>Im at work right now and Im having a total chocolate attack. I mean if i plan to get any work done I better just go get some or Im going to be wasting my time thinking about it. But I admit Im sort of picky about my chocolate… so I was wondering how do you like your chocolate? (notice that not liking chocolate is not a choice…. at least in this poll!)

>One of the things I missed the most about living in Michigan were the paczkis on Fat Tuesday. I don’t remember ever having a Paczki as a kid (Mom, sibs, feel free to set me straight.) but it was an annual thing at the GM proving ground when I worked there in the early 90s. I especially remember the powdered, raspberry-filled kind. Yum!

Well call me a homer but I actually tried to find these things in NYC. There was always Star Deli, in Brooklyn, but that was too far for a stupid donut. So either because of excessive discipline, or laziness, or both, we went paczki-less for about 12 years.

So I was so excited about Fat Tuesday this year that I dragged the girls to Goodrich’s on Monday to get some paczkis (if you ever have trouble spelling it, just remember Frankie’s name is Franciszka! The Z goes before the K!) We got a half dozen, in a variety of flavors to make everyone happy, chocolate-filled glazed for the Frankster (donut!) and plain, custard for Angie. (Bee is just not a donut person, I’m afraid.)

Long story short, I ended up eating four paczkis today, two from home and two from the copious trays of them sitting around work. And we still have three sitting at home looking all forlorn. What should we do with them? Eat them all tonight? Sneak a paczki tomorrow? Feed them to Koompa and Marky? What is a good polack to do?

>One of the gaurds at a roman estate found anthony and cleopatra dead a few feet away from each othe at the end of the day. He immediately called Ceasar who confirmed that they were both dead. Caesar ruled out poison and there was no sign of foul play. He did seee a small crack that in the floor, which ran between the two bodies, and concluded that the crack is what caused their death. He was right but how did they die?

Clues:
they had not been strangled or suffocated.
they were both naked
they were both good swimmers
they did not injure themselves by diving into an empty bath or swimming pool

(from the book Lateral Thinking…. we were laughing at how dopey some of these puzzle are so we thought we should share one with you!)

>Well, we put up the babygate last night so marky couldnt go outside… but around 11.30pm (which is the middle of the night to me), koompa starts barking like a maniac! Good for our neighbors she’s barking inside, bad for us. Needless to say that woke us up! So I went downstairs to see what the commotion was all about., and found her barking at the babygate. She wanted to go outside. I thought maybe she saw the rabbit so I tried to distract her by coaxing her upstairs, but all she did was run to the front door thinking I was going to let her out there. She must have had to really go. So I took down the gate and let her go out. I went to bed but a half hour later still hadnt fallen to sleep because I was worried that marky would go outside, so I went back down, made sure koomps was inside, and put the gate back up. So, honestly, I dont know what to do. I bet koompa goes outside in the middle of the night all of the time. But I dont want to risk marky getting stuck again. Now before you think, oh marks, she wont get stuck again, let me tell you this: I got up around 4:30 this morning, took the baby gate down, made some coffee and went to the parlor to do a few exercises. And what do I hear? Marky barking. So i got up went to the sliding door opened it and called her but I couldnt find her. It was then that I realized that she was stuck half way out the door again! that poor marks! WWYD?

>its getting to 30 degrees this week. Wait. Make it 36. Im running in shorts and a tank top!

>So this morning I was awakened at 3:50 am by a loud pounding on the front door. I went down stairs, turned on the porch light and looked out the window. it was the POLICE! Yeesh, that freaked me out. My first reaction was oh no, where is frankie? Did she crawl out the dog door when we were sleeping? (that happened in a dream, or rather nightmare, after i heard Nakita’s escapades.) So i opened the door bed head and all, and the officer said to me: Is that your dog barking outside? After immediately feeling relieved that this was not about frankie crawling out the dog door, you know what, i listened for a moment and indeed it sounded like Marky. So I said,uh, it sounds like her I will check. I walk into the kitchen where the dog door is and there is marky stuck with her feet inside the house and her head and front feet outside, barking like a maniac. Why her barking did not wake any of us up is beyond me, but that I suppose is another story for another time. So I pulled her in, apologized to the police officer (who said we had a noise violation warning, and next time it would be a ticket). After the police left, I went back to check on marky because I left her splayed on the kitchen floor (her arthritis in her hips is pretty bad, well, and that is the reason she got stuck). Poor thing was still there. Now she is doing better, laying by Scott’s feet, waiting for her sunday treat.

>
We love you! Have a great day! Welcome to the new 30!

>Well today is bone day, and there is a song that goes with it:
Bone Day. Bone Day.
Koompa and Marky gonna get a bone.
Bone Day. Bone Day.
Koompa and Marky gonna get a bone.

The idea is to keep singing it over and over until K&M have worked themselves up into such a frenzy that they have forgotten which way is up. Actually you start the song by just lightly whisteling it. then you tap it out. then you add the words softly, adding more volume and beat with each passing chorus. Maybe I should get Scott to sing it, or maybe Bee.

But on to the birthday boy. He has always told me that he LOVES cold weather. And if asked the question: Would you rather be freezing cold with no heat or boiling hot with no AC he picks the cold every time. Me? I pick the heat. but we can talk about that another day. I think that michigan has responded well to his 40th. Yes, Michigan, the feeling’s forever!

I just took this off of weather underground for lansing, mi. It’s a little hard to see here. that top blue line is the normal high for feb. the red line is the actual this year.

>A proud papa:

We’re still working on the MSU Fight Song. Really, I like the dogfight the best. But I’m having trouble remembering the words. Like for example, at the very end I can sing

>
Well, lets just say that birthday boy’s feb 13 evening surprise (chocolate yogurt cupcakes) was a surprise of many sorts. I have a half dozen to give away. I will pay the shipping…. here is a picture. just kidding.