I'm all out of love

I'm not quite sure why, but I've had Air Supply tunes running through my head all day which means that I'm either (a) a gay ice dancer; or (b) exhausted to the point of delusion.

This little three-day work week has turned out to be quite the roller coaster. What kind of admissions director decides to take two days of vacation the week before four groups start? (A stupid one.) Does she not own a calendar? (Yes, she does. But she also owns a BlackBerry AND a brand-new MacBook Pro that will go through airport security and make her oh-so-accessible on vacation.)

I've discovered that the bad thing about three-day weeks is that you don't have a mere 24 hours worth of work. You still have 40 hours worth of work or more, you just have to cram it in the three days you're technically "working." And even then some of it spills over into your vacation time.

Yesterday my alarm sounded at 5:15 so that I could pack and put on a suit and meet my boss by 7 a.m. to drive to Harrison where I made small talk with strangers. I then drove through McDonalds for a regular cheeseburger with no pickles on my way to the office to frantically work on some files and freak out everyone in my general vicinity before driving to Fort Smith for the evening. Today I awoke at 5 a.m. to attempt creative writing, left the hotel at 7:15 a.m. for a downtown breakfast (more small talk with strangers), had a meeting, drove back to the office, pushed some more files around, ate Doritos and a 3 Muskateers for lunch at my desk, sped to campus for an admissions meeting, frantically searched for a network connection in a random office before I was kicked out at 6 p.m. while working on a "thing for the President if you have time," then finally finished and submitted my writing project that had to be done today at 8:22 p.m. I'm exhausted and still need to unpack and repack.

Lest you feel too sorry for me, I do feel the need to point out that in the past 24 hours I've eaten one of the best steaks of my life with Larry and Ashley, hung out with the very precious twins E and P Diddy, languished in a 30-minute whirlpool bath in a hotel room, talked to my awesome brother on the phone, and opened an unexpected check from my mortgage company. Tomorrow I have to stop by campus for a bit, then it's a day of massages and hair appointments (while my housekeeper cleans), driving to Tulsa, and boarding a jet plane bound for DFW. Can't wait to hang out with Lonnie and Jen this weekend. Woo-hoo! Just hope I can fit in sushi and Pappadeaux.

There is that pesky little conference call on Friday morning, but them's the breaks.

Oh, and in the words of Kat Ellis in "The Wedding Date" (seen 32 times per week on TBS) about Air Supply, "Everyone knows their greatest hits, but some of their ballads are surprisingly poignant."

Have bags, will travel

This marks the fourth week in a row that I've spent multiple nights out of town. And I'm tired.

This weekend I have major plans of doing nothing and lying around watching movies. I just have to get through the next two days of work.

Today was a pretty uneventful day in the Fort, but I did get to go see Emma and Parker after work. Sweet little E let me hold her while she took a short nap. Yesterday I got to hang out with my dad, brother, niece and nephew for lunch, then I had dinner with my grandmother and aunt. My aunt's from Germany and my grandmother wanted to know if she spoke Vietnamese in addition to German, English and French. Vietnam's in Europe, right?

Sunday/Monday recap

Ok, this is about the cutest thing EVER! My grandmother and I stopped to visit Parker and Emma (and Larry and Ashley) last night after dinner. They are growing like weeds! They're now smiling and laughing and really responding. Ashley took this pic a couple of weeks ago (I bought them the outfits!). Don't you just want to squeeze them?



My grandmother asked if they were identical. I said, "No, one of them has a pee pee."

After surviving the strong winds last night that knocked out the power and downed power lines and tree limbs all over the Fort, I met my friend Susan at the country club to work at a golf tournament. Thankfully no one had a video camera on us as we, quite comically, struggled to put up a tent in the rain. Then it stopped raining just after we were done. By that time I had frizzy hair and two inches of mud on the bottom of my pants. The rest of the day was pleasant, and we got to visit in between guys stopping by for our bananas, cereal bars, and bottled water.

I dropped $113 on running gear at Academy Sports this afternoon. You may recall that Lonnie, Jen and I are going to "run" in a 5K this Saturday (the quotes are for Lon and me, who will probably walk 90% of it). Needless to say, if I'm going to run five feet I need to look good. So I bought new shorts, two shirts, running socks, and an industrial strength sports bra.

After a pedicure at my favorite nail place (yes, I'm a brat), I came back to Siloam and met my friends John and Tricia for dinner. Now I'm just unloading my car and thinking I need to get on the treadmill. But I probably won't.

Yesterday, after Sunday School, I headed to the big city of Midland (pop. 221) to celebrate Dad's day with my dad, stepmom, brother, nephews, and niece. I also got to see the famous Uncle Cecil Missouri, who's evidently forgiven me for deserting her five months ago. We ate burgers and watched Chance try out his new golf club while Hope played with her imaginary baby sister. When we left, Hope told Brad, "Bye, Daddy. Happy Fodders Day." It was cute.

This coming weekend is Brady's birthday party, so I called to find out what he wanted. He wants cash to buy a big screen TV. Lucky thing his mom's a doctor.

I hope everyone had a happy Fodders Day and sustained little or no wind damage. Is it too early to go to bed?!?

Time to "ooh" and "ahh"

While I was cleaning some files out of my computer, I found this pic I took of P & E the last time I was in the Fort. Aren't they just precious?



Oh, and I caught my first episode of "Jon & Kate + Eight" this afternoon. Wowzers. Whenever I think my life is stressful and unmanageable, I'm turning on that show.

From Siloam to Little Rock in 8.5 hours

Lindsay and I are finally in Little Rock, a mere eight-and-a-half hours after we left Siloam. We took a little detour through Fort Smith to see Ashley and the twins. They are so beautiful! I got to spend time holding and bonding with both of them today. I'm sure they already think their Aunt Lori is pretty cool.

Larry took this pic after they brought Emma and Parker home on Friday. Isn't it just cool?



Both of the babies are just so good. Emma let me hold her for awhile, but ultimately just wanted some time to herself in the crib (I guess she's not used to "alone" time). Parker is just the sweetest and will let you hold him for hours.

We finally left the Fort around 5:30 and headed east. We stopped in Altus and ate dinner at the Wienkeller. Lindsay was quite impressed with our waitress' leiderhausen and clogs.

We're finally at the Peabody, where there are ducks everywhere. These are supposedly the best beds in Little Rock, and for $189 a night, they should be.

Tomorrow night we're hanging with Huey, Dewie and Louie. Just like old times.

Double the fun!

Here's the first public photos of Parker and Emma. Aren't they beautiful?

Emma seems to be the calm one.



Parker and I had quite the conversation. Here he is listening raptly to my wisdom.



Ashley took me back to the NICU to see the kids, and I was just so overwhelmed with emotion that I couldn't stop crying. Really. Me, Miss Devoid of Sentiment, was weeping like a child, which made Ashley cry, which made the nurses start crying.

On a much less happy note, I had my annual eye doctor appointment today, where I found out that, not only were my contacts not strong enough (hence the two-month headache), but I have the beginnings of macular degeneration. I got the speech about getting older, watching my diet, taking vitamins, and exercising for a healthy heart, which evidently prolongs the onset of the disease. Man, it stinks to get old.

Happy April Fools, everyone.

Monday recap

First of all, please forgive me if this post seems a bit strange. I'm kind of out of sorts. I forgot my power cord to my Mac in Mountain Home yesterday, so I brought my work laptop home, but the wireless doesn't seem to work on it, so I'm back plugged into the router. Man, after more than a year of wireless freedom, this is really weird.

I've been at home in bed all day. Evidently a huge flower has showered me with pollen and I can't stop sneezing. My head is killing me and I have a sore throat. Benadryl always helps, but that, of course, makes me sleepy. I hope the deluge of rain cleaned the air a bit and I can breathe again tomorrow when I reenter the world.

The big news of the day is that Ashley had the twins this morning. Parker and Emma were born just before 10 a.m. and weighed about 6 lbs. each. Ashley and the twins are doing well, and I'm thrilled that I get to see them tomorrow.

Speaking of... DeWood, can I buy you lunch?

Thanks to all of you for the great movie posts. Several of the ones you love I haven't seen, so I'm adding them to my Netflix que. I figure if you guys like them enough to watch them over and over, they're worth a screening.

Today's significant for two reasons (three now that it's Emma and Parker's birthday): (1) my grandfather would have been 87 today; and (2) one year ago today I moved to Conway. Man, can you believe that's only been 12 months ago?

Two for one

As reported earlier, my pal Ashley and her husband Larry are having twins, a boy and a girl, next month. This morning was the shower for Parker and Emma. As you can imagine, there was a lot of pink and blue.




Ashley and Larry





Me, Ashley and Susan... doesn't Ashley look fantastic? I, on the other hand, look like I'm pregnant with at least one baby.




We had quite a spread, all courtesy of Susan and her mom.