friends

I'm so happy for her.

I invited Amie and Kelly over for pizza and wine last night and Kelly said she wouldn't have any wine. Something was definitely wrong. Either she was in AA or she was pregnant.

I called her from the psychiatrist's waiting room.

"Holy shit Kelly, are you pregnant?"

"Yes."

"OMG I'm so excited for you! I'm going to cry."

"Don't cry," she said, "I've already got enough crazy stuff going on over this."

It makes sense, especially when I've been trying to get together with her for a while and she has kind of been putting it off or has been busy every time. Tom and Kelly were waiting to tell everyone.

When Amie and Kelly came over for pizza last night we were fawning over her and listening to how things have been for her.

One thing she said CRACKED ME UP.

"Please, don't tell me that my life is going to change," she said emphatically. "Everyone keeps saying that and I swear I want to hurt someone when people say that."

I had said that very thing after I got off the phone with her and the kids were squealing with excitement over the thought of Kelly having a baby. It's one of those things parents have a habit of saying to newly pregnant people.

It's something we should never say really. All in due time that will come out. Why dampen the fun of being pregnant and expecting a baby?

Tayler is sitting in the dining room with friends and they are talking about a boy at school.

"He's cute," one of the girls say. "But not like boyfriend cute. Like squirrel cute."

Last night a few of our good friends met Scott and I at Bucca di Beppo and we had a lovely Italian dinner. It was fantastic. I think I hurt Michael's ear (who was sitting next to me) with all of my shouting down the table.

So much fun.

Then we went on to Bob's Bar and had even more fun. I love my friends.

Spent last night at Deneese's house. Good for the soul. She is such an awesome person.

Clarification: spent the EVENING with Deneese and came home to find my husband pair programming with Mike. Cute.

I did not realize that ALL of the following can often co-morbid or misdiagnosed because of similarity in symptoms:

1. ADHD
2. Bipolar Disorder
3. Tourette Syndrome
4. Asperger's

No wonder my friend Haddyr and I have similar experiences with our kids (her son has Tourette Syndrome and my kids have mood disorders and one has ADHD.

Yesterday, after a wonderful lunch and a movie date, Amie and I said goodbye to Kelly (who was off to see a bunch of girls on skates fight to the death or whatever), and we got into my car.

"Wait a minute!" Amie said. "Where are we?"

I paused, and for a split second, I forgot where we were. I hadn't slept at all the night before. (If you're a regular reader, you already knew that.) My mind started to work a second later, and I was thinking of all of the possible answers, Columbus, Ohio, Easton, by Abuelo's, in my car.

Instead, I said, "What?"

"Are we near a..." Amie started to rifle through her purse, "a... a..."

I started to fill in the blanks with nearby stores.

All of them were wrong.

"A book store?" she said.

"Barnes and Noble?"

"YES!" she said.

"YES!" I said.

"Can we go there?"

"YES!"

All this time the car was in reverse, and I had my foot on the clutch and the brake, all ready to back out. I was giving all of the right signals to a parking lot lurker, and yet, I wasn't backing out until I said that final YES.

I backed out, and saw in the rear view mirror that there was a man in a silver Mazda behind me making some exaggerated hand motions and mouthing words I couldn't understand, no doubt, about the fact that I had taken my sweet time to vacate my parking spot.

So kids, who do I know that likes karaoke? (Besides Patti?)

Steve fixed the radio. I had to buy a fuse on a wire and wire to pull through the instrument panel, but it is finally done and taken care of. Thanks Steve!

Part of being a blogger is inevitably gaining a number of online buddies. Unfortunately, as time wears on, it's easy to forget where all of them came from. Post this and have your friends respond with how they recall first meeting you.