Sorry I've been MIA for so long. It's been quite a couple of weeks. Here are some highlights.


One morning, Punk and Pea got up and were doing their thing while A and I were conducting our morning ablutions. When I got around to helping Pea dress, Punk announced, just before I touched her, "Pea's soaking wet!!!" I figured her diaper must have leaked a bit overnight. I told her to take off her jammy pants. She struggled and couldn't get them off over her overinflated diaper--or so I thought. But when I grabbed her shirt hem, it was absolutely drenched. The waist of her pants too. And then I realized... there was no diaper at all! We looked in her bed. We looked in the bathroom. We looked in the living room. No diaper anywhere. Guess she just decided at some point that she no longer needed it. Too bad she was oh so wrong.


Then, as A layed her down to put a diapy on her, he observed a little pink glimmer in her nostril. "I think there's a bead in there!" he declared. "Huh?" I replied, not comprehending. "Yeah, there's a bead in Pea's nose." Oh great. "Well, I guess you'll be taking a trip to Urgent Care this morning." Fortunately, A thought to have her try to blow it out and that worked, saving us $3,489.00, I'm sure. Have I mentioned I'm not much of a morning person? Uuugh.


A few days after that, GG (Grandma Gayle, A's mom) flew in for a visit. The kids were thrilled to have her come over (from Oregon). It was her first opportunity to meet Pea, so it was a really special visit. Of course, they fell in love with each other. GG brought piles of fun things to do--paints and sketchbooks, butterfly nets and an explorer's vest, a purse for Pea, a pirate's scope for Punk, books upon books upon books ("The Ska-Betty Book" being the favorite [it's real title is "More Spaghetti, I Say"). They swung on swings, got burgers from McD's, went to the Lake Superior beach to throw stones in the water (a favorite activity these days, go figure), played at the parks, and we all saw Wall-E together. GG went home today and will be sorely missed.

Punk has been spending so much time outdoors lately, coated in SPF50 sunscreen, that he is actually building up a rather wild tan on the back of his neck and the tops of his arms. It's very odd looking because it's so similar in color to his hair. I'll try to snap a good shot so you can see what I mean. It's pretty trippy.


A week ago today was A's and my seventh anniversary! Woo hoo! Seven years on 7/7. We went out to a nice dinner and had huge desserts that lasted for three more days. Mmmm. And, A managed to surprise me with a dozen beautiful roses. It was such a surprise that I had to read the card to realize that it was he who had sent them! It was a wonderful, wonderful surprise! What a good man (in sooooo many ways).


Finally, I spent pretty much all day Wednesday stripping. It was my first time. I didn't expect it to take so long. I spread the goo on, let it soak in and then started stripping away. It's harder work than you might think. But it was very gratifying to be done at the end of the day. And, I'm quite pleased with the end result.

I'll leave you now to ruminate on that a bit. Happy cogitating!