Ketchup (er, I mean catch up)

The dogs have had their baths, the house is vacuumed, the juncos are fed, the sidewalk is shoveled, the laundry is drying, the photos have been downloaded, the president-elect is on his way, the plane is out of the water, the crock-pot veggie lasagna is slow-cooking, the Mold Mobile is back in commission, my poop is in my bowel, Book de la Face is "down" for maintenance, my bills are paid, the peanut butter is tainted, I'm still looking for Milo and I'm ready for my nap. I wouldn't need a nap except I woke up too early this morning after going to bed at 1 A.M. and thus didn't get my required hours of beauty sleep. When in doubt, take a nap......

.....of course, Lucy Bark of Poteidaia decided that me taking a nap is a very bad idea, so she's been crying and whining and moaning and begging and jumping around in an effort to ensure I do not take a nap.

Who won? Hmmmm. Let's see--since I'm sitting here typing this blog, it means she won. I gave up on the nap idea. I thought about suffocating her with a pillow but that seemed a bit much. I decided that a bowl of ice cream would suffice instead of a nap. Lucy REALLY liked that idea as she is an ice cream fool and I am fool enough to give her some, despite her horrible manners regarding nap etiquette.

Last week was a doozy, wasn't it? Oprah featured menopause banter (I love you, Dr. Northrup), the temps in town tied the all-time low (minus 26 degrees! e-gads!) and a jumbo commercial plane landed in the Hudson River. I don't think I'll ever forget the images of those passangers standing on the wings of an airplane in such an urban setting--and, in water, no less. I bet all of us pay closer attention next time we're on a plane and the flight attendant is doing her safety spiel. I have to say that the place the plane landed looked very familiar to me....that's because only a few short years ago, I ate in a very fancy restaurant overlooking the Hudson River (toward Manhattan) and that restaurant is right where that plane plopped down in the river; in fact, I can see the restaurant in some of the photos. I can't imagine what it was like to be sitting in that restaurant as the plane descended. I imagine New Yorkers who were witness to the event were sweating, as 9-11-01 can't be too far off their minds. Someone give that pilot a medal!

The wife improves every day and has gained enough strength to do lots of things around the house. This makes me extremely happy, as you can imagine, as I am SOOOOOOOOOO over being a housewife. She still can't lift much but that's okay--I'll lift and she can dust. She is looking forward to her six-week check-up, which will feature an internal exam. Yum. In an act of solidarity, I will be going to see Dr. Pasture on Tuesday for my own personal exam. Yum squared. It is my hope I poop by then or he won't be able to feel a thing-- "Ovaries? What ovaries? I can only feel this colon full of poop." With my luck, he'll add a rectal exam as part of the package. Yum cubed.

As for the Mold Mobile, it spent some time with its new friend, the mechanic. It wouldn't start last week and had to be towed away, quite to the dismay of the wife. As the Mold Mobile (MM) is only worth approximately $1.37, it's hard to justify putting a lot of money into a money trap on wheels....however, the wife's options are limited unless she wants to take her beloved Mustang out of storage and drive it in the winter (which is a VERY bad idea--ever see people driving Mustangs in the snow?). All the wife wants is to make it through the winter so she can make an educated vehicle decision in the spring. I am happy to report that the MM is back in commission, ready to go with its $400 worth of new parts and labor. It seems the water pump is teetering on extinction....and, if that happens, we will have a pile of mold and plastic in our driveway which will never seen the pavement again. The wife has faith the MM will make it until the thaw. I'll keep the faith for her but will drive my own car when going any further than around the block.

Now that I've been typing, guess who's taking a nap? That's right--Lucy. I'd write more but I have to go poke her and bother her and irritate her and keep her awake. Heck if she's gonna sleep if I can't....