PROBABLY SHOULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS ...

before we go to the Oregon Coast in April, for sure.

The light just came on over Thanksgiving, while we were in Richland, so we have time.

At the very least I should dust my dash.

IT'S ON BOTH SIDES

I always thought my family got it's crazy from my mom's side of the family. Check out this scandalous picture of my Grandma ...

It's pretty clear that the Hardings contribute significantly to our wackiness.

This picture on my sweet cousin, Gel's (in the blonde wig and purple jacket), blog made me realize that we actually get it from both sides of the family. I am using this without permission, so I hope it's okay.

This is how part of the clan dressed up to welcome little brother Burke home from his mission - at the airport!

Melissa is in the gray cowboy hat toting a cow, because they are farmers. I do believe that is Megan sporting the great black hair? I am pretty sure the mullet guy in the back is Phil. (If any of them read this I hope they will let me know if I got the guesses right.) The proud parents of this group is my dad's little sister, Ranae and her husband Ryan.

I think this would make an excellent Christmas card, they just need the rest of the family there. I would guess that picture only represents about 1/8 of their family...

ADVANCEMENT (tinged with sadness and a lot of angry - and if you didn't know why my blog is private you will after you read this!)

Tonight they finally had the Pack Meeting where Daniel got his Arrow of Light. It was a nice ceremony.

Here's Larry and a shot of Matthew for the 1.7 seconds that he held still. Matthew, not Larry. Larry behaved like a Super Star all night long.

We interrupt this post for a news flash - Larry did get asked to speak in Stake Conference tonight! Poor guy! It is the day after we get home from Hawaii. When we were planning the trip we were going to go Sunday to Sunday, but if you know me, you know I should avoid Sunday travel! So we changed it to Saturday to Saturday. We will get back JUST IN TIME! Lucky! This just shows, even if you THINK the Stake President is your friend, you should stay away from him. Interestingly, exactly one year ago, I had to speak in Stake Conference. Read a little about it here. You gotta go down until the writing is green. People in the Stake are going to be so sick of hearing from us, they are going to run us out of town!

Joseph spent the night saying, "Why can't I do cub scouts now?!" July will come soon enough, Sweet One.

Brother Frost giving Daniel his Webelos award.

Daniel and Spencer. Note the sweet face of friendship on Spencer's face. He gets that from his parents, who were Daniel's only Cub and Webelos leaders that did anything. I wish he had had them the whole time. Spencer's friendship face will be important at the end of the post.

After the pack meeting we rushed over to the Court of Honor for Daniel's crossing the bridge ceremony with Bro. Welsh and Bro. Thoren. The 11 year old scout leader couldn't be there but I think he is really on the ball and will do a good job.

Daniel had everything memorized back in December but forgot it here. We should have prepped him better. We weren't good parents. Sorry, Friend.

Here is Kainoa, the Deacon's Quorum president, giving Daniel his new bandanna. Kainoa is a lovely young man who has more energy than Ben. Hard to believe, I know, but I think it is true.

Here's the whole group. They made Larry come in, even though he is not currently in scouts. He was for the first 7 years we lived here, in one calling or another. All of his deacons are on missions now. Weird. Anyway, wow, Daniel is playing with the big boys now. That will also be important later on.

Whose kids are those and where are their parents? What naughty, naughty children!

I will skip my scouting and secret combination dissertation for the actual real life sad news.

Here's the rant, the sad, the angry, and the reason this blog is usually private. I feel okay about saying this, because I think only two or three people from the ward EVER read my blog and they would not say anything to anyone.

I am just so super sad about this. Really, really heartsick. And really, really ANGRY. And really, mostly sad. While Daniel was repeating the oath and all that, he was standing:

like he always does (especially at night when he is tired), slouched to one side, head twisted, and his hand was shaking. He didn't have a tight three fingered salute. While he was saying the words I heard chuckling from the audience. I looked back to see who and what it was and three of the priests (16-18 year old boys) in our ward were holding there hands in the salute, loose like Daniel and shaking their hands like his was shaking. They had their tongues sticking out and a dumb look on their face.

I hissed, "he can't help it!" And they stopped.

I am SO ANGRY!!

I am so sad.

As Daniel gets older his differences become more apparent. To go from Cub Scouts and Webelos, where he was just loved and accepted, to this (and fortunately he will rarely see these boys) is just more than I can stand.

I am just ... broken hearted.

And I want to punch those boys.

But mostly, I am sad.

I CAN POST ABOUT SOMETHING OTHER THAN A BAG (but first you have to read about the monk bag!)

Why do we celebrate this? Cultural awareness? Great colors? Fun food? Paper dragons?

Now that plans are being finalized for the second-every-few-years-or-so-Hathaway Daughters Chick-Trip (we really need to shortened that), the trip to the Oregon Coast to our favorite Bed and Breakfast, a trip to Hawaii, a trip to Washington DC for a wedding, and a trip to Utah (whew! What a summer! Yay!) I am in the market for a fabulous travel bag. It needs to have wide shoulder straps so my loot doesn't break my neck, it's got to just drop stuff in - camera, water bottle, maps and have a zipper pocket for my monies. A monk bag fit the bill.

I still need to get a zipper to try adding a zippered pocket. I also added a magnetic snap to the top of this one so that the goods don't dump out.

I think this may be my favorite bag of the four. Even if the pockets are wonky. Which they are. My eyes must be crooked. I got the pattern tutorial here at the Purl Bee.

The bag does look great on Sari but she will not be going on the Chick Trip. She'll have to wait until The Summer Before Her Senior Year.

On a new note - how cute is this? Sari and Matthew are playing "Hide and Seek" right now. From the computer I snapped these two pictures:

The seat of the chair popped off just as I took this picture. In the forefront is the perpetual sock basket. It's a lot like the perpetual education fund, it just keeps growing, even with the ongoing borrowing and paying back.

And I could just pinch his little plumber-butt here.

Made another one - a prototype for my height challenged friend (she's tall) and I would think that she has a hard time finding cross-shoulder bags that don't get stuck under her armpits. I am thinking anyway ... I wouldn't know what it's like to be tall. (And while at my above mentioned friend's house, she has INDEED offered me a PHONE BOOK to sit on! And I needed it but I refused because of my short pride.)

AND ANOTHER ONE - becuase I know that you all have missed seeing my crafties

My house is a wreck, but I am really motivated to knock some projects off because there is some great fabric from a new designer named Lizzy Dish but I promised myself no more new fabric until I have some room to stash it! Or at least until I whittle it down a little.

I made this bag before. You can see it here. You'll have to scroll down about half way. It is the Birdie Sling by Amy Butler and it is super big and sturdy. This time I thought I would use lighter-than-recommended interfacing and the lining is lighter fabric, too. I also made it a smidge smaller.

Note to self, don't adjust patterns. I think the straps are too short for comfort. Update - while shopping on Saturday I noticed that a lot of purses are going with shorter straps and big bags under them so maybe this is just right after all. Sari declared it perfect and took it to her room.

When I found a turquoise zipper, I knew it was MEANT TO BE! So this bag even has a ZIPPERED POCKET!

ANOTHER BAG

I had a little purple owl fabric left over from my previous project and so I made another bag. (You can't have too many, right?)

Well, maybe you can. I might send this one off to someone ...

And the inside. Too exciting, I know. I was going to put in a ZIPPERED POCKET (my new favorite thing to sew) but then I remembered - I need a ZIPPER to sew into the ZIPPERED POCKET. Oops. A quick look confirmed my worse fear - the bright red 22 inch zipper, the only one in my stash, would NOT do. Oh well.

This simple bag pattern from SewBaby! is one of my favorite to make. In addition to being fool proof, the pattern is called "Double Duty Bag".

Did any of you see the "Scrubs" where JD and Turk crack up every time someone says "duty" because it sounds like "doody"? We did. As a result, we all crack up too. Especially Ben and me. And Sari. Daniel too. I am sure that the ward chorister was NOT impressed with the Sant Family the last time we sang, "Put Your Shoulder To The Wheel".

It is EXTRA funny to us because Joseph sings while he is using the bathroom so "do your duty with a heart full of song" makes us all about fall on the floor laughing.

So mature, I know.

I SEWED A NEW PURSE YESTERDAY

I used SewLiberated's gnome messenger bag pattern. But you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at it. Haha! I love the front two pockets. They are deep enough to hold my not-tiny cell phone without losing it (something my current purse cannot boast).

I am so EXCITED about this! I learned how to put in a ZIPPERED POCKET! That's right, folks! A ZIPPERED POCKET! It was so much easier than I thought it would be.

Except I put it on the wrong side so the messenger bag became a large purse. Oops.

Here's the back - has a large pocket. Perfect for a book. Which I must always carry with me. Never know when the car will die and I will have a nice, long time, waiting for the tow, to catch up.

MIDLIFE CRISIS

In order to get how funny this is you have to know that the Rabbi Snookie has Cystic Fibrosis. When he was born the life expectancy was about 20, I think. Add to that he was the 5th child and he had Jon as an older brother, well, it's a miracle that he is 32.

The other day my baby brother,Snookie*, and I were discussing midlife crisis. Snookie said, "Yeah, I remember when I had my mid-life crisis ... I was 17."

I laughed for more than half an hour. So did Teilani and Jason when I told them.

*Not his real name, he's just paranoid and I respect that.

FIRST SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE

(haha about the title, but I do think Obama would NEVER have made it if it hadn't been for Oprah's - an AntiChrist (according to Kristine and she has good reasons) - support. And I didn't like McCain either, so ... it was just a matter of who is lesser evil.)

On a more serious note, I am so thankful to live in a country where there is such a peaceful passage of power and where whether we agree on whether or not this particular person is the best option for President or not, we all still go on, and like each other.

Caution - Tifani waxes political. The following is selections from the White House webpage:

• Supporting Stem Cell Research: President Obama and Vice President Biden believe that we owe it to the American public to explore the potential of stem cells to treat the millions of people suffering from debilitating and life-threatening diseases. Obama is a co-sponsor of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007, which will allow research of human embryonic stem cells derived from embryos donated (with consent) from in vitro fertilization clinics. These embryos must be deemed in excess and created based solely for the purpose of fertility treatment.

Reproductive Choice (Abortion)

• Supports a Woman's Right to Choose: President Obama understands that abortion is a divisive issue, and respects those who disagree with him. However, he has been a consistent champion of reproductive choice and will make preserving women's rights under Roe v. Wade a priority in his Adminstration. He opposes any constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's decision in that case.
• Preventing Unintended Pregnancy: President Obama was an original co-sponsor of legislation to expand access to contraception, health information, and preventive services to help reduce unintended pregnancies. Introduced in January 2007, the Prevention First Act will increase funding for family planning and comprehensive sex education that teaches both abstinence and safe sex methods. The Act will also end insurance discrimination against contraception, improve awareness about emergency contraception, and provide compassionate assistance to rape victims.

Support for the (Homosexual Community)

"While we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do. Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. It's about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect."
-- Barack Obama, June 1, 2007

• Expand Hate Crimes Statutes: In 2004, crimes against LGBT Americans constituted the third-highest category of hate crime reported and made up more than 15 percent of such crimes. President Obama cosponsored legislation that would expand federal jurisdiction to include violent hate crimes perpetrated because of race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or physical disability. As a state senator, President Obama passed tough legislation that made hate crimes and conspiracy to commit them against the law.
• Fight Workplace Discrimination: President Obama supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and believes that our anti-discrimination employment laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity. While an increasing number of employers have extended benefits to their employees' domestic partners, discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace occurs with no federal legal remedy. The President also sponsored legislation in the Illinois State Senate that would ban employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
• Support Full Civil Unions and Federal Rights for LGBT Couples: President Obama supports full civil unions that give same-sex couples legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples. Obama also believes we need to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation that would ensure that the 1,100+ federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on the basis of marital status are extended to same-sex couples in civil unions and other legally-recognized unions. These rights and benefits include the right to assist a loved one in times of emergency, the right to equal health insurance and other employment benefits, and property rights.
• Oppose a Constitutional Ban on Same-Sex Marriage: President Obama voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2006 which would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman and prevented judicial extension of marriage-like rights to same-sex or other unmarried couples.
• Repeal Don't Ask-Don't Tell: President Obama agrees with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili and other military experts that we need to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, and a willingness to serve. Discrimination should be prohibited. The U.S. government has spent millions of dollars replacing troops kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation. Additionally, more than 300 language experts have been fired under this policy, including more than 50 who are fluent in Arabic. The President will work with military leaders to repeal the current policy and ensure it helps accomplish our national defense goals.
• Expand Adoption Rights: President Obama believes that we must ensure adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation. He thinks that a child will benefit from a healthy and loving home, whether the parents are gay or not.
• Promote AIDS Prevention: In the first year of his presidency, President Obama will develop and begin to implement a comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy that includes all federal agencies. The strategy will be designed to reduce HIV infections, increase access to care and reduce HIV-related health disparities. The President will support common sense approaches including age-appropriate sex education that includes information about contraception, combating infection within our prison population through education and contraception, and distributing contraceptives through our public health system. The President also supports lifting the federal ban on needle exchange, which could dramatically reduce rates of infection among drug users. President Obama has also been willing to confront the stigma -- too often tied to homophobia -- that continues to surround HIV/AIDS.
• Empower Women to Prevent HIV/AIDS: In the United States, the percentage of women diagnosed with AIDS has quadrupled over the last 20 years. Today, women account for more than one quarter of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses. President Obama introduced the Microbicide Development Act, which will accelerate the development of products that empower women in the battle against AIDS. Microbicides are a class of products currently under development that women apply topically to prevent transmission of HIV and other infections.

I agree that we need "change" but many of these things are NOT the kind of change we need. I guess that is why I am SO baffled by LDS Obama supporters. (Not that McCain was much better, I know.) One of my Californian friends pointed out that the reason Prop 8 didn't pass was because all the black Obama supporters came out. (What a contradiction, but nevermind) so I guess that was a good thing ...

and for the record, I have several near and dear friends that are homosexual. One of my best friends, in fact. She and her partner vote Republican, loved George Bush AND are opposed to gay marriage.

TODAY IT IS VERY COLD

I almost feel sorry for my dogwood tree, except it is so pretty:

SOS

The main theme of SOS is food, fun, and friends.

Matthew and Joseph with Jack and Kylen playing their version of dominoes.

By this point Matthew was asleep and Joseph and the twins played "Slap Jack". They said, "We've been playing this game for half an hour and it just won't end!"

Sari, Foreigner, and Journey watching, "ANOTHER CINDERELLA STORY"!!!!

We do love dominoes.

When the O'Donnals are here, I forget about the messy counter behind me and just play games.

Larry and Rachel.

Ben, Daniel, Charmaine, and Tracy. I can't remember what we were laughing at, but it was very, VERY funny.

So was this.

We let the girls play dominoes before they were sucked away into the "ANOTHER CINDERELLA STORY" vortex. And the O'Donnals taught us how to play "Canasta". I LOVE that game! Really, really love it!

Sari was put in as Beehive 1st counselor and seriously, when did she get so big? I had a small racing heart moment when I realized that my BABY girl is TWELVE.

ANOTHER ICE SLIDE VICTIM

Today, after the temple (and I did work for a "Miss Morton" born about 1809. Poor thing doesn't even have a first name and no family), I got this text message from Rachel:

"Okay, its not an emergency but the boys were sledding with the jones and mit bit into josephs cheek. You can see both teeth marks and it looks a little bit deep. He also bit the inside of his mouth and is going to have a fat lip. Just so ya know."

Seems that Thursday's wipe out didn't install much fear in the kids. When Rachel asked Joseph where he hit his head he announced, "Mitchell's mouth". I'm gonna say, "Mit's teeth". Reports are that Mit's mouth is fine.

Oh, and Rachel handled it so well! Usually she runs screaming from blood (she is her mother's daughter, after all) but this time she just took it in stride and cleaned it all up and even took him to the neighbor's to get a band-aid because we are ALWAYS out.


Remember this unlucky day? Well it happens tomorrow instead. Won't my boys look nice?

Good thing our ward isn't terribly gossipy. There could be a lot of talk.

ICE DAMAGE

Our front yard sledding hill of snow has become an ice slide. This is what happens when you "go down the hiwll and up the hiwll and over the top and BAM on the dwiveway".

Poor Mamu. This happened yesterday.

I found out at Bookclub last night that Matthew wasn't the only injury - Maddie, who lives behind us, also wiped out and she KNOCKED OUT A TOOTH (baby tooth) and scraped her nose.

WHERE WERE THOSE KIDS' PARENTS?! gees.

Matthew wanted the everyone to see a close up. That is such a Hathaway thing - to show off your injuries with pride. (see previous post - haha!)

This is the owie looks like today.

TOO MUCH INFORMATION AND TOTALLY GROSS (and girl stuff is mentioned, too)

I can barely walk today and it isn't because I had my annual grope and scrape (no offense to all the gentle gynecologists out there).

Do you know what this is?

Go ahead and take a moment ...

Any ideas? Bet you didn't guess that it was the HOLE left in my foot from Larry cutting out the scar tissue left over from my Morton's Neuroma surgery 19 years ago.

Yeah, that's a big old hole in the bottom of my foot. But that was last night.

This is what it looks like this morning. I can barely walk. (I could barely walk before, because of the ROCK of scar tissue, and now it will be better soon.)

For some unknown reason, Larry is NOT totally GROSSED OUT by feet like I am. Thank goodness, because otherwise I'd have to PAY someone (and I used to) to cut the scar tissue out every couple of months.

I know, I know, too much information.

Isn't that what blogging is all about?



Oh, Okay, here's a funny (to me) story. If you knew my amazing mission president, you will think it's funny too:

I had problems with my feet for years before my mission because of my knees being messed up and the knee doctor telling me to quit running, but I couldn't quit (you runners know what I mean), and since my knees were already beyond redemption the next body part to go was my feet. I got cortisone shots in between my toes and in the joints (seriously, those HURT) for a few years, inserts, orthotics, and I wore "special" shoes (still have to - by "special" I mean granny or expensive - no PayLess for me) and still the situation progressed. When I was on my mission the Dr. said, "When you get home, you are going to have to have foot surgery." Crikey! I had already had both knees operated on and two hernias repaired, so I knew surgery was not fun. And the surgery cured any and all proclivities and desires I had toward running.

Back to my mission story. One night my companion (Tonia or Elizabeth, I am thinking, it had to have been while I was serving in Spokane Valley) and I were riding in the car with President and Sister Eames. (It is no secret that President Eames loved me best. Actually, everyone thinks that he loved them best because that is the kind of man he is but I know that he really did love me best :) .) They asked about my feet and I told them I had to have foot surgery.

Sister Eames said, "Oh, Sister Hathaway! That is the worst! I've had my feet operated on and it was the most awful thing ever! I would rather have ten babies than my feet operated on!"

I don't know what my face looked like, but President Eames looked in the rearview mirror and chuckled something like, "Come now, Sister Eames, I'm sure it wasn't that bad." (Those who know him, can probably hear his kind, slightly raspy, voice in their head, just like I can now.) To which she replied, "Oh, yes it was, President!" And then went on to describe more of the agony, and President, worried about me, would say, "I'm sure it won't be like that". And she would insist he knew nothing of either topic (child birth or foot surgery).

Which, to be fair, he did not.

And a follow up to that story. A few months after I got home from my mission I had surgery on my feet. Both of them at the same time, because, the Dr. said, the surgery is so painful that if you only do one foot at a time then you will never go back for the second foot. The day after the surgery my parents and family went to California and Disneyland to pick up my brother from his mission. My friend, Cindy Callahan (lost touch with her) came over and took care of me. I was totally in a wheelchair and the pain was SO HORRIBLE that I thought I would pass out a couple of times.

(Oh! I just remembered! One night Cindy and I - okay, Cindy - made brownies and we sent a picture to my then boyfriend Nate who wrote back, "If you keep that up, you will get fat". Glad that ended even though it looks like he was right about me being fat! )

ADD bad today.

I've since had six kids (with gimondo heads), HUGE episiotomies, two c-sections, a couple of kidney stones, and two more hernia surgeries. I can truly say that foot surgery is THE WORST THING EVER except my girl surgery when the Dr. did all that and more to fix what was broken and torn when Daniel was born.

Now that was bad.

Almost as bad as reading about it on someone else's blog, but then you were warned ...

ANOTHER GEM FROM RACHEL

Rachel - "I know a lot of people who do drugs. And they all owe me money."

Here's the story - Sari was particularly hyper after dinner last week. Ben turned to me and said, "Mom, did you put crack in the stew?" I said, "Yes, and some cocaine, meth and heroin." Ben said, "Blue grass? PCP?" I said, "No, it counteracts the pepper and tastes bitter." * (I had to end the conversation, I was out of names of drugs that I had heard on Law and Order.)

We all laughed. Then Rachel piped up with the above comment. Then we all really laughed.

Turns out there are some druggies in Choir who tell her they "need money for the bus" and she gives it to them!

Sweet, naive Rachel.

The druggies remind me of when Rachel's auntie was at Ricks (BYUI) and would go to different apartments and say, "I need another quarter to finish my laundry, do you have one?" Ten or twelve apartments later, she'd have enough to go dancing.

*Of course I have no actual knowledge of how any of those drugs work and I am not even sure what blue grass is, but I could guess.

ARE YOU SICK OF HEARING ABOUT THE SNOW ALREADY?

That's right. The kids haven't been to school since December 17th. Their brains are OOZING out their ears. The TV has logged more hours in the last three weeks than it had in the previous three months. The Wii has been played almost non-stop. The kitchen is always a mess. The kids watch movies until midnight. Basically the whole family has gone rogue and I am the lone enforcer with nothing to enforce. (Did you see "Mutiny"?)

The snow is at least waist deep on the kids. Too deep to play, really. The street is fine but with snowbergs and berms 6 - 10 feet high that really isn't an option. (Not that playing in the street EVER is.)

We don't have snow days in Spokane. We are not pansies here. Snow is to be expected and embraced. Prior to last year we had ONE in seven years. Last year we had a week of them and had to go to school for an extra week into the summer. I don't know what we will do this year. Longer school days? Take an extra week or two or five?

District 81 (the school district nearest us) went back to school today but we were still out. I think we are being punked and as soon as one of the school moms goes postal we will see Ashton Kutcher. It might be me. I might be THE ONE. If I meet Ashton I'll let you know.

Today we are paying to have our roof shoveled. The best $250 I've spent so far this season. The boys - okay - young men are hip deep on our roof. I think they might be rethinking the bid. We've got more roof than it seems ... You've got to click on these pictures and see it big to really appreciate it.

Note my ruskie star over the garage and that our light post is completely buried.

I can't believe that they still have the energy to raise their arms over their heads - they've been up there for about three hours.

You can see where we are at risk for the dreaded ice dams - or dam ice as I call them. I figure that I can do that because my husband is a dam engineer and so I am entitled to dam jokes.

My friend's husband has been keeping track of the snow - every day before he snow blowers he measures the snow and writes it down. He told us at Bookclub on December 30th that he blown 72 INCHES off his driveway. That is SIX FEET!!! UGH!! It's snowed a good foot since then. I would say 8 inches since Sunday alone.

snow. slow. slot. snot. soot. boot. book. cook. cool. coal. coat. boat. brat. brow. blow. blot. blog.

I can do it as fast as snow-slow-blow-blog but that didn't seem to do the insanity justice. So I changed the rules - how many words between the two? Then I got bored. But it took like, 2.87 minutes of my time. I could make that list a thousand words, seriously. Except for the whole ADD thing ...

You see? Snow days really can make you nuts!

THE SNOW EVEN MADE THE NEWS

We enjoyed this article:

The part that says, "This aint white death from the skies, people. It's just winter." made me laugh out loud!

LARRY'S BIRTHDAY DINNER

We went to dinner on Friday with the Demkes and Grovers. The O'Donnals were invited too, but I think they were worried it was a trick to get them back to our flood - haha - just kidding - they had family in town.

So, here we are at Tomato Street.

Tracy, Larry, John, Cheryl, me (look at me wearing glasses - I can see!), Julie.
Our waiter looked like my brother, the Rabbi Snookie.

Larry got a birthday candle and dessert. He made a wish but I don't know what it was - thawed gutters? new tires? more hours in a day? Or something altruistic like world peace?

Being the ADD adults that Cheryl, Julie and I are, we played with playdoh. John made the donut, Cheryl made the headless lady and I made the little thumb people. Tracy and Julie opted out of this memorable experience. Can you see Larry's solitary hair on his playdoh head? That took a lot of work. Also, my playdoh bangs looked better than my real life bangs EVER do. We had a great time! It was a nice break from our homewoes.