Adventures in Babysitting

I answered the call of a friend who desperately needed a babysitter so that they could go visit her DH's mom in the ICU,where babies aren't allowed. It was well timed because I was already taking off early to pick my girls up from school because my nanny needed the day off because her mother was having surgery. And since so many people jumped in to help us out when MIL was sick, we appreciate the opportunity to pay it forward.

So I got to spend the evening with a 10-month-old bundle of adorableness, and my girls got a little babysitter training. They have never spent much time around babies, and none of them ever really played with baby dolls or shown any interest in babies. They still didn't show much interest in this baby. But I made PS feed him and change his diaper and I have a hilarious video of her trying to wrestle him into his pajamas. He was a really good sport during all of this.

I ordered a pizza for dinner, which was an experience in itself because Pizza Hut has the suckiest mobile app ever and would only let me have a pizza delivered to my home address. (I was babysitting at the baby's house.) I couldn't even fix it by logging in directly to their website on my phone, because they have an equally sucky mobile web page that also would not let me change my delivery address. Get with it Pizza Hut--surely you can find better programmers that this. I finally got a pizza ordered by, gasp!, using my phone and calling (although even that took two phone calls).

So the pizza guy rang the door bell and the dog started barking ferociously and the baby started fussing. I handed the baby to PS and squeezed out the front door to keep the dog from eating the pizza guy. Who was a 30-something white guy with a jeri curl and a KISS necklace. Who proceeded to tell me all about his own dog, and then run back to his car to grab his cell phone so that he could show me pictures of his own dog.

Finally got rid of the pizza guy, gave my kids pizza, and fed the baby some baby-cookies that he seemed to really like.

Despite the fact that he refused to go to bed when his mom said he would, he was a really good baby and so very cute. It was nice to spend an evening with a little one, but I'm pooped and so darn glad that my girls are big now. I truly have no desire to go back to having babies. They're just so much work--although it is a heck of a lot easier to chase after one than two.

The craziest thing I heard all week

"I'm sorry, but my expert is not available on the day you noticed his deposition because he is going to Mount Ararat to help find Noah's Ark."

Seriously.

Another week, another weekend

It feels a little like I am living for the weekends lately. Not because I don't like my work, but because I am so busy during the week between work and the kids that I don't feel like there is any down time until the weekend.

I'm still busy at work, but not insanely busy like I was a month ago. I haven't eaten dinner at work lately, and that's a good thing.

But Thursday I was in depos in podunkville that lasted until 5:30, and then we had dinner at this fantastic little steak place.* I left my house at 7:30 Thursday morning and didn't start my drive home until 7:00 Thursday night. And I needed to pick up craft supplies for SS and TT to take to a SWAP meet for girl scouts on Friday. So I found a Hobby Lobby along the way, and popped in 20 minutes before they closed to gather supplies.

I got home at 9:00 and proceeded to hot glue millions (ok, 50) tiny swaps while watching the worst Grey's Anatomy ever. (Yes, SS and TT should have made their own swaps, but we were out of time, and they finished up Friday after school).

Speaking of this week's terrible entertainment, I finally watched Black Swan last night. Yuck! I had been so disappointed that I missed it in theaters and was really looking forward to it, and I just did not like it at all.


*Still doing the Nutrisystem thing. Still losing, albeit slowly. Would probably lose faster if I stuck a little closer to the plan, but there have been a lot of client meeting and out-of-office events that require lunch out. And weekends are killer for me, because we usually dine out at least once as a family and we tend to pick up something quick if we are out running around. But I've lost the 10 pounds that I put on this year.

I just ordered another month of food. Hopefully by then I'll be trained to eat healthier. NS forces me to eat more veggies and protein, and I think that lifestyle change is key. I looooove carbs, but they leave me hungry.

As for the NS food, the breakfasts and lunches are ok, but I really don't care for the dinners. I used up all of the breakfasts and lunches that I originally ordered, but I have several dinners left. And a ton of desserts. We've never really been dessert eaters, and when I snack, I usually want salty and NS only sent sweet stuff.

And it appears that I have unintentionally given up sodas. I don't remember the last time I had a Diet Dr.Pepper. I don't even want one any more. Weird.

Weekend in Review

Had dinner and drinks with a girlfriend on Friday night. Yay, girl time is good and its been way too long.

Saturday morning I suddenly decided that we needed to convert the closet-under-the-stairs into a pantry. I have no real pantry and my kitchen storage is grossly inadequate. Especially since I live 2 minutes from Costco and do 75% of my shopping there.

The closet-under-the-stairs had previously been used for coats and suitcases and whatever random crap got shoved in there when company was coming. But because of the coats in the front, and the angled wall at the back, the space wasn't being used well.

So I decided that we would put narrow shelving along both sides, with one large, low shelf at the back to make a walk-in pantry. We've spent about $75 in materials and a few hours. So far it looks great.

But DH is driving me nuts, because he clearly hates watching me use the drill (to screw in the shelves and brackets). I will admit that I am not the most skilled power tool user in the world and I am naturally clumsy. But I am capable, even if it takes me a little longer than it would take him.

I finally gave in and let him take over. But told him that our girls needed to see that women could use power-tools, too. So now he is teaching TT and SS how to use the drill, and they are finishing up our shelves. My new pantry should be stocked by the end of the day--woot!

We took a break on Saturday night to go see Lincoln Lawyer (I got cheap tix via Groupon, and the twins were at a sleepover, leaving the perfect opportunity for a date night.) It was ok, but it is so hard to watch lawyer movies and set aside my lawyer-self and just appreciate the entertainment value. But the Matthew McConaughey eye-candy was definitely worth seeing--even if he wasn't shirtless.

Came home to freshly baked brownies by PS. It's so nice when your kids get big enough to bake you brownies!

Overall, a good weekend.

Together Again*

We sent PS to her great-grandparents' last week for spring break while SS and TT attended a fantastic day camp sponsored by our city.

PS has spent several summers with my grandparents, but it has been a couple of years since her last visit without us. I don't think that my grandparents realized that she has grown from a sweet 8-year old who was excited to visit with old people and become the Senior Center's mascot, to a moody 12-year old who just wants to hang out with her friends or play video games. She really thought she was roughing it because she had no internet all week.

And my grandparents were quite possessive and did not want to share her. By mid-week my dad had to intervene and insist that she be allowed to spend the night with my brother and his 4 girls. PS had been begging to see her cousins, and she had a great time with them. In the end, she also got to spend time with my dad and DH's dad. Of course, my mother never even tried to get in touch with her, despite the fact that she knew PS would be in town.

PS flew back home Friday afternoon. To celebrate our little family being reunited again, we went to the drive-through animal park yesterday and saw the zebras and giraffes and other critters I can't pronounce or identify, and then the dinosaur park where we walked in real dinosaur tracks, followed by some awesome barbecue and cobbler in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. It was our last, and only spring break hurrah, since my work schedule did not allow any time off, but we had a good time and came home tired and happy. And we have booked Easter weekend at the awesome cabin we visited last year, so we have at least a mini-vacation in the near-ish future. Yay!

*This is what was running through my head when I named this post:

Sick Day

So I took down my last two whiny posts, because I hate whining.

And I called in sick today because I have been feeling crappy all week (which undoubtedly contributed to the whining) and I'm just totally run down. And because today's project is the doc review, which I can do just as effectively from the comfyness of my couch and the coziness of my yoga pants as I can sitting in a suit at my desk in the office.

Hopefully an easy day and a nap will make me less cranky and whiny. The ability to breathe out of both nostrils would help a lot, too.

The Gift of a Sunday

We shipped PS off for a week with her great-grandparents. When I booked her 8:45 flight, I did not realize that today was the time change. It was an early morning.

I headed to work after dropping her off to prepare for a mediation on Monday. The first that I would be doing on my own. Despite one of my cases settling last week, my load has stayed heavy and the late nights have continued. I worked until 9:00 Friday finishing my mediation statement, and then took spent Saturday hanging with the kids--knowing that I would go in on Sunday to finish preparing for the mediation.

But as soon as I opened my email this morning I had a message informing me that the opposing party had filed for bankruptcy late on Friday, and so my case is automatically stayed. Bastards. Like they didn't know they would be filing for bankruptcy before I spent most of last week preparing for mediation and the trial that was set for next week. And I was really looking forward to my solo mediation. (And why didn't this email show up on my iphone yesterday?)

So I spent about an hour at the office responding to a few emails that I was too busy to deal with last week, and headed back home.

On the bright side, I now get to spend Sunday with my girlies--at least two of them. Looks like we're going to play laser tag. Nothing says family fun like shooting each other with laser beams!

Abstinence

I just got am email from PS's school informing me that they are bringing in an abstinence education speaker. For some reason, this just set me off. It shouldn't have come as a surprise, really--we are in an uber-conservative school district. But there has been absolutely no sex ed at all in PS's public school so far. And apparently this is all they're gong to get.

Guess what? Abstinence only programs don't work. Teenagers have been having sex since the beginning of time and they will continue having sex. And I can't with a straight face tell my kids not to have sex until they are married. I mean, what is my response supposed to be when they ask if I waited until marriage? The answer is, "no, but I waited until I was in a long-term relationship with someone that I really cared about, and I took the necessary precautions," which is really the best I can hope for my children.

Besides, I married really young--at 20. I would prefer that my daughters wait longer to marry. Although I don't regret my marriage or my children, I do wish that I had had a bit more time to be "free" in my twenties. If I could choose their paths (and of course, I can't) I'd hope they wait until their late twenties to marry. And is it realistic to tell a kid to wait until she has her graduate degree to have sex?

Of course I will encourage my daughters to wait until they are in the right relationship and mature enough to handle the emotional and physical consequences. And I will educate them about the consequences of having sex. PS already knows she wasn't planned--we were already married, but a baby definitely was not something I wanted in my immediate future--so even grown-ups can make mistakes with contraception.

I'm not naive enough to think my daughters will talk to me before having sex (although I really, really hope so.) But I will pay attention to what is going on in their lives, so that I'll have a clue when we are heading in that direction. And I will make sure they have the information they need to protect themselves and make good decisions. Because telling them, "just don't do it" isn't going to accomplish that.

Life

My biggest cast settled on Friday. Yay! Now maybe I can get my life back. Or at least only worry about prepping one case for trial this month. Really, I would have much preferred to go to trial, but last week the Supreme Court of the Relevant State handed down an opinion that was directly on point and really decided our case for us. Such is the bane of a litigator's life--getting 3 weeks from trial and having your case go "poof," into thin air.

Meanwhile, I've lost 3 pounds doing the Nutrisystem thing. Not too overjoyed, since I expected to lose the first 10 pretty easily since I gained them so recently and I had otherwise been hovering at the same weight for the last 4 years. But at least I can button my jeans again.

I have learned that I have absolutely no willpower, though. (Ok, maybe I already knew that.) One of our Louisiana clients set us a king cake on Tuesday, and who am I to reject a mardi gras tradition? And then our copy service delivered freshly baked cookies along with my copy job--and I've never met a cookie I didn't like. And DH and I went to a concert last night, and well, we had to pick up dinner beforehand. And I met him for lunch on Thursday at our favorite taco place.

The Thursday lunch meeting was unplanned. But it was the first anniversary of MIL's funeral, and DH was having a rough week. Last Sunday was the anniversary of her death. Really, all of February was hard on the whole family. There were a lot of reminders of what her last month was like. She was in hospice and the rest of us were practically living there. It was certainly one of the most difficult experiences of all of our lives.*

It's hard to believe it's been a year. It doesn't feel like it. "They" say its supposed to get easier after a year. But I don't think its that simple. I'm not sure this mother's day is going to be any easier than the last one. But I guess, eventually, it will get better.


*The only thing that really compares is when I was pregnant with the twins. I was hospitalized with hyperemesis for most of the first 16 weeks, told to consider terminating before I starved to death, then the twins were dx'd with TTTS which has a 90% mortality rate if untreated and the only cure (there are other treatments but only one cure) is in-utero surgery, which at that time was considered experimental and only performed at 5 hospitals in the country.

Fatty

I have been packing on the pounds over the last 6 weeks or so. I have been exceptionally busy at work and there have been way too many late nights which result in my picking up a fast-food dinner at 9:00 at night. Not a good way to live a long and healthy life.

Plus, none of my clothes are fitting properly anymore. My pants are just a little too tight across the ass, the pockets are sticking out instead of lying flat, and my suit jackets won't button anymore. Not to mention that the extra pounds have made my acid-reflux go out-of-control (and my doc won't refill my prescription for Protonix because it is apparently contra-indicated if you have flimsy bones that crack when you go jogging.)

I picked up about 10 pounds after I quit breast-feeding the twins (9 years ago). And another 10 in law school (4 years ago). And another 10 in the last 6 weeks. So, the 20 pounds I needed to drop have suddenly become 30, which just sounds a lot more ominous.

I have used Weight Watchers and SparkPeople and I think they are both good programs. But I just don't have the time (or the desire to make the time) to figure out what I can eat and what I can't, and log every bite that goes into my mouth. Calorie -counting is a lot of work. It gets easier, but the reboot is hard.

So today I signed up for Nutrisystem. Because it is easy. They send me food and tell me what to eat. I don't have to plan it, I don't have to count it, and I don't have to cook it. I know it's not a long term solution--but hopefully it will keep me from gaining any more over the next couple of months. I have two trial settings in March--so there is no break in my schedule coming soon, but life should calm down over the summer. And it's so much easier to eat healthy in the summer when fresh fruits and veggies are in abundance. (I could live on watermelon in the summer.)

Nutrisystem is a little pricey, but not as much as I was anticipating. And not so bad when offset by the amount I have been spending on fast food of late. My biggest concern is the taste. I really dislike processed frozen food. So that may be the deal-killer here. But it's worth a shot, or I'm going to have to start wearing yoga pants to work.

Why I am superior to my male counterparts...

Because I can see the future.

Well, not really. But I can anticipate what might happen in the future and then plan my life so that if the possible becomes reality I don't have my ass in a sling. I can foresee a giant ice storm (especially when the weather guys tell us a week ahead of time that its coming) or that I might have a sick kid in the middle of flu season. I can foresee that one of these things (or any other random event) might occur on the day I have a deadline in a major case. And so I make sure that I do whatever I need to do before the day of the deadline in case one of these random events actually happens.

But the men I work with are absolutely incapable of doing this. I don't think it has ever crossed their minds to serve a document before the deadline--or to at least have it 100% ready to be served.

Last week I asked Partner at least 5 times, "We have a designation deadline next Tuesday, what do you want me to do?" And every single time his response was "I don't have time to think about that right now. We'll talk about it next week." And I said, "OK, but I am in depos all day Monday, so if you need my help, I won't be around."

And also last week I went to Big Boss and said, "We have a meeting on Tuesday with X. What do you need to to prepare for that meeting?" His response: "Nothing, just send the pleadings to X for his review before the meeting."

So guess what happens on Tuesday? At 9:30, Partner finally gives me the designations that need to be served. But this is a case where we represent 10 parties--so I have to prepare 10 distinct designations. Oh, and we have to file exhibit lists, too. So I have to prepare 10 distinct exhibit lists.

And then at 10:00 Big Boss starts preparing for the meeting with X. And comes barrelling into my office every 10 minutes asking me where such-and-such document is. And informs me that I need to re-read all of the memos that I have drafted for this case--(which includes at least a dozen highly pointed and lengthy memos).

And so this continues until 1:00 when the meeting actually starts and where I am held captive for the next three hours.

And then I resume preparation of my exhibit lists (which I had thankfully handed off to my fabulous paralegal before the meeting.) And Partner says, "why are you doing the exhibit lists first, the designations are the most important." To which I calmly reply, "Because the exhibit lists have to be filed and the designations do not. So the secretary can start efiling while I am finishing up the designations, and I won't have to stay here an extra hour waiting for her to file while leaving her twiddling her thumbs right now."

Yeah, the guys have tunnel vision. They work on one task at a time. Layering tasks to promote the most efficient use of time is not on their agendas.

I also gave the secretary a heads up about what we were serving, how big the mailing would be and who it was going to so that she could prepare her cover letters and have her envelopes ready to go. So that the second I had my documents ready, they could be compiled and mailed. I'm 99% sure none of the guys in my office have ever done this.

And so, we got it all done and secretary and I left the office by 9:00 pm. But I really hate scrambling at the last minute, and it all could have been completely avoided if either Partner or Big Boss had let me get started on these tasks last week. I swear they are in a competition to see who can kill me first.

Big kids

The twins returned dirty, exhausted and happy from their camp out this weekend. They have another one in two weeks, and are really looking forward to it. I also asked if they wanted to go to camp this summer and received an emphatic "Yes!"

PS seems a wee bit jealous and has been talking nonstop about her own girl scout experiences and her 5th grade campout with her school. I think this summer we will be sending her to the camp she attended for the 5th grade campout. It's a little pricey, but I think it will be good for her.

I've also been searching for day camps over spring break. I've enrolled the twins in a camp sponsored by our city that they have attended before and love. But PS has aged out. Apparently she has aged out of every spring break camp I can find. Just what are middle-schoolers supposed to do with a week off? I definitely do not like the idea of her sitting home alone playing video games for a week. DH and I both have long commutes and are gone at least 10 hours a day. And taking time off is not an option, because I have two trial settings the week after spring break. Looks like we may be shipping her off to Hometown. She will have a great time and enjoy seeing her cousins--I just need to make sure they aren't leaving town.

Spring...is that you?

I left work at 2:00 today to pick up the twins from school and drop them off for their first-ever girl scout camp out. It was gorgeous outside! I opened up the sunroof and cranked up the stereo. (I heart Cake's version of "I Will Survive.") According to my car, it was 84 outside--hard to believe we were buried in ice just a couple of weeks ago.

Got the girls picked up and dropped off. They were bouncing-off-the-walls excited, and couldn't wait to ditch me. Meanwhile, I am trying not to think to hard about sending them off into the wilderness all alone (well, except for 22 of their closest friends and their 4 leaders.)

Now we're trying to figure out how to spend a Friday night with our only child. Nothing good at the movies. Maybe bowling. Maybe we'll just order in and play some Super Mario Brothers on the wii.

Embarassing moments

Yesterday at lunch I made my way to the cafeteria downstairs to find myself in line behind Big Boss. I had called my order in beforehand, so it was ready and waiting for me.

Big Boss joked, "Are you some kind of VIP or something? They just know what you want and have it ready for you?"

I replied, "I don't have time to stand in line because you keep my chained to my desk!"

And he said, "Yeah, I heard you had to stay late on Valentine's Day." (I filed 8 MSJ's on Monday. Same legal argument, but distinct and detailed facts for each.)

During all of this, we made our way to the cashier, who asked Big Boss what he had. He replied, "Chicken spaghetti. I have two."

And I promptly said, "Thanks for picking up my lunch. You didn't need to do that!"

And he said, "Well in that case I won't. Just kidding."

And he paid for my lunch and we went back upstairs. Where my secretary asked me what the cafeteria was serving. "Umm, chicken and manicoti and spaghetti."

Oh crap. Chicken. And Spaghetti. Not chicken spaghetti. Big Boss was trying to tell the cashier that he had two entrees, and I wrongly assumed that he was telling her that he was buying my lunch. So I totally tricked him into buying my lunch. But he never missed a beat, and never let on otherwise.

I'm so embarrassed. I haven't 'fessed up that I figured out my mistake. I don't know how without making an awkward situation more awkward. I'm not usually presumptuous at all. Not sure how I managed to stick my big fat foot in my mouth.

Mommy Fails

1) Both of the twins have had the flu over the last two weeks. I would have sworn that they got flu shots. Apparently not. DH, PS and I had flu shots--how did I miss the twins? And apparently the flu shots work, because DH, PS and I have been perfectly fine despite snuggling with germy flu-carriers.

2) At SS's class Christmas party, I learned that her class had no room mom and that her teacher had done everything herself. I don't know what happened--usually the SAHM brigade is out in full force for all school events. In fact, my offers to help out are usually ignored, or I show up to find myself with little to do. So, I usually just let the others run the show and send whatever money or supplies they request. But I still try to make the Christmas and end-of year parties and help out where I can, just because the girls like to see me there.

So I was a little surprised to find no moms helping out with SS's Christmas party. Down the hall in TT's room, there were so many parents you could barely walk through the classroom. And I assured SS's teacher that she would not have to do another party by herself, and that I would contact her before the next party.

The school doesn't officially sanction V-day parties (because of a stupid state law that only allows food to be brought in for 2 parties per year), but the teacher wanted to do something fun. So I ordered a craft project online and came up with a couple of games (and approved it all with the teacher, because I think they often cringe at some of the ideas over-zealous moms come up with.)

And then yesterday Big Boss asked if I were available for a meeting on Monday, and I said "yes" without even thinking about the V-day party. And I have a deadline in another case, which I have known about, but just didn't connect it with conflicting with the V-day party.

So there is no way in heck I can actually be present for the party. I have planned and purchased everything they need, but I can't be there to help coordinate. Ugh. I feel terrible for the teacher, and I hate going back on my promise to help out. I would send DH in my place, but with the sick kids and ice days over the last two weeks he has missed a lot of work and his boss is getting cranky. Fail.

Grumble

So after a chaotic week of bad weather and a sick kid, TT woke up this morning with a temperature of 101.2. Why couldn't she be sick last week when her twin was sick? And when her school closed down for 4 days because of bad weather? And when I was already working from home for most of the week? I expressly told her that she was not allowed to get sick this week. Dang kids never listen.

I really need to go to work today. I am still super busy, and last week's craziness didn't help. Hopefully my secretary will show up, so at least she can scan me everything I need to work from home. And turn my computer on, because I can't get in via logmein.* I have a lot to get done today and another big deadline on Wednesday.

Grumble.

*Tip o' the day: At DH's insistence, I finally signed up for Dropbox. It's basically web-based storage that allows you to access files from anywhere. I have it on my work computer, my laptop and my iphone. It has been really nice while I've been working from home--much more convenient than emailing myself all of the documents that I have been working on. Logmein is too slow to work directly in the docs on my work computer (not to mention that the shortcut keys on my PC laptop don't work on my Mac at work), but I can log in, move the files I need to dropbox, and then access them on my laptop at home.

I do have some concerns about putting client files "on the cloud," but DH pointed out that it is no less secure than emailing the docs to myself. Still, I don't think I would use this method with anything that was really sensitive. I only use it for pleadings and discovery drafts that will be public record soon enough anyway.

Sweaters and Suits

I found this article (via Corporette), lamenting the advance of cardigans as appropriate business attire, interesting. Probably because I wear lots of cardigan to work.

My office is technically business-formal, but as the only practicing female lawyer in the office, I have some flexibility with the rules. (I'm pretty sure the boys in the office don't know what business-formal is for a woman--they just know they have to wear a suit every day.) And so I've self-determined that a cardigan with dress slacks or a pencil skirt will suffice. It's kind of like a jacket--more formal than just a sweater or knit shirt. (I have a big problem finding button-shirts that don't gap, so I rarely wear them.)

Also, I can't work in a suit jacket--it's just too constricting. So when I wear a jacket, it comes off as soon as I enter the office anyway. And the shell that is perfectly fine under a suit jacket, may not be ideal office attire without the jacket. Or I end up freezing without that extra layer. So I default to the comfortable, warm cardigan. I don't think that I'm inappropriately dressed, and I don't think my bosses do either.

But...I would never, ever wear a cardigan to court. I also suit up anytime I have a client meeting or deposition. There is still a place for the suit (and I do love a beautiful suit--a well-fit suit can hide a multitude of flaws), but it is not on a day when I have my butt plastered to my chair for 10 hours drafting a motion or reviewing documents.

Snow day--for real this time

This week has been insane. Worked until midnight Monday anticipating the ice storm that came through, as promised, overnight. We get an ice storm about once a year here, but this one was a real problem because it stayed really cold and the ice just wasn't melting.

Worked from home on Tuesday, and played with the kids. I ventured into the office on Wednesday, which was a full two-hour commute, only to be greeted by rolling blackouts that wrecked havoc on our elevators, servers, and my ability to do anything without my computer being suddenly shut down.

I had to get discovery out by Thursday--in a case where we represent 10 different parties. (From Chicago--so our little ice storm wasn't getting much sympathy.) Coordinating everything was nightmare that was just compounded by having no staff and moving files back and forth between home and work. I brought my 700 pages of exhibits back home Wednesday night to prepare for copying, and finally had them ready at 8:00 pm--only to find that every major copy center in my little suburb had closed much earlier in the day! Fortunately, I found a tiny FedEx Office Center that happily accepted by copy job.

Roads were better Thursday, but there was still plenty of ice and the kids' school remained closed. Finally had some staff at the office to help get my discovery out.

And then it snowed again last night. Was supposed to be 1-3", but we have at least 4". The bridge that separates my town from the rest of the world is completely shut down, so I will be working from home again.

The kids have been out of school since Monday. DH's office has been closed except for Thursday. It feels like the whole city has been hanging in icy limbo. It is going to be a hard return to reality next week.

The Circle of Life

TT got a butterfly garden for Christmas. Best Christmas present ev-ah! We ordered caterpillars online, and then had to wait about a week for them to show up. And then we watched the caterpillars form their chrysalises and eventually emerge as butterflies.

TT has taken better care of her butterflies than she does her furry pets. Every day she cuts up fresh oranges for them, and she carts them all over the house in their little habitat. But, alas, we are down to one survivor, Martha. This morning Martha sucked the orange juice right off TT's fingers, and TT wears her around the house, clinging to TT's shirt. Martha has become TT's constant companion.

I thought that TT would be upset by her other butterflies' passing---but she has been remarkably undisturbed. A couple of days ago she caught a large wolf spider in a jar. Later, I noticed some other objects in the jar, and picked it up for a closer inspection. TT had put her dead butterflies in the jar for spider food.

Martha had better hope that TT doesn't catch any more spiders anytime soon!

Snow Day!

Well, really more like an ice day. I'm not sure we have any actual snow--there will definitely be no snowman building. But the whole city is shut down and it is freakin' cold outside.

And I can't even goof off since I have a hard deadline today and a mile-long list of other things to do.

And one of the kids has the flu.

But I did take the opportunity to bake a batch of banana crumb muffins.

Ok, off to work...really.