Family

We have our nephew visiting from out of town, and tomorrow is my dad's birthday - the first one since he passed away last year. So I'm sitting here tonight doing a bunch of thinking about family. I grew up in a tiny family - just me and my parents - that is part of a huge family - dad was one of 10, mom one of 4, and I have approximately enough cousins to fill a football team roster. So I always had this odd perspective...I spent a whole lot of time alone, but then every so often, was totally overrun by family.

Living so far away from most of my family has changed my perspective yet again. Now, we're near some of Chris' family - totally coincidentally, since he's not from around here - and we've come to rely on them quite a bit. His Aunt, for instance, is a huge help in watching Catherine when our schedules conflict. And, in another coincidence, his brother ended up stationed only a couple hours away as well.

Hence, the visiting nephew. He's upstairs reading himself to sleep, Catherine has nodded off, and I'm sitting here thinking about family.

We've come full circle now, eh?

Funny Things Kids Do

Spoiled Baby's cousin is here, visiting for a few days.

I'm down with a huge migraine, so the hubby asked the nephew to cook me dinner: hot dogs and macaroni and cheese.

Nephew just wandered in with a puzzled expression and asked me where we keep the hot dogs.

Cute. Totally cute. And he was totally earnest. Poor kid!

Too Long for a Nap?

So I came home from work last night and was so exhausted that I crawled into bed to cuddle with Spoiled Baby ... and woke up 15 hours later.

So, uh, is that too long to call it a nap?

Mom's House, Part Two

Oy. That about covers it. Here's a recap of my PA Tweets:Mom's house, day 1 AM: 20 brown bags of recyclable paper filled so far.

• Mom's house, day 1 PM: basement family room 90% completed - good. Garbage and recyclable paper drenched during downpour - bad.
• Mom's house, day 2: Morning was fairly productive. Then mom decided to stop playing along. Yay. Progress = FAIL.
• Mom's house, day 3: today's agenda will be similar to Sherman's march to the sea: slash and burn!
• Mom's house, day 4: my mother informed my husband on what a terrible person I am and advised him to kick my butt. This is officially my worst PA trip ever.
• Mom's house, day 4: productivity = zero; psychotic outbursts = increasing. She's just advised my husband to paddle me. Countdown to my escape to Texas.
• I'm watching Chris and a Lowe's employee tie sheetrock and plywood to the roof of our rented Honda Accord...shoulda got the "kill this car" insurance.
• Going to buy a lottery ticket. Because after today, my luck is bound to get better!
• Twitter on my cell phone used to cut me off at 140 but no longer does, so I'm suffering from technology truncation! Argh!
• Mom's house, day 5: ceiling to fix, painting to do, and still 2 major areas of the house to square away.
• Mom's house, day 6: last day. Painting in AM, quick visit with cousins around lunch, then finishing touches. Leaving for PHL at 2AM.
• Shady Pines, Ma. Shady Pines.
• Blowing the popsicle stand known as Scranton and heading HOME to Texas...on the highway heading to PHL!
• I am so grateful to be back in Texas that I could almost get down and kiss the ground!

The Funny Thing About Toys

My child, fondly known as Spoiled Baby, has more toys than any other child on the planet. I'm serious. We've bought her a ton, she's been given a ton, she has most of mine from childhood, plus she's got hand-me-downs from other relatives and friends.

And yet...

And yet...

She prefers to play with my cell phone and shoes.

Oy!