Odds and Ends

A few bits and pieces:

1. Yesterday it was a blessed 65 degrees here.  We went to the zoo and roamed in nothing but our shirtsleeves and had a fantastic time of it.  Lovely.  
2. Today there has been more than a 30 degree drop--complete with blazing winds and freezing rain.  Lovely.
3. This is the view out my windows.  No, those aren't specialty antique glass window panes.  That's ice.  Yes, my house is currently covered in an ice coating.  Good thing we already went to the grocery.
4. I realized I never actually answered my valentines trip geography question.  We did in fact visit Amsterdam and congrats to all of you who guessed correctly!  For trivia's sake, we stayed in the Hotel Pulitzer (payed for by the firm) which is the hotel where George Clooney and his gang of thieves stay in "Ocean's 12."  I felt a good knowing Messrs. Clooney, Pit, and Damon also roamed those same curving corridors.  (I will never wash the soles of my shoes again . . .)
5. Staying at a swanky hotel sometimes gives the wrong impression.  Sometimes people forget that certain other people might only be staying at said swanky hotel because "work" is paying for it, their own measly wallets being far too light.  This exact assumption led to a somewhat embarrassing/awkward moment at the diamond factory--more on that later.
6. When leaving a home-drawn map of all the important stuff for your mother-in-law while you go out of town, the fact that you included all your friends' houses, Wal-Mart, Target, Wendy's, McDonalds, preschool, the Library, the grocery store, the nature center, and Cheesecake Factory will not make up for the fact that you forgot to include the one place she needed to get to in a hurry . . . the hospital.
7. The Emergency Room  (or:  I'm so very sorry, Grammy).  Upon making it back to U.S. soil after our trip we made the requisite call home to say we've landed, we're okay, we'll be home in a couple hours (because of Chris' work we had flown out of a different city).  Although our morning on the plane had gone by without incident, back at the ranch things were not quite so calm.  Earlier that day while sliding off the counter, Matthew had slammed his chin and bit his tongue fairly severely leaving a nice gash right across the middle of his tongue.  Luckily Grammy called Tara, who is a dental hygenist (and married to a dentist).  Tara confirmed it was a very bad slice and was nice enough to tend the other boys while Grammy took little Moo to the E.R.  The E.R. doc wanted to stitch him up then and there but being a mouth injury it required sedation and they couldn't do that without talking with us, the parents, who were lounging on the plane and unreachable.  Once they got the bleeding under control they allowed Grammy to take him home to await our phone call.  So we got the news and spent the next 2 hours while driving home on the phone with various doctors and dentists trying to figure out what to do.  After many calls and various opinions, the E.R. doc said it wouldn't hurt to wait until morning, take Matthew to an oral surgeon, and go from there.  We did just that and thankfully, although it looked like the devil, the oral surgeon said it would probably be fine without stitches.  Relief.  For me at least.  I wasn't worried about the actual stitches but was not looking forward to the sedation.  I have been surprised how fast it has healed.  Grammy said right after it happened the inner muscle swelled quite a bit and was pushing out of the gash like a mushroom.  Blaaaah.  I took an early picture but I think it is too gross to actually post.  Here's what it look like now.  
   
   Matthew was explaining to one of his friends about it:  "Yeah, I had to eat soft foods for a couple days but then Mom got me back to normal so I could have nuggets and fries."  Oh yes, what would we do without nuggets and fries.  Thank heavens!