Not so much posting

Ok, so my plans to post more often during break didn't exactly materialize. So sorry. See I have this problem. When presented with great stretches of empty time I feel compelled to find ways to fill it. So, if I have vacation time I end up being busier than I am during a normal week.

All that is to say, I've been busy, busy, busy.

I'm writing today from Ames, IA. Der Deutscher, JBP and I have made our annual trek to the Home of the Cyclones for some awesome basketball. The ladies won the annual Cyclone Classic tournament in handy style.

But what was supposed to be three games in three days turned out not to be for us. JBP got sick on day two and threw up an hour before game time. Of course, he really only had a mildly upset stomach and never would've thrown up if he hadn't pulled his fake coughing routine (which he pulls anytime he's not getting his way!). The coughing triggered the reflux reaction in the body.

We rushed JBP back to the hotel and popped him into bed, from which he managed to spend the next two hours complaining he couldn't sleep and would I pleeeeeaaaaassseee turn on the teeeee-veeeee. I refused. He eventually fell asleep about a half hour AFTER his normal bedtime. He was NOT that sick. Der Deutscher was furious.

On Sabbath we did get to see lots of old friends at the Ames SDA Church. They all oohed and aahed over how big JBP had grown. Many hadn't seen him since we moved away in 2001! And there were kids for him to play with and a potluck after church during which he could play. JBP was happy.

During the first game, JBP came up with a real doozy of a question. I wish the folks who come up with uniforms could've heard it. "Mama, why do we have to see the cheerleaders' belly buttons?" (his emphasis, not mine).

I could only respond, "I don't know." I mean, how do you condense thousands of years of treating women as chattel and sex objects into a quick, pithy answer that's understandable to a 6 year old who sees no difference between male, female, black, white, cardinal or purple?

Last night, before the game, Der Deutscher was flipping channels and came across a showing of Dances With Wolves. He left the TV there since we weren't going to be around more than another 20 or 30 minutes. It started just before the great buffalo hunts. JBP was fascinated and asked all sorts of questions. So, he had a real nice anthropology/history lesson this weekend.

Well, I need some breakfast and then we've got to pack and head home. Checkout's at 11! So I'll sign off wishing everyone a Happy New Year.

Here's hoping it's at least better than last year.

Nimitz' Lady