FINALLY!

Snow.Day.

WooHoo! We finally got one! There goes President's Day!

I don't think the road is too impassible for me to get out, but I
did skip my Sonic Cherry Diet Coke today. The boys played
outside for about 90 minutes this morning. They let the little
Beagle puppy, Tank, out of his pen. He stuck his nose under
the snow and rooted around. He tried to play with Genius,
the big orange-striped cat. That did not go over well with
Genius. One swat was all it took, and from then on the "You
must be crazy" look was all that was needed to keep Tank
away from him.

There was a moment of panic when a big fat rabbit ran behind
the Mansion and plopped himself on a snowy knoll. The big
dogs and a neighbor dog were on its trail, but they're kind
of like the DoNots of the dog world. We heard Grizzly, who
is at least half-Beagle, over by the barn, baying at something.
Then we heard doggy Ann's yip-yippy bark, and the neighbor
dog's deep bark. When they came rushing through the woods,
Mr. Hippity-Hopper took off. Grizzly was at least on the
trail, running in circles until he narrowed in on where it had
been sitting, then widening out in circles to look for it. The
other two dummies crashed willy-nilly through the underbrush,
and happened to spot it. Tank saw Grizzly and ran for him.
I hollered from the back porch to #1 son to drop the shovel
he was using to build a berm at the bottom of the slide. I
told him to get that dog or else we would never see him
again. HH has taken off his collar, and the backwoods
over-the-creek neighbors would get their hands on Tank
and think, "Hey! Free Beagle puppy!" Poor #1 took off.
He had a bit more trouble moving through the brush than
those dogs. Then they circled around, and he would think
he had Tank, who would then shoot out of his grasp like
a greased pig at a rodeo. After about 10 minutes he caught
the little rascal and carried him back. He passed Tank off
to #2 son, who carried him back to the pen, and once inside,
dropped him from shoulder height. Good thing he's not that
tall. Poor Tank hit the ground with a 'woof' and rolled over
and over on his chubby belly. No wonder the pets avoid
#2. That boy ain't right. We had a little talk about how to
take care of the animals. He ducked his head and said,
"Sorry." I told him you can't really say 'sorry' to a puppy,
and Tank could have been hurt, and how would he like
to be dropped to the ground from my shoulder. I think
I saw him wipe a tear away with his glove as he walked
off. Some lessons are hard to learn.

The next business of the day was to sort through all my casino
offers and chose the ones that apply for tomorrow and
Saturday. Then I packed my gambling purse with HH's
and my Total Rewards Card. And the Ameristar card, but
we're not very loyal to them, we only use them for their game
room and restaurants.

Then I made hot chocolate for the boys, and washed up
three loads of laundry. I tried for two hours to balance the
checkbook, but that was a total waste of time. I used to have
it down to the penny every month. That was in the days before
that demon debit card. HH did much better with an allowance.
Now he whips out that debit card like player's card at a casino.
The problem is that he collects the receipts in his billfold until
he's good and ready to write down the amounts. So...two
weeks after he's purchased gas and dogfood and a pen for
the new puppy and some knick-knack at the antique store...
it shows up in the checkbook. With numbers that are OH SO
AMBIGUOUS. Is it a 4 or a 9? Is it a 1 or a 3? Your guess
is as good as mine, sight unseen. Tonight I told him we are
going cold turkey. He will get an allowance. If he forces me,
I will wrest that debit card out of his grease-stained hands.
Same for me, though. I will pay cash at The Devil's Playground
like I used to. It will be much easier to balance the checkbook.

Snow. Day. The Sequel. Heh, heh. I just got my call. Too
bad HH is a workin' man. We could have taken off early
for the casino tomorrow. I'm sure if I called, Harrah's would
send a short bus for me. They don't know I'm Even Steven
these days. I suppose they have as much hope of taking my
money as I have of taking theirs.

The boys are ready for the excursion. #1 son plans to take
his laptop and use some wireless internet. #2 son has packed
a little silver game case with his GameBoy and DS. It has some
elastic thingies inside to hold games. He looks like he's carrying
a little briefcase. They are both looking forward to some games
on the interactive TV thingy. They even SHARED last time. It
is $10 for a two-hour session. That works out to $2.50 per boy
per hour. I'm a math teacher, you know. And as such, I know
the value of a cheap babysitter. We don't leave them alone in
the room, though. We take turns. Once they (and HH) go to
sleep, I can play as long as I want.

My mom is having her Fat Red Pinky Finger operated on around
2:00 tomorrow. She has to get there by 1:00, the surgery will
take about 30 minutes, and then she has to wait about 30 minutes
in recovery. My sister is taking her. Send some calming thoughts
her way. She is a bit hyped up about it. At least they are not
cutting it off. I told her she'd most likely get some good drugs.
Of course, she's the kind who will suffer and save them for a
time when she 'might really need them.' Which never comes.

I hope nobody drops a Junior Mint into her while the doctor
is operating.