Official: Woman mulls hike in hope

"I got a peaceful, easy feeling,
And I know you won't let me down,
'Cause I'm already standing
On the ground."

-- Peaceful Easy Feeling, Eagles



I really have no idea what has gotten into my dad.

Suddenly he's not yelling, he's talking to/about Zoe like she's a 4-year-old instead of the devil, and he's even PLAYING with her!

He came home from work today, and I bet he was really tired because he had to put her to bed at 8 and get up at midnight, but he came in all sing-songy and fed her lunch and waited patiently until I got up before he took a nap. I actually just laid in bed thinking: Who did what with my dad??? And I even got up earlier than I planned and found him a bit pleasant to be around.

It could be that today is the last day he will have to deal with the little rugrat on a regular basis: I start back on days next week. Or maybe some of the family (his sisters mostly) parading through here during the past week have listened to him bitch and offered him some advice.

I don't know, but he's a different man. Even after his nap, when he can be his crankiest, he pulled a blanket over his head and came in acting like a ghost. Zoe was laughing from her gut! And when Zoe knocked the drapes off the wall, it didn't seem to faze him, as far as I could tell.

When I made my nightly call from work, he just said, "We were playing catch and we knocked the box off the table that had all her barrettes in it, and she's picking them up now." I don't know what surprised me more, that he wasn't mad that she made a mess or that he was playing with her. And when I got home, the kitchen was clean.

Who took my dad?? Whoever did, keep him. I like this one!

I'm looking forward to working days. MAN, am I looking forward to it. There's so much good about this publication, and yet so many little things here and there I see I can do just to make people's lives at work a little easier. I wanna play effiency expert, but I have two big projects on my plate at the same time. I always hated it when someone said, "We'll get that done," and then you don't hear from them for months. I'm so afraid of doing that to the night desk... after I hear myself saying the same thing over and over.

"We'll get that done."

I'll get it done. I have to. And I'll have a yummy four-day weekend to feel guilty about taking time off already. :)

CHIA PET PROGRESS: None. It's been two days. So, we put a bag over it. We're suffocating the poor thing!