Yesterday morning, I watched my friend's kid during playgroup and then brought him home with us afterward. It couldn't have happened on a better day because at least one member of the 3-and-under-set was listening to me and doing what I asked, on top of being an all around pleasant kid.

This morning I took a deep breath, opened the door to his room to get him up, and sure enough Henry was pushing limits right away. This time, though, I immediately plopped him on a chair and left him to stew for approximately five minutes, no second chances. Within three minutes he was right back on the chair. Since the second time-out, he's been pretty good. Right now he's blissfully snoozing away upstairs. Lucky kid.

Also: IT'S SNOWING!!!!

Meanwhile, I have great friends. One of them offers to make me cookies to keep in the freezer for emergencies, and another one drops off homemade beef stew because she knew I wasn't feeling well. Throw in a couple more who lend me cars or keep me laughing and occupied while I'm juggling a sore throat with a three-year-old all on my own, and you pretty much have the makings of someone who feels very lucky to have the people she has in her life. Thanks guys!

Now that he's on his way home, I can confess that Dave's been out of town since Sunday morning. Not that big a deal until I woke up yesterday feeling less than stellar. I used to wonder how people ever managed to take care of dogs by themselves, because even if you have a fever and feel like you're dying, the dog still needs to go out for a walk. Now that I have a kid, I don't know how single parents do it because even when you're able to finagle a situation where you're not as "on" as you usually are, you're still pretty on, and when you're a one man show, it's tough to resist the urge to put your kid to bed for the night at 5PM just to get a little bit of a break.

In other fascinating news, while Dave was out of town, my friend lent me her Jeep Cherokee Sport so I could take Henry to school and then to the grocery store (Where we bought a gigantic bottle of extra-strength Tylenol and two different kinds of pre-made cookie dough. Where we also ran into another woman I know who was keeping three kids in line while I tried to hide the contents of my shopping basket. I was so ashamed.) and finally back home again. The first few times I walked around the corner of the house and saw her car in the driveway I started looking around for her, thinking she had stopped by for a visit. It was sad. Anyway, the point of this story is I now want a Jeep Cherokee Sport, and since I already have one sitting in my driveway, I've decided not to give it back. Sorry. And thanks!

2. Putting Henry's owl doll in a little Baby Alive diaper makes Henry extremely happy. It also induces very strong maternal feelings toward Owl, who was gingerly carried upstairs, told how cute he was in his diaper, then tucked into bed on his very own pillow, which is right next to Henry's.

3. Gale Harold is on Desperate Housewives. Suddenly that show might actually be worth watching.

The other day Henry and I were hanging out at Elsa and Kim's house. There was a lot of pretend swimming, pretend eating, and real pleading for apple cider (at least on the part of Henry) going on. At one point Elsa decided that Henry needed a big hug, so she ran over and put her arms around him. He squirmed and yelled "No! No! No hugs!" until she let him go. Kim told Elsa that she didn't think Henry wanted to be hugged and that she needed to ask him first anyway. After hearing this, Elsa turned to look at Henry, who was looking at her warily. After a few seconds deliberation, she decided to go for it anyway and lunged after him, at which point Henry turned and ran for his life. They charged around the house at full blast, eventually ending up back in the living room. Elsa gave Henry a big hug from behind despite his loud protestations, then turned and walked away. She then went and sat at one of the chairs at her little table, purposely fell off, and landed with a thud on the floor. Henry ran over saying "Are you okay, Elsa? Are you okay?" She said "Yes", then she held her arms out and said "Henry pick Elsa up? Henry pick Elsa up?" I turned to Kim and told her that Elsa definitely has some Southern in her.

Henry may be older, but Elsa is, without a doubt, wiser.

This evening we're off to visit with Mr. L at the nursing home. We haven't seen him since we celebrated his May birthday last June. All of us have been feeling pretty guilty about how long it's been, and I'm looking forward to seeing him this evening.

A good friend of mine gave me a heads up re: this fabric she found online. If I ordered some, what could I make out of it?

Last night instead of going to bed early to give myself a chance to recover from the cold I inherited from Henry, I stayed up and read. Now, at 2:40PM in the afternoon I'm considering myself officially done for the day. I had plans to make chicken soup with the chicken I baked yesterday, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. I'm thinking that if we want to eat this evening, it's going to come down to the following choices: peanut butter and jelly, instant mac and cheese, or take-out. Sorry Dave. I feel a little bad because I think all three of us could really use the chicken soup.

Yesterday afternoon I finished the book I'd been reading and last night broke into "Twilight". It's not very well-written, and some of it sometimes makes a person want to cringe, but darned if the story doesn't suck you in anyway. I will definitely be going to see the movie, especially after checking out the cute guy (Who was apparently born in 1986. I mean, Iremember 1986. Clearly. I'm feeling a mite old now. And how does that play out with the rule of seven?) who's playing the main character, however, I might be too embarrassed to make Dave go see a teen vampire romance with me. I might have to drag a girlfriend. Or go by myself. That might be best.

I'm going to muster what little energy I have left to point you in the direction of Dave's blog. Last night he wrote a great post about chemicals and how they're villainized by the media thus creating havoc and confusion and a rising influx of English majors stampeding into the halls of venerable learning institutions, English majors who could've been outstanding scientists if they hadn't been scared into studying the works of dead authors by the likes of major news outlets. Or something to that effect. That didn't happen to me though. I happen to really like dead authors. Dead languages too. Maybe I'll post tomorrow in Old English, just for a laugh. Also, I prefer dead bugs.

Had a good week-end,
tomorrow is for school and
getting up early.

I can already
tell that I'm not going to
want to leave the bed.

Twenty-nine degrees
is not for the faint of heart.
Best to stay inside!

Perhaps the best part of the evening will be stopping by India Pavilion to get some indian food to bring home for dinner. Actually, the best part of the evening won't be stopping to pick it up, the best part will be digging into it later.