mechanical salmon

What has been going on.....? The New Year arrived, big snowstorms hit Denver and Anchorage, Saddam was hanged, Democrats took over Congress, etc. Auntie Agnes and Auntie Alice passed away - we love you, rest in peace.
This full house mostly emptied out when Auntie D went home, K & T left, and my brother and his boys went back to their homes. The holiday spirit disappears so quickly. I miss everyone.
On New Year's Eve, we took the seven kids downtown to watch the fireworks show. It was SO FREEZING COLD but that didn't take away from the fun and excitement. We watched guys juggling fire sticks, people trying to stay on the mechanical salmon, crowds of people ice skating, 'shadow-dancers' and stilt-walkers in costumes. I know everybody had a great time until we ended up sitting in the suburban on the top floor of the Penney's parking garage for almost an hour and a half, waiting for who knows how many cars to inch down the ramp. With a car full of kids who hadn't eaten dinner yet.
I've mostly been a lazy bum, really. I help a little but it's sometimes hard to keep up with Mom. She has enough energy to constantly clean, cook, do laundry, and mother us all, especially R. The house isn't exactly toddler-proof so we're always on What Did He Put In His Mouth? alert. LittleK is steadfastly following in my footsteps, becoming a TV junkie. I mean, she already was a TV junkie, she's just better at it now.
Today we went to the library and stocked up on good kid books. LittleK also had a chance to figure out what games are available on the computers in the Children's Library - she cried over that yesterday when I deprived her of computer time during our first visit. So I quietly told her, "They don't like crying in the library." Imagine the looks I got when she started howling "MAMA YOU CAN'T SPANK ME IN THE LIBRARY!!!!"
Today I exchanged my Wyoming driver's license for an Alaska license. I tried to do it yesterday but I failed the written exam. Yeah, yuk it up. I didn't really expect to pass it since I haven't thought about that stuff for almost 20 years... The questions I missed were mostly like "what is the minimum time a license is revoked for a DUI conviction? 60 days, 90 days" etc. I also did not know that it takes just one hour to cancel the effects of having a 12 oz beer, and that you have to dim your high-beams at least 500 feet away from an oncoming vehicle. Anyway, I did much better this morning and now I'm a card-carrying Alaskan driver again.
While K & T were still here, we spent an evening with my best friend and her family, in their gorgeous new house. It's a friendship that continues, ever, just in new settings every few years. I am very thankful we're family.
What do I think about while I'm being a world-class lazy bum? I've started thinking lately that life is mostly about comfort zones. Creating them, refining them, maintaining them. Trying to keep yours from clashing with someone else's, or finding a way to blend them together. Life is also so very much about the little things, about deciding which ones really truly matter. Life should not be about accumulation... but it so easily turns out that way.
As for my health, I feel normal. I think back to summer when I was crunchy-boned, monster-faced and wigged out on prednisone, too weak to pick up the baby... so now I'm experiencing the light at the end of that tunnel. The coumadin-clinic guy checks my INR each week and is frustrated I'm not stable yet, so my dose keeps going up as I try to figure out the whole vitamin K issue. Blah blah blah. I have appointments in Denver with the specialist on January 22nd and 23rd. I'll be having a right heart catheterization, pulmonary function tests and a VQ scan. It should be interesting! There are alot of other details to be worked out so those dates may change.
It's way past my bedtime and this is quite long and boring - so, sayonara for now.