Watch Out For That... uhhh... Deer.

Well, at least one deer (yes, deer) wasn't happy about George W's continuation as President...

Last night while in the bus coming home from our high school gymnastics meet (yeah, we're 8 and 1 now... we rock!), a huge deer thought he'd (or she'd) attempt suicide by jumping eight feet high (no, I'm *not* exaggerating) in front of the bus.

In the process, the whole right-side of the bus's windshied shattered. The silly deer also bent the 12-inch mirror around the side of the bus and broke all the glass (no more glass now). Also... another mirror completely got torn from the bus. The bus driver lost control for a second, and we ran over all kinds of crap (who knows what, really), and yeah, it was just scary. But it's okay, children! I'm okay. I was a little shaken up, but no biggie.

Oh, yeah, and the deer? Yeah, he got up and hobbled back into the forest. I'm only guessing though because when we looked back, there was not a deer (or deer head) in sight. Weird stuff happens on Inauguration Day, I tell ya.

*emmett* ~ who hopes the little deer is safe... and a little wiser...

p.s. Edited to say: The bus driver *said* it was a deer. (There was NO way a deer could have survived that!) We think she did this to save herself the embarrassment. She actually ran into a stop sign. She must have been tired. That was SCARY!

Happy Birthday, Mairen!

Happy Birthday today to my new niece, Mairen Elizabeth Rinaldi. :)

And kudos to my sister, Shaina. She went to the hospital at 11:00 last night. And then at 1:34 a.m., she had this 20-inch, almost-nine-pound-chub (8 lbs. 13.5 oz actually) *naturally*... no drugs! Go, Shaina! You're the woman!

Mairen joins her two older twin sisters, Alaura Dawn and Brenna Rey (aka "The Twinkies"). And I get to see her this weekend! AND my best friend, Hanna, is flying 3,000 miles to see *me* on Saturday. Woohoo! A new niece *and* my best friend... all in the same week. Yay me!

*emmett* ~ who is *very* excited

Awww... Memories.

I love the super-good feeling I get inside me when I see things from my childhood. This is happening more and more recently now that the old 1980s toys are coming back. Like when I see My Little Ponies or Holly Hobbie or Full House. *sigh* I love the feeling. It's like deep in my soul... a warm, feel-good feeling. I love it. Memories are nice. :)

*emmett* ~ who now wants to collect Holly Hobbie stuff...

Christmas and Stuff.

Happy New Year... and stuff.

I hate New Year's resolutions. I never make them. Okay, that's not true. I made one once... several years ago. And I became very obsessive-compulsive about it because everybody knows that people never keep resolutions.

So yeah, I kept that one. It was to wash my hands more. And I do... obsessively... like I said. I even wash my hands after I go pee, and I'm about to get in the shower and be all soapy. So yeah, obsessed. But on the other hand (as I'm just this second realizing), I've been sick a lot less. :-) I did have one hell of a case of bronchitis (complete with a fever) all through the holidays though. Yeah, that sucked.

So Christmas was good. I got almost everything I asked for... but then again, I only had about six things on my list. :) So I now just need to get myself a soup cookbook (Book of Soups) and some cloth grocery bags with the Christmas money I got. :)

I have more to say, but I don't feel like making this a long entry. I'll try to talk about "why I think New Year's Day as a holiday is stupid" another day. :)

*emmett* ~ who thinks that New Year's Day as a holiday is stupid