Randomness

1. You find out more about your children from Facebook, let me tell you. If you really want to know their day-to-day activities, it's the place to go. I have to pry out with a crowbar the same emotions my sons share on the very top line of their pages. Ya wanna know what Kevin is psyched about ~ run on over to Facebook. Wanna find out about anyone's latest injury or bout with depression? Facebook. It's the most intriguing phenomenon. What a world this is. Instant knowlege for Moms. Some of this technology stuff is really a good thing.

2. I got my hair cut yesterday. I always know when it's time because I fall into ponytail default mode. My friend, Annette, a talented hairdresser, and all-round wonderful person, cut my hair and my sister's in her little basement salon, and we were both pleased with our new "dos." Nina had her hair cut in what we used to call a long "shag." Isn't that a terrible name for a haircut? We were trying to think if there was a more modern name for that style, but couldn't come up with one. Whatever you want to call it, though, the style looks good on Nina. My sis is really only a little bit retro-wired in that decade ~ she listens to the BeeGees and has a shag... But nothing else about her is psychadelic or anything. She's as conservative as they come. Oh, and her birthday is coming up next week ~ on Ash Wednesday! Is that the pits, or what?! I think she should get to subract at least five years from her age to make up for that. (What do you say, Nina?)

3. Oh, yeah, my hair Annette cut into a mid-neck-length bob, with a tad bit of layering in the back to accomodate the curl. Now I need to do something about the two-tone thing going on now that my roots are growing out. That growing-out-roots thing isn't cool anymore, is it?

4. Nicole and Paul just sent out a bunch of special "save this date" magnets. This is such a wonderful idea, and the first time I've seen it. The wedding day is still several months away, but they're meant to be sent out as early as the date is known, well before the official invitations, to give special guests a heads-up for making travel plans, etc. Way cool. Check it out:

5. I didn't get a chance to post anything timely about our St. Valentine's Day celebration, so here are a few pictures, only a week late...

Our Lady's Shrine, prepared for the day

The sign above says:

"Our Valentine, Our Sweetness & Our Hope"

Each of the girls (including the wife!) gets a special card from Daddy every St. Valentine's Day.

We have a tradition that the boys cook for the girls on St. Valentine's Day. Since Dan and son #2, Kevin, are the only ones around, they orchestrated the whole thing this year, just the two of them. It was a Chinese theme. Half of the courses they bought prepared at Sams, the other half they made themselves. Which was OK by us! They started us off with egg drop soup and hot tea, then followed with egg rolls, orange chicken, garlic shrimp, and lobster something ( I can't remember what it was called, but it was mmbaby-good!). Then we finished off with a heart-shaped cheese cake. Yum! (This photo is not a very good one, but we were all too busy eating to think of taking pictures!)

6. To get back to more recent events: I left Michelle to babysit Gabe, Anna, and Theresa today, while I went to town to run errands with Cathy and William. We had to go get a copy of Jon's (missing) birth certificate for him to send away for a passport, because, (...drumroll...) for his senior class trip, he's going to ROME!! Agh! Can you believe it! I wish I could stow away in his luggage! But, Jon assures me that he and his siblings will definitely send their Dad and me someday. (Isn't he nice?) But, in the meantime, Jon's been instructed to take as many pictures as he possibly can and write everything down in a journal for us all to share with him when he gets back. Isn't it exciting?!

7. So, anyway, from the excitement of the mountaintops to the simple beauty of wildflowers... When we got back from town this afternoon, after successfully getting a copy of that birth certificate, this is what I found on my bed:
Gabe and Anna had found the basket of clean laundry that was waiting for me and folded all the clothes. Do you see their unique method? They folded each article of clothing in half long-wise, and rolled it up like a sleeping bag. Isn't that hilarious? Thing is, everything was perfectly wrinkle-free when I snuck back in there to re-fold it. This may be my new folding style from now on. (Little sweeties.)

Bonus Quick Take: I have a post that I've been trying to write for three weeks now that is an answer to comments a reader made about a big family post I wrote called How we're populating the earth. I feel just terrible, but I've been having a dickens of a time carving out the time and perking up the braincells I need to give the questions asked proper consideration. (The insomnia thing really leaves me fuzzy-brained. It's awful.) I apologize to Michelle (the reader) for taking so long! I'm working on it and should have a response by the weekend. Please stay tuned!

* For more Quick Takes, click on over to Conversion Diary!