Decision Time

I've been mulling over the fate of my blog.

It's been neglected since Facebook came into my life. I find I spend more time on FB than here. So what I've decided is that I will keep my blog open a bit longer and transition over to FB almost exclusively.

In fact, a number of my bloggers are on FB as well. If you're not on FB, come find me and we'll have a lot of fun. I promise!

Caption Contest!!

Maybe I should have posted this on Monday??

Bite the wax tadpole? Really?

Ten Top Trivia Tips about The Rantings of a CRAZY WOMAN!!!!!

1. It's bad luck for a flag to touch The Rantings of a CRAZY WOMAN!!!!.
2. If every star in the Milky Way was a grain of salt they would fill The Rantings of a CRAZY WOMAN!!!!.
3. India tested its first nuclear The Rantings of a CRAZY WOMAN!!!! in 1974.
4. Humans share over 98 percent of their DNA with The Rantings of a CRAZY WOMAN!!!!.
5. There is no lead in a lead pencil - it is simply a stick of graphite mixed with The Rantings of a CRAZY WOMAN!!!! and water.
6. It took The Rantings of a CRAZY WOMAN!!!! 22 years to build the Taj Mahal!
7. If a snake is born with two heads, the heads will fight over who gets The Rantings of a CRAZY WOMAN!!!!.
8. It takes 8 minutes for light to travel from the Sun's surface to The Rantings of a CRAZY WOMAN!!!!!
9. In Chinese, the sound 'The Rantings of a CRAZY WOMAN!!!!' means 'bite the wax tadpole'!
10. The Rantings of a CRAZY WOMAN!!!! is physically incapable of sticking her tongue out.

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

Weekend Wrap-up

Another weekend gone....amazing how quickly it goes when Saturday is devoted to a wedding that you and your eldest daughter are in....

See? I can look like a girl. I merely chose not to on most occassions.

This is my friend, Nicole (and her dad), whom I've known for 30 years. She was married 15 years ago and that didn't last a year. Guy was a real jerk, messed with her head, very controlling blah blah blah. Last year she met Bill, and here we are.

Jenna was her flower girl.

We tried to get a good photo of the girls together, but Mallory was more interested in running around and not really paying attention.

It was a beautiful day for a wedding. Just a long one for everyone involved.

Caption Contest

Nothing like talking to your 5 year-old about bad guys and drugs....

~~

So anywho, got a busy weekend coming up with Jen and I being being in a friend's wedding. Saturday is going to be a looooooooong day with Jen and no nap - for either of us! I hope to be back on Monday, provided I can feel my feet. Have a great weekend!!

Mallory's New Form of Entertainment

Weekend Wrap-up

Once again, I have been AWOL from here for no particular reason.

Quiet weekend to report. The weather has finally started to come around and be a bit more stable instead of 80s one day then 50s the next. I've been replacing a lot of winter kill in my flowerbeds. I have lettuce and snow peas up. Carrots are coming along and tomatoes went in yesterday. Soon I'll plant corn and in June/July the pumpkins will go in.

Quiet Mother's Day to report as well. After church yesterday my mom had us over for brunch. Got home and put the kids down for a nap, so there was some nice time off from being a parent for both of us!

Jenna made me a card at childcare. The teacher asked why she loves then wrote it down. Jenna loves me because I'm nice.

"So why am I nice?"

"Because whenever Mallory does something bad you yell at her."

"That makes me nice??"

"Uh-huh."

"Because I'm not yelling at you?"

"Uh-huh."

Fencing, Week 7 of 8!

Things are winding down for this session. Can't believe I have one week left! I'm moving on to intermediate and start that session May 20. I've been pricing out dry and electric gear but I want to wait for at least one session with James and intermediate to see if this is something I still want to casually persue.

I've gotten pretty buddy-buddy with Clint, a first-time fencer. He's 32 about about my size so it makes fencing easier. We have way too much fun together and will usually open fence each other after class. Patrick said that fencing is a gentleman's sport.

Then we got a hold of it. There is more name calling and taunting that come from both of us. We've sort of made it into the Happy Gilmore of fencing. He's going to move on to intermediate with me, and I'm very happy to have someone I know go up with me. I need all the confidence I can get!!

Last night during our match, Alex has the (un)fortunate luck to score our match. I have't seen him shake his head this much in some time! There were a couple of times that Clint was, shall we say, off target. He gave me a couple of glancing blows "below the belt" if you follow me. So I countered with my own. It wasn't intentional and it wasn't a direct hit, but he did respect me afterwards.

Weekend Wrap-up!

Caption Contest Winner! This week goes to Ace with his, "Borat visits the North Pole during the summer!"
~~
Friday night I went to Open Fencing. There was James (soon-to-be fencing coach), Chris (intermediate fencer) and Paris (first-time beginner in my class). James smoked me as usual. In fact he scored a couple of times and I didn't feel it. Ninja!

Chris is a southpaw which is always interesting to fence. He beat me 5-4 the first time. The second time I beat him 5-4. After our second match, James says to Chris, "She got you with her height."

"Yeah, and she IMPALED me!"

James looked at me, "And YOU are an atomic BOMB! You put everything you have into your attacks." I don't think he meant this as a compliment, however. He went on to say I need to work on backing off.

"James, there is nothing subtle about me. This is what I do. I'll try to learn to back off."

In pretty much everything I've ever done in my life I do so with great force and energy. This, inevitably, results in me fizzling out due to frustration. I think age has tempered this, but I'm still very gung-ho about things.

I told James that he would have the honor of my presence next session, to which he replied, "Well, that should be interesting."

"That wasn't quite the vote of confidence I was hoping for."

I've been considering getting my own dry gear, but I'm going to wait until one or two sessions with James to see if I stick with it. I'd like to join the USFA to compete in sanctioned events with a team from Nebraska. I don't really know how far I'll go with this. I do enjoy this sport immensely.

Saturday was a gray, cool, drizzly day after it was 90 on Friday. Never got above 45. I did three loads of laundry Friday so that really cleared up the weekend. I think I only went to the store.

Sunday was church and it was rainy. Lots of storms that moved through that gave us nearly 1.5" of some much-needed rain. Still cool, however. Steve was downstairs watching TV, the girls were in bed, so I stretched out on the couch and napped for an hour.

I never nap.

I need to be incredibly tired in order to nap as there's always so much to do during the weekend. But it was rainy outside and most of the domestic crap was done. It felt really nice!

Caption Contest!!

Another gorgeous day in Omaha to report - unseasonably warm temps over the last few days, then cooler and rainy over the weekend.

Don't know what's on tap for the weekend. Guess I'll know when it happens, right?

So here is this week's installment for the contest. Have a great weekend and I'll see you Monday!!

NOT YET!!!

I dropped the girls off at daycare this morning like I usually do. There's a boy in Mallory's group, Anthony. He's about 2-3 months younger that her. Here of late she runs up to him and give him a hug. Nothing alarming about that.

Today, she gave him his morning hug. I was talking with his mom who works there and then looked down to him and Mallory to find them kissing.

Not just kissing but OPEN MOUTH KISSING!!!!

"MALLORY!! Cut that out!"

She stopped, turned around and looked me, pouted, and walked off.

Something as innocent as salad dressing...

....turned into a discussion about sex between Steve and Jenna.

I was pouring a new bottle of ranch into the squeeze bottle we currently use. It started off slow as not to make a mess. About midway through I was able to have the two rims touching as the dressing is pouring out.

Steve: "Look, Jenna! The bottles are mating!"

Jenna: "What's 'mating'?"

I shoot Steve "the look.

"Steve: "Mating is when two bottles love each other and touch each other."

Jenna: "Ewwww......"

Steve: "And sometimes, one bottle puts its goo into another bottle."

By this time I'm beet red, trying very hard not to laugh and to not make a mess. Then a big glob of dressing comes out and it runs over the top.

Steve: "Yep, sometimes that happens, too."

I put my head down on the counter to laugh. Then I took my finger and tried to clean off the ranch that was running down the bottle. Jenna hopped up on the chair next to me and asked excitedly, "Can I lick your finger??"

"NO!!! GO AWAY!!!!"

Weekend Wrap-up!

Not a whole lot to report this weekend, outside of the usual domestic crap. Steve and I had a date night Friday and could only make it until 2030 as we didn't really know what else to do. How pathetic is that?!?!

Saturday Jen and I ran some errands that finished off with buying her flower girl shows for an up-coming wedding in a mere four weeks. Whaddaya think???Sunday? Went to church, then out to IHOP with some friends. Put the girls down for a nap, I dug up and moved a plum tree - not as impressive as it sounds. The tree is only about 3-4' tall. I moved it from it's over-winter spot of the last 1.5 years, which is the South side of the shed, to the front side yard. After I dug the hole and stuck the tree in the hole I started to loosen the dirt from the new sod we seeded last fall. I'm happy to report that the roots are about 3" long already, so hopefully, this seed blend will work nicely!

I tilled up the veggie garden Friday and planted carrots, mesclin, snowpeas, and red onion. Soon I will plant tomatoes and corn, then in July the pumpkins will be planted.

The weather looks GREAT this week - sunny and 70s. Helloooooooooooooo, Spring!

Caption Contest!!

I've been fairly busy out in the yard this week. Managed to scrub the hot tub and put it away until October, get my fountain back up and running, hang three praying mantis egg cases, till the vegetable garden and plant carrots, lettuce, and snow peas. But more importantly, our Hawaiian Sun Chairs are hanging!!1!! WOOT!!

Not much planned this weekend. That's about all I know! Here is this week's edition of the contest. Have a good weekend and I'll see you on Monday!!

Reflections

As I walked through ICU looking for potential subjects to enroll in my various studies I saw a new patient that was in for a head bleed. But when I peeked in his room I saw that it was more than just a head bleed.

There was active bleeding from the top of his head. His nose and mouth were packed with gauze bandages. He was already trached.

His nurse is a friend of mine and I asked what really brought him in.

"Self-inflicted gun shot."

Sure enough, there, under his chin, was the entry wound of his suicide attempt.

Once again I was faced with the haunting thought of my dad and the demons these two men shared. The demons that drove them to the thought that this was the only way to end their pain. Family be damned.

I still don't understand the pain and desperation they felt. I still don't want to know. I don't want to ever be that low.

I said a prayer for him as I stifled back the tears. I truly believe I felt God's presence with me, standing next to me as I tried to unsuccessfully sort this out.

Weekend Wrap-up!!

Caption Contest! This week we have a NEW winner in our midst. This week goes to to Kim with her, "This is the only way to spare you from my bad breath!"
~~
Lessee if I can get back into the swing of things this week. I've beena round, just haven't wanted to post anything. And I visit, but I lurk, so I'm not ignoring your spaces, either!

We were in DSM over the weekend. Steve took a half-day Friday while I was off completely with the girls - the joys of working at a Jesuit institution. Steve, however, get a floating holiday for Arbor Day! WTF?!?! Anywho....

I got nuthin......see? I need to get my mojo workin' again.....

Caption Contest

I've been around, just not in the blogging mood this week. Maybe things will interest me again.....

In the meantime, here is this week's installment for the contest! Have a great and blessed Easter and I'll (hopefully) see you Monday!

Caption Contest!!

It's Friday and we'll be under a winter storm watch starting tomorrow through Sunday!! Models predict anywhere from 4-12". YIPPEE!! Whatever.....

So I present this photo for this week's installment. Have a great weekend and I'll see you Monday!!

Stuff

Not much to report outside of the girls' physicals on Monday. They both checked out just fine. Jenna had three shots and a finger stick and Mallory just had one shot; her last until Kindergarten!

Being in daycare the kids had a constant runny nose and cough. Just as they're get over the current illness another one lurked in the corner. Mallory was running a bit of a low-grade fever Monday and her cheeks were bright red. Her doc took one look at her, noticed the splothes on her legs and fine rash on her torso and says, "It looks like she has parvo."

"Huh-WHUH?!?!?! Parvo? Serious? I thought that was a dog virus." So i scanned Wikipedia and found this. Oh, and she has an ear infection. Even with tubes. Go figure.

Yesterday was one of those hectic crazy days at work where you're busy but your efforts are all for naught. I thought I had finally enrolled someone in one of my pneumonia studies that hasn't seen any action since June. Got the patient enrolled and I get study labs. Two of the Pulmonary fellows are in her room and one sees that her BP is low and he and the nurse discuss what kind of hypotension drugs she's on.

This caught my attention as prolonged hypotention medications is exclusionary. However, I didn't find this medication in the e-chart so I had no idea she was on it. I asked the nurse if she had charted this medication; no. I called the medical monitor to verify that she had to be taken out of the study even though it looked like she was low on fluids, thus contributing to her hypotention. Regardless I had to take her out. I was annoyed that the nurse hadn't charted her medications for 5 hours.

So I DCd her from the study, called family back and notified them of the situation. I spend a good chunk of yesterday getting this patient enrolled and it was all for naught.

So I had fencing class last night and I really needed the class to work off my frustrations of the day. I came home sweaty and tired, but feeling better in my head. Though in the coming days I will have a whole new group of bruises to sport!

Weekend Wrap-up!!

Caption Contest Winner! This week's winner is none other than Aynde with her, "I said to pull your head out of YOUR ass not MINE!"

Well done!!
~~
Outside of the laundry, we didn't do much this weekend. I finally got around to painting the master bathroom. When we moved in it, like the rest of the house, was blah beige. Two years ago whilst pregnant and in a fit of pregnant hormoes I decided I needed to paint it and get more color. So I painted it blue. Not just any blue but about the shade of the "Save Now" button whenever you type anew post. With the white wood work it was nice.

After we painted the bedroom I decide the bath was going to follow suit for color. I ended up woolie-ing the whole bathroom. It's about 75% done. Now I need to go back and re-roll some light spots and do all the trim work. With the nice weather coming I know it will take a backseat to gardening. It didn't take long to paint but the trim work with so many corners and tile is going to take a while.

Grilled out last night and had a couple of friends over. I did four NY strips, veggies, pesto, and Steve made his "famous" maple walnut cheesecake. When we were dating I lived in an apartment but would spend the weekends at his house (GASP!). Usually Friday nights when I'd get off from work he'd have some decadent dessert waiting for me. This was one of my favorites. And it still is.

Getting things lined up for an upcoming wedding mid-May that I am in. Jenna is the flower girl and we'll pick up her dress today after her KINDERGARTEN PHYSICAL!!!! Found a cute dress for Mallory that's ivory and have multi-colored flowers embroidered on the tulle skirt. It comes with a little sweater so she can wear it for Easter, as well. Mom took in the bodice of my dress. The dress was already a bit loose when I bought it in September and that was 25# ago, so it was really baggy in the bodice.

Mom wasn't sure if she'd be able to make it work by taking in the dress, but she did an AWESOME job! I have BOOBS!! She snugged it in perfectly!! This is a big deal for me as I've never really worn anything that "flaunts" this feature of mine.

Not sure if I'm ready to see Jenna all dolled up with flowers in her hair just yet....

Caption Contest!!

Early, long, and busy day for toady; it's our annual Pulmonary Conference and I've been up since 0530 and the conference gets over round about 1630-ish. I hope Steve orders a pizza or something....

So I'll this little gem to your over-active and creative imaginations. Have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday!!

Back To The Basics

Last night was week two of my second fencing class. Things just make sense this time around. It's a pretty large class again, about 15. AND!! There's six other women!!! WOOT! Plus more adults so I won't feel so bad talking an adult down as I did an 11 year old.

Worked on foot work again and learned parrys 4, 7, 6, and 8. Got to suit up again *squeal!* After class was open fencing so I went up against Alex; why do I do this to myself?? Fought him for about 10 minutes. He peeled away and went up against Patrick, so Clint stepped in. This is his first time and h'es fighting like I did last session. I found his weak spots fairly easily, though he found some of mine, as well. Clint and I dueled for 15-20 minutes. We were both spent. I strongly recommended to him that he take lots of ibuprofen when he got home!!

This class and sport just ROCKS!!!

Weekend Wrap-up!!

Caption Contest Winner! This week goes to Becca with her, "Medusa meets Barbie?"
~~
Yesterday was Steve's 44th birthday. A couple of weeks ago he and Jenna were discussing cakes and what kind he wanted. As she's all things pink, she was truly shocked and appalled when he stated he wanted a grey cake (as a joke).

"NO!!! It has to have pink!"
"It's my cake and I want grey."

Never jokinly tell your spouse you want a grey cake, as you just may get it! So I began thinking about his cake and what I needed to do. I figured I'd get a white cake mix and add black food coloring to it. The frosting would be darker grey and I was going to try and leave the frosting streaky so it would look like a slab of marble.

I was discussing this with my mom a few days ago and the marble slab cake morphed to the mouse cake as they're grey, as well. And instead of grey cake mix I opted for red velvet a la "Steel Magnolias."

Now came the task of engineering this cake. I've never done a 3D cake before. I had two mixes; one in a 9" round, a loaf pan, and the rest in cupcakes if I needed any extra pieces. The round cake I cut in half and frosted together to make the back. The loaf cake I cut in half for the head and shaped it:Using the rest of the loaf cake I fashioned legs:

Now the mouse is mostly frosted.

And it's done! The whiskers are toothpicks that I colored black with a sharpie. I had a corner piece of cake that made an excellent hunk of cheese. I piped frosting for the tail.

Notice the little detail....

It's not perfect and is most definitely an amateur cake. I don't think Duff has anything to worry about......

Here, Steve is posing, getting ready to hack into his very own ROUS.

Lining up for the first cut......

Beheading the ROUS.

I made red frosting to glue the pieces together. However, I wasn't able to get the red dark enough. We weren't expecting this visual, but it was an added bonus!

Steve's first sucessful mouse lobotomy!

Way too much food this weekend, but all-in-all, I think it was a sucessful birthday! Happy birthday, Stevie!!!

Caption Contest!!

Yet another week shot in the arse. And yet another week that I don't have a picture ready to go so I Google. When in doubt, find a fashion show. There's BOUND to be something worthwhile!

And here it is.

Have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday!

The Pen Lady

I've started up a hobby of mine again; making pens. I work from my home (read: garage) using domestic and exotic hardwoods and burls, acrylics, stone, and Corian solid surfaces. <-- Yes, that was my schpeel when I used to do shows.

I don't do shows anymore. The last show I did Jenna was due in 2 weeks. I make pens as gifts and do some comission work. I "close down" in the winter as it's too damned cold! Here are some samples of my work. Most of these pieces are available, if interested.

This letter opener is one of my earlier pieces and is made from green Corian. Available.

A neighbor of my mom's works at a Tile shop and brought over a couple of 4" Corian sample tiles of a line that is discontinued. As she brought me stock, I made her a pen and have charged her to advertise for me. I think she will bring in many as she stated that the company is always looking for "Thank You" gifts for customers. How cool would it be to have a pen and/or letter opener made from the same Corian that's in your kitchen?? Along with two different colors of Corian I added black guitar picks. This pen is spoken for.This lovely little gem is made from Red Malee burl from Australia. Burls are probably my favorite medium to work with as I have no idea what is on the inside and there's no grain to the wood, just swirls and birdseyes that really show up with I clear coat the wood. Available.Here's another sample of a burl. This pen is Buckeye burl (light) from North America and Thuya burl from Morrocco. This pen is spoken for.
This is another example of Buckeye burl. The piece has more figuring. Available.These two pens are from the same type of Corian that someone I work with just gave me. She and her husband had their kitchen remodeled and had this hunk left. In return to the free stock she received these two pens. It's neat to see how the "mood" of the piece changes depending on what color kit I choose. Spoken for.This is made from a product called acrylester. I'm not too fond of this material as it likes to explode if it gets too hot. This color is Ocean Mist and is available.This trio of pens was a special order for a gal in my office. She wanted a pen for herself and her two daughters that are graduating college this year. You'll notice that each pen has a piece of the other two in the cap, signifying the relationship. Spoken for.This is a two-tone blue swirl acrylic with white guitar picks at both ends. Available.This desk set is a combination of Box Elder burl (light) from North America and Cocobolo from Central America. Spoken for.This is made from the same green Corian as the letter opener. Spoken for.This piece is made from amber Crushed Pearl acrylic. Available.Finally, this set I made from a pre-fab piece of wood consisting of either birch or maple (North America), Purpleheart (Central America), and Walnut (North America). I entered it in our county fair in 2006 and won First Place! No one is getting this set. Ever.

Just because a particular piece is spoken for doesn't mean I can't make it again. Just letting you know in case anything peaks your interest. ;-)

Spring Steel Wrap-up!!

Caption Contest Winner!! This week goes to Tom with his, "The sliced up remains of Kristi's prepube classmates."

Unless you've been sleeping under a rock for the last few weeks you'll remember that I had my beginner's tournament at Spring Steel this past Saturday. There were only 11 people that showed so it was a very small turn-out.

We were divided into two groups and those were the ones we would fence against for the tournament. My group had 6 and the other group had 5. In the first round I was 3-2, and I was pleased with that.

There was one kid, Josiah (in the red), that was doing all this fancy schmancy crap with me that got me to wonder if he was beginner. I asked Patrick if he was and he tole me that Josiah was in an intermediate that's practiced a lot. I was a bit miffed that I, a one-time beginner, was up against a decent intermediate. He'd stomp his foot or quickly wave his foil in an effort of draw me in. I wasn't having any of it, and frankly, was getting really annoyed with his anticks. Maybe it's my age.

As you can see in the picture he's in a lunge but he's really low with his foil pointed up. With this move the attcker anticipated the opponent will come at him so he ducks while the opponent is up high, thus leaving the opponenet wide open to attack.

In between rounds I was talking with Steve and mom when Patrick comes up and somewhere in the conversation he mentions that I was in the intermediate group.

"What?!?! Since when?"
"Since this morning."
"I thought the groups were younger beginners and older beginners."

Apparently not. Now I didn't feel so bad about being shown up!

The other match I lost was a good match against Ben. We were tied 4-4 when I came at him and saw the tip of my foil indent his lame' but it didn't make solid contact so it didn't count. He got me right after that.

After break was Round two where we fought each other again. My first match was Josiah and I was bound and determined to not let this punk show me up 5-1 like the first round. It didn't help that he is a Southpaw, thus adding to the challenge. He tried the same stuff to no avail, though he was pretty jumpy whenever I approached him in the same manner. Then at one point he was very far away from me and appeared to lose interest in the match; his foil was down, he was looking around. I think it was another tactic to draw me in. By this time the three-minute mark was reached so the match was called. I lost 2-1. Punk ass kid....

At the end of the Tournament was the medal ceremony. As you can see here I medalled, much to my surprise. Not only did I medal, but I came in second!! How I did this still remains a mystery.

So all-in-all, this was my first tournament in a group of intermediates and I came out second to Punk Ass Kid. I was very pleased with the day, not to mention very tired and stiff.....So here you are, Tom, video of one of my matches. This is agaisnt Noelle who tied for third. She had some wicked parrys and fought close to me which made if difficult to score against her. I'm in the blue work-out pants on the right; Steve is shooting video.

The second round wasn't near as rewarding as the first, mainly because I was getting pretty tired. I had a great time. It was interesting and challenging to fence strangers and to figure out their style, strengths, and weaknesses.

I start class up again Tuesday night!

Caption Contest!!

So it's Friday again....that can only mean one thing....SPRING STEEL IS TOMORROW!!!! WHOO-HOO!!

Or, it could mean it's that special day of the week reserved for the illustrious Caption Contest. Does that work better??

So here is this week's installment of the contest. Have a great weekend, wish me luck and many parry repostes (hopefully a medal, too!), and I'll see you on Monday!!

Tagged!!

A la Meg, through Becca.

All you have to do is open up your photo file program. Find the sixth file and post the sixth picture.

This was taken from my home computer. Thanfully this file was from this year!! As you can see, this is Mallory taken at the end of January.

This next one is from my work computer. This is Jenna's 3-month photo.That's all I got.

Weekend Wrap-up!

Caption Contest Winner! This week goes back to Aynde with her, "The truth behind "Greenhouse Gases."

~~

<-- In the glass bubble, as explained below.

Saturday we decided to trek to the zoo as this is something the four of us haven't done yet. All was well and good and Jenna wanted to see the penguins. We walked into the aquarium and she freaked. out. when she say the fiberglass Great White shark hanging from the ceiling. This was more than her usual whining. She froze, hands TIGHTLY over her eyes, and sobbing hysterically. No amount of talking her down was going to do the trick. This went on for about 15". Mal and I moved on a bit to the penguins. In this enclosure is a 4' glass bubble that juts into the water so you can sit in the bubble "underwater" and watch the penguins up close and personal. I still marvel at ther fluidity under water.

Oh yes, as Mal and I were finishing up in the aqaurium we came across the ray tank and there we found a diver scrubbing the rocks.

I stuck my head around the corner as it had gotten quieter and Steve and Jenna were gone. I assumed they were at the entrance waiting. So Mal and I went through the rest of the aquarium to no avail. So I thought they went to the new butterfly pavilion. No luck, either.

<-- I took that!!

This was my first time through the pavilion - very cool! Tropical setting with butterflies and hummingbirds just flying around doing their thing. A Giant Morpho almost landed on Mallory a couple of times. She now knows what a butterfly is and would point and say "fly!"

I decided to head back up to the jungle and wait to see if I could find them. Keep in mind that I left my cell at home as did Steve but her had his on-call pager and on-call phone. Do you think I know those numbers???

An hour later and no sign of either of them I flag down a zoo employee to either put out an APB on them or use a phone to call the hospital and get his pager number. I was finally able to track it down through Security and I paged him. About 20 seconds he calls back and they're in the cat house - a ZOO cat house with tigers, lions, pumas, and leopards. Not the red light cat house, Tom.

Came home, sent everyone to bed after lunch. The rest of the weekend was the usual domestic crap, so I'll spare you the details.. Saturday night we watched "Charlie Wilson's War." Woo. Such is our date nights.....