Not A Day Of Rest
2005-02-06, 12:38 p.m.

Greeting from the Heathen Family.

Nope, we didn�t make it to church today.

Hey, we had a good reason. The Together Family came up from Georgia and spent the night with us, and headed out this morning half an hour after church had begun. I have a feeling we�ll be forgiven for spending the time with our good friends.

Today I have one very happy daughter. Yesterday Neat Little Girl was over, and soon a parade of neighborhood girls entered the picture. New Kid From Florida, who moved in this week, came with her mom to play. Little A #2 from three houses down popped in too, and invited them all to go for a bike ride. (Little A #2 is one of four Little A�s. Mom�s name also begins with A, and poor dad is left out with an alphabet-tagalong S.)

New Mom From Florida stayed and chatted while the girls played. Hubby endeared himself by not only entering the conversation, but cleaning the kitchen simultaneously. He said he wanted to do it for me so I could spend the time visiting instead. Oh yeah, he got mega brownie points. Extreme. Colossal.

Yesterday was play day; today is a day of unrest as a result. It is time to tackle the kids� jumbled bedrooms. The prospect is terrifying, and sheer avoidance is what has led me to the computer. Daughter�s room is especially bad, because you cannot reach her bed for the boxes piled all around. She has to climb over the footboard to go to bed at night. As much as I would like to keep the door shut and pretend it�ll all be sucked away by some random cosmic catastrophe, I can no longer put it off. If I don�t emerge tonight, send in a rescue party.

I might, for the first time in years, catch a glimpse or two of the Super Bowl. I don�t give two hoots in a holler about the game; I can�t even tell you who is playing. The only part that interests me is the commercials. We will be the only family in America who goes about their business while the game is on, but piles into the living room during the commercial breaks.

Hubby and I have a new large looming task: De-squelching the backyard. There has been a lot of rain, our lot is low and slopes down to a creek, and the backyard is shaded. There is constant motion at the base of the deck steps because of the dogs tied on there, and stomping and tromping people feet. The end result is a 20 foot mud hole that will not dry out. In addition to building a fence, we need to lay several tons of pea gravel to make a muck-free zone. With everything else still facing us here, the prospect of shoveling and shoveling and shoveling is depressing indeed.

I keep seeing commercials for �The Boogeyman�. He�s probably under Daughter�s bed, camouflaged by boxes. He�s going to eat me, I know it.

In I go. Wish me luck.

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