Mr. Jane always thinks he works more than I do because his hours are longer (not by much though). I remind him, his are concentrated into Sun, Mon and Tues, and then only 6 hours on Friday. His job is tough, sure, but mine has its own challenges, and yet he seems to think that I'm home more often and can do more.

Getting a maid is the best thing we ever did.

DH talks about getting a gardener. I say housekeeping service first, but not until the only debt is the house. But I did say - gardening is my job- the only thing he has to do is mow the lawn ( because lawn mowing = asthma, and beth not doing anything for a day , possibly two) and occassionaly help me get rid of some of the huge pile of green waste. I am going to have some one come in and get rid of some dead trees and clean up our side yard. So I am not crazy.

I think I get feeling like a raving bitch , because a long time ago I told Matt I wouldn't tell him it was time to clean - and nor could he tell me. So I hate braking my word. I also get resentful when he apologizes for the state of the house , when he hasn't done anything to fix it. But I also have to admit , with Matt, when he has other things going on , the house stuff just sort of falls off his radar. I suspect we would have less decorating arguments if he did more daily stuff.Because when he has a strong opinion it always surprises me.

I just spoke to my uncle. He seems to be in a very positive spirit. He's confident that they got all the cancer and he'll make a full recovery.

That's awesome, sj!

I also get resentful when he apologizes for the state of the house , when he hasn't done anything to fix it. But I also have to admit , with Matt, when he has other things going on , the house stuff just sort of falls off his radar. I suspect we would have less decorating arguments if he did more daily stuff.Because when he has a strong opinion it always surprises me.

It makes me feel so much better to know other people have to hash these issues out as well.

How do you manage to bathe them with your back problems, anyhow?

My back has been tons better for the last two months. I still get plenty of twinges if I overdo it but I think Olivia being so much more mobile at this age has helped me out. I suspect that the last injection I got just needed some more time and I needed more rest to let my back heal more. I also got more realistic about how much I can take them out and worked out logistics to spare my back.

I haven't even considered getting injections for awhile, which is a good indication of how much less pain I experience on a daily basis. I did take a pain pill this evening because I went to two grocery stores (we like the butcher at one store, the prices at another).

I think DH's biggest issue is that I get shirty, then apologize for my manner. I suspect he'd rather I NOT get shirty so I didn't have to apologize later. He dislikes periodic apologies for repeating behavior patterns. He thinks the behavior patterns should change after one or two incidents and discussions.

I would love for that to happen but some of it is just my personality, sometimes it's my personality on pain, sleep dep, exhaustion, exasperation and PMT.

Blech. My brain is being all jumpy and I can't get it to calm down.

On the plus side, I baked some biscuits. (I'd planned to bake scones, but I forgot to buy vinegar, so I ended up making biscuits instead.) It's my second attempt at vegan baking, and it's far more successful than my first attempt. (First attempt was corn muffins, which tasted OK, but were a weird texture. These are nice and flaky.)

If only once or twice corrected a behavior. I'd have hit perfection long ago. The only thing that has curbed that behavior in me - a tiny bit- is that I announce that I am cranky.Not just in pain, not just tired, but also I have the emotional stability of your average toddler. By saying this I warn me to be more careful. and hopefully DH thinks a bit more about how he says something. On a really good day- I can say give me 15 minutes - and come back a little less cranky. But people, they are moody.

ION, I need to clean my closet. blech

I need just a little more room and my closet wouldn't be a horror. Someday.

I am intertested in a vague way in vegan baking- not enough to try it yet, but willing to listen.

ION, there are people playing Jazz in my living room

ION, there are people playing Jazz in my living room

Cool.

Also Cool, but in a different way: [link]

Illinois geologists have discovered the remains of one of the world's oldest tropical rainforests, preserved in the ceiling of a coal mine 250 feet below the surface.

ION, I need to clean my closet. blech

Me too. I think that will be my major task for tomorrow.

I am intertested in a vague way in vegan baking- not enough to try it yet, but willing to listen.

The biscuits were really easy. Flour, salt, baking powder, shortening, margarine, soy milk. Sift the dry stuff together, cut in the fats, mix in the soy milk, spread out, cut out the biscuits (for lack of an actual cutter, I used an empty yogurt cup), bake. Not exactly the healthiest thing in the world, but marginally healthier than regular biscuits. (I used Smart Balance for the margarine.)

I am wrung out from tonight's game.

We got down 7-0. Then it was 7-4. Then they were up 12-4. Then we fought back to 12-9. Then they went up 14-9. Then we tied it at 14-14. Then they scored five and went up 19-14. Then we faced the best pitcher in the league and scrapped and scrapped and scrapped and got it to 19-16 before we lost. What a freakin' roller coaster.

We also learned that David doesn't need caffeine before the evening game because my head almost exploded when my first baseman neglected to cover first base on a routine grounder to the shortstop.

Then there were two of my outfielders watching another team practice during gameplay, and the third one with his glove off his hand fiddling with the straps while the pitcher was throwing. Oy.

But man, they made me proud. They fought and fought and fought at the plate. They had great at-bats and fought off pitches and worked the count. And when I told them to steal they stole base after base to get us back in the game. It must be like a jockey asking the horse to go and feeling the horse go. They responded and ran until we ran out of time.

How great is the opposing pitcher? Before tonight he's never given up a run in regular season little league play. In two years. Only in the tournament season. We scored on him twice, in two different innings and they were both on hard fought RBI singles. (Emmett got one of them.)

And my little guys were getting hurt. Drilled in the back and hit by flying bats but they didn't come out. They came back and they tried so hard.