We’ve been having our share of fun these past days. About a week ago, we discovered lice in Bethany’s hair. We did the whole lice thing – shampoo and nit-picking and bagging and vacuuming and the like. We’ve been doing multi-daily checks of everyone – Bethany has been clean, and nobody else has had any… until last night, when we discovered one lousy louse in Sarah’s hair. So, we did the whole lice thing, again. And everyone is nit-free, again. We’ll be diligent for the next few weeks; hopefully we will have finally seen the last of it. I’m told that lice are hard to get rid of… <sigh>

So, we had a busy night last night, and we had a busy morning this morning. I’ve never felt more like a “soccer mom” – I brought everyone to drop Julie off at her dentist, then brought the kids to Sarah’s dentist and waited there for her short visit, after which I brought the kids to Sarah’s school and dropped her off, after which I brought Bethany and Rebecca to Bethany’s school and waited for it to open and dropped her off, after which Rebecca and I picked up Julie at her dentist and went home, after which I was finally able to head to work. Fortunately, that’ll be Julie’s last trip to the dentist for a while (she’s not fond of dentistry), and Sarah’s minor orthodontics are going well.

Anyway, I was finally on my to work. I got all the way to Bellingham and drove happily down Holly, a minute or two from the office. I was in the right lane of the three-lane one-way road that is Holly. The car in the center lane, slightly ahead of me, stopped for a pedestrian on the left side of the road that wanted to cross the non-signaled, non-stop-signed crosswalk. So, I stopped as well. Unfortunately, the Ford F-250 behind me did not.

I didn’t even see it coming; perhaps that’s best. The rear bumper and tailgate are pretty tweaked, and my left rear turn signal is out. The damage somehow cascaded all the way to the driver-side door, which I can no longer lock. Amazingly, the truck still runs fine, I think, except when I wonder if I’m hearing new noises… The damage would cost $2,700 to fix at the body shop – approximately 270,000 times the “fair market value” of the truck – so I’m sure that the Ford’s driver’s insurance will declare it totaled. We shall see what tomorrow brings; I’m waiting for a call from his insurance company.

I’m okay, but understandably sore. I was convinced by, well, just about everyone, that I should see the doctor, so I did so – on the Ford’s driver’s insurance’s dime, of course. She told me to expect to be even more sore tomorrow, and for the next few days. Ibuprofen and I shall be good friends. Otherwise, I’ll probably be fine. But now I must retire, and pray that I can get out of bed in the morning. Good night!

I hope that you had a nice day! I had a good evening with my four valentines, but our primary celebration was Saturday night. We went out for Thai food and then to Dairy Queen for dessert. I’m sorry to say that the Thai food wasn’t a big hit with Bethany or Rebecca, but I’m quite glad to say that Sarah liked it a lot! Of course, she simply had fried rice – nothing too savory like Julie’s garlic chicken, or too spicy like my Tom Kha Ghai soup – but that’s a good step in the right direction! For me, the only thing better than enjoying a Thai meal is having leftovers. I am forever indebted to my boss for introducing me to the joy of Thai food when I arrived as an intern over ten years ago. I could go on and on, but enough about Thai food. The ice cream we had a Dairy Queen was enjoyed by all, which ensured that everyone had a great Valentine’s celebration.

Update: Actually, tonight did turn out to be an eventful Valentine's evening. Julie and I had some quiet time together as a couple, if you know what I mean – we painted the kitchen and the dining area! Woo-hoo!

We went to Jungle Playland a couple of weeks ago – we got a free pass for our whole family as a Christmas gift from good friends of ours. We had a great time! Jungle Playland is a big “play place” for kids – tubes and slides and the like. It recently moved to a bigger location, so it’s really cool now. It even has a miniature climbing wall. The real shocker is that they have decent food. Well, probably not all of their food, but they bake Papa Murphy’s pizza, so that was quite nice.

Most interesting was watching Rebecca. They had a nice area for toddlers, but she wanted to roam most of the time. The “big kid” stuff was a little intimidating for her, but she managed. Until she saw the giant monkey head, that is. It’s a large head that kids can crawl into from one of the tubes, and is high enough in the air that I can barely reach it. She saw it and instantly fell to the ground staring at it. I’m not sure if she was afraid she’d bump into it, or that it would fall on her, or eat her, or what. She wasn’t terrified, per se, but she was not anxious to walk under it. I eventually coaxed her to walk around it, and she was fine – until she saw the giant tiger head and responded similarly. I suppose fear is a natural reaction to the slavering fangs of a giant tiger; I should be proud of her instincts.

Did I mention that the closest Ikea to our house is in Canada? No? Then I probably also didn’t mention that on our way to Ikea, a large Canadian truck launched a rock at the windshield of my pickup, which left a nasty double-chip that soon matured into a six-inch-long crack. It was the least pleasant part of our trip to Canada, to be sure.

Fortunately, though my pickup is hardly a luxury vehicle, I do carry comprehensive on it for this very reason. Better still, the $100 deductible is waived when the windshield can be repaired rather than replaced. So, other than the time I spent waiting at Novus, no harm was done, and all is back to the way it was. I sound like a State Farm commercial…