I looked and looked for a photo to go with today, but nothing really fit. I have portrait-style photos of Lucy, some lifestyle shots of Noah being a goony-goo like he usually is... Some sessions I have long-neglected to share....

But nothing that said, "Random. Today. Now."

'Cause really, I don't have any tales to tell, no problems needing solving... I'm just sitting here at the end of a week, a week that went by really quickly, and I have the itch to journal... blurt, freewrite, let some of this mind-jumble out... 

So. No photos, I s'pose. Just ten minutes of Free Typing. Ready, set, go. (Except I've been typing for 3 minutes already, so now it's seven minutes.)

I really need a new blog header. Actually, I need a blog overhaul, and even have a designer lined up to do it... I've just been really slow to give her my list of "wants" for her to get to work. Oops. Lots of things on the back burner as I adjust to the New Normal. Oh well.

Lucy is currently bawling her little head off in Joe's arms as he tries to soothe her to sleep. Based on most of my reports, this might sound like the usual evening, but the honest truth is, Lucy has turned the Colic Corner in the past two weeks or so, so for the most part, the Super Unhappy Baby is less and less common. But tonight, she is fighting the same cold I have suddenly come down with, and if she feels anything like I do (and I suspect she does), her head aches and her throat is dry and her nose won't stop running. Not-so-fun. Especially when you're a wee, tiny little 3-month-old who has never been sick before. :( Poor Lucy. (Poor Joe, so patient with her!)

Noah is in a massive bubble bath to my left, and I am typing on the lappy. He never takes baths anymore--- he's a shower guy-- so this is rare and funny.

I'm over this Missouri heat wave. NOTHING is fun in this weather, not even getting out to play in water, like we did yesterday when I loaded up the kids (Plural. Weird.) and went to the City Garden. I mean, once we were there and getting splashed and cooled off, it was okay, but this heat is so oppressive and smothering that getting there, then getting back, is just icky. Boo. I've even given up watering my little garden spots for now, when they need it the most, because there is simply nothing appealing about it at all. Poor bean plants. Poor flower boxes. Poor tomatoes. 

My mama came to town Monday/Tuesday to be my baby-holder... To help me get some stuff done around the house. It was AMAZING. She has been of such service to me since Lucy and I cannot thank her enough for how her help has preserved my sanity. On this week's agenda for her help-time--- get my dining room catchall piles OUT OF THERE. Sorted, put away, new homes found, Goodwill pile made, and so on... and it was a MONSTROUS task that had built up since Kate moved her things out in March. With being big-preggy at that time, then being hammered with New Baby Life after that, there just was never a good time to get that dining room back in shape. But now----HOORAY! Thanks to my mama holding Lucy, it feels like a whole new room!

Okay. Ten minutes up. Lucy still crying. Noah still playing. Time to go.

Wanna blog? Go do ten minutes of free-typing yourself. As you can see, anything goes. No thesis and conclusion necessary. I dare ya. 

And I'm out.

Love the Sparkle in Her Eyes.

Lucy Loo was kind enough to test out/model some headwear for me... And even deigned to make some cute faces for the camera.

(I am so in love with the sparkle that is always in her eyes. ♥)

My sister Beckie says the flower-top shots look like she's ready to go to the Royal Wedding. Pip, pip, LuLu!

This next one reminds me of Fruity Pebbles...

Look-- I think she LIKES Fruity Pebbles!

And one more--

(Is it me, or does she look like a schmoozy-TV personalityface in that last one?)

*

Okay. Time to get going today. Gonna attempt a shower without other grownups in the house to herd kids...

Gonna attempt to wear REAL clothes...

Gonna attempt to stay on top of my day, my LIFE, even.... Just for the next few hours.

(Gonna keep playing "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" til it stops working its magic, 'cause apparently the baby LOVES her song at the moment!!)

Must go now. Noah needs nagging at to finish his breakfast... And Lucy is chill, so this might be shower time!!

*

Green and Growing...

My mama passed along some purple pole bean seeds to me this spring...And though we had a rough start with them, and needed her to come back and help us nurture them to their now-abundant state, we are now officially endowed with some glorious bean vines and their glorious purple bean produce.

{Note also the tomato plants behind the hand in that shot... Tomato plants! Like I dreamed of in this post! Never mind the squirrels have been stealing the green tomatoes so far... Ugh.}

Meanwhile... Out of the blue, we noticed a pumpkin/squash/melon/gourd vine growing happily all by itself in the corner of our yard. Happy and independent. And NOT planted by us.

{I LOVE the curly-ques of these vines}

What a riot, right?? A thriving vine, NOT planted by us. Turns out that in the winter, when I threw out the mini pumpkins and gourds from our Fall decorations (I tossed them in the corner of our yard, thinking maybe some squirrels would eat them as winter food. Oh, the irony-- I WANTED to feed the squirrels then... but now they are eating my tomatoes and I DON'T WANT THEM EATING ANYMORE!), at least one of them managed to deposit a few seeds deep enough in our soil to get this vine growing. Happy surprise!

We are finally seeing what the vine is turning out to be-- not pumpkins like I was kind of hoping for, but a fun striped decorative gourd. We've been watching two of them grow plumper on the vine this past weekend. 

Ah, green things... It feels good to have a few in our yard that we are taking care of... Makes me feel like trying for even more next year!

*

(But let us not speak of the two separate Great Zinnia Massacres of 2011 at this time. The wounds are still too raw.)

This Week Kinda Kicked My Bum...

I can't believe it's been nearly a week since the last blog... It's been kinda nuts-- something taking us out of the house every day, some rough nights of sleep necessitating nap times for me instead of blogging time. It's been good-- I'm starting to feel I can get out in the world like a normal human again-- but its also been exhausting.

Meanwhile.... Lucy turned 3 months old this week. Can you believe it?? (Dang it! I have GOT to finish and post Lucy's last three days of her newborn month... Note to self: Do it this coming week!)

Somehow, in between errands and outings and naps and colic regressions, we managed to get these photos done:

Lucy, 3 Months

(inspired by these/link to month 2)

Isn't that hat cute?? A dear friend from my ward crocheted it just for Lucy. I love it! 

*

Meanwhile, another crafty and recipe to share. First, the recipe: 

White Chocolate-Dipped Cereal Pops

~ inspired by the Trix-on-Stix I saw on Pinterest, here~

The Original Recipe- Trix On Stix

It's pretty much just Rice Krispies treats...minus the Rice Krispies.

Supplies needed:

1 box of Trix cereal {10.7 oz.}

1 bag of small marshmallows

1 stick of butter {you won't use it all}

1 pkg of mini jumbo sticks {tongue depressors}

A. In a microwave safe bowl, add 1 pkg of small marshmallows and 3 Tbs of butter.

Cook for 3 minutes on high

{keep your eye on it - every microwave is different}

B. Next, butter your spatula.

It makes stirring all that stickiness SO much easier.

C. Add about 3/4 of the box of Trix cereal to the bowl of warm marshmallow-e goodness and stir well.

D. Let the Trix mix cool for about 10 minutes

{The balls stick together better when the marshmallow has cooled a bit.}

While you're waiting, butter a pan to place the finished balls on.

When you're ready to start, butter your hands so the mixture doesn't stick to you either.

{**Tip: re-butter your hands after each ball.}

E. Grab a fistful of Trix mix, roll it into a firm ball in your hand, then stick a stick in the middle of it.

  My Own Variation:

I did exactly what the original recipe asked, with the following modifications:

1. swapped Cocoa Puffs for Trix

2. used white melting chocolate and 4th of July sprinkles to jazz up the finished product. 

3. Note: I started by adding the chocolate to the non-stick end... but I found that the whole thing held together better if I put the melted chocolate around the stick (see photo #3 above.) The stick thing is a cute idea... but it really didn't work well for us in reality. I might skip that part next time. 

All in all, a fun project, and tasty!

*

And the crafty:

Fabric Scrap Necklaces

{found here, and super cute on the original model!}

First, a pile of torn fabric strips... ready to braid, with the help of my handy clamp. 

Next, some not-so-gorgeous self-snaps... What can I say? I schlump about at home on the days I don't have to go anywhere... and a bandanna head is pretty common. 

Did you spy Lucy in the mei tai sling? Sleeping so peacefully... 

Yeah, I used one of her elastic headbands to hold her binkie in. It kinda worked. *blush*
(As soon as she was truly asleep, I took the band off. I promise.)

And Noah, playing in and around my area, using the dowel as a "train" and other fascinatingly imaginative things... Cute kid...

The final braids, temporarily knotted together so I can keep track of which go together for the necklaces...

A pretty fast crafty, and I did get them finished and made into necklaces. My assessment--- they look EXTRA cute in the sample photo I used as inspiration, but I'm still trying to convince myself they look as cute on ME. Haven't worn them in public yet.... Still, they were fun to make!

*

Okay. Hate to blog and run, but this post took way long to blog... I have GOT to go to bed!!

Small New Goal: One Project, One Recipe

Remember long ago, when I was crafty? sewing up a storm? When free time was so abundant I even WASTED it sometimes? Remember? Like all the way back to April?

Lucy sure has changed the game. Ha!

But that's all right. I knew it was going to happen, and I truly don't lament this season away from SuperCraftiness. It was coming, I was prepared.

Still.

There's a part of me that craves making things... Craves being creative. Even if it is a tiny thing, a fast project, a set of photographs... Even our little garden this year... SOMETHING creative.

And so, as Lucy has been working her way out of the Troubled Newbornness, I have been able to find little pockets of precious time-- often with the help of a family member or my sweet hubby to help ride herd on the kiddos-- to get creative. And it has been like taking a long cold drink of water.

And even those little tiny moments of creativity have been so good for my soul that a small new goal hatched itself in my brain the other week. What if, while life is still running away from me and having two kids is still kicking my butt, WHAT IF I still try to do ONE little crafty or project, and try ONE new recipe a week? Just one each.... Every week. Nothing monumental... nothing expensive. Just some little crafty and some little recipe.

I have to say-- the idea has latched on, taken hold, and makes me smile. I like this goal.

So. For my first week, here is ONE recipe, and ONE crafty. Baby steps back to the Creative Life.

Recipe first:

Strawberry Bruschetta

{this recipe was found, as most will be, on Pinterest.com. SO many good ideas for food there!}

There's just something about goat cheese, basil... strawberries... Fresh fresh fresh....

And for anyone interested, here is the actual recipe, from the Annie Eats blog:

Strawberry Bruschetta

Ingredients:
1 cup strawberries, hulled and diced
1 tbsp. sugar
1 French baguette, sliced on a bias
4 oz. goat cheese
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
¼ cup minced basil leaves
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
Combine the  strawberries and sugar in a small bowl; toss to combine.  Let the berries macerate for about 30 minutes so that they begin to release their juices.  Spread a thin layer of goat cheese on top of each baguette slice.  Top each slice with spoonfuls of the strawberry mixture.  Drizzle lightly with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Top each slice with the basil leaves and cracked pepper, to taste.

Source: slightly adapted from Whole Foods via The Curvy Carrot

*

Next, the crafty...

Mini Pillow With Pillow Case

So Noah needed a new pillow. We'd been using a fleece pillow he and I had made together last year, and it was ratty and gross and smelled a little like pee. No thanks. So I whipped up a cute little pillow while he watched cartoons and Lucy napped.

I made it "toddler bed" sized, and after making the pillow itself, I thought it needed a pillowcase, to maybe help prevent that pee smell in the future--- easier to wash the cover than the pillow itself, and all that...

{Noah wanted in on the next photo...The ham.}

And since Lucy was still sleeping, and Noah was still amused by his cartoon, I decided it needed a fleece monogram. "N" for "Noah. 

 

I didn't really use a tutorial for the pillow project... Just whipped it out and kept measuring and adjusting as needed. If anyone needs some basic instructions, I might be able to put something together. Let me know!

Side Note: Isn't Noah so cute? Really... With his new pillow, a random Transformer in his right hand, hamming it up for my camera... Love him.

Other Side Note: Since I get to show some Noah cuteness, it seems only fair to share some Lucy cuteness... Here she is, from that same day (2.5 months old). I can't decide if I prefer black and white or color...

Isn't that smile of hers enough to make you ALMOST forget she was so tricky those first ELEVEN WEEKS? 

Ha!

*

 So, happy upcoming week!
Besides trying a new crafty and recipe, my other goal is to blog Lucy's last three days of newbornness here.. I need to get that all wrapped up, ya know? And I get to take her 3-month photo... that'll be on Tuesday...

And so on and so forth. Life marches on. And it is mostly pretty good.

Together, As It Should Be... Day 27.

Day 27 was Mother's Day. In honor of which, I orchestrated this seemingly serene set-up:

Trust me. In actuality, it was NOT serene. Mostly because Mr. Grumpypants woke from his nap on the wrong side of the bed (as evidenced in the next two photos). And I was stressy because I wasn't able to shoot AND be in the shots (Control freak. Sad.)

But with a ton of help from my family (Mom wielding the camera, Uncle Steve doing silly things to get smiles), we got photos I am truly happy with.

And today seemed like the perfect day to post these, in honor of Joe returning home and the four of us being, once again, together.

as it should be.

*

Failboat.

Let me start by saying:  this post is both a love letter and a WhineFest...

Today I hitched a ride on the FAILBOAT.

Today I have learned the not-so-pretty truth that I am not very awesome when I try to do this Mama thing completely alone. Today I learned I simply don't have the ability to be a B.A.M. (that's "bad-ass mom" according to my November Mamas...) like I always assumed I would-- at least not when I'm doing it on my own.

 

Today I have learned how much I actually rely on my husband, my beloved, my Joe, to help me be the mom I aspire to be. 

I mean, of COURSE I know he is a HUGE help. Of COURSE I know that he's my teammate. But... it took him leaving us for 48 hours for me to really see what I am WITH him, and what I become without him. 

Today, Joe left at 4:00am to fly out to his sweet grandmother's funeral. It was the best possible reason for him to go. It was so important for him to be there. She was an incredible woman, and I am so grateful he is there to celebrate her remarkable life and legacy.

Sending him away for this was a no-brainer, and I truly thought, "It's only 48 hours. We're gonna be FINE over here! FINE!" I mean... I guess I'm pretty self-assured in life. I am usually pretty good at the things I try... (Truth is, if I know I'll be bad at something, like, say, water-skiing, I don't even try. Keeps the failing at a minimum!) And I've felt some Mama Mojo seeping back in as Lucy's temperament has settled a bit. I have begun to think, "Hey! I can DO this Mom-of-Two thing! Watch out, world! I'm BACK!" So, when the time came to send Joe off, I was all, "See ya, hon! Have fun! We're FINE!"...

The beginning of the end. Something about coming off of a long, late-night holiday (getting OUT of the 4th of July festivities proved the most tedious, and we didn't fall into bed until 12:30am), and then entering a full day with the knowledge that there'd be no relief pitcher coming at 5:30pm to give me a break... It just set the tone for the day today. So it became really hard to find our way out of pajamas. It became easy to let the TV do a lot of the babysitting. We were just TIRED, and there wasn't going to be a break really... so we dug into the day in Survival Mode. But even Survival Mode, which I've done before and made it work, kinda fell apart. 

There was just so much frustration in my every attempt... in the changing of diapers... in the making of lunch. In the trying to keep Lucy asleep. In the "playtimes". I felt... stuck. Tired. Unable to make anything work well. I already blogged about the cookie attempt--- the one time I thought I had my crap together enough to do something FUN and EXTRA... And they burned. Totally burned. 

And it's not like the first 10 hours of the day USUALLY have Joe around. They don't! He's at work every day, for Pete's sake. But something about the knowing he wasn't coming home just made the whole day harder. Even EATING fell apart more than usual. Wanna know what I managed to eat today, without his cute lunch he has been making me daily? 

Breakfast: Reese Puff cereal/milk

Snack: (this was the most decent meal) cheese stick, beef stick, strawberries, graham cracker

Lunch: cold noodles, burned chocolate chip cookies, milk

Dinner:  ???? Nothing yet...

Seriously. Bad news.

Naptimes came, and there was some peace... Noah went down great, Lucy slept in her crib for a 30-minute stretch, I rested, too... And even when Noah woke, Lucy slept on, and he and I had some lovely play time that DIDN'T feel forced or frustrating. We watched squirrels and talked about what we saw out my bedroom window and just hung out together...

But that was the eye of the storm, turns out. Because then Lucy woke up. SCREAMING. Had to eat rightnow/rightnow/rightnow!!!! And back on went the cartoons... It was about 6:00pm, and the end of my goodwill was beginning. Joe would've been home by now on a normal day. 

And then Noah started bossing me around about his diaper: He had pooped in his diaper, but there was MORE poop, so change my diaper NOW! Change it NOW! Emergency!!

And though it was getting late, and I was a bit worn down, I still had a bit of calm left from that eye of the storm earlier, so I thought (oh, foolish woman), "He has MORE poop? PERFECT chance to practice some potty training! Perfect!"

Somehow, I even got him EXCITED to try. Don't ask me how--- that's always been half the battle, the pre-trying motivation. But somehow I got him pumped to come upstairs, take off his stinky diaper, and sit on the potty to try some more. I had all the right excited faces and voices to show him, all the old bribes we'd talked about got re-introduced... we were on a roll. Lucy even chilled out on the carpet and cooed while I worked with Noah. 

But... within minutes, his enthusiasm faded. He was done. I was frustrated, but I let it go, and let him get his "I Tried" sticker. But he was walking with his legs squished together. A Potty Dance if ever I saw one. And I asked him, "Do you have to go pee pee?" And he said, "Yes! So I need a diaper right now!"

NO WAY, kid. NOT if your pee is THAT close to the exit. NO WAY. So BACK to the potty we went, and he was definitely NOT into it anymore, but come on!! He WAS THISCLOSE to peeing, so he HAD to cave in and do it in the potty, right?

35 minutes later, 35 minutes of trying EVERYTHING to get him to pee, including running faucets, putting his hand in warm water (haha! Like the old camp trick!! It was worth a shot, right?!?!?) that was a big NO. This kid has a urethera of STEEL. And my nerves were shot. I was so ANGRY. I kept it inside, reminding myself that any negative feedback from me would just delay this game longer, and I fake-cheerfully chirped, "Okay! Well at least you tried! Let's get your diaper on!" When really I was swearing/cursing/thinking murderous thoughts/crying inside... SO ANGRY. 

And by this time, Lucy's goodwill was gone, and she was beginning a tirade. 

We went back downstairs to finish his cartoon so I could cool down and try to get Lucy sleeping. His cartoon ended and suddenly I realized it was EIGHT O'CLOCK. How, how how had we gotten to EIGHT o CLOCK? Noah's bedtime! And I hadn't even PONDERED dinner. By this time, Lucy's sleep attempt was clearly failing. Noah was DONE with the day, and I had to find a way to feed him.  We three headed into the kitchen and the total counterful of dishes slapped me existentially in the face. Lucy was in my arms, requiring both hands to keep her happy of course (one arm holding her, the other holding the binkie in her mouth) and she was still crying around the binkie. Noah was getting annoying in his 3-year-old way, putting toys underfoot, pestering me about mindless things, asking for junk food for dinner... and it all just collapsed. I plopped Lucy in her carseat with the binkie held in place with a swaddle blanket. She cried and cried. I kicked Noah's toys/boxes/crap out of my path. Stormed into the kitchen and hastily swiped some peanut butter and honey on bread, opened a pack of fruit snacks, broke up some fresh broccoli, and opened a yogurt tube... plopped his "dinner" on the table and cut him off when he whined he wanted to play more-- barked that it was dinner time and made him sit and eat.

Then I stormed back into the kitchen and began banging dishes around, emptying the dishwasher and feeling pissy and bad and like a failure... And my jeans cuff caught on the the bottom rack of the dishwasher and pulled the whole thing out and I kicked a plastic bowl across the kitchen floor and swore a little...And loading the dishwasher back up, I dumped water all over the floor when I loaded a pan that wasn't totally empty. Gross. I got the dishes managed, and got Noah to finish his dinner, and finally got Lucy to stop screaming (oh yes, she cried this entire time)... On the edge of a complete breakdown, I got them both upstairs and got Noah's shower turned on. Got him undressed. Got him into the shower. Then got Lucy calmed a bit and changed into pajamas. Went back into the bathroom to see I had not pulled the shower curtain closed and the whole floor was flooded with water. Of course. AWESOME. WHERE THE HELL IS JOE??? HE usually does bathtime!!! Waaaa!!!!

I slopped some towels onto the floor, got Noah out of the tub, all while holding a Lucy-on-the-edge-of-crying... brushed Noah's teeth (did a HORRIBLE job), and got him in pjs while I set Lucy down to cry again. Got her back up in my arms, led Noah to his room, and calmed Lucy enough to be able to read Noah a book and sing him some songs... say prayers...And by now, Lucy had worn her poor self down so much she was crashing into sleep in my arms. And all I wanted to to was GET OUT OF NOAH'S ROOM AND BAWL.

And I'm not super proud of the ME I had deteriorated into. In fact, it was an ugly ugly truth coming out: I cannot handle two kids with the grace I always thought I would be able to. At least, not alone. 

I am not serene. I am not "roll with it"... I am not dexterous and multi-talented. At least, as a MOM, I am not these things. and it breaks my heart. I hate seeing how easily I fall into the "cope" and "survive" mode... How easily I get frustrated and just count down until I get a break. And that is the WhineFest. 

The love letter is this--

When Joe is here, I am far closer. Not there. Not perfectly calm and capable. But better. When Joe is here, I can take steps back and re-center and dive back in for more. But until today, it's been easy to mostly only notice the way a husband adds to the mayhem--- always leaving food to harden on the dirty dishes and never seeing the aftermath when unloading the dishwasher... leaving me to REWASH the crappy dishes myself... Among other typical spousal nuisances-- (see the way this dish fiasco has scarred me today? I can't get off of it!)... But the pure truth is--- 

I need him. Specifically, he makes me a better mom. 

And I HATE that I am on a one way trip on the FAILBOAT without him, but I LOVE that together, we end up doing a pretty great job. I love that he balances me out. That my strengths enhance his weaknesses, and his strengths cover my weaknesses. I love that he forgives me for being a touch dowdy after a particularly long day of parenting. I love that he sees my dark corners and still loves me. 

I love the way he comes home from work and cannot WAIT to dive into home life and kid time... That he immediately gives me a break, and is so willing.

I love that he has undertaken his Food Project, helping ALL of us eat better and more frugally as of late. 

I love his hugs. His compliments about what I do manage to get done in a day. 

Ya know? I love HIM. And I miss him.

And I am NOT excited about tomorrow. 

So.

There ya go. There ain't no B.A.M. here. I am deeply in awe of:

1. mamas with hubbies who travel, who have days and days without him to help

2. single mamas who almost NEVER get a break

3. mamas with more than two kids who still juggle it all successfully

4. my own mama

5. and my hubby, for helping me not completely fail. 

*

Day 26...

The vintage knit (crocheted?) coverlet is a treasure I found when Joe and I had our lovely weekend getaway to Rocheport, MO back in Feb. Yet another life event I never found time to cull/edit/share/enjoy after the fact. I lump it with many many other events in the last three years that have disappeared into my photo file archives and cry out to see the light of day. (Um, er, urgh... That turned into a guilt-tangent.)

ANYway. I loved the blanket when I saw it, and set it aside for Lucy. Love the yellow... 

Today's Randomness:

* Lucy has crashed out in my pouch sling for a naplet... I expect she'll doze for about 20-30 minutes on this one, at which time I can help Noah get down for his nap, feed her, then put her back to sleep for her longer afternoon nap. It's getting pretty predictable, her sleep, for which I am grateful. 

* Listening to my current iTunes mix of new favorite songs. Two are ones I fell in love with because of the show "So You Think You Can Dance"-- Ingrid Michaelson's "Turn to Stone" and the Cary Brothers' "Belong"... 

* Noah in under my desk chair on his tummy, playing with one of these cars--Automoblox.com-- a line I fell in love with when we saw them at the Indianapolis Children's Museum in February (um, yet ANOTHER outing never culled/edited/blogged/argh.)

* I desperately crave sweets all day, every day, and was dreaming of a junk food run to Schnucks... but instead I was frugal and stayed home and made chocolate chip cookies. Lucy was good the whole time Noah and I made the dough. I put 24 into the oven to bake.

* AND BURNED THEM.

* I am in despair. What a waste.

* I am looking pretty scrappy today: wet-hair-then-slept-on looking SKEERY, saggy old pajamas, no makeup... It's not cute, even in a scrumpy, boho, gypsy way... which I try to pull off sometimes. 

* SO many dishes piled up for me to tackle. But there's never a GOOD time to do it unless I let Lucy fuss/cry. Boo. 

* When Noah goes down for his nap and I get Lucy asleep, I'm a-gonna nap myself. So there. Dishes, you will continue to wait. I must recover from last night's late late night. 

Toodles.