It’s been a rough week - I came down with yet another bug, which on its face didn’t seem that much worse than any of the other 10 bugs I’ve gotten this year, but for some reason it just really wiped me out. Stress, maybe? I usually go to work unless I have the worst of the worst migraines, and even then I’ll try to get through most of the day before going home early. This week, though, I didn’t come in on Monday til almost noon and left work on Tuesday at 10. On Tuesday I was not only sick but completely exhausted - I’ve been really tired before but not exhausted like this. I was falling asleep on the 7-minute drive home and came home and passed out in bed for several hours. I woke up feeling a ton better, which made me think it was the exhaustion that was making things so bad.

Today I felt a lot better, got more sleep last night and was less congested. I ducked out for a bit so I could go to Thanksgiving lunch in Isak’s classroom, and then had a crazy busy afternoon. By the time I got to the Commissary, they were out of potatoes (again), which means we have to make an extra trip off base for potatoes - that is, if the Americans haven’t bought them all out already.

The most exciting happening of the day is that we got pictures of B’s new nephew! Oh my goodness, what a beautiful baby!

And to answer the question of details, the only information I can give is that he is a he and that he weighed 14 marks…that’s all I know, which doesn’t mean much to me. I don’t know what the weighs in pounds, or how long he is, and we won’t know the name until he’s christened, which is anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months from now! All I know is that he’s gorgeous, and that we live much, much too far from Iceland right now.

B’s little sister had her baby boy today - hooray!

As small as the internet makes the world, it’s far, far too big today.  We wish we could be there.

Isak has all but moved into Anja’s bedroom.  They just like staying up, talking, late into the night.  He’s made a bed of several blankets on the floor and has slept there for several nights in a row.  It’s all made even sweeter by the fact that the kitten snuggles up in the crook of his knee when he’s asleep.  Lately, he’s been reading books to her before bed, and last night I went into her room to find them both in her bed, him reading her Junie B. Jones and the Mushy Gushy Valentine.

They still have their moments but have become so close and it’s so sweet to watch them interact.  I just hope that this continues as they get older.

I’ve been tidying up a bit in anticipation of a home party I’m having this week, the first time I’ve done this and I’ve always sworn I never would, but I actually like the stuff. And it’s the first home party line where I went and didn’t feel like if I didn’t buy something, they would send my name to the Department of Homeland Security and report that I was a suspected terrorist.

Anyhow, yesterday I pulled out the computer so I could pull some of the dead dust rabbits out from behind. This was an enormous task. I have so many wires, some that weren’t attached to something, like the one I picked up right around the same time B asked if I turned off the computer? Whoops, that was the power cord. I spent a good hour untangling, dusting, wiping, scrubbing, blowing out with compressed air, and cursing before I finally got everything done and successfully reattached. Speaking of reattached, did you know that you can get the tip of your ring finger reattached for the bargain basement price of only $12,000?

Our computer desk is one of those hot spots in the house where everything seems to settle. Other hot spots are the dining room table, the living room coffee table, the kitchen counters, the entranceway, and each of our rooms. But the dining room table is now a sparkling clean surface with just the blinking lights of the modem, a frog statue, headphones, my CF card, a bead, the phone, some keys, a pen, some pictures, a bill statement, a CD case, an unattached iPod cord, and the webcam.

Fortunately, everything on the table minus the modem, statue and webcam are on their way to their homes and the desk will be spotless again. It’s nice, becaues I can sit at my computer and if I only allow myself to see directly in front of me and a little to the left, my house looks spotless! I’m going to have all my guests huddle around my computer at a 45° angle when we have this party and they, too, will think my house is spotless.

This morning as I made bacon and french toast for breakfast, Anja asked me what bacon was made out of.

“It’s made out of pork.”

“Noooo, I mean what kind of animal is bacon made out of?”

“Oh.  Pig.  It’s made out of pig.”

“I know what bread is made from!”

“What’s that, Anja?”

“It’s made out of weeeeeed!”

Blah blah blah blah blaaaah.

I just wrote for the last half an hour, and that’s what I came up with:  Blah blah blah blah blaaaah.

I do not know how to get past this everything block.  Any suggestions?

Tonight I decided to file Anja’s nails instead of just cutting them so I could paint them all pretty with her new hot pink nail polish.  I sat her on the couch and she reclined across me, leaning against the arm of the couch with her legs extended.

As I was filing, I thought it would be a good opportunity to do some tidying of the toes, so I handed B the clippers and asked him to take care of her feet.

As she sat back, she said, “Oh my GOD! This is fantastic!  It’s like I’m at - at - at –”

B interjected, “A spa?”

Rather condescendingly, she responded, “Noooo, not a spa, Pabbi, one of those places where you go and they do your hair and nails and treat you real nice!”