Without Chelsea, Day 7

Today was a really great day. All kinds of good things happened. Nothing big and flashy, just a bunch of little bits of awesome that make up a fantastic day. I got a lot of good things done at work today, made some progress on a couple of things I've been working on. I went to Buffalo Wild Wings with some of the guys at work (on Thursdays, they have boneless wings for $.60 apiece) and we played the lunchtime trivia game. I won, but I got enough points that I was ranked 10th in the country on their network of locations that play that game. Yep.

Then I got on the train and got some more of my book read (I'm reading Red Dragon, which is the first book with Hannibal Lecter in it) and then met Nana and the kids at the train station. We got there at the same time. We went to Target, where I found these

and then Nana said, "I'm thinking we'll go to Bombay House for dinner."

So then we did this:

 My flash went kinda weird on that one of Sophie. But they got to sit on the elephant in the restaurant and the guy there said it's 53 years old. He shared that tidbit before they got on and I double-checked to make sure it was alright.

But then we had Bombay House food and Mega Stuf Oreos for dessert. Yep, great day. Chelsea comes home tomorrow.

Without Chelsea, Day 6

Chelsea had her oral exam, which during the last training session, pushed everyone to tears when they left the room. This time, Chelsea left looking like this:

This is the face of a woman who knows what she's doing and knows that she knows it. In the meantime, things have been going swimmingly along with Nana being here. The kids have been having too much fun to notice that Chelsea hasn't been here. They keep asking, "Is Mom still at work?"

Yes. Yes, she is. Because as this girl named Champagne in one of my classes at Midland College used to say, "You gots to have the skills to pay the bills."

Without Chelsea, Day 5

Yesterday, when we were out at dinner with Nana, this nice little lady tapped me on the shoulder on her way out the door and asked, "Excuse me, are you related to Richard Dutcher?"

I very politely looked at her and said, "No."

I mean, come on. My glasses are rectangular, not round.

Without Chelsea, Day 4

So far, things have gone fairly smoothly. I can't take all the credit, since she's super organized and left detailed, color-coded instructions on where everyone goes and when. I've only had to follow the instructions and generally be a responsible adult. And yesterday, we picked up Nana, who's flown in to help out and it's been fun so far. This long holiday weekend, we went to the library, cleaned up the house a little, had the special Oreo donuts that Krispy Kreme is making now, played with cousins, had dinner with Nana and have just generally spent some fun time together.

We miss Chelsea, but she's learning lots of good things and loving this new round of stuff, partly because she's better prepared this time, but I think a decent chunk of why she's enjoying this is that this training phase covers kids closer to the age she prefers teaching. We just have to get through the rest of this week and she'll be home at the end of it, the rainbow at the end of my week. Don't tell her I said that because she'd smack me for being so cheesy.

Without Chelsea, Day 1

Yesterday, Chelsea went to New York with her mom for the next phase of her American Ballet Theater teacher training, so I was a single parent yesterday. When the kids and I got home from our day, we found a note on the fridge where that night's dinner is usually spelled out. Max read it and decided to write a response.

The hardest part of this for either of us was trying to get him to smile like a normal boy.

So far, things are going well and we're excited for Nana to come play.

Too sick for school?

Sophie was feeling ill last night and we were debating whether to send her to school. While I was in a meeting this morning, I got a text message where Chelsea said she had decided that Sophie was going to school. Here's what it said:

Sophie is fine--goofy as always. I'll take her to school as soon as she takes off the pirate eyepatch and brushes her hair.

Of course you can't get ready for school without your pirate eyepatch. Duh.

Happy Year of the Snake!

Today is Chinese New Year, which is one of the holidays we observe regularly. So we (by which I mean Sophie) decorated the house with paper lanterns and other decorations and I made cashew chicken and spring rolls. Also, we watched the movie Pirates! A Band of Misfits, followed by the episode of Mythbusters where they look at pirate myths. That caused this little bit of fashion. It's been a great day and this is going to be a great year.