She has been out of town for nearly two weeks. So, let's get the welcome wagon out for my Love Burrito!
FB folks, to see the embedded video playlist, go to http://csberry.livejournal.com/584354.html

( Flight of the Conchords - "Business Time" )
( Snoop Dogg - "Sensual Seduction" )
( Prince - "Ballad of Dorothy Parker (remix)" )
( Rob Roy - "Carmencita" )
( Missy Elliot - "Work It" )
( Nelly - "Hot in Herre" )
( Erykah Badu - "Bump It" )
( Jeff Buckley - "Everybody Here Wants You" )

Last evening, JD got a call from one of the other doulas in town (a doula is a child-birthing coach that works with the mom, no baby-catching involved). Two of her clients went into labor at the same time. One of the clients took JD's class, so that was the obvious one for JD to work with as a fill-in. She called me at scouts to give the heads-up that she was on-call (Is it just me or is this post hyphen happy? ;)). Around 10pm, JD got the call that things were progressing and the client was headed for the hospital. JD grabbed her bag and headed out the door.

Some time over the night, one of my aunts was in an auto accident (not life-threatening, broken leg, a bad gash in the other leg, a slight fracture of her hip, and bruised all over). My parents got a call from her husband at 4am. They left for B'ham at lunchtime and asked for me to take their pups on their evening walk around 5pm.

At noon, JD was still at the hospital. The fourth and final A/C company came by a little after noon to give me an estimate. Right as they entered the door, Nigel complained that his computer shut off. I guided the A/C guys to the various rooms and heard the Back-UPS chirping from lack of power. I left the A/C guys to investigate. The circuit wasn't thrown. I flipped it back and forth with no change. Then I noticed that the label showed that the fridge is on the same circuit as the playroom. Crap! I called my father-in-law for help, hooked the fridge (via extension cord) up to an outlet along the kitchen counters (which are on a different circuit). Once that was done, I cooked some grilled cheeses for the kids while the A/C guys calculated the estimate and gave me their pitch. As they were walking out the front door, my f-i-l walked up to the house.

We tested the circuit breaker switch, pulled it out, put it back in, and everything seemed to test okay, but there wasn't any power. Everything that had been plugged in was pulled out, so we knew there wasn't an equipment shortage causing a problem. There was something between the circuit breaker box and the outlets. He grabbed Calvin and they went to Home Depot to buy 4 replacement outlets for the ones on that circuit to see if any of them had a short. After each one was swapped out, we would do a test. OF COURSE, it wasn't until we replaced the fourth one that we got power. Apparently something in the outlet the fridge was plugged into had gone bad.

It was now 5pm. JD was still at the hospital and it was time for the dogs to go for a walk. Just my luck, my f-i-l returned because he had left his phone and wallet behind. As he came in, JD called with an update. The baby still hadn't come out yet and she'd be gone a while longer. Thankfully, my f-i-l then offered to take the kids to his place and feed them with KFC while I went to my parents' house to take the dogs for their evening walk.

After dinner, I herded the kids to the car and we headed back home. Harper fell asleep on the way over the mountain. The boys were asleep by 8:40. JD was home a little after 9 and passed out at 10:30. The poor thing had only managed a small nap earlier this afternoon the whole time she was gone.

When JD and I first met, I had a bad habit when riding shotgun in a car. I'm a nervous passenger. I love driving but the loss of control while sitting in the front passenger seat turns me into an emotional wreck (especially considering how poor my friends' driving skills are! ;) ). It took focus to control my spasms and my applying the imaginary brake on the floorboard, but I GASPED pretty much out of control. This freaked out JD when she was driving because her mother gasped...but only when it was a real OMG-take-action moment. My GASP was set off by a far lighter trigger and she couldn't ignore my gasps.

JD pleaded for me to stop the gasping. What actually worked was replacing the gasps with saying "Eeep." At first, there were a gasp-eeps, then I started to actually go EEEEP! instead of gasping, then I got to where I matter-of-factly said "eep," and I was finally able to just drop the whole thing and instead just think "OMFG! NO! What are you doing!! I'm going to DIE!" and not bother the driver.

One thing I do is ramble. On and on I'll ramble. Then I'll realize I'm rambling and state that I need to just shut up. My commentary to myself about being quiet or shutting up has been annoying JD. She's asked me to stop. Thus, "eep" has returned to my vocabulary. I'm now rambling, suddenly saying "eep," and just moving on to the next thing at hand. Good husband or pussy-whipped? ;)

Oh, sure. The stand-alone freezer in the garage made it through the blackout just fine. Unfortunately, last night, Calvin went on a hunt for popsicles. He didn't find them in that freezer...but didn't close the door well enough. JD came into the garage late this morning and there was an ice cream pond from the freezer, past and under a couple of sets of shelves, and stretched to the ride-on toys and JD's car.

We had to clear everything out of the north side of the garage. I then pulled in a length of garden hose, sprayed down the area, scrubbed with detergent, rinsed, scrubbed with vinegar, rinsed, and then used a couple of fans to help dry the floor. All told, it took about 5 hours to clear, clean, and re-install everything into the garage. The boys did next to nothing to help us, so they weren't allowed to watch TV while during that time.

Neither of us can really get onto Calvin for leaving the door open. JD or I did the same thing about a year or two ago...it just wasn't nearly as much of a mess.

It has been a mostly happy nine years of marriage with my beloved JD today. Now let's see if we can keep this rolling until I slip off this mortal coil.

Sorry, didn't mean to turn all morbid at the end.

The other day JD walks into the kitchen. She sees me filling the dishwasher with dirty dishes. On the counter is an empty glass and an open bottle of Gatorade. There aren't any "normal" glasses in the cabinet. My wife pours the Gatorade into the empty glass, puts the Gatorade back into the fridge, and leaves the kitchen.

Why?

As she would detail a little after the event...

She saw the evidence as I mentioned at the top and knew exactly what had transpired. I came into the kitchen for a glass of Gatorade. Pulling the last glass out of the cabinet, my anal-retentiveness kicks into gear. I am compelled to fill the dishwasher and run it so the next time someone needs a clean glass the washer would have one waiting. She decided to be sweet and pour my Gatorade for me, put the bottle away, and scoot quietly out of the kitchen to let me finish the chore.

After the minor contractions on Saturday, things settled down overnight and haven't returned. JD's felt a little worn out (similar to the exhaustion you feel when you have the flu) this morning, but has been kinda perky after her mid-day nap.

I'm just chugging along with the little bit of work I have to do right now. The birth is pretty well timed for this period of calm at the office. Next week, however...

The boys were still acting like freaks yesterday (been off-kilter since Thursday evening) but have been pretty easy on us today. Nigel has been particularly loving; lots of spontaneous "I love you's" and hugs for JD and I.