I just lost my job

Don't really know what else to say. No warning. Beginning an afternoon of job-hunting and resume polishing now.

Happy Birthday, Scott and Mary!

Hoping your birthday(s) be festive and snowy!

Day care is a petri dish

It turns out that pneumonia is going around Harry's day care center, and he's got it. >:P He's acting 95% normal, but has a bad cough that isn't going away and wakes him up at night, which seems to be the most obvious symptom for the other kids in his daycare as well. We don't know if it's viral, bacterial, or another kind (I don't remember the name of that one) but the treatment is basically the same: leave it alone to heal itself, which can take weeks, or use antibiotics. So we're using antibiotics. It's been awhile since the last creepin' crud decimated the day care, so I guess I should have been expecting something like this - it seems to be cyclical.

Unfortunately, he can't go back to daycare until his cough is gone (to try to protect any kids who may not have been exposed yet), so I may be taking some sick leave next week to take care of Harry. The good part of it is that I have the leave to spend, and Harry isn't really feeling sick, so if we have to hang out at home for a few days, that'll be okay - I'm sure I'll read every Thomas book in the house until I'm about ready to pitch them out the window, but there are worse things!

Let us eat cake!

So John and I are trying really hard to get everything set up for a teeny little 2-adults-plus-3-kids-no-guests wedding in two weeks (Feb. 7th, at around 10:30am-ish). So far, we've got the really important things covered - O and B are coming into town; we're getting the license tomorrow; we've arranged for the church, minister, photographer, Harry-wrangler (in case Harry decides to run around screaming during the wedding), and outfits for John and me. We're working on getting John's ring ordered and we're using the ring we bought for my engagement ring as a wedding ring, and I'll have a band made for it later as an anniversary ring. No word yet on an organist, so we may end up using recorded music, and we haven't yet decided whether to take the kids with us for lunch afterwards, or drop them with a friend and have our first married meal as just a couple. It's gotten a *little* hectic, but the nice thing about having it just be us is that it's all very low-key. Of course, it will be a major undertaking to get us all out of the house on the morning of the wedding, but it usually is anyway! :D

I do have a rather strange favor to ask of one of you guys in DC, though. We've all joked around about the passionfruit cake from Alexandria Pastry Shop being the secret glue that makes Wood sib marriages last... and since I'm the only one who didn't have that cake at previous weddings and I'm the only one who's divorced... what do I know??? So I contacted APS. They don't ship cakes, but they can make one for us and freeze it solid, if one of you guys wouldn't mind picking it up from them and overnighting it to us. The cake will be in a regular pastry box, so it will need to be put into a more sturdy box (and probably padded between the pastry box and outside box). Also, it's apparently important for the cake to go directly from their freezer to the post office (or other shipping place) since their freezer is much colder than a regular home freezer, and it ought to be as cold as possible during shipping. Would one of you mind doing that for us?

Two Guys and Two Girls

Lisa, TK, and Tommy arrived after supper and I put them to work helping me make Obama placemats for all. We did red and blue designs on white paper and cut photos and cartoons of Obama to add to the mix. They got put into the plastic make your own placemats. Tommy is keeping a journal for school and kept one of the news photos for that.

Lisa isn't feeling very well, but hopefully will be better tomorrow. TK's friends arrive later tonight. We'll probably go into DC for a little while tomorrow, then see what will work for Tuesday. Scott has Sean's large van to take us all to the Metro on Tuesday. Getting parking at the Metro garages is pretty chancey.

The electricity was out for awhile in West Virginia --- not fun when it's cold outside! Heard that many deer were sighted. They watched some of the mall concert on TV. I could listen on the radio. Anyone else catch it? Fun to hear Pete Seeger among the younger performers. He's the only one I've ever seen in person. Gheema

Five Guys!

Ben and I made it out to the Westernmost Five Guys in Beaverton last Saturday. All was as we were used to, except, of course the location was bigger than any we'd been to, much more crowded, and much more heavily staffed. They had our BC and LBC (respectively) ready in about 7 minutes, and were, as always, very generous with the fries. It was great to get there and great to see it so hopping! It's not as close as Springfield was, but I thought we were leaving it behind when we left. The East Coast officially has one less draw on us! ;)