The Family is coming! The Family is coming!

I feel like Paul Revere a bit...have to warn everybody. I've posted 3 lights in the tower, because they're coming by air...

the nice thing in all of this is Eowyn will only be in daycare 1 more week, including tomorrow, for the rest of 2008. she seems to be more and more "appreciative" of her mommy & daddy these days. at night, she's not wanting to go to bed, regardless of how tired she is. she wants her mommy to hold her. and in the morning when i get her ready for daycare, before we leave, she comes as if she wants to be picked up, and then just wants to be held. so we're really glad that we'll be able to have her w/ family.

but anyway, here's the countdown:

1. my family. mom, sister, niece, 2 aunts, and a cousin in a peartree. saturday-saturday. now, the 2 aunts & cousin only stay for a few days. but i think the dogs are in for a shock.

2. we get a few days reprieve and then its my mother-in-law. now, maren said i was wrong because she grew up with her and SHE would know...but her mom waves, and by "waves" i mean a sweeping gesture that says "i'm driving 100 and you're driving 75, get out of my way" at traffic in front of her, but we're SOOO looking forward to having her for 2. Long. Weeks. And she won't be driving here in Texas.

Then its Thanksgiving week. We get to be the monster visitors up in Illinois for Thanksgiving (my first Thanksgiving with any family since 1997...which reminds me...my mom was offended that Maren's family (in Germany) didn't invite me to Thanksgiving dinner with them my first year there........I'll let that one sink in...). My parents will meet us there.

3. Maren's middle sister is coming the week after that for 2. long. weeks. thereafter. but then its Christmas, and i'll be done w/ classes, and Eowyn will have people to watch her at home. Family. won't that be nice?

Blame game

While the New York Yankees have missed the post-season after 13 straight years, the blame game has begun in New York. Tabloids blame broken-down old players. They blame young pitching that didn't pan out. ESPN.com blames the organization for bad drafting (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=olney_buster&id=3589629&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1)

But the heart of the issue is really altogether something entirely different and being vastly overlooked: Mariano Rivera. Obviously, the Yankee fans, the media, and even his own coaches and teammates hate him. In the final home game at Yankee stadium, the cameras panned away from the scene, as if on some *wink wink* magical cue (obviously arranged by the Steinbrenners), Derek Jeter grabbed Rivera from behind while the catcher, Jorge Posada, began to beat Rivera into a conscious-less pulp.



Police subdued Rivera's wife while the beating continued.



There you have it. Its all Rivera's fault.



Here Posada is seen "macing" Rivera after giving up another homerun.

Tough Decision

So, there's a tough decision facing someone in my family, and prayers would be appreciated. Its been an issue for a while, and now the finality of that is coming to fruition. Your thoughts & prayers are appreciated.

My dad has to decide what to do. Lifelong Yankee fan (except for a few years living in Oshkosh where he masqueraded as a Brewer fan): does he watch the final game in Yankee Stadium history? or does he watch the ultimate in week 3 NFL matchups, Green Bay v. Dallas, a place in which Dallas has never won, and after tonight, still won't?

Decisions....please pray. Its eating him up inside.

Eowyn's walking

Yep. The reign of terror has officially begun. Now there's nowhere she can't go. She prefers to walk everywhere, but when time is of the essence, she still scrambles faster on all 4s.

I know she takes some after me, because when she waddles around she more resembles my late-Grandpa Painter more than anyone else: a little bowl-legged, belly sticking out. I'm waiting for her to tell me that "when you get older the belly shrinks" or to bring over a dozen donuts.

We'll get video of her roaming around soon.

Ike, part II

Ike passed over with not too much damage to our property. Lots of downed limbs of different sizes. Our lawn looks like, well, a hurricane came through.

There were several neighbors with huge limbs down, and some who even had trees come down. Several folks I know had new skylights created for them in their living rooms by crashing trees. The university had several trees & power lines down, including a tree that apparently landed on a car moving past. I don't know that to be true, but from what I heard no one was hurt, just the car was trapped by branches.

We didn't have power for about 53 hours. It was another 24 before our phone & internet were back up & running. Fortunately, it stayed cool after the storm passed. High's have been low 80s, and low's have been mid-50s.

Eowyn only fussed one night. It was a bit warm in her room, but otherwise I'm not sure she noticed anything terribly different.

Ike

Yes, we're riding out Hurricane Ike today. It should hit us pretty hard fairly squarely sometime early in the afternoon. Winds are already gusting pretty good, and we do have a Tornado watch.

We've already had some pretty good sized limbs fall, and I'm expecting larger ones later. We also have extra water, a cooler of ice in case power goes out, and our stove is gas. We should be ok.

If we lose power, our phones will not be operable since we signed up with Vonage, which runs through the internet. Our cell phone should be ok.

But, as long as power doesn't go out so I can watch football, we'll be ok.

Monkeys

So, I was watching football Sunday, because as I said I'm a football nerd. And I was really into some game, because when I watch football, I get into the game. And I look to see where Eowyn is, and she's atop the couch.

She had climbed up onto the couch, and from there proceeded to scale the back of the couch. I grabbed her before she had a chance to fall over the back onto the hardwood floor. I set her down to see if that's really what had happened, since I had been watching football. Sure enough, she did it again.

She was quite proud of herself.