Tick Tock goes the Clock

**Warning: This is going to be a very disjointed post.

O.K. lots to talk about and nothing matches with each other so here goes. My smallest boy human recently got his very first watch. He has been wanting one for some time now and it kept getting left off of christmas lists and birthday lists so he finally bought one with his own money. It has a stopwatch feature. Which means EVERYTHING gets timed. Here are some snippets of what we have been hearing recently:

"I'm going to time myself brushing my teeth." (This one is particularly funny because he knows teeth-brushing is not a race. He is supposed to do it for 2 minutes no discussions.)

"Dad, you have been speaking for 1 minute already." (This was said to my Big Human while he was attempting to have a serious conversation and let the kids know that their Pop-Pop was probably not going to make it through the night. More on that later.)

"It took 4 minutes 52 seconds to get from Pop-Pop's to the pool."

"I have been playing by myself for 10 minutes 33 seconds."

"Mass was supposed to be over 3 minutes 44 seconds ago."

We've been very amused to say the least.

O.K. so now on to the Pop-Pop situation. My father-in-law passed away about 10 days ago. It was pretty much expected because he had Alzheimer's but still difficult to experience and go through. I will say however that I have even more respect and love for the Catholic Church. Catholic funeral masses do not leave much room for people to add in their own stuff thereby causing a crying fest which I don't think does anyone any good. It was very soothing for the kids that it was just basically regular Mass. Part of the death of my father-in-law involved all of my Big Human's siblings coming to town along with their spouses and kids. There were a lot of people in town! The small humans had fun though playing with their cousins and getting to spend a lot of time with them. And it helped my mother-in-law out a bunch to have all 7 of her kids here.

Ohhh, what else. Oh yeah, I am now totally addicted to the TV show Mad Men. I started watching it yesterday during a marathon showing on AMC and could.not.stop. All I can think about today is getting home and getting my chores for the evening finished so I can watch more! It is totally addicting.

My brother-in-law (the one married to my sister) won a loser's lottery. Part of his prize is getting to throw out the first pitch at an Orioles game on Saturday night. He is beyond excited! Oh and they also won a trip to Boston for Labor Day weekend to go to a Red Sox game. I think he is more excited about the pitching thing than the trip!

Hmmm, I think that is about it for right now.

Clean

All the dishes and clothes in the house. Are clean, that is. Whew! And I am fairly well-rested and ready to start the week. Man, we should have 3 day weekends every week! Actually I didn't truly have a 3 day weekend because I chose to work on Friday so I could take a day off this week when we have the small humans at home. But working when no one else is in the office is extremely relaxing and so I feel as though I have had a 3 day weekend. Yesterday, my sleep debt was so high that I slept until 11 AM which is absolutely unheard off in this house and then I took a nap around 3 PM. And still managed to go to sleep before 11 PM. I was very tired.

I am currently reading a book which basically confirms all my child-rearing beliefs. It's called Parenting, Inc. and if you plan to procreate in the next ten years or so, I suggest you read it. If nothing else, it will save you a ton of money. Although there is one thing that I would spend a ton of money on. I have already told my Big Human that if we ever produce a child, that we will be spending the $450-550 or so to purchase one of these. In Ruby. With the optional bassinet.