Rainy Days and Mondays Always Get Me Down

And a Monday that is rainy? I am totally suicidal. Just Kidding.

I totally turned on the heat this morning. My house was about 66 degrees which isn't intolerable, but I feel I have an unalienable right to be PRECISELY the temperature that I want to be when in my own home.

Kiki is totally obsessed with Tom and Jerry. I recorded a marathon of episodes to the DVR and it has been a lifesaver. Poor second child- Kate watched hours of Baby Einstein, but for Kiki, the Cartoon Network will do. She seems to relate to Tom and Jerry- I see why. It's as if she is saying, "Look! They don't need words either!" I love the DVR. The ability to watch my shows, skip commercials, and never worry about "missing" something has changed my life. Now my kids won't know anything else. Today I noticed how aggravated Kiki is by commercials. When her episode is over and the Ab Rocket commercial comes on, she points at the TV and says, "Ma! Ma! Ma!" until I skip the commercials for her. You know, a commercial or two can teach you a lot about life- how to delay your gratification, how to make a snack and go potty in less than 3 minutes, and that you see alot of things on commercials that are totally ridiculous. Kate sees so few commercials that when she catches one she inevitably thinks the item presented is AWESOME! How will my Kiki ever know what she should buy?

Labor Day was fun. Liza, Charlie, Elise, and all the Hatch's went to see Grandma Go-Go. It was a great visit aside from the fact that our kids were totally naughty and Grandma thinks they need quite a few more spankings. We lunched at the Wanship landmark- the Spring Chicken Inn. Food- Good. Service-Crap. My kids about had a come-apart waiting for their chicken strips. Kiki impressed Go-Go with her eating- she wasn't even in top form, but it can be pretty amazing to watch an 18-month old attack with a spoon in one hand and a fork in the other. Liza got hit on as we paid our check. A man at the counter said, "Are you two sisters?" Um, that one's pretty obvious. Then he said, "I see you have a ring (to me), but you don't (to Liza). Are you single?" Liza broke the bad news that she was living in bliss and had two kids to boot, and the poor guy seemed a little sad. Maybe the prospects aren't so good living in Wanship- enlighten me, Judd girls? Not that Liza wouldn't be a serious catch absolutely anywhere. I buffered his sadness by pointing out that Liza can be a little cranky, and I had always been the nicer of the two of us. Love you Grandma- thanks for a fun visit.

We then engaged in some retail therapy at the outlets (Sorry we missed you, Aunt Arlys and Ashley! It would have been fun to see you.). It was a pretty good shopping day for all of us. We made the drive home in record time. Bruce started out the day saying, "Look how good Kiki is. We could drive to Phoenix this Christmas." and ended the day saying, "Let's look into flights." The problem is that on any car ride, the first five minutes when everyone is good only lasts five minutes no matter what. However, the last five minutes when everyone is screaming and crying (including me) can be repeated an INFINITE number of times. Simple math made Bruce realize that the last five minutes of our car ride could be repeated close to 100 times by the time we drive to Phoenix. He was weak in the knees.