It's been a long boring day. I finally got Selena to take a nap... she wouldn't stay down for more than five or ten minutes at a time, and I had to hold her for most of the day... but she's in dreamland now. Sigh. So peaceful...

My oldest son is shooting pool with his "best friend". I use that term loosely because what kind of best friend puts you down by calling you names such as "loser"? Personally, I think when he says such things to Frankie he should have a mirror held up to him and be made to repeat what he just said. Anyway, Frank is keeping him distracted while his family prepares a surprise birthday party for him. It starts at 5:30 and doesn't end 'til 11. I want to know who in their right mind plans a party of such duration? 2-4 hours is average party length, for crying out loud... anyway, I'm considering picking my son up instead of letting him ride home with his "friend's" mother, as she has been known to be quite a drinker, and I don't relish the thought of my son riding with a drunk. I do hope she WON'T be drinking during her son's party, but I'm fairly certain she will be.

My other three children are playing outside, and have only come in today long enough to eat, drink, or "use the facilities". They will have to come in to begin their baths in about 20 minutes, but I may let them stay out past sundown 'til it's completely dark, since the baby's napping so peacefully. Haven't made up my mind about that yet... but if I do, I'll probably watch out over them. I prefer to have them come on in at sundown as the visibility drops and the likelihood of them being run over in the street increases, although we live in a dead-end neighborhood... sometimes people drive faster than they should, just the same.

I keep the Sabbath, although I don't do anything to observe it in a religious sort of way, I do not do any work from sundown on Friday 'til sundown on Saturday, nor do I expect my children to do so. I do my best to discourage it, period, but I can't tell my husband what to do (he made that clear a LONG time ago) and it has often been difficult to get houseguests to comply with this policy. Anyway, since I don't do any work on the Sabbath, I have a good pile of dishes and laundry waiting for me when it's over. Sigh. Life goes on...

I caught up on a lot of reading online today, clearing a lot of my email. I suppose one might consider that work, and therefore in violation of my Sabbath rule, but regardless, that is what I did today. I sat here and read email for most of the day. Still not completely caught up on my backlog, but tomorrow I should get closer... on Sundays there is very little incoming email. I'm going to try to send out some ecards for Christmas, too. (Can't afford REAL gifts!)

Oh yeah... more good news/bad news... my dishwasher (which is a fancy model - the "Cadillac" of dishwashers, as it were) is repairable, but it will cost $400 or more to do it. The guy wants to sell us a cruddy old reconditioned dishwasher for $200... but I'd be sacrificing a lot on features to accept that deal. I've priced new ones, and for what my husband is willing/able to spend, ($2-300) I can't get one anywhere near as nice as the one I have now. Sigh. What to do, what to do... I think I should take the money my husband is willing to put towards it, and tuck it away 'til I can add enough to repair the one I have that I like so much. I don't know. If you read this and have a suggestion, email me. ledheadlydia@aol.com