Last week when I picked up Emma, she was wearing a skirt.  The thing that makes this so strange is she wasn’t wearing a skirt when she left in the morning.  Occasionally the school will loan the kids clothes if they spill or something, but Emma was still wearing hers.  She just had the skirt on over them.

Of course, I ask her where it came from and she says it’s from her teacher. Hmmm.  I say “so, if I call your teacher, she’s going to say she gave it to you?”

“uh huh”

“Because I am going to call, you’re sure that’s where it came from”

“Yes!”

So the next morning I email the teacher.  I get a note back that says she didn’t give it to Emma (duh) and when she talked to her, Emma told her she got it at daycare from another student named H.  

That evening when I go to pick her up, H is already gone.  I take Emma into the bathroom and ask her if she’s ready to tell me the truth.  She looks at me with her big blue eyes and says, “No” and walks away.

Guess I should have worded it better.

We had an attempted break in the other night.  I was in the family room and Bart the Bird started freaking out.  He was squawking and climbing up to the top of his tree and look totally terrified.  I couldn’t figure out what was wrong.  Then I heard this noise at the deck door.  So I went over and these two possums trying to pull the door open!  I flipped the outside lights on, bent down and tapped on the glass.  And one of them slowly waddles off while the other one just looks around like “wow man, it’s really bright out here.”  I swear he looked stoned.

I then opened the door a crack and yelled, “Go home! Go home!” and it just looked at me.

So I closed the door, shut the drapes and went to bed.

Someone at work saw that picture of me with the wings:

Co-worker:  That’s a really good picture

Me: Thanks

Co-worker: That’s a really nice picture.  Who is it?

Me: me (duh).

Co-worker: NO!

Me: yeah (a little puzzled).

Co-worker:  Really? 

Me: Really.

Co-worker: Oh.

(I swear, it does look like me)

Same day: wearing my new shoes, another co-worker comments on how cute they are.  I remark they are really comfortable and perhaps I will wear them everyday (kidding!).  And she responds, “you should, they're much nicer than those ugly ones you usually wear.”

Uploaded some more pics, some of the nearby river, which is now frozen over (I’ve never seen that happen before), and even one of me from the Mardi Gras Party I went to.  I hate having my picture taken, so who knows how long it will be up before I come to my senses.

The party was so much fun.  Really, it’s the first time I’ve been out since I got divorced.  It was at my Church, and being that I’m Episcopal, the parties are always fun.  Costumes were optional, but there was one couple who were so funny.  She came dressed up as Madonna (complete with cones) and her husband dressed up as Julia Child.  They were Madonna and Child.   Get it?  Ha! I’ve included that photo as well.

The best part was when some of the men (who happened to be dressed as a construction worker, a Native American and a solder) all got up and danced to YMCA.  And then Julia Child joined in.  I was laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe. 

And everyone seems to be healthy at the moment.  Amazing.

I also spent an unusually large amount of money on myself.  I never do that.  But I bought three pairs of pants, four shirts and a ring (costume, of course).  They all were on sale, but still.  And that was on top of the two pairs of shoes I bought a week ago.  I really needed all of them (well, except the ring).  My clothes are falling apart and I actually had the sole of a shoe come off at work a couple of weeks ago. 

And lastly, a little complaining.  It’s almost 40 degrees out and I’m stuck inside!  It’s practically swimsuit weather!

Well, we should just make it official and put a big “Quarantine” sign on the door.  We had a snow day this week, and about mid morning I looked at Emma and she was rubbing her eye and it looked a little red.  And we all know what that means.  So I loaded them in the car, drove through the blizzard to the convenient care.  The doctor there (and they are all so nice there), checked her out and said, yes, she did have pink eye but it was just starting and told me it was a good catch.  So I’m sitting there congratulating myself for being such a good mother and paying such close attention when he says, “she does have a really bad case of bronchitis though (!).”  Oops.  So much for my parent of the year award.  I thought she just had a bad cold.  I ask him if he will look at Shannon and she also has bronchitis, but since she’s still on antibiotics for strep she should be fine.

So if you should happen to drive by a house that has “Warning – Plague!” signs all over it, it’s probably mine.  You might want to speed up.

When I was growing up I was a complete romantic and hopelessly caught up in fairy tales.  I was always dreaming about the prince coming to sweep me off my feet.  Is it any wonder?  I was named after the character in West Side Story and my mother used to take me to every castle and palace she could find when we lived in Germany.  I think that must be why I love Valentine’s Day.

It really makes no sense tho.  My first Valentine experience was horrible.  It was when I was in Kindergarten and I had just started at a new school.  We made these beautifully decorate “mailboxes” and put them on the corner of our desks and then walked around and handed out our Valentines (this was way before you had to have one for the whole class) and you guessed it, when I got back to my desk my bag was empty.  And I remember sitting there, trying not to cry for the rest of class. 

Now I have had many good Valentine’s Days as well, but that day really helped shape me into who I am today.  I do mean that in a good way.

And while I’m not waiting to be rescued by a prince anymore, I’m still the hopeless romantic at heart.

I just had the funniest thing happen.  The last couple of days we have had to take a sensitivity class and test at my office.  It is way over the top in my opinion. I really think that while people should not be insulting or derogatory, political correctness has gone overboard.  People should just relax and get a sense of humor.

Anyway, all of us have been joking about our “no zone”.  Then this man I work with messages me asking me to scan something.  Only he accidentally types “CLS u PLS SEX”.

Oops.

Now this is much funnier if you knew this man.  I laughed so hard I nearly fell off my chair.  So I call someone who sits near him who knows both of us pretty well and have him come over.  And he looks at it and tells me I should reply.  I sent him a note back, attaching his, saying “I’m sorry, you’re in my no zone”.  But then it occurs to me that he really doesn’t know me very well and he might think I’m offended, so I send this guy over to make sure he knows it’s a joke, and the next thing I hear is “I didn’t really send that, did I?” and my phone rings.  It’s him, saying, “Should I just meet you in HR, or do you want to walk down together?”

I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time, and I laugh a lot.

Just watch out for that No Zone.

Wow, have I had incredible luck the last 24 hours.   There are people that might argue this point, but things could have been so very much worse.

I was pulling into the driveway last night and bumped the curb with my tire.  Didn’t really think much of it, but remember, it’s really cold here (it was -12 F with the windchill).  I get out and I hear this hissing sound coming from the passenger side.  I run over and sure enough, my front tire is going flat.  I swear and throw all my stuff down and send the girls in to get my brother.  They tell him my tire is going flat and his response is to say “oh well”.  They come and tell me he’s not coming out and I almost start crying.  Now, I know how to change a tire, but I have an SUV, I haven’t changed a tire in a long time, never in the freezing cold, never at night, and never completely by myself.

About this time my brother comes out, looks at my tire and says, “yep, it’s going flat”.  After looking at me, he tells me to get out the manual and bring it in with the jack.  About this time I realize I don’t exactly know where the jack or spare is located since I’ve never needed them before.  Which probably means the spare is flat.

I get out the manual, find part of the jack and spare under the back bedliner, and the rest of the jack under the rear passenger seat (whose brilliant idea was that? I had to remove a carseat to get to it. ) .  I try to take out the spare tire, which is so heavy I can barely heft it out of the well, which I have to do to get to the jack.  Then I have to put it back in because it’s so cold I need to go inside to look at the manual.  But then my brother comes out and does 90% of the work so I don’t have to.  I am so thankful it happened at home when he was around and where the kids could go in and stay warm.  And the spare wasn’t flat.

So this morning I get ready for work and of course I’m running behind, so I pull out my favorite casual day shirt, put it on and run out the door.  I have to readjust things in the back of the car after last night, so I take a minute to do that.  Drop the girls at school and race to work.  When I get to work I stop in the bathroom to straighten my hair up a little and notice a line of spots all the way down my shirt.  And they’re not wet.  Great.  Then I look down and I have black streaks on the knees of my jeans from leaning up against the back end of the car when I was cleaning it up.  I look like a total slob.

I walk back to my desk and complain to one of my co-workers and she says, “wait a minute” and pulls out a scarf that matches perfectly and completely covers the spots!  How lucky is that?

Now if I could just figure out those winning lottery numbers…..

Yea, it finally snowed again (eat your heart out Chris J) and it’s warming up.  They’re talking about a high in the mid 20’s by next week. 

Anyway, we got about 5-6 inches.  I put the girls into the car, buckle them in, get in the drivers seat, start the car, and….

My sunroof opens.  I don’t know why.

Now, normally this wouldn’t be a bad thing, except that I HAVEN’T CLEANED THE SNOW OFF THE CAR YET!!!!

I hear the sunroof start to open, look up just in time to see 6 inches of snow dump into the car, all over me and the girls (who of course were screaming).  And I just sat there for a moment, and then burst out laughing.  What else could I do?  And Shannon is yelling, “it’s not funny!” and I just look at her and laugh harder.  Then I brush the snow off of me, my purse and the girl’s backpacks, close the sunroof and drive home.  It’s so cold the snow hasn’t even melted so I’m still driving around with a car full of snow today!

Ok, I was wrong.  Yesterday was just a preview.  It was -11 this morning with a windchill of -30.  Which I think, translates to -23 and -42 Celsius, respectively, HA! – see, I am teachable! 

But after many arguments about whether or not Emma should wear a dress to school when it is this cold (I said her legs would get frostbite and fall off) and finally giving up and just making her wear the heaviest tights she has, everyone was back at school and I was finally back at work.

And if I have to listen to one more conversation about the Superbowl or the commercials, I may scream.  I think the commercials get more press than the actual game now.  Oh well, back to the grind.

New photos of kids, area, bird and stuff.