Actually, "done in" says it better... Fly-fishing a string of lights at the end of an eighteen-foot pole tends to work specific muscle groups that usually don't see a lot of action. 'Sokay, though: I managed to get the ladder work and the infrastructure done; the rest is just hanging lights and setting figurines.

...and one more fishing expedition.

...at least I think that's what she should call it. No husband, no kids, no responsibilities... Total and utter freedom.

Bradley is quite the early riser.

Brad, did you see Mom before she left?

No, Dad; she's still in bed with you...

Un-huh... Better check the garage.

I don't understand it (arms waving dramatically); I didn't hear her shower; I didn't hear her open the garage door; I didn't hear her start the car...
I don't understand how she left and I didn't hear her!

Um, Brad; she left before you got up.

Daaad, I get up pretty early, you know...

Yeah, Bradley's usually up before 0600.

Daniel, practicing for his teenage years, is still zonked...

Me? The un-morning person? I'm still working on which planet this is...

Oh yeah. Blue skies, green trees, brown dirt: Earth.

Okay, on with the day...

John at Cold Marble gets published!

I really dislike waking up and not knowing what day it is...

That usually means I've slept way too hard, and that after several nights of sleeplessness. But... When I woke up lost in the space-time continuum this morning, that was a Good Thing. Yessss!!! It meant that Shelley is getting over her cough. ...and that meant she slept. ...and that meant I slept!

Sure, I would have preferred Saturday over Tuesday, but I'll settle for sleeping through the night once again <g>...

To find out The Ex-Padre is really going to be searching for the Holy Grail!

Good grief, I thought he got out of that business.

But from there I got the good news that Carole's back home with Eric and the kids. That is just way cool. Now to keep her home for Christmas...

...and yeah, Shelley is really almost done, Lisa. The point of Friday will be to coordinate with my sister (one covers Fresno and one covers Clovis) on next year's gifts!

Last year, Shelley was on the road by 0600 or so and made at least two trips to the storage site. She and my sister keep in contact by cell phone and cross-buy stuff for both families. Then they meet at the storage place and repack their vehicles...

Me, I stay home with the boys; play Christian Ska Christmas music way too loud; and put up the odd light or two-thousand around the house...

...and I'll have to have to blade an extra mile to two Sunday to make up for Saturday's slug-like slowness. All eat and no exercise and you can end up with Male Gut Denial so aptly covered by Carey over at Speakeasy.

Well, I've been trolling around, hoping to stay up for the Leonid meteor shower; but the tule fog has rolled in here, so that's all she wrote for that story...

I guess I could try getting to bed in some proximity to midnight...

Yeah, that was today... I was up a little late last night geeking around as I watched the first part of Crouching Tiger; Hidden Dragon as I relaxed after a longish week.

Since Shelley still isn't feeling up to snuff (and frankly needs to save her strength for Friday, I crawled out of bed in time to haul Daniel to his soccer game (3-0 and very well played by his team). That done, I came home and helped Shelley watch the first half of the State game; I say first half 'cause as soon as they had their twenty point lead going, I fell asleep in the chair for they next hour or so...

Daniel's homework this weekend involves a report on a newspaper article. Shelley cast some doubt on the originality of a paragraph or two and requested an impartial review. My response:

Yeah, "protege" is common word in the fifth grade. Let's see if he can tell us what it means <g>...