ARGH!!! Another shoe lace!!! I nearly had a post done when it disappeared. Okay, my accidentially hitting the "clear" buttion probably had something to do with it.

I can not believe the price of beds. When we bought Accalia's, we got it as part of a "any size, one price" sale. I'm hoping that another one of those comes up soon as we're looking to get two extra long twin beds to make into a king (only thing that will work). The beds we saw today must have been stuffed with money. One bed set I looked at today cost more than my first two cars combined. We did see something that would allow us to join two double beds. Tempting. Something like 106" x 75" of space - it would fit in our room (barely). We'll probably go there if we continue to have kids and continue to cosleep (like that is going to change). No, if I'm spending thousands of dollars on a mattress, there needs to be a massage therapist that pops out of it like a genie to ensure I'm relaxed every night for a good sleep.

Rainy here today.

I'll be so glad when the election is over. The levels of excrement continues to rise with the biggest load now on top according to recent polls. If Bush does win, I'll have to start practicing my goose stepping and my "Heil Bush" salute. Sorry, the last world leader I can recall with this much of an inferiority complex and an insistance that his vision of the world was the right one was Hitler. I can see Bush getting us into a few more wars (let's see... North Korea....Iran....) simply because he can. Maybe Laura could just give the man a blowjob every now and again so he doesn't need to put our troops in harms way so he can get off. If she doesn't know how, I'm sure she could ask her kids for some advice.

Ugh.

Ever hear the saying (and I'm paraphrasing) that it isn't the big things that drive a person to insanity, it is a shoelace that breaks when there is no time left. That one little stressor that just trips the trigger. Well, we had shoelaces snapping like crazy around here today.

First, I overslept A lot. Not normally a bad thing, but I'd been in a bit of a cleaning mode last night and had wanted to get going with more this morning. Of course, by the time I woke up, I had slept off all that motivation. I have noticed that I have a period around this time each year where I'm motivated to do nothing - probably some depression, but nothing that I can't deal with by talking with Amy, exercising, playing with the kids, watching some funny movies, etc.

Second, I decided to take the kids today to a park out near the lake. We'd been at this park last weekend and when Accalia saw it, she asked to stop there so she and Cole could play. I think my mother's influence (i.e. worrying) is definitely something that rubbed off on me. When I see the kids jumping off something, or climbing up something, I start thinking of everything that could go wrong. This was the case today as well, but I'm no longer like that as much with Accalia. I think it is because I've seen what she can do and she knows what she can do (and still gets a bit scared of being up too high). With Cole, however, I was hovering around him as he'd run back and forth on this catwalk between two slides. He slid down one and was back to running around and climbing on the stuff. I think I got comfortable with Cole not trying to do too much as I took my eyes off him to look at the lake nearby and was thinking of the beach I'd seen driving by and how we've not been to that beach. That's when Cole started screaming. I could see his leg dangling over the end of the catwalk and ran to him. Blood was pouring out of his mouth. I got Accalia and we headed for the van. There, Cole let me take a look - two cuts on the lip - - still wondering if he'd bit through. He was basically done crying (started again as soon as the van stopped at home and I opened his door to get him out of the car seat - guess no one comtorts like mom). He's doing okay at the moment. Guess we'll have to see how it heals.

Third, I was installing a new toilet seat when Amy told me there was something I needed to see upstairs. The waterbed had leaked. A lot. One tube was basically empty. The pillowtop was drenched and there was mold forming on it We had no idea as we'd put down a water proof mattress pad to protect from accidents in the night (Amy has this drooling problem.....) Anyway, the bed is essentially toast. I bought it back in 1994 with my first tax refund. GIven a bed has a ten year life on average, it did okay. We're going to look at getting a king size (though I doubt it will fit up our stairs- had to take out a window to get the box for the queen up). Whatever we do get, it will NOT be a waterbed. It'll be the first time that my primary bed hasn't been of the water variety since I was 12 or 13 (yep, I was quite the little playa).

Fourth, I had one project I wanted to complete this weekend - repaint my 5 y.o. grill. I started taking it apart and things were going swimmingly, until the last couple of screws. I sprayed 'em down w. WD-40 and tried - they didn't move. I flipped the ting over and tried jarring them loose with a hammer. Nothing. I went back to work with a screwdriver. Nothing. I tried using a locking needle nose pliers to get the damned things moving. Nothing doing. The screws are still in the frame of the grill, along with two hunks of the bottom of the grill. Yep, on one of the flips, I gave the grill bottom a little kick and the piece came loose, leaving behind a couple of bits and pieces. Maybe we'll end up using that as a planter. Very white trash, I know.

After that, I disassembled the bed. I'm going to look on-line at grills, though I'm guessing many are stored away until the spring so the stores can start gearing up for Christmas.

Here's hoping no more shoelaces break tomorrow. Don't know how close I am to having the trigger tripped.

COMMUNITY

Have done a couple of things to change the look of the site. Mmmm...new template....

Forgot to write about the benefit that was had for my parents in my hometown. It was very nice. Still don't know how much money was raised (though I'd wager it was a lot) There were hundreds of people who came, others who weren't able to make it and simply sent my parents the money. I guess part of Mom's treatment was funded by her retirement money. Not how she intended to spend it, I'm sure. I saw some people there that I've not seen in years (including my dad's sister from Watertown). It made both Mom and Dad realize how much their community appreciates them.

Just wanted to get this added in before I forgot. Wondering if I should go and watch Georgie address the RNC. Nope, guess I won't. My hip waders can't be located and I'm not going to jump into the pile of shit he is laying out without some protection.

Okay, know those really surreal moments in life? Had a big one today First some background:

Mom went in on Tuesday to get the fluid drained from her lung and to get scoped so the doctors would have some idea where the cancer is located this time around. They found no sign of the cancer, but did find some fiborous material on her right lung The docs told my dad that it is the likely cause of the fluid retention in that lung and asked if they should remove it while Mom was still out. Dad told them to go ahead. A 30-45 minute procedure became a 300 minute procedure and ended with Mom in the ICU Tuesday and part of yesterday. She was doing okay, though. Not as much pain as last time. The doctor that did the procedure said he didn't think the material was malignant, though we'll have to wait for toxicology to know for sure. They also sent in more of the fluid in for analysis - the last batch came back negative for cancer.

We went to visit her today. She was in the exact same room she'd been put in the last time she was at that hospital, when we were all in a state of shock and grief because of the cancer being discovered. I sat in there today and just thought about how I'd sat by her while she slept, how I'd had to leave the room a couple of times because I'd start to cry. But she was in such good spirits and seemed so much more alive today than she had in November. I think her desire to fight the cancer helps a lot and getting through the chemo helped as well. She knows what to expect.

The really good news is that they took the tubes out of Mom today and she got to go home (or at least had been told that before we'd left). The bad news is that her cancer marker is still elevated - 125. The doctors still don't know where the cancer is at this point (or aren't telling or told my dad and he's not going to tell anyone).

Cole hits the big 2 tomorrow. I'm thinking of celebrating by getting up at the moment he was born. I love the fact that he was born at home and really love the fact that I was the first person to hold him. Such an awesome moment. I think hold Accalia was as powerful, maybe even more so, but in a different way It looks as if the commie fucks (yeah, I said it) that run this state have ended any chance we have of getting another midwife, so we'll likely be stuck at the hospital. Amy says we aren't leaving until she feels ready to push, she'll do a short recovery there, and we'll come back home. That baby will not leave our sight, however. If I have to be an ass about it, I will.

As part of the celebration for Cole's big day, we took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese. It was fun seeing them run around and play the games. Amy and I even managed to get into it and play a few. I just looked on-line about their b-day parties. 9.99 per kid (they each get 2 slices of pizza, a soft drink, 16 tokens, and some other junk; the party gets a personal visit from Chuck himself. Have to see how Accalia feels about as the time rolls around next year.

Lastly, we're on the verge of paying $1000 to bat proof our house. We've had two of the little bastards in our house since the weekend (for some reason, one had a "Dump Daschle" sticker on its back, guess the disguisting and disturbing mammals stick together). I know $1000 is a lot, but not so much if you consider that it costs about $2000 for rabies treatment. And, if anyone did get bit, we'd be calling for the bat proofing at that time, so I figure we're paying 1/3 of what we could if we continue to ignore the problem.