Get-togethers, playdates and schedules.

I'm very much in the mood for banana pudding. Heather, will you share the recipe you tried recently that you thought was extra-fabulous?

We've got a full schedule this week, it seems. We had a playdate scheduled with Jack's friend Lucas on Monday, but that fell through from communication mishaps between mine and Lisa's computer (as is, her computer died, actually). So on Sunday night, I spoke with Lisa at the Parents at Home get-together, and we rescheduled for Friday with Lucas. But we were still open for Monday, so I called and invited Ty for the afternoon. As it turned out, Ann was out of town for a medical emergency with her niece, and Brad was SO relieved to have the offer. And then his mom picked Ty up yesterday afternoon, since Brad wasn't sure when he'd be able to leave work.

But then Philip had a firing appointment scheduled for all day on Thursday, and of course, I'm working that day. So I put him in charge of finding someone to watch Jack, and he did. When Ann called today to thank us for helping them out, she asked if Jack could come over sometime, and Philip asked her about Thursday. So he'll have fun playing out there that day after Parents at Home in the morning.

Though I miss being a part of many of the playdates right now, it gives me a certain sense of pride to see Philip having the kids for a while. And the other kids love Philip, as he's out there playing catch in the yard and doing all kinds of "boy" stuff with them on these playdates. He's much more rough-and-tumble than I am, that's for sure, and the kids love it.

Tomorrow night we'll have Andy and Josie over for dinner, and the boys are looking forward to showing Andy how far they've gotten in their GameBoy games. He gave them both a version of a Star Wars LEGO® game, and they play side-by-side all the time. We've also been watching a lot of Star Wars movies in this house since they opened these gifts on Christmas morning, too. Me, I'm looking forward to making fruit salad with little Josie's help. :-)

But I'm going to have to make some banana pudding sometime this week too, as I don't think this craving is going to go away!

Born under the God of War...

Happy Birthday to my second-favorite Slytherin: Severus Snape!

A lot of leavin' left to do.

There will have to be lots of happy moments in the next month or so. I'm going to need them as we head into the later part of February. You see, I'm losing two of my lifelines at the same time:

1) Philip will be leaving for Iraq in the last half of the month (yes, sooner than we'd been told originally - who's surprised here?), and he'll be gone until at least October.
2) Annie's moving to Tennessee at the end of the month.

It's really hard not to think of either of these two events several times each day. I already told some folks at Runza - both jokingly and not - that I'm not going to be the best person to be around, come the end of February.

*sigh*

Who's Yo Daddy?

The following is an email I received from my brother-in-law today, and it was too funny not to share:

When someone puts in for Child Support, the proper thing to do is to find out who the father is and see why he is not providing support.

The following are all replies that Dallas women have written on Child Support Agency forms in the section listing father's details. These are genuine excerpts from the forms.

1. Regarding the identity of the father of my twins, child A was fathered by Jim Munson. I am unsure as to the identity of the father of child B, but I believe that he was conceived on the same night.

2. I am unsure as to the identity of the father of my child as I was being sick out of a window when taken unexpectedly from behind. I can provide you with a list of names of men that I think were at the party if this helps.

3. I do not know the name of the father of my little girl. She was conceived at a party at 3600 Grand Avenue where I had unprotected sex with a man I met that night. I do remember that the sex was so good that I fainted. If you do manage to track down the father, can you send me his phone number? Thanks.

4. I don't know the identity of the father of my daughter. He drives a BMW that now has a hole made by my stiletto heels in one of the door panels. Perhaps you can contact BMW service stations in this area and see if he's had it replaced.

5. I have never had sex with a man. I am still a Virginian. I am awaiting a letter from the Pope confirming that my son's conception was immaculate and that he is Christ risen again.

6. I cannot tell you the name of child A's dad as he informs me that to do so would blow his cover and that would have cataclysmic implications for the economy. I am torn between doing right by you and right by the country. Please advise.

8. Peter Smith is the father of child A. If you do catch up with him, can you ask him what he did with my AC/DC CDs? Child B who was also borned at the same time... well I don't have a clue.

9. From the dates, it seems that my daughter was conceived at Disney World; maybe it really is the Magic Kingdom.

10. So much about that night is a blur. The only thing that I remember for sure is Delia Smith did a program about eggs earlier in the evening. If I'd have stayed in and watched more TV rather than going to the party at 146 Miller Drive, mine might have remained unfertilized.

11. I am unsure as to the identity of the father of my baby, after all when you eat a can of beans, you can't be sure which one made you fart.

For the win...

I win! It's me!

In Gret's journal, that is. I am TEH WINNAR!

(Though I must admit that I never dreamed she'd actually count up responses, so I was quite surprised.)

Edited to add: And now there are virtual gifts on my profile from the lovely Gret! Wow-eee!

*rumble*

I skipped dinner earlier. Nothing sounded very good at the time, so I made the boys a simple dinner of ravioli and spaghettios (their choices, I should add).

But now I'm hungry. Quite ravenous, in fact.

I think I could just about eat my icon. Yup.

*snacks on Draco*