, and she managed to sleep three and a half hours. The rest of us… not so much. But we made it, and that is all that matters.

I’m finishing this up at two in the morning (eight EST) because we woke up in the middle of the night with Evie, who woke up confused, and neither of us could go back to sleep because our bodies were thinking it was time to be awake. I think it’s time to go give it another try, though, because I have a feeling we’ll be up with her again pretty early.

We’re here… by the skin of our teeth. :)

(p.s. going to try to double-post while I'm gone.. sorry if it bothers you if you have the feed.)

Like a moron, I left my keys at my parents on Sunday. My mom was taking my grandfather to the doctor in Lexington (which is between us) so I decided to make it a shopping day and went to retrieve them. We met up after they were done at the doctor and my mom asked Evie if she wanted to come with her to Granny's house and... that is how I am sitting here posting at 9:20 a.m. It has been a long time since she went to stay with her Granny. Well, there was one day, about a month ago, but a) it was just one evening and b) it was for a very specific purpose (I had a crappy doctor appt) and c) they called at five a.m. because they were taking my grandfather back to the hospital. Hardly counts. I really think that E has been having a hard time with such a drastic decrease in the amount of Granny time so I hope this reassures her. Also, I had become accustomed to a little time off every so often! I know, I'm spoiled.

My grandfather, by the way, is doing better. Short recap: batteries changed in pacemaker turned into raging staph infection that would have killed him pretty quickly had they not removed it. Pacemaker removed, infection healing but problems that the pacemaker was correcting began returning--specifically, fluid in his lungs. It was well over a month before the pacemaker could be put back in, though, because of the risk of the infection returning. It's been three weeks since it was put back in and he's healing, but it's a slow process and he's fairly depressed about it. Right now, though, it's looking good and he's getting stronger. We're just praying it continues in this direction. The infection showed up two months ago today so it's been a long road.

Anyway! I have an extensive to-do list planned for today. I also have some shopping to do, though I might try to get up tomorrow morning and do it on my way to pick up the girl. My primary goal is going to be to make the binding for a baby quilt and do the machine attaching part. I will hand sew the other side, but I just need to get this part done before Evie gets back. Hopefully that won't take too long but I honestly don't remember from the last one I made. I kind of enjoy quilting but I don't see it ever becoming 'my' hobby, if you know what I mean. I really quite like the piecing part but I HATE the quilting part and I'm not too crazy about the rest of it either. So... yeah. I do have a few that I would like to make though.

We leave for Sweden in just about a month, and, being me, I am spending a bit of time doing organizational tasks. I mean, I always make lists, but I'm being more organized than usual for three reasons. 1) I am a SAHM and I am really looking forward to a change of pace 2) my niece and 3) my three-year-old. I want the traveling to be as peaceful as possible for E's sake, of course, but mainly, I have been stressing over my niece. It's just a slightly odd situation, you know. She's fifteen and she needs some guidance on STUFF. What to pack, what to not pack, what will happen, etc. If she lived with us, we'd just kind of get that info across as we were packing our own stuff. But she doesn't live with us and I don't really get to see her that often, and I almost never see her mom, my former sister-in-law. (Former..ish.) She needs to know this stuff too, since she'll be the one to help W pack. So, I am writing some notes on all that stuff, like how much the baggage can weigh and a list of what she definitely needs to pack and some notes on electrical devices and what to bring in a carryon and all of that good stuff. I guess part of it is just that it means a lot to me to be able to give this experience to her and I want it to go as well as possible.

So, help me? Most of you are the traveling sort. What do you think a fifteen year old girl needs to know about international travel and flying in general that she might not have thought about? She's never flown before. Any hints on what should she pack? What should she not pack? I have already written most of what I can think of telling her but I feel like I'm forgetting stuff so I was hoping you all would give me a few ideas. Imagine bringing a teenager with you next time you go--what would you want them to know in advance. Oh, and while you're at it... we'll be in Stockholm. Any ideas on what we should be doing with her (AND a three-year-old, of course) while we're there? We did a lot of touristy things when I was there for the summer before we got married, but it's a) been ten years and b) not like we did everything there was to do.

I have just plain old gotten out of the habit of posting. Am think of making a New Year's Resolution about it. Or rather, a resolution. For some reason, ti seems like the ones that are made in January have less of a hope of sticking.

Christmas was so fantastic. Really, really great. My parents came down to pick me up on Tuesday, and we did a little shopping in the city nearby with my niece. None of us really had that much actual Christmas shopping to do. We were just out having a good time. At the end of the day, we met up with M, who works between our town and the city we were in, and we went to see the Christmas lights at the horse park. It was so much fun. The lights were neat and all, but the real winner was the free petting zoo and stuff going on at the end. It was all largely outdoors, so we were all bundled up against the cold--don't know if I've ever spent so much time outdoors after dark in December--but it was still great. Evelyn loved the petting zoo part SO MUCH. She was feeding them carrot sticks and petting everything. There were goats and antelopes and ostriches and buffalo and even a kangaroo. (Evie liked the goats the best.) It was all magical and stuff.

While all the shopping was going on, I was also talking to M on the phone occasionally, as we are wont to do, and I suggested to him that he take Wednesday off work instead of the following Monday. He had one more day of vacation left to use, and originally, Wednesday was out because someone else was taking it off. But, her plans changed so... anyway, M decided not to work Wednesday, and so we called Santa up and asked him to come to our house early so we could leave town on Wednesday evening without missing him. Santa is so considerate that he immediately agreed. ;) I don't know if we'll be able to do that kind of rearranging much longer, since Evelyn may begin to question it after a while, but it's so inconvenient to be out of town over Christmas. We do the family gift thing on Christmas Eve in my family, but we do a holiday dinner on Christmas Day, so it doesn't make sense to drive home at midnight on Christmas Eve (hour and a half from my parents, or two if we left from my grandfather's house.) But... we also don't want to drag all of the presents we have for each other to my parents house, since we want to have a little bit of family time to ourselves, too. Anyway, it worked out fine this year. Evelyn was thrilled when Santa came and I was thrilled to watch her, and M and I got great gifts for each other. Then we went to do the family thing and there was nothing terribly dramatic going on, so all in all--great Christmas.

From M, I got a pair of pearl earrings, a book, a game and a new old cell phone. ;) Last year, I accidentally put my phone in the washer, where it died a painful death. It wasn't a fancy phone, and the replacement phone that I've been using off and on since then was actually a slightly newer, but similar, phone. However, I liked it because the sound quality was very good and I use my cell phone as my primary house phone, and I don't text and I refuse to pay for internet service when I am at home most of the time anyway, so it makes a lot more sense for me to focus on sound quality than all those fancy things that I would dearly love to play with but don't need. So... he bought me a replacement phone like the one I used to have.:) I thought that was very thoughtful of him. :) AND, the best part was that he made me a set of three wooden candleholders. He does a lot of woodworking/instrument building, but he has never really made anything for me so it was a lovely present. :) I mainly got him a bunch of Xbox stuff, and a shirt that says "Shop smart, shop S-Mart" with accompanying illustrations. (Anyone know? hehe.) From the parents, I got a bunch of shirts and a new printer and hair straightener and a cooking pot, and a bunch of other things that I can't remember. Makeup.

I told Evie recently that after Christmas, she was going to have to learn to use the potty every time. I didn't actually intend to start with this project until after New Years, but somehow we ended up going for it today. I put her in panties all day and nagged her relentlessly about using the potty. On the bright side, she got ten stickers on her potty chart--definitely a record. On the down side, she also peed all over the damned place. I don't know what her deal is because I wouldn't have thought she peed ten times in one day normally, much less all the other random peeing. I know that I am probably making it harder by putting panties on her instead of leaving her bottom bare, but it has never really worked out well for her when we've tried it in the past. She usually ends up crying and begging for her diaper. I think it feels strange to her, extended nakedness. Besides, I don't want to have trouble when we go from bare bottom to wearing panties.. I'd rather get it all over with at once, if I can. Soo... yeah, it was kind of a rough day, especially since we also took the Christmas tree down and have been trying desperately to pick up all the chaos and gifts left over from Christmas. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

And on that note, I have to go do more laundry before we end up with a panty shortage. :) Also, I think that a snack would be appropriate..

The sweetest thing ever just happened to me. I was putting Evelyn to sleep, and all was going well until I went to lay her down. When she hit the mattress, she woke up a little bit, and searched desperately for me and started kissing my arm. I was hoping she would fall back asleep after a moment, so I waited, but she started sitting up and reaching for me again, so I picked her back up. She proceeded to kiss me all over my chest. When I made it back to the couch with her and sat down, she (eyes still mostly closed) leaned up and kissed my mouth before snuggling back into my arms (kissing me a few times on her way) and then fell promptly asleep. EXCEPT! She couldn't stay asleep because she kept rousing herself every few minutes TO KISS MOMMY SOME MORE. I mean, seriously, does it get any sweeter than that? I finally had to call in M to put her down because she just kept waking up because the alluring mother unit was just too kissable to get any real rest done. (Naturally, she fell fully asleep in the time it took him to walk down the hallway and get the sunroom ready (he walks with her out there when he puts her to sleep.) but still.) How sweet. Sometimes I almost think she likes me or something.

It's probably just because I bought her crayons for her bathtub today. She thought those were grand. Well worth sixty cents, they were.

I went shopping today with my couponing friend and we had a really nice time. It's so much fun when we go together. By the end of the day, we tend to have to put some bags in the back seat because the trunk is full..hehe. I am so trying not to think about the fact that they're moving in five or six weeks. It just really stinks that I finally find a local, SAHM friend like her and she's leaving already. Anyway, I completely finished the birthday and Christmas presents for one of my cousins today. That was fun. (Total cost: $.63.) Feeling pretty confident about her liking them, too. Yay Kohl's!

Actually, the weekly shopping plan was supposed to be that I was going to meet the girls in the family tomorrow for a day of fun and visiting with cousin who's in for a visit from North Carolina. Unfortunately, said cousin woke up yesterday morning so ill that when she went to the doctor, they put her in an ambulance and sent her to the ER in the next town. (No hospital in the first town.) Apparently it was a stomach virus of some sort, but they had to give her a number of meds just to get her to stop throwing up continually. Lovely, huh? I figured that a) she is not gonna be in the mood for shopping all day by tomorrow and b) I REALLY don't want to expose any of us to a stomach bug that serious, and by Thursday, she may not be contagious anymore but you know that the rest of the family will be passing it around. So, no thank you. That actually sounds bad enough that I am seriously rethinking our plans to go up to visit this weekend..which will go over like a lead balloon but... one does what one must, I suppose. E has only had one real round of a stomach virus and she took it very hard and so did we. :) I know you can't shield yourself from everything but you CAN shield yourself from known threats, right? (I am pre-rationalizing at this point, preparing for the real event this weekend if I need to.)

And... a partridge in a pear tree.

Last week was so hectic, but we had a great time. Evie was just so tired every night that she could barely stand herself. No naps, plus busy busy busy, plus staying up late.. I let her sleep late in the mornings but it just didn't cut it. She really just had too much fun. The parents were camping across town, along with my niece, W, who's fourteen. We were over there all day from Wednesday through Saturday.

( pictures and more )

I had the one of the strangest things ever happen to me last night. I mean, it's not significant, in the general scheme of things, but it was just so freaking weird that I can't get over it.

First (because it's me) here's the extended set-up. We went up to spend the weekend with my parents. They also threw me a little birthday party on Saturday, which was nice. Ribs and strawberry pie and presents, what more can you ask for? :) I get strawberry pie instead of cake because my mommy loves me. Right. So anyway, it occurred to me that I was going to be spending my actual birthday at home alone so I kind of encouraged my mom to come visit me today, with the option of doing some out-of-town shopping. But then we ended up deciding to spend one more night with my parents, and M would drive directly to work, and my mom would bring Evie and me home and we would do some shopping on the way. It was a good plan, in part because Evelyn was so worn out yesterday that I just could not imagine strapping her into a car seat for ninety minutes at that time of day and having good things come of it.

But since it was Sunday night by now, around eight o'clock, I had to pick up a couple of newspapers for the coupons because I wouldn't be in town to get them here. I prefer the Louisville paper because the Lexington paper's coupons suck balls, but it isn't carried in my parents' town anywhere that I have yet found. However, I've found that the Ashland paper is better than the Lexington so I had to find a gas station that carried them. I struck out at the first one, but then they had a box outside at the second. I dutifully fed it $1.50 (after having to go inside to get change) but then I didn't get my paper. It wouldn't open. I thought I had tried to open it too soon and M pointed out that since I was buying two anyway, I might as well feed it another $1.50 and grab two papers that time. Great! So, that's what I did. Only, it still didn't work. M was with my by now because of all the hassles I was having, and I went inside to tell them that it took my money. Unconcerned Teenage Girls just looked like deer in the headlights and said that they had no control over the newspaper boxes. Some old guy standing around kind of took charge--not sure who he was but he was sort of bossing them around (but wearing a uniform from the local car dealer mechanic shop so I don't think he was the owner) and told me to write my name down on a piece of paper and the guy would leave me my money or my paper. So I wrote a little note, adding my phone number, explaining what happened, and requested that he leave two papers for me to pick up in the morning.

When I got back to the car, my dad suggested that we just find another machine, feed it the money for a third newspaper, take three and then forget the whole thing. The money would work out when the guy (who my dad possibly knows, if it's the guy he's thinking of) did his accounting for the town. It's a small town, there really won't be multiple people delivering papers here. Good idea, right? M got drafted into ThirdPaper duty, which started at a local grocery store down the street. He had to go inside to get more change, and then walk to the corner of the store outside and put the money in.... and guess what? It wouldn't dispense a paper either. It, however, at least gave us the money back. Did I mention it was raining? So we head towards the house but stop at one more gas station to give ThirdPaper another try. It worked this time, and M grabbed three papers and all was well. He also found a stack of coupony papers at the bottom of the pile, which was kind of cool--they turned out to be from two different recent weeks. I was just happy to get my papers and not have to worry with the papers that would possibly be left for me at the first gas station. I have no longer paid for those, after all.

Okay, now we are getting to the weird part. Were you wondering what was weird about that story except for a car full of folks scouring one small town for a couple of newspapers and then thinking it was worth blogging about? We come home and get the baby to bed and then we go to bed.

At 2:51 this morning, my phone rings.

It's the newspaper guy.

He wants to let me know that he has left me two newspapers at the BP station, to pick up in the morning.

What. The. Hell.

Who in their right mind would call someone at three in the morning to tell them something like that??? It is insane. I mean, really. I cannot get over it. I was so confused when it happened that all I could do was say okay. First of all, I just got a new phone Saturday afternoon and this was the first call I've really ever gotten except for test calls, so I didn't even know what that noise was at first. Second of all, I was asleep and third--you just don't get business phone calls in the middle of the freaking night! I was so tempted to call him back at around ten this morning and ask him what he was thinking and explain to him that people really do not appreciate telephone calls at that hour. (I figure that since he works at night, he is likely to be home and asleep by ten.. perfect timing.) I don't like calling people after nine, much less three. I am guessing that he was peeved that I put him to all this trouble over three dollars and wanted a little revenge? That's the only thing I can think of. Oh, and don't forget that my notoriously difficult sleeping baby was asleep in the same room. She didn't wake up, thank goodness.

Anyway. At least it gave me something to talk about. Oh! And also, a bonus bit of awesomeness is that we went to Red Lobster for lunch. Before we left this morning, I rifled through said coupon inserts to see if there happened to be a coupon for there in them, though I didn't think there would be. There was not. However, on a whim, I checked the extra pages that M grabbed and it actually worked! It was like a sign that it was going to be a good day. $3 off, yay! :)

Other than that rude beginning (also, it took me two hours to go back to sleep, just laying there worrying about those stupid newspaper) it was a nice birthday. Mom, Evie and I had a "girl day". I kept telling E that it was a girl day because it was so cute when she would say it. It was also cute because I asked her who she wanted to come with us on our next girl day. I was leading up to suggesting Sissy (my niece) should come, but Evelyn responded immediately that she wanted Daddy to come. So there you have it. Daddy is an integral part of Girl Day... or at least, he should be. :) We didn't buy a whole lot but we did get the plates and napkins and stuff for her birthday party this weekend.

My husband has promised me a full body massage and pedicure for my birthday and yet he is all "oh, you don't want it tonight because it's already ten o'clock!" And I do not entirely understand this logic. But, I am looking forward to it immensely. :)

Also, we ordered a new camera and it was on our doorstep when we made it home this evening.Yay new gadgetry! New phone + new camera = happiness + love. Hopefully we'll like it. This one and this one, if you're curious.)

My mom came down yesterday to spend the day with her girls. I promptly put her to work in my little storage room. We did a whole lot of organizational stuff, which is something she's also really good at. I have so much free space in there! The only ones of you who have actually seen this room, besides M, is Carrie and Mike. It was so cluttered in there when they were here that you actually could not walk into the room. (Part of that was just shoving things we didn't know what to do with in there while cleaning, I must confess.) They are probably shaking their heads in skepticism now but really. The floor is completely clear and there is bare shelf space. M installed a new shelf for me on Sunday, and will install another one when we time for it. It's lovely! Also, it's lovely to be married to someone as handy as he is. :) Now if only my handy husband model came with the "enough free time" upgrade, we'd be in business.

My husband is funny. He is playing a stupid computer game and he just went into a five minute rant about how the controls are the worst controls he has ever seen on a computer game ever. He has seen a lot of computer games. He has even played Final Fantasy 8! ;) (Nerd joke about bad controls. I thought that one was pretty awful myself.) He was complaining about how the controls made it actually impossible to finish the mission. Ten minutes later, I look over and what is he doing? Still playing the impossible-to-win, un-fun bad controls game. He has been trying to get his little dude to climb up a ravine by jumping from side to side for well longer than the amount of time it's taken me to write this paragraph. Give up, man! It isn't worth it! I think maybe I need to go stage an intervention..