The Trilobite Lives

and other random NY musings...

Elevator etiquette - isn't it funny how the unspoken rules are always followed. No one speaks, everyone faces the front. Fits nicely into my need for everyone to follow the rules. Gives off good vibes I tell you.

The show - Went to see I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. Very funny. Interesting theater. A double-decker theater. One show downstairs and one show upstairs. We had the upstairs theater which was fun. It was a small theater and our seats were perfect (Ron says that's because we paid full price!). I really do like theater. It's different than movies. The actors appear to be looking right at you and there they were only a few yards away, right there in the flesh. One of the guys looked like Mark. Who we also think looks like Doogie Howser. Funny how we "see" him everywhere! Who knew Mark was so famous?!? One of my favorite scenes from the show was when the husband was sitting at the table just looking at his wife (who was reading the paper). She realizes he is staring and looks up and says "What?" Ron does the same thing (stares at me for no apparent reason) and I always say "What?" Of course then I tell him to stop staring because it makes me nervous. The wife in the play just smiled because she knew he was staring because he was thinking about how much he loves her. A lesson to be learned there?

Dining in NY - Yikes. Ran the whole gamut yesterday (and today). Started with a pre-show dinner at ESPN zone. There was a 20 minute wait but we didn't have time to wait so we sat at the bar. For 20 seconds. Then we left. But, we were there! Atmosphere was very American - loud, lots of TV screens, a bit chaotic.
Next stop, a Thai place a block from the theater. Quiet, decent food. While we were there we saw the waiter ask a couple to move to a different table mid-meal because he had screwed up by seating a second party at the end of a long set of tables for an incoming large party. He figured out the more appropriate solution though and asked the second party who hadn't ordered yet to move over. Then the waitress brought our food and spilled the hot red curry sauce all over Ron's lap. All over his brand new pants! He had dripped something onto his other pants the night before at TGIFs and luckily we had been to the clearance rack at TJMaxx and picked up 3 new pairs of pants for about $11 each. So he had a clean pair to bring to the city. But they sure didn't last long!
Next stop - post-show dinner at Chevy's. First we fought the crowds in Times Square looking for a place to eat. Found a brewery/chophouse but they weren't serving anymore so eventually we decided on Chevy's. Mostly out of desperation and crowd-induced exhaustion. There was a one-hour wait for a table so we opted for a bar. The host told us to sit anywhere except one empty table at the front that was reserved. So we found an empty table in the back corner. Then the host came and told us he already had people coming for that table. He did promise to find us a table in just a minute, which he did. We had a table, ordered dinnner. The salsa never arrived - apparently they ran out. We watched the table next to us wait about 5 minutes for soup spoons. The place was packed so we had to wait a long time for the food. It was good but we were both tired and I was definitely suffering from over-stimulation!
Next stop - breakfast at Jimmy's Diner. I had opted for coffee/danish from Starbucks but Ron wanted a big breakfast. He even said I could watch him while he ate a big breakfast. Ha Ha. So we found the diner. Quiet, decent looking place. Ordered breakfast. It came. I took a bite of my omelet then decided I should butter my toast before it cooled too much. As I finished that task and glanced down, there upon my plate was a very alive and crawling Trilobite bug. Ewwwww! So we called the waitress over and sent it back. I have worked in food service so I know that no matter how clean things are, bugs are around. No hard feelings. But no replacement breakfast either, thank you. As it turns out, I watched Ron as he ate his big breakfast. :) Afterwards we went on a search for Starbucks...

Last stop - Starbucks. The guy misunderstood my order and made me a raspberry ice coffee. So he had to redo it. Then a big stack of cups fell onto the floor while he was making my drink. And we only had a $50 bill and he barely had enough change. Feel bad about this stop - all of it was my fault! They didn't have any danishes that I wanted so we went back to Le Croissant Shop we had passed on the way out to breakfast. Yum - Rasperry Ice Mocha and chocolate croissant! Beets trilobite-seasoned ham and cheese omelets!

And the rest of this fabulous experience will have to wait. We want to hit the road to avoid as much traffic as possible as we head back to the beach.

Beach Blogging

So here I am on a stranger's wireless connection so I can blog... we used it earlier to get a hotel room and theater tickets tonight. Big night out in the Big City with NO KIDS!!! Woo hoo! We were supposed to go last night but Felisa was sick (bronchitis) so I took her to urgent care while Ron went to his race without me.

We were supposed to go to AC last night instead to make up for the missed trip north but no rooms to be had. Okay by me - I'm a Vegas girl. AC is a poor East Coast substitute.

Went to see DaVinci Code last night. Confusing for sure. I followed the main gist of the story but was having a hard time figuring out which people were on which team and how many teams there were. Decent flick though. Better than MI:3 which I don't care to see. I wanted to see RV but Ron said No Way! DVC seemed like a good compromise.

And what is it about NJ? There are so many weird things about this state I can't even begin to tell you. And the people. Either the beach attracts different types of people than I usually see in my day-to-day life or else everyone here is different. A special subsection - NJ people. Not sure which is true but either way... here's one example - the neighbors here that built a GIGANTO beach house next door (so big it requires 2 AC units). Several things they do/own that I dislike. Big LOUD boats (was that thunder or a boat?), big loud trucks, BIG scenery blocking house... and the mom has big ta-tas that are always about to pop right out of her scant bikini top. Yikes! I had an entire conversation with her last summer as I struggled to not stare. It was hard. I'm glad she is comfortable enough with herself to dress however she wants. I'm not glad I have to see it. Glad Ryan isn't any older or there could be trouble! There's a teenage girl also. I saw a thong yesterday but was too far away to tell from the back if it was the mom or the daughter.

I like our nice SMALL beach house. Sure I wish it was air-conditioned sometimes but we got a window unit for night-time or unbearable afternoons. Don't have to cool the whole house, just the living room or a bedroom. I couldn't live in the small space on a regular basis but it's nice for vacations. Sort of forces the family to spend time together rather than spreading to the four corners of the house. Hanging out on the back patio is great except when the mosquitos are biting. And catching crabs off our dock... I don't eat them but it's fun to check a couple times a day to see how many have been caught and if any of them have escaped.

We have a kayak as well. Father's Day gift I think for Emilio last year. The kids like to go for rides in it. I enjoy early morning or evening jaunts around the neighborhood canals. Reminds me of the glory days as Waterfront Director at Sky High Ranch. Those were canoes but this is nice too. And one of the best parts... quiet people power not LOUD polluting gas power.

Freckles... Ryan has the cutest little sprinkling of freckles across the top of his cheeks. Just the right amount. So far he hasn't become covered from head to toe like I am! I was sitting on the swing the other day, reading. After awhile I had to come in because my feet were burning. I noticed this morning after my shower that I have a few freckles on the top of my feet now. At least from far away the freckles make me look tan. Well more tan anyway. It's all relative. :)

And that's all I can think to ramble on about for now...

A Timeless Tale

Apparently my high school English teachers were correct when they said that Romeo and Juliet was a timeless tale. Ryan, who I'm pretty sure hasn't read any Shakespeare yet at the tender age of 6, was telling me all about the knight horses who got married. Apparently the blue horse and the red horse (blue and red are the colors of the blankets), even though on opposing teams (the Good Guys - blue and the Bad Guys - red), fell in love and had a secret wedding in the middle of the night. Now the Bad Guys are very mad because they don't have a horse anymore. Apparently they solved the problem by secretly adopting a dragon. I must say I don't remember the dragon from the original Romeo and Juliet but maybe it was edited out! In any case, the horse saga follows the main idea pretty closely I think. :)

Memories to Be

So over at The Big Yellow House (http://thebigyellowhouse.blogspot.com/) there is a post about remembering things that have happened and about how older people will often tell young mothers out in public, surrounded by baby monsters, I mean children, that these are the best years and we should enjoy them. One of the comments to the post came from a lady who had been told, "These years are much better as memories." Ah-ha! That must be what they are really trying to say, I think. And put that way it seems a lot better, a lot easier to understand and appreciate. Because as great as it may be to live 24/7 with these miracles of God/creatures from the black lagoon, the daily drudgery of laundry, cooking, dishes, etc. mixed in with emergencies (big head-to-toe blowout 3 seconds before walking out the door to church, children running away to Grandma's house down the street, being thrown up on repeatedly) it can be really hard to revel in it. And to think that this is as good as it gets is, quite frankly, depressing. But knowing that the power of time will smooth the rough edges and make the memories golden is comforting. So here's to all these great Memories To Be!

Not enough hours in the day

It seems lately that my recurring lament is "There are just not enough hours in the day." Never. Not one single day ever has enough hours to accomplish all that I feel called to do. Not enough for the "have to do", not enough for the "ought to do", and never enough for the "would be nice to do".

So... advice, anyone? How do I find the right combination of have-to, ought-to, and want-to to satisfy everyone, myself included?

I will leave you all to ponder that while I go wash the dishes... (definitely a have-to!)

It was destiny

Apparently Felisa was destined to fall on her head. After all, there have been several near misses and plenty of opportunity this week. I managed to keep her safe from herself until yesterday.

There we were at Staples, looking for toner for the laser printer. She has been giving Ryan strangle holds, I mean loving hugs, every time I stopped the cart. No sooner have I said, "Stop doing that. You're going to fall on your head," and she is flipping head first over the back of the cart, landing on her head/back. I still can't believe she actually did it. I don't think she can believe it either.

Many tears later, she is okay. She gets a little teary when forced to recount the episode for Daddy and Grandma D. "Fall head. Hurts lot," she says. Hopefully though the lesson will stick with her for awhile.

And there it is for all the world to see - proof that I let my baby fall on her head.

I give up

I give up. Let's call it a day and I'll head back to bed. The productivity levels of the previous two days were a fluke (yes I knew it was even at the time - tis the cycle of my life). And my mood today - oh boy. These kids will be lucky to survive until dinner time.

So far today...
-sleep in lasted only until 7:25. Better than 5:30 but not as good as 8:15.
- got shelf out of the car
- breakfast for the kids. Felisa had a screaming fit because I told her not to yell at me when asking for cereal. decided to feed her anyway.
-check email, edit yesterday's blog (forgot a couple things such as the spider bite that is itchy today)
-tell kids to get dressed
- shower and dress
- pry Ryan and Bella away from TV again to get library books packed up. Threatened no tv for the rest of the day if Bella didn't start helping
- finish getting ready
- pry all of them from the tv AGAIN to get shoes on and get out the door.
- get drinks for all, Ryan's backpack in case we are running late after errands and miss the bus, find AC Moore coupon (found 5 expired ones before finally uncovering this week's ad), get shopping bags, purse, load gas tank in case we go to home depot
- forgot to make Bailey go out so put her on the leash for a quick pee in the front
- bump head on car when leaning in to buckle Felisa's seatbelt. Figure this is NOT a good sign. Based on how my day has gone so far (as of this writing) I think I was right.
- head over to AC Moore
- Buy new 4th of July socks (yes the impulse bin at the front door caught me), 2 markers for client album, post extenders for client album, library pocket punch for card idea I have in mind.
- Nearly lose cart full of kids onto their heads when they decide to do a group hug with one standing in the back and one standing on the back bottom rail
- Back to car.
-Breakfast at McD's - maybe that will make me feel better. Have to park and wait for food. Not feeling better.
- Decide to skip Home Depot even though we will drive right past and probably do have enough time. Just not willing to deal with not being able to find what I want and having to wait for someone to open the gas tank cage. Oh and of course not willing to deal with dragging 3 kids around with me while already suffering.
- Go to library.
- Kids stay pretty close together and things are going fairly well until we get ready to check out. Felisa wants me to carry her so I tell Ryan and Bella to unload the bag while I get her into the sling. When I turn around again, they are putting books back into the bag on top of books that they never took out for the librarian. Apologize to librarian and figure out which is which. Felisa starts crying and thrashing because she wants to get down and help with the books. Stubborn streak kicks in and I let her kick and thrash and cry while I take care of the books. Luckily she doesn't fall out on her head.
- Back to the car. Felisa and I kiss and make up.
- Home at 10:40. Stick a fork in me, I'm DONE!!!!!!

New plan for today - Hide in my room or in my office. Finish up client's album to deliver later. Get Ryan to bus stop and home from school. Fix dinner. And nothing else. If we have no goals, then we cannot be disappointed when they are not accomplished, right?

Time for Bed

You know it's time for bed, time to give up and call it a day, when you scream at the kids for wanting to eat yogurt. In my defense, it is 8:30 p.m. and all of them have already eaten dinner and most of them have had at least one snack since then. Felisa ate 3 donut holes (Daddy Dom, the Entemanns delivery man who lives around the corner was out when they passed on their walk with Eleanor and he loaded them up - a box of individual carrot cakes for Eleanor (who gave them to us), a box of donut holes, a box of mini blueberry muffin packs, and a box of mini brownie packs. Oh the calories...) a mere 5 minutes before the request for yogurt. I've been up since 5:30 this morning and going non-stop ever since, and Ron isn't home yet. Some story about it being the last night of his class so they were all going out for dinner. And so I screamed NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! when asked for yogurt. I could hear the crying/whining still several minutes later so I had to come downstairs (I wasn't even in bed yet though I wanted to be - I was folding laundry) to stop it. And there was Ryan eating yogurt in front of Felisa. Helloooooo!!! Why can't you give some to your sister? He said he couldn't reach the bowls to dish out from the big container of vanilla. He could, though, had he thought it through a little, given her instead one of the small containers of yogurt which he could clearly reach, since he was eating one himself. OR he could come upstairs and explain to me that Felisa wanted some vanilla yogurt and he needed help. But no. Ah well - such is life.

Yesterday was a productive day. Here is what I did (at least what I can still remember a whole day later!)
- wake up at 8:15 (I LOVE Tues/Thurs sleep-in days)
- Pick out suit for Ron
- feed kids (Cereal and milk)
- pick out a different suit for Ron (other one had bad hem in the pants)
- dishes/clean up kitchen
- laundry
- Give kids picnic lunch in back yard (PB&J)
- get Ryan to bus stop
- tie up clematis on trellis out front (actually remembered and completed task as requested!)
- plant green bean and green onion seeds.
-Hill up potatoes to encourage more tubers (checked the internet day before to figure out what to do).
-Take bucket of good dirt/mulch to back herb garden to help with the excessive clay soil there. - Empty kitchen compost crock into big bin. Use pitchfork to stir it all up in hopes of some day actually having compost to use in the garden.
- Work on album for client. Almost done...
- Send girls on nap walk with Grandma Duffield.
- Walk Bailey to school to pick up Ryan.
- Dinner (chicken thighs with balsamic onions + one chicken breast for the thigh-hating daddy)
- More laundry
- Pull weeds in front jungle, I mean garden - get a spider bite. OUCH that stung!
- wash dirt from everyone's hands - get us all into PJs
- Put Felisa to sleep
- Watch House (while putting Felisa to sleep - always multi-tasking don't you know!)
- Convince Ron that he wants to go to Taco Bell instead of me (since we both had PJs on and his looks more like clothes!)
- Make toast with grape jelly for snack.
- do not give in to taco temptation.
- Go to bed.
- Yell at Ryan and Bella for not being asleep yet. Make Ryan sleep on blanket on floor instead of on my feet.
- Watch Texas Ranch House while going to sleep.

Are you tired yet? Let's review today...
- Wake up at 5:23. Hit snooze button
- Wake up one minute later at 5:32. (I know this is more than a minute but it sure didn't seem like it!). Turn off alarm and actually get up.
- Tiptoe to bathroom to get ready for class
- Tiptoe downstairs to leave for class. Get Luna bar, refill water bottle, find keys to bike lock, find jacket, get house key, get bike helmet
- Go outside, thankful the sun is up so I can see what I'm doing. Unlock bikes. Move Ryan's bike out of the way. Get Ron's bike out of the corner, past the car and about 3 strollers.
- Ride to class
- Lift weights for 40 minutes, run for 20 minutes ( 1.25 mi or so)
- Ride bike home. BIG hill going UP on the way home - down is definitely better!
- Lock bikes back up
- Take garbage to curb
- Make lunch for Ryan (field trip today) and Bella (staying for lunch because Ryan gets out at 1 today)
- Convince Ron to take Ryan to school on his way to work
- Send playgroup email to change locations since this week's host has sick kid
- Pick out suit for Ron
- Shower and dress
- Take Bella to school
- Farmers Market - picked up yummy croissants, pumpkin whoopie pie, asparagus, strawberries, red pepper plants, and a cantalope plant
- Take back way to eye doctor to avoid accident scene passed on the way to the market
- Get check up- everything looks good. Yea! Contacts again full-time! Must remember to schedule consult for lasik
- Go home to get cell phone and call Allie. Go different way to avoid accident again and get stuck behind tree trimmers blocking the road. Go back to 123 and wait through traffic to other back road home
- call Allie to see if it is still a good time to pick up shelf unit and costco items
- go to Allie's house, telling Felisa every other block that we are not there yet and lots of townhouses and condos look just like john's house
- relax a few minutes then help Richard carry shelf unit down 3 flights of steps (keep in mind my legs are still sore from Monday's class and tired from today's class. arms are tired too)
- shelf fits in back of van - yippee!
- go to safeway to get groceries for self and Allie plus the all-important Starbucks Raspberry Ice Mocha
- go home to put groceries away
- tell Felisa she has time to watch one Dora episode before we go to pick up kids.
- speed walk to school because there wasn't really time to watch an entire episode after all and now we're late
- wait on front steps of school for field trip busses to return so not late after all. worry about being late to pick up Bella.
- Walk through hallways, pushing sleeping Felisa in stroller, through crowds of kindergarteners and chaperones to get backpack from class room
- sneak out back door then hoof it to Bella's school as quickly as Ryan can go.
- pick up Bella - again, not late after all. close though
- walk home pushing 2 girls in stroller - did I mention that it is uphill?!?
- stop to ask neighbor if we can have the tire she left on the curb. she says yes so I push heavy stroller up hill with one hand while lugging heavy tire with other hand.
- Finally make it home. Wondering what the tire is for? Supposed to help with mounding dirt for growing the potatoes. - Take it where you can get it, right?
- Put tire in garden - perfect fit!
- Unload sleeping Bella to her bed
- Unload sleeping Felisa to my bed
- Read chapter of Purpose-Driven Life while trying to convince Felisa to go back to sleep. Doesn't work
- Come downstairs to eat lunch before I pass out.
- Allie and boys arrive. Put Bailey away in my room for the duration of their visit.
- Show Allie my client's album while trying to add more refill pages - not enough post extensions. guess I'll have to go shopping tomorrow.
- Hang out with Allie while sorting/filing my scrapbook magazine pages of inspiration
- Send Felisa to Grandma Duffield's house. Continue sorting/filing.
- Get Felisa back, send Bella to Grandma's. Continue sorting/filing.
- Make spaghetti for dinner.
- Eat dinner. Clean up kitchen with Allie (and Matthew in sling!) and Felisa's help.
- Allie and boys take off for home
- Give kids dessert
- Help Felisa change to diaper/pajamas after her accident (pee pee in my unnerwear, she says)
- Start folding laundry.
- Bella comes back. Grandma D takes all 3 kids plus grand-dog Bailey for a puddle-jumping walk around the block while I continue folding laundry - they have to try out the new water socks Grandma bought earlier today.
-Kids come back wet and happy and change into PJs (except Felisa who was already wearing them - she just gets dry socks!)
- Try to convince Ryan to get library books together for tomorrow. doesn't work - too busy playing superheroes with Bella.
- Turn on Dora and give Felisa donut holes she asked for

And that brings us up to the point where this whole blog started... me screaming at kids asking for yogurt. Unreasonable, I know. But I'm tired. Really tired. Mostly just physically exhausted. And so now I will quit complaining (though really it was more list than complaint, I think, though you may beg to differ) and head to bed. I need my sleep for tomorrow's adventures. After Thursday morning sleep in of course...

On tap for tomorrow -
- unload shelf unit before Ron leaves for work
- find extension posts for client's album
- buy brown zig marker for client to add journalling to album
- return library books
- finish cards for another client to pick up in the afternoon
- stop at home depot for post extensions (this is a maybe - hoping to find what I need at AC Moore with the marker) but if I do stop I need trellises, tomato cages, and a refill for the gas grill. Definitely need to get shelf out of the van first (are you reading this Ron?)
- get Ryan to bus stop and home from school
- make dinner
- ???

Quote

Never give up what you want most for what you want at the moment.
- unknown

Square Cheese

Square cheese... you know, the American cheese slices that come individually wrapped. It came to be known by that name in our house to distinguish between cheese slices and string cheese. Square cheese is one of Bella's favorite snacks and just about the only way she gets any dairy/calcium! Bella likes to now fold it into four or sometimes more smaller squares then eat it while it is still folded/stacked. Felisa has also adopted this method after watching Big Sister Bella do it. I was watching them fold their cheese just now and it reminded me of how I used to also fold my cheese. The difference is that I would then peel off one layer at a time of the smaller pieces and eat them that way. I also loved to squish and fold white Wonder bread into the tiniest squares I could then peel away the flat-as-paper layers and eat them one at a time. Weird, I know. But if you know me, then you know that occasional (or frequent!) weirdness is to be expected!


And that's it for today's snack time dissertation... :)

7 miles!

Ron and Ryan have been going out for bike rides the last couple of days. Ryan told me this evening when they returned that tonight they rode 7 miles! Wow! Tres impressive!

Quote

"Let the wife make the husband glad to come home and let him make her sad to see him leave."
-Martin Luther

I was going to put this one in while Ron was gone and I was missing him but just never had a chance...

A house vs. a home

So what is that saying? Love makes a house a home. Or something along those lines anyway, I think. I was joking with the kids on the way home that I couldn't find the house; I didn't know where it was. Felisa piped up with, "At home."

"My house is at home?" I asked. (Sometimes it helps to clarify exactly what a 2-year old is trying to say by repeating back what you think you heard!)

"Yes," she said.

"Of course," I replied. "Where else would it be?"

The One-Handed Cheerleader Baby

I was just telling S yesterday how Felisa loves baby dolls. Bella likes her animal babies - Care Bear, Simba, Ginger... but isn't really into the baby dolls as much. Felisa on the other hand loves them! Yesterday she brought the two biggest ones with us in the car. This morning she made a discovery... the one-handed cheerleader baby. It was in the trash can in my "office". Some relative of mine (we always called her Grandma Goldie though I am unsure of the exact relation) made her for me. She is a crocheted cheerleader doll with a green and white outfit and an H on the chest. Her head is plastic with yellow yarn hair. Her hands are plastic also. So anyway, I have had this doll for many years now (since about age 10 probably). It has been in a plastic storage bin in the carport since we moved in. Also in this bin was my pictures of the trip to Europe when I was 16 and various award plaques (attendance award, etc) from school. The guilt of leaving those pictures in such precarious conditions eventually got to me so I brought it inside a couple months ago. The pictures are none worse for the wear (whew!). The cheerleader's left hand fell off. I haven't even unwrapped the plaques.

So what should I do with the broken doll? Should I save it because someone made it for me? Someone I didn't even know very well? I debated for awhile then decided to offer it on freecycle - maybe someone else could use a dusty green H cheerleader doll with a hand that tends to fall off. Then I wouldn' t feel bad because at least it was being loved by someone else. But - surprise, surprise! - there were no takers. So I decided to just go ahead and toss it. So there it was in the trash can in my corner waiting to go out (it has been there for a couple weeks already!) when Felisa spied it. And immediately adopted it as her own. And I suppose I am happy that someone is loving it. She definitely doesn't mind that the doll only has one hand and I don't mind that the doll still lives here after all. Though I may change my mind after I pick it up and put it away for the thousandth time... And as for those plaques... I have no idea what to do with them!

My next career

I think my next career will be... chicken butcher! They say you should learn something new everyday. Well, today I learned how to butcher a chicken. Or should I say, I made up a way of butchering chickens. The first one (of 5!) was definitely a hack job (get it - hack job! hee hee). By #5 I definitely had a method. Cut off arms (wings) - sure would hate to get one that fights back and punches me out with an arm! Cut in half along front. Cut off legs. Cut and pull and saw off breasts while trying to avoid spine and ribs. And there you have it - one butchered chicken (please infer both meanings of butchered!). The first one took at least half an hour. By the last one I had it down to 10 minutes or less.

And now you may be wondering why I needed to maim 5 chicken carcasses in one day. Well, let me tell you... It is my turn to cook for Gift of Peace house - 4 chickens worth - plus one for the family. The benefit to having so many to do at once is that I really was able to learn and adapt and generally figure it out. If I had only done one, I wouldn't have learned anything except that I NEVER want to do that again. Instead I decided that maybe it's not so bad once you get the hang of it and at 59cents/pound it's a good deal!

And now, the oven is beeping so off I go...

Personality Profile

Computer idiot that I am, I can't figure out how to get the fancy version of this so we'll go with the plain text version below. Seems pretty close considering it was a 30 question quiz.

***Your Five Factor Personality Profile***
Extroversion:
You have low extroversion. You are quiet and reserved in most social situations.A low key, laid back lifestyle is important to you.You tend to bond slowly, over time, with one or two people.
Conscientiousness:
You have medium conscientiousness.You're generally good at balancing work and play.When you need to buckle down, you can usually get tasks done.But you've been known to goof off when you know you can get away with it.
Agreeableness:
You have high agreeableness.You are easy to get along with, and you value harmony highly.Helpful and generous, you are willing to compromise with almost anyone.You give people the benefit of the doubt and don't mind giving someone a second chance.
Neuroticism:
You have low neuroticism.You are very emotionally stable and mentally together.Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly.Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure.
Openness to experience:
Your openness to new experiences is low.You're a pretty conservative person, and you favor what's socially acceptable.You think that change for novelty's sake is a very bad idea.While some may see this as boring, many see you as dependable and wise.
The Five Factor Personality Testhttp://www.blogthings.com/thefivefactorpersonalitytest/

He's coming back!

I thought for sure I had scared him aware permanently with all the whiny phone calls complaining about how sick everyone was and how tired I am and WHEN is he ever coming back...

But no... he called from the airport. He's on a plane right now.

Of course, he didn't say where the plane was headed... maybe he's not coming back!