Perhaps that was a little premature ...

Okay, so naptime hasn't been any easier since that ONE TIME. *sigh*

Oh well.

We went to the zoo yesterday. We asked Bucket, on the way home, what part of the zoo was her favorite. "The animals."

She was able to narrow it down to the hippos (since she sleeps with her stuffed hippo, Carl. And we have NO idea why his name is Carl. No idea. I asked her once what her hippo's name was ... and it is Carl.) and the Zebras ... mostly due to the Z in "zebra." Those of you who know Bucket will know WHY it's so special.

Bruise liked the birds. We actually forked over some cash to buy the little juice/sugar water/whatever cups to feed the Lorikeets. Bucket FREAKED THE CHICKEN OUT when one of the birds shook some of the juice (for lack of a more specific term. Since I didn't drink any of it, I really don't know what it is) over her head.

I did get nipped by one Lorikeet. Not a big deal. Bucket kissed it better for me.
I did get some nice pictures of the birds. That made me happy. Bruise thought it was HILARIOUS to be surrounded by screaming birds.

And, dude, lorikeets have such a WEIRD tongue(via WikiBooks). It looks like a little BRUSH on the end. I mean, I understand that it'd help them eat the juice ... and whatever they eat in the wild. Nectar, I guess. But, land sakes y'all, it looks a bit strange.

I think that Bruise likes the birds since he's started to let me do his hair in a faux-mohawk. He calls it "up hair" or, as Bucket calls it, "birdie hair" since it makes him look like a little boy crossed with a Cockatoo. It's even funnier (at least to me) when he's sporting his "birdie hair" and Bucket is all glammed out with a conservatice, little-girl updo and a dress ... and he's looking like he belongs to a whole 'nother household.

I need a good, strong gel so that it'd last all day. Maybe I'm just doing it wrong: I wet his hair, apply gel, and comb the center into the middle for the wanna-be mohawk. 
Yes, I really let him go out in public with his hair like this. It makes up for all the whining I put up with. And he looks SOOOOO CUUUUUUTE!!

My mom's always after me to spike his hair. If I find a good gel, I think I will. He's getting to where he's letting me DO stuff to his hair, instead of always having it combed into the default Young Republican (not anything wrong with that, since I am a R, myself :P) ... It's nice to switch it up.

I'm almost caught up with the dishes. Maybe one BIG handwash load and I'll be DONE!!
And then I'll rope Michael into helping me fold Mt. Laundry on our bed.

After a couple more loads go through the washer and dryer.

I meant to finish raking the front yard today ... not gonna happen, with how dang COLD and wet it is outside. Although I MAY go out and give the Japanese Maple a bit of a trim.

And then I should read at least two books. We'll see how that goes. But, hey! At least the house is LOTS cleaner (thanks to the awesome motivation of my husband.) ... I mean, I did manage to clean up the junk counter and my desk ... But, oh, there's always SO much more to be done. And I never want to do it.

Holy duke ... I think that the kids might just be asleep. Which is much better than it was about twenty minutes or so ago ... when I was all pissy about maybe losing an earring (of one of my FAVORITE pairs of earrings ... but I found it a minute later) and, as I walked by their bedroom where they STILL hadn't fallen asleep, but were up talking and PLAYING, I just screeched, "JUST GET IN YOUR DAMN BEDS!!!" at their door. Then Michael talked to them ... and they CRIED because they "not WANT to go to bed" (But they're sure cranky enough to NEED to, iykwim, aityd). Then, later, as they played again, I just opened the door, stood there and said in my dangerous-low-slow-don't-mess-with-me voice, "This is your last warning. Do you want me to come in here again? NOW, get in your bed. Pull up your covers. Close your eyes and shut your mouth. Go. To. Sleep." ... And, since I don't hear them right now .... I think they might have actually followed my instructions. WOW.

But, yeah. I looked up a series of church books for the kids. I like the three that we have so far. There's another three that I want to get (out of five available). Me? Want to buy more books? Pshaw! 
Yes, I know that I have a problem. But I can't help that I love books so much. They make me happy!! And they don't make me as fat as my love for food ... of course, it'd be really nice if I had a little shelf for books or magazines on my treadmill. If I did, I might be about twenty pounds lighter ... and that'd be very good for my mental health number. ^_^

Okay, to read!! I hear the siren call of written language.