White Lightning Axiom: Redux

Well, it's been a fairly calm weekend. I spent Saturday night doing nothing of any great value. I did manage to finish up the laundry, but afterwards was all BoobTube and no synaptic confluence. There was some show about terrorist dirty-bombs in London and then a dumb time-travel show on the SciFi channel called SlipStream. I could have done better by dreaming I tell you. I just have to remember to hit the OFF button, you know? Morning came quickly and I was up tending the great trio at 0700: Kids, Hounds, Fire. The combination of the 3 is probably not a good thing, but when done in order and moderation, its a good thing. Later on, while the Mrs was chasing the munchins of malfeasance about the upper floors of the HQ, I took a glance out the window in the guest quarters. The wood smoke from the chimney was descending because of the cold and was weaving it's way among the bare branches of the locust tree in the front yard. The sun had just come up and was casting shadows in the smoke that would appear, waver and then vanish as the gentle wind created eddies among the branches. The silence made it look almost surreal. Haupertonian mists.

Off to the 1000 mass we go. Me and the little authoritarian missy. The Wife wanted to take one shopping and Jake got into the Family Tank first so he didn't get to come to church with me. Since we got going fairly early, we managed to get a decent parking spot. One that would not condemn us to a 15 minute wait while staring at the road dirt caked on my windshield. The mass went well, Alexis did not stray too far and soon became tired. This made holding her a bit easier. Her two favorite parts of church are when she gets to bless herself with holy water and the times when she gets to put the money in the collection basket. Anything to make her happy, I just wish she wasn't so please to give MY money away! I guess I should get ready for more of that kind of thing. The trip back home was uneventful and we hit all the lights just right. No red lights at all. Got home in about 90 seconds ... new record for me. Since we got back so soon and the Mrs was not going to be back for some time, I thought that we could go outside and play with the wagon for a bit. Well, by play I mean that she will sit in it while I pull it around the neighborhood. The best part for her was that she did not have to share it with Jake. We were all over the place and she was jabbering at me the whole time. Telling me which way to turn and not to drive on the snow. She did not budge an inch though. Next time, we will have to go out with Jake on the big wheel and her in the wagon. That should be a treat. The sun was out so it was not too chilly for her, but when we crossed the street, the shade from the trees deprived us of our warming rays of sun. That pretty much spelled the end of the ride. We doubled back and trekked back to the manor where we warmed up inside. I stoked up the fire a bit and she sat in the kitchen watching Monsters Inc ... Mike and Sully ... for the bazillionth time. The Mrs and Jake show up within minutes and we have lunch. Then it is nap time, or so we would like to think.

When we put the kids to bed, they will goof off for a few minutes but in nearly every case, fall asleep very shortly. Jacob has decided that this will no longer be the case for him. Today, he has started climbing out of his bed/crib again and leaving the room. Alexis see this and reports it to us with great consternation. The first time Jake escaped, he made it all the way to the basement where the Mrs was looking for some things in the food storage vault. She was quite surprised to see him there. I was laughing my heart out when I saw him duck through the doorway. The Mrs dragged him back into the nursery and laid him back down. The second time came moments later when we were both in the Kitchen cleaning up after lunch. He came ambling down the grand staircase with a big old grin on his face. The kind of grin that says "There is nothing you can do to stop me now!". Little bugger. The third time I had barely left the room when I hear the door opening behind me and he bolts out to get past me. The fourth time, he wanders into the Master Suite, turns on the TV and sits down to watch a bit of tube. He would have gotten away with it if the volume was not too loud. The fifth and final time, he just got out of bed and laid down on the futon that we have in his room. My Amish-Hero Dad and Super Memory Mom had given us this sofa/futon to use and has it ever been used! Jake is especially fond of it and will sleep a good 8 hours on it if left undisturbed. Of course, we only left him there for 3 hours. I'm thinking it might be time to turn his crib into a toddler bed by removing the front. He can leave anytime he wants now so we might as well make it less dangerous for him. Once he is ACTUALLY asleep, the Mrs and I set about some minor tasks. One of the standard weekend chores for me is to restock the wood brackets. Usually only one. I like to keep both of them full so one can dry out while I use wood from the other one that I filled the previous weekend. The Mrs's task is to open the door when I walk up to it with a tote full of wood. My job is to fill the tote, march up to the manor, unload the wood and repeat a dozen times till the bracket is filled. It's still a bugger of a task and I get winded much easier these days. Upside of this is that it counts as exercise and it is much easier without all the snow. No cold feet, no falling down, and no frozen snot hanging from my nose.

When Alexis woke up, her first act was to order the dogs downstairs RIGHT NOW. She will brook no insubordination! I think she picks this up from the Mrs since I just look at them and point with my head and they go downstairs. I love the Hounds, they are the only ones who believe that I carry any weight in the Haupertonian Household. Jake wakes a few minutes later and we start in with dinner. I made pasta with meatballs and they had yogurt to top if off. Later on, they got icecream for desert so I think they got enough to eat. The were pretty excited about the icecream and spent a bit of time dancing about in celebration. Funny stuff to watch.

# posted by mdmhvonpa @ 9:32 AM