Mindless.

It’s no secret that I love stuff like this. It’s great to do something to which I know all the answers!

25 questions that no one would EVER think to ask.

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?
Fluish? Funny, you don’t look fluish.

2. How much cash do you have on you?
Riiiiiiiiiiiiight. I have $4.25. And that’s only because I wrote a check and got cash back after grocery shopping so I could pick up hamburger meat at a place that doesn’t take checks, and where I didn’t want to use the check card for fear that our checking account really is as low as I think it is.

3. What’s a word that rhymes with TEST?
Rest.

4. Planet?
Mars

5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list:
Without looking, it would have to be D. No one else calls me on my cell, and the only missed calls around here in the past few days have been the hospital (D was on call), and the kids and I were gone.

6. What is your favorite ring on your phone?
The theme from Bewitched

7. What shirt are you wearing?
A purple sweatshirt featuring our local high school’s mascot...and a healthy amount of dried baby snot.

8. What do you label yourself?
Mom. (Unfortunately, most of the time in the frumpy sort of scattered, tired “Mom”)

9. Name the brand of your shoes you're recently wearing?
I never wear shoes in the house. I can’t stand it! Podiatrists and orthopaedists be damned, you who tell me I must wear orthotics 80% of the time. When I do wear shoes (like to work and stuff), they’re New Balance running shoes...and they’re badly in need of replacement.

10. Bright or Dark Room?
Depends. Kitchen - bright. Bedroom - dark. I’m not sure I spend time in any other rooms in my house...

11. What were you doing at midnight last night?
Coughing, occasionally interrupted by sleep.

12. What did your last text message you received on your cell say?
Got your message about the meat. Will call later.

13. Where is your nearest 7-11?
I haven’t seen a 7 - 11 since I was a kid. The closest thing we have here would be either the gas station a few blocks away, or the drive thru convenience place a few blocks away the other way.

14. What's a saying that you say a lot?
A, please!!!

15. Who told you they loved you last?
A. I had bedtime duty tonight.

16. Last furry thing you touched?
Maggie.

17. How Many Drugs Have You Done In The Past three Days?
Prenatals, Synthroid, Tylenol

18. How many rolls of film do you need to get developed?
Yeah. Right. We’ve done digital forever. However, I have this romantic notion that someday I’m going to locate the single roll of film we managed to take on our honeymoon and get it developed for D.

19. Favorite age you have been so far?
I’m liking 30! Good thing...it’s over in a couple of weeks...

20. Your worst enemy?
Carbs.

21. What is your current desktop picture?
The view looking across Lake Huron from our cabin on Drummond Island, MI. It was taken on vacation last summer.

22. What was the last thing you said to someone?
(To A): OK, bud. 10 minutes with your Leapster, then it’s lights out.

23. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to fly, which would you choose? No doubt, the million.

24. Do you like someone?
Well, of course I like D. I also like George Clooney, Tyler Florence, and men in kilts.

25. The last song you listened to?
I’ve got Rockapella on iTunes right now. The last song I listened to in full was Dvorak’s New World Symphony while J wiggled around and A did his famous “Wild Chicken Dance”.

It’s blissful, I think, to have two kids who can play together. Granted, J isn’t all that in to actually playing with A, but she likes being in the same room with him, getting into stuff, while he plays or does the Leapster thing or whatever. They’re across the hall in his bedroom right now, giggling and laughing and (from the sounds of it) emptying out his toy shelves. I’m a single mom tonight since D has gone back to the hospital to get caught up on stuff. Sometimes these nights really bug me, when I have to do the whole bedtime thing by myself. Tonight it just seems like a little more tolerable task. Fun even. I enjoy this time with my kids. They’re both at great ages.

And, truth be told, I’m looking forward to the little bit of time that I’ll be able to stay awake after they’re both in bed to watch a movie. Or read a magazine. Or make long distance phone calls to my girlfriends.

Now I feel a sense of responsibility...

So my posting habits have been rather crappy of late, but since I de-lurked myself to several whose blogs I read faithfully and found myself on their blog rolls, I guess I better get off my 8-pounds-thinner-than-before-the-carbohydrate-addict’s-diet a** and post a little more often. (Thanks, Aimee!!)

D nearly gave J a thumb-ectomy today. He was trimming her fingernails (absolutely THE worst baby-job in the universe, don’t you think?) and took a chunk of skin accidentally. The way the changing table looks, you’d swear a murder took place right here on East Main Street. And, little starlet that she is, J will not use that hand now. It’s a pretty pitiful sight, seeing her crawl-hobble around the house on one hand and two knees. All the extra motivation she needs to go walking instead!!

Here are some recent pics. I think they’re the absolute cutest things ever.

Isn’t it strange how life is peppered with those moments and events that make one realize how much they don’t appreciate all the good things they have? I don’t mean simply those warm and fuzzy, Christmas morning, isn’t-life-great kind of moments. I mean those times that really jolt one to think about all those things that provide meaning in life.

A co-worker’s husband, a sheriff’s deputy, was killed last week. I don’t know the widow very well, but it breaks my heart to know that she’s a widow. And she’s younger than I am. With two children. And now she’s on her own. I just keep thinking about all those times I call her department and get her on the phone, and how there’s absolutely no way on earth last week at this time she’d have ever dreamed she’d be burying her husband today. I can’t imagine. I can’t imagine that her children will have no memory of their father. I can’t imagine the grief that his family is feeling. I don’t know if the hundreds of law enforcement cruisers that provided his final escort to his burial site was a help to them, or if it caused immense pain. It’s really a difficult thing for me to get around.

I find it just heartbreaking, that any one of us could wake up on any given day and have our lives turned upside down. It makes me feel like I have lots of loose ends to tie up. Lots of things to do. Lots of moments to live.

A New Year, A Whole Lotta Nothin'

So the holidays are now over and I’ve got at least a little time back to myself. No more sitting in a freezing basement wrapping presents for me, no sir. It was a wonderful holiday, but I’m rather over it now and am looking on to 2006.

I actually love this time of year. I think the promise of a new year - 12 whole months to get stuff done, meet new people, try new things (and recipes) - is somehow very hopeful. I do really well until about the end of January. Then I’m ready for May. And summer. And vacation. Ahhhhh...

Kids are good. A’s still loving school, and he’s got friends, which I find to be the most fabulous thing in the world. He’s way smart. I don’t say that because I brag on him or anything. Truly, I think this kid is smart. And I see enough 4-year-olds to make comparison. He’s amazing. And still rather demanding of attention at times. But that’s OK.

J’s a nut, plain and simple. She has more personality than 10 kids should have, and she’s a laugh riot. She’s at the great stage where she’s trying to say all kinds of stuff. She basically repeats a lot of what we say and comes up with wonderful words like “bahpo” for apple and “dydar” for dinosaur. Too cute. She still has ginormous cheeks and white-blonde hair.

D and I are dieting. We’re both rather confident that we’re losing water weight, but I refuse to get near a scale until my pants fit better. Then I’ll know for sure that I’ve lost at least something and don’t have to be depressed by the actual number I’m starting at.

I’m updating my resume this weekend. Scary stuff. But way exciting. I’m so thrilled at the idea of having the holidays and summers off that I can hardly contain myself!! I wouldn’t know what to do... hopefully it all works out.

And with that I’m off. It really is a new year’s resolution to write more often. And to watch Dancing with the Stars, which starts in precisely 9 minutes. That gives me no time to research beach houses for our May vacation.