Saw a show on Goblet of Fire last night. They focused on Our Heroes, of course, but the guy who plays Lucius (I should leave it Lucious, as I always type it first) obviously enjoys the heck out of his life. Roughly, "When I put all this on, especially when I pick up that snake-headed cane, I become delightfully nasty."

My conversation last night: "Where's Draco? Damn, Radcliffe's a hottie. Come on, show me Dra--oh my god. Look at Draco. Bibble."

edit: Plus the grown-ups were being all amused at how the kids are growing up. The guy who plays Hagrid was talking about how the guys are noticing the girls and "trying to be cool and leaning against things the way I haven't been able to do in thirty years."

Thankful that my cat prefers the great outdoors and only uses the box when weather is nasty.

Bobby(11) uses his alarm and gets up on his own. Brendon at 13 would sleep through alarms, squirt guns, etc. It takes me 4-5 tries before he stirs. I'm hoping this is a stage because he used to be the early bird.

Before I get busy, 2 delightful random beautiful things that have helped my week.

1) The teens and pre-teens developed the habit of playing ball in the park when they were without power for a couple weeks. That was nice, but even nicer stuff follows. The power crews from various states were using my park for parking their trucks and taking breaks. I looked out the window and watched as this group of grown men that had left their homes and families to come down and fix our power lines were playing ball with our kids. Some scrambling and kicking soccer ball while others were helping the kids perfect their football throwing skills.

2) The hurricane stripped many trees bare. It was an ugly debris strewn bleak world for a bit there. Then nature pleasantly surprised me. The bare trees sprouted buds and are now covered with tiny spring green leaves. This is so odd in November. The broken limbs still hang in the trees with their remaining leaves withered, but they lay in the midst of new foliage. It's my favorite green that spring leaf green.

ION, I went out with my coworkers last night to celebrate the Beaujolais Nouveau, and today I have a headache and for some reason I'm at work anyway. What's up with that?

Although I didn't have anyone "get me up" when I got to college, it's a really good thing I had a roommate and was unwilling to subject her to too many snooze-hits. My mother had to coax me out of bed until the day I left home. I'm just a sleepy, sleepy person, no two ways about it. Thank goodness for college schedules.

the guy who place Lucius

Jason Isaacs. Because I am a huge enormous GEEK.

Brendon at 13 would sleep through alarms, squirt guns, etc.

Squirt guns? Really? Oh, I'm going to like this mommy thing.

Oh, and NotEmily's playing "Highway to the Danger Zone" right now.

In college I was the one the roommates hated because I took, and therefore had to get up for, 8 am classes my first two years.

After that I started doing tech theater and staying out until 3 am. That killed the whole awake and aware at 8 am thing right dead.

One of my roommates always took 8 a.m. classes so she would get up and blast my Smiths tape loudly while she got ready. I learned to sleep through it.

She was really sweet and considerate, otherwise.

2) The hurricane stripped many trees bare. It was an ugly debris strewn bleak world for a bit there. Then nature pleasantly surprised me. The bare trees sprouted buds and are now covered with tiny spring green leaves. This is so odd in November. The broken limbs still hang in the trees with their remaining leaves withered, but they lay in the midst of new foliage. It's my favorite green that spring leaf green.

I'm all "Stay gold, Ponyboy" now and its making me teary. Laura, that sounds so beautiful.

I wake up badly. Badly. My Mother did it for me until the day I rolled over and kicked her for her trouble (I was DEAD asleep, mind you, it was a startle thing, I did not assault my mother.) After that if she heard the snooze too many times she'd stand in the doorway and flick my light.

Squirt guns? Really? Oh, I'm going to like this mommy thing.

The latest device is loud Showtunes. Rap boy will get his butt out of bed to turn that off.

Yes, I have used squirt guns since his room is right by the pool and they were handy. He just grumbled and pulled the covers over his head.