Just the interactive fun we needed...
Lift the Lid on Mummies: Unravel the Mysteries of Egyptian Tombs and Make Your Own Mummy!

We're working on a miniature home museum of Egyptology. What a find to be able to construct miniature canopic jars with miniature organs. Ed has wrapped the mummy more than once. Any more wrapping and we'll be at the Osco to replace the ceremonial linen with first aid gauze.

It's like a tooth ache...only bigger
Haven't checked on my own blog in ages, but I did so today just to see the countdown to my hip replacement surgery. I keep meaning to tidy up the blog (as well as my house...) but I spend every week-end recovering from the week before and gearing up for the week to come. Keeping up with work while keeping up my game face is absolutely draining. The part of me that is not Irish is heavily Teutonic-Stoic and I do not like to mention the degree of pain I am in. (Perhaps in some ways I am over-reacting to the behavior of a co-worker who has had several surgeries in the past year and revels in regaling everyone with the details of her medical status. She's not necessarily the 'Baroness von Munchhausen.' But she's comin' close. I would prefer not to discuss it at all. When word got around the office that I was planning on taking some time off for surgery after Easter, I thought I was going to loose my mind as I politely answered questions while trying desperately to change the subject. Some people have trouble catching on that someone doesn't want to discuss a subject. It has reached the point that the next person who asks why I have one hideously arthritic hip at such a relatively young age is going to receive a reply of "syphillis." Yes, I know syphillis is not funny, but neither is having your hip dislocated in a car accident and then trying to go about life as best as possible while the hip gets worse and worse. Maybe 9 out of 10 people will drop their line of questioning if syphillis comes up in the preliminaries. We can hope.)

So anyway, I don't feel like discussing my bones too much here, either. But I've been going through a difficult adjustment to using a cane and feeling chronic melancholy from the pain meds. And I don't know if not mentioning the hip here is in stoic good taste ...or just an extension of my vanity and denial.

I finally have given in and used a wheelchair a few times at Target. After the last time my leg locked up in the back of the housewares department and I almost had to be wheeled out on a merchandise trolley.... I can wheel myself now (a skill that I am eager to forget as soon as possible) and if Rick thought he had trouble keeping track of me in Target before, well, now it's a whole new ballgame. So to speak. And we took the boys to see the Shaggy Dog - which was pretty funny - and a good way of keeping me from spending Saturday in the semi-fetal position.

Actually, it's 30%..

You're 75% Irish

You're very Irish, and most likely from Ireland. (And if you're not, you should be!)

How Irish Are You?

but I think "Irish" is definitely a dominant trait.

And what, no "Have you encouraged any and/or all of your daughters to enter the St. Patrick's Day Parade Queen competition?"

I can't believe...
I'm still awake, three hours into the Academy Awards. This night (in a tie with New Year's Eve) is always the night I am most likely to fall asleep unusually early. Award shows have a paradoxical effect on my sleep patterns. Maybe the fact that I've slept for most of the week-end accounts for my unusual stamina. And I'm working a "late" shift tomorrow, so I can enjoy being lazy and look forward to sleeping in and spending the morning with the boys.

I'm interested to get to work and find out how well the 24 Hours of Grace went. Twenty-four continuous hours of the sacrament of reconcilliation! There appeared to be steady stream of traffic into the church while I was at work on Friday. There was a certain exhiliration to the day. (Again, I've given up kvetching for Lent. But I will disgorge myself here of the dismay I felt when a to remain anonymous acquaintance called the rectory to find out when we have communal reconcilliation scheduled during Lent. That I did not have an answer for at this time. So she asked me how the turnout for the 24 Hours of Grace was going. Son of a #*@^% , if she didn't sound disappointed at the report of high interest and good attendance. Can't really say I was surprised. There are women I know - of a certain age, well entrenched in the Church of What's Happening Now - who....how to say this tactfully? They are having trouble disguising their dismay at the Church's refusal to conform to their wishes.)

Rats!
For a second I thought I could avoid the whole hip replacement thing and just order a new one on eBay. Too bad I don’t need a right hip
But for a few dollars more I could up grade to a high quality canine knee.
Oh the dangers of shopping from home while under the influence of pain killers. A few things I won’t do on drugs (besides the obvious drive, operate other heavy machinery etc): search eBay for Madam Jumel silver or religious statuary, proceed to check-out with my Amazon shopping cart - don’t even think about the fact that Madam Jumel can be purchased through Amazon - or dial the phone. What the heck, I’ll have to talk to my sister tonight to dish about the Oscars. (We’ve already talked to discuss wardrobes and to celebrate Wallace and Grommit.)

24 Hours of Grace!>
Check it out!!!
It's a good thing.