I spent yesterday in total denial that the holiday weekend could actually be over already. It's Tuesday, though, and I'm a little more accepting of the reality especially since I'm actually completing my final assignments of the semester. THAT rocks. I am very excited about the couple weeks off in December. However, I keep telling myself, "Um, P.S. you have to take finals first" which does dampen my enthusiasm a bit. Always raining on my own parade!
Stacy, thank you for the green bean casserole recipe. It's the exact one I used from what I can tell and it was a huge hit. Apparently, I'm quite the Casserole Queen. I double batched the recipe and the casserole dish was scraped clean by the end of the party.
M2 is coming along finally. She was prescribed a lightweight (in my opinion) antibiotic which seemed to peter out Saturday night. The child just slowed WAY down and became feverish. Then, complaints that her ear was hurting. On Sunday, she was no better. I called the pediatrician, explained the situation and she okayed a new prescription for a different antibiotic without yet another doctor's appointment. Thank goodness! Hubs' father had to come to town yet again on Monday, however, because we couldn't take the chance of M2's fever coming back and her needing to leave school on a four-class day for me. She didn't mind the extra "stay home day" one bit.
M1 will be 8 tomorrow. I cannot believe I have a child who will be 8. Eight is monumentally older than 7. 7 is closer to six...which is closer to 5 which is right next door to preschool-aged. 8, however, is much closer to 10. 10, which you may or may not have read on MSN.com, is the "new 15." Um, not in my house it's not. I am firmly committed to raising my daughter in a circa-1970's mindset. It was good enough for Mama and it will be good enough for her too.
Our plans for tomorrow are as special as one can make them while taking 18 credit hours of law classes. I have ordered 24 fancy, very tasty cupcakes from our favorite bakery for her school treat. I will leave school when my last class ends tomorrow at 2:30 to go home and wrap the presents I bought over the weekend. I will also attempt to procure some birthday balloons and streamers (which I might buy at the bakery in the morning and drop off before going to my class tomorrow) to decorate our dining room. Wednesday night is traditionally Spaghetti Night and as one of M1's favorites, it will remain so tomorrow. I have a yellow cake mix and chocolate icing (note to self, buy an "8" candle at bakery tomorrow!) which I will more than likely bake tonight. So, what else does a kid need but her favorite dinner, decorations, cake, presents and her family to celebrate? Can't think of a thing!
M1 is such a little worker, though! She had a party with her dad's family over Thanksgiving. She has ours tomorrow night. Today, she asked, "Are we going to have a party in R (Hubs' and my hometown)?" Well, well, well. Always looking for an angle! That's my girl!
Oh, and don't forget...there will need to be a kid party planned. That's a whole series of blog posts in and of itself, so stay tuned for that.
Hubs' busy season has begun. The boys in brown are working lots of extra time...be kind to them. He has over 300 packages to deliver today. Can you imagine!?
Friday night is all about chocolate chip cookies. I have hungry troops who have been neglected during my ridiculously packed school semester. It is my goal, however, that cookies will be in the mail by the middle of next week...no matter WHAT.
I realize lately my blog has been more chatty, home updating than my take on news, politics or life in general. I hope to have a few righteous rants in my near future, but it could be a couple days.
I will, however, be happy to provide a couple mini-takes:
6 imams on a plane whose behavior prior to and after boarding can at best be described as questionable now want to make media hay over being escorted from the flight. In a post-9/11 society, this type of provocative behavior is not welcome. Best case scenario, this little fiasco was a "try this at home" activity they learned at the conference they had just attended. Worst case? A dry run. The spokesman for the group counts Osama bin Laden among his buddies. Frankly, I hope these folks DO boycott this particular airline because if it's a complete boycott, I will make that airline "The Official Airline of Guard Wife." That would be a no-brainer.
4 guys leave a notoriously raucous strip club in the wee hours of the morning. According to reports, one of the four had made reference to retrieving a gun from the group's car to settle a verbal altercation the group had become engaged in while inside the club. This statement was allegedly overheard by an undercover officer working the club in an attempt to find reasons to close it. The group of four enters the vehicle and the police officer approaches, identifies himself as a cop, and attempts to question the four men. The driver hits the officer with his car, backs up and strikes a police vehicle and a building, then proceeds forward narrowly missing the officer yet again. In the next few seconds, the officer who had been struck and four others staking out the club fire off 50 rounds, killing the driver and wounding a passenger. One of the men fled the scene. No gun was found on the club goers.
The question now comes down to excessive force. All the facts are not in, but here are some of my thoughts...hitting someone with your car will more than likely be perceived as deadly force by that individual and returned in kind; the fourth man who fled could very easily have taken a gun with him; a 15-in-the-clip, 9mm handgun can be emptied in a matter of seconds and reloaded in less than a second; it's counterproductive to use the words "bride groom killed just prior to his wedding" and "coming out of a strip club at 4 a.m. on his wedding day" in the same sentence. I'm withholding final thoughts on this, but it shouldn't be a surprise which way I lean.
Okay...back to homework.