No title and no topic

Doesn't that make you want to read on?

So, the internet is still having fits. We can't seem to figure out why our signal seems to be pulsing. For now, I have a signal. We'll go with it.

I watched a chunk of a wonderful bit on Amelia Earhart the other day on PBS. I wished I was able to see the whole thing. Fascinating.

The Olympics. Need I say more?

What's with parents knowingly sending their kids to school ill? We're not talking a runny nose here. K- told me that the one girl in her class told her the other day that her mother said that, "She was entirely too ill to be at school, so just don't sit near anyone." Really? It is kindergarten and they share tables. They don't have desks. A fellow walker mom that I hook up with occasionally stopped me this morning to tell me the tale of the dry heaving child that she found outside of the school yesterday. She said that the child said that his uncle had dropped him off. I'm thinking that the uncle knew he was sick, dropped him and ran. Nice.

Remember that I'm a germaphobe.

Apolo Ohno. God bless him. Truly. What a neat guy. (Yes, the Olympics are on as I type.)

So, back to nothing. Hmmmm. We have snow. Snowflakes. The big kind that stick in the trees and make everything look pretty. Apparently, we're getting a storm on Friday.

Speaking of Friday, I will be having a shadow with me. Kim's daughter will be hanging out with me since her mom will be out skiing and dad will be working. I plan on gutting the garden window and getting some things planted. At this point, I half remember what I ordered, but I know for sure that there are peppers and tomatoes in there that definitely need a head start. A- is a bit more of an adventurous kid that needs to stick a bit more in sight. She is a quiet kind of kid that will surprise you with what she can get into. Kim's hope was that by plunking her with me, she wouldn't be watching TV all day as she would if she hung out with her grandfather. K- is excited to have a buddy to play with when she gets home.

On the list for tomorrow? Unearthing the studio. You see, we have a staff show coming up in April. One show piece is due on March 8 for mailer photos and my studio hasn't been functioning in about 3 years. For the last three years or so, it has become storage for a variety of projects that I had my hands in. Since the room is filled with glass, the door is always kept shut. Instead, I would like to double baby gate the door, so as to get some light in the hall. I could collapse one gate to get in to work. K- isn't the problem. She knows that she is not permitted in there because of all of the glass. Try to tell the cat that, though. Smudge will go in there at every opportunity. Glass and kitty tootsies don't mix. The real fix would be if I had a split door (a Dutch door, maybe?) that I could leave the top open and the bottom closed. I wonder if Hubs would be willing to rip that door in half and do a little tweaking? Hmmm. Worth the asking.

Remember Marcy on my sidebar? I talked to Maggie today and got the update. Marcy came home from the hospital on Saturday or so and ended up returning on Monday because of a fever. They have searched high and low and can't find anything. They think it may just be an after effect of the chemo. She is feeling better and beginning to get a bit feisty. The sores in her mouth are healing and she is able to eat again. Prayers are that she remains on this track and continues to recover. All of the chemo that she has had to take has thrown her into early menopause (she's in her 20's), so she is having some effects from that as well as the crappity crap from all of the chemo she received.

My friend Heather had the nasty stomach flu last week and this week she swore that she had strep. She went to the Dr. today who confirmed that all she has is a virus and not strep. She's feeling funky, but feels better that she isn't going to infect her house with strep throat.

K-'s reading has really picked up in just the last week. The teacher has been sending two books home to practice on and K- is really doing well on sounding things out. Her attempts are sometimes still a bit clunky, as she'll be sounding out the first part of the word and speaking the letters aloud to herself at the latter half of the word. She gets it, though. It is her brain processing and I can almost see the gears turning. She's really getting the hang of it and I can't believe the improvement that I've seen in just a very short time. Every night, she's been reading Bob Books to her "class." Hey, if she wants to pretend to have an invisible class to read to, whatever takes her where she needs to go. What's funny is that she shows the book to all of the kids and reprimands as she goes, too.

This week has been a quiet M- week. Oh, he's been a pistol. In fact, last week he wouldn't do his homework for his mom, so his mom sent it back to school with a note on it saying that he wouldn't do it. Good for her! He needs to suffer the consequences of his actions. He's been a pistol in class and has even landed on red, but he's not abusing K- this week. For us, that is a step up.

I've decided to throw coats in the wash this evening. I have a mid-weight LL Bean, a heavy-weight LL Bean and K- has a heavy weight LL Bean coat. One of my coats and K-'s coat can go in the dryer. They are tumbling there now. Unfortunately, the heavy-weight coat of mine can't go in because of it being Tech 2.5 (LL Bean's Gore Tex equivalent), so it takes 2 days to dry. One full day flipped inside out, then I have to flip it right side out for the remaining day. We have a small break in snowstorms and our coats were kind of filthy. Since K- only has one winter coat, I have to make certain that it is dry for tomorrow!

The news started with "February Fury Returns." That can't be good. Ah yes, we're under a winter storm watch basically through Friday night. Saturday is 5-10" or 6-12". Really? (Of course, Hubs has a huge program Saturday.) All of the snow from before melted only enough to become hunkages of ice. Folks, I'm not afraid to officially say that I'm now tired of winter. I promise not to complain incessantly about it. I live in Ohio and know that this is the way it goes.

I was listening to my new-to-me Ben Folds CD today when I really started to pay attention to the words that he was singing. In the song Hiroshima,* he is singing about coming out to do a concert, taking a header off the edge of the stage (later to find out it was because they didn't mark the edge of the stage with tape, so he couldn't see the stage end), bleeding on his keyboard and having a concussion. I'm amazed that anyone could turn out a good song about such an unfortunate accident. Yet another reason why I love the CD. Okay, so sometimes the guy doesn't have the most stellar language, but he is talented.

*I wasn't able to successfully watch the whole video because of the whole pulsing internet thing. If something comes up that is questionable, I'm sorry.

I must go check the coats to see if they are dry. Obviously, we'll be needing them.

Smiles in my day:
- Sprinkled here and there above.

Have a great day!