Sunday Snippets

1. You know, life is really busy. But not bad busy. Good busy for the most part. We're busy with homework in the afternoons, but not too busy to play with our neighbors when we're finished. I'm busy with the demands of a 5-month-old, but not too busy to have coffee with my friends every week. We're busy with after-school activities, but not so much that we don't have quality family time every day. We have a pretty good balance going on.

2. Speaking of family time, we went on a walk this afternoon. All 9 of us. (Anna begged to bring the dogs. Admit it, though. You thought for a split second we adopted twins.) It was a gorgeous day--sunny and 65 degrees. Picture this: Thomas is on his bike. I'm pushing a sit and stand tandem stroller with Isaac, Lucy, and Rose all in for the ride. Anna (against my better judgment) has Happy's leash. Jeremy is bringing up the rear with Mack...and his Blackberry. Up ahead I notice a man coming towards us with a German Shepherd. I tell Anna to hold tight to the leash, which in retrospect was absolutely the dumbest thing ever. Anna weighs 41 pounds soaking wet. Happy is a 60-pound muscular Boxer who likes to eat other dogs. Or at least pretends to.

It goes without saying that Happy got away from Anna. I left the stroller in the middle of the street, but in the midst of all the excitement, I just sort of panicked. Happy was trying to attack this man's dog, and all I could do was shout, "Happy, no!" I turned around and Jeremy was 20 yards behind us, walking with Mack and typing an email, totally unaware of the scary situation at hand. Oh, and speaking of panic, this man never said one word. I'm sure in his mind he was thinking, "Yeah right. Your dog's name is Happy? Not Killer? Or Brutus? And you left her in the charge of a 40-pound sprite of a child? Nice."

Well, Jeremy started running. In one hand he's holding Mack's leash and his cell phone. In the other, he's scooping Happy up by the collar mid-stride as he passes the scared, pissed-off neighbor. It was a sight to see. And may I mention he was wearing his old Superman t-shirt? How appropos.

I apologized to the man and his dog, whose tail was tucked securely under his legs. I just got a look like, Keep your killer dog away from me. His German Shepherd was like, Man I just got served by a 12-year-old Boxer named Happy. How embarrassing. I wanted to say, "Sir, I am so sorry. She's a rescue. We aren't sure where this aggression comes from." But I get the feeling he didn't want to hear my excuses, and I was ready to move on with our nice, relaxing family walk around the neighborhood.

3. Speaking of pets, meet Swimmy Green Pants Liardon. He's a tadpole. He swims and sleeps in his (her?) habitat in my kitchen. We're patiently waiting for some legs to appear. How long are tadpoles tadpoles? I wish I knew. But maybe the more important question is, How long are frogs frogs? Is this going to be long-time kitchen decor?

4. I have given up Diet Coke. And all things carbonated. Hopefully for good this time. It's been four weeks. 28 days. Long enough to kick an addiction a bad habit, right? My kidneys will surely thank me. I went to the doctor for a post-op follow up, and guess what? I still have a bunch of stones. Including some doozies. So...more lithotripsy. But not until May. Unless some decide to make a move for the ureter before then, which would not be fun. But on the bright side, maybe I'll have some more funny anesthesia stories. So it is now official. I'm adding Producing and Passing Kidney Stones to my list of hobbies.