things my children have argued about today

• what treats to leave for santa this christmas (this one brought them to tears)
• who will make chocolate milk for whom
• whether or not they are playing a trick on each other or being "real" (this one got kind of metaphysical)

it's time for a minnesota church supper, dontcha know

that menu, in case you can't read it from my wonderful iphone snapshot, is:

• lutefisk (fish soaked in lye, for the uninitiated. according to cooking experts, the finished product "is the consistency of jello.")
• swedish meatballs
• rutabegas
• boiled potatoes
• pickled beets
• lefse
• limpa rye bread
• condiments (an exoticism to many lutherans)
• coffee (the most holy of lutheran beverages)
• milk
• water
• rice pudding with lingonberries

all for a mere (?) $17 a head.

next i plan the invasion of a small country

who says your skeelz have to rust when you're a stay-at-home mommy? today was a logistical tour de force:

• last night, mom friend a had offered to ferry my non-barfer, whom we'll call child 1, to and from preschool with her youngest (child 2) so i could stay home with my barfer (child 3).
• but when mom a arrived this morning to pick up child 1, she announced that her eldest (child 4) was at home and had just that second called to announce he had barfed. on her bed.
• so i offered to retrieve child 1 and child 2 after preschool, stashing child 3 in my van while i ran into the building, so she could stay home with child 4.
• shortly after that, mom friend b called and offered to bring child 1 home. i said i would have loved that, but i was on the hook for child 2 as well now, so i'd just go.
• then mom a called to say she had run into mom friend c during drop-off at preschool (still with me?), and mom c had offered to bring home child 1 and child 2 so child 3 and child 4 could remain immobile. i said i would have loved that, but child 1 would FREAK OUT if anyone but a hand-selected few tried to pick her up.
• so i called mom b back to take her up on her offer. she said sure, but she'd be a few minutes late because first she would be dropping off child 5, whom she was also picking up from preschool because his mother (d, if we're still keeping track) recently had back surgery.

amazingly enough, all the children ended up in the right places with the right mommies. and i haven't got the stomach flu. yet.

ringworm and the stomach flu

that's a description of chez nous today, not some new indie band name.

yummy

nothing says "the morning after halloween" like a 6:30 am dum dum sucker and a pixie stix chaser.

ook.