Go Away Please.

This week our house if full of unwelcomed guests.

Coughing Chester arrived first. He was followed by Sally Snot. They have both outstayed their welcome. Although, they were never welcome in the first place. Frank Fever came later arm in arm with Charlie Chills. Alice Achey-Body wasn't far behind. Felix Flem has made his appearance and Pulled-rib-muscle Paul suddenly appeared one day with no warning, weeks after Coughing Chester. Through all of this Grouchy Greg continues to stay with no hint of leaving until the others do. And of course, to top it off, good ole Aunt Flo is here for her very regular visit. They seem to prefer different family members at different times (except for Aunt Flo of course) but they are always here.

Here is a poem I have composed for them.

Please, Please go away.
You have outlasted your stay.

We never wanted you here,
When you leave, I'll shed not a tear.

Please, please go away,
It's time to be on your way.

Valentine's "Get-Away"

We are sorry that due to a ComEd power issue,
the February 13 evening performance of WICKED
was cancelled. Given that the audience for this
performance did not see a full show, we invite
you back to see all of WICKED any Tuesday
through Thursday evening performance from
now through April 1.

Please let us know your name, seat locations
and the weeknight you would like to attend along
with a phone number to contact you. We will
make every attempt to provide comparable seating.

Broadway In Chicago Customer Service312-977-1717


We took a mini-trip up to Chicago (3 hour drive) with Aaron's parents and sister to go see Wicked. Aaron and I saw it once last year but his family had never seen it. We left on wednesday afternoon, leaving one feverish, coughing child and the other who didn't want his Papa, JoNana and Autie Iguana to leave (he didn't care about his parents). Luckily our friends who watched the kids were happy to do it and made it fun for them. Oh yes, and right as we were walking out the door, all dressed up in fancy theatre clothes Destroy manages to puke all over my cute little sweater, himself, my only black pants, and the floor as I'm giving him one last hug. I love having kids. Oh, and he wasn't the one who was feverish and coughing. At this point I was ready to stay home but Aaron convinced me that they would be fine. I was already worried about Search with his fever and it put me over the top to think that Destroy might be sick too. But knowing that Destroy can pretty much puke on command kept me thinking that he was fine. And he was. And they were perfect and happy of course. And the went to bed without a fight. Of course.

We got to Chicago, got some dinner and then found the theatre. The play was just as good as I remember it from last time... that is until the power went out. It was kind of funny because the power went out right during the love song when the two are caressing each other and professing their love. Even though the music had stopped, so they couldn't sing, the back-up generator powered some dim lights so that you could see them still. They didn't know what to do so they just kept on caressing each other. They were pretty good actors but you could tell that they were getting a bit uncomfortable. Finally someone came out to tell us that they wouldn't be able to fix the outage. So, we had to leave. As we were walking to the car we noticed a whole bunch of workmen working down in the road and wondered if maybe they had caused the power-outage by accidentally breaking a powerline or something. Well, we were right. Thanks, ComEd for the wonderful evening.

After the play (and minus the happy ending), we stayed in a nice hotel downtown which shared walls with offices. The hotel also charged a parking fee! The next morning we took advantage of the Lincoln Continental breakfast and then booked it home.

So, our Valentine's Day had the chance to be great, but because of the sick kids and the play let-down it wasn't as great as it could have been. But it was nice to be kid-free for a day and enjoy some time with my honey. And, the first half of the play is my favorite anyway. Aaron's parents were so nice to pay for the trip and since they are from out of town they were issued a full refund!

Done.

And I only had to start over 9 times!

The only time that spitting is ok.

And spit they do.

Off to Iraq

This is my brother Dave. He did medical school via the army route (so they would pay his tuition) and is now serving a few years for them working as a doctor. Part of the deal for most of these guys is a trip over to the middle east (or elsewhere) to work in a hospital for a few months. So he will be in Mosul, Iraq for the next 5 months and 3 weeks! With no visits home at all during that time, his wife Laurie and his four kids won't be seeing him until August! But, I'm sure he'll learn a lot and he is definitely making Aaron jealous with all of the ammunitions training he is getting. Their family has a new blog, sixlayerdip.blogspot.com (isn't that cute!) so that we can keep up on Dave's adventures, and Laurie's adventures as single mom for the next few months. Dave, we all appreciate what you are doing and we are all looking forward to when you get home safely! Oh, and by the way, that color looks great on you :)

What catches your attention?

The glorious wallpaper?
The fact that he's studying USMLE step 2?
The fact that he's reading it upside-down?
The fact that he now picks his own clothes?

Laugh for the day - frozen moments