I got Milly up this morning, fed her, then, when Amanda got up, I mowed the lawn.  When I finished mowing the lawn I decided to start pulling up some of the grass that was growing over the walkway in our front yard.  I had poured boiling water on some of it before, and that worked really well in places where the grass wasn’t very thick, but it didn’t work so well in other places.  I don’t know, I guess I just got tired of it so I started pulling it up.  It took me a bit, and there are still places where there are roots between bricks or concrete squares, but there is no major area of green whatsoever for the entire length of the walkway.  I wish I’d taken before and after pictures.

While I did that, Amanda (after putting Milly down for her morning nap) did some cleaning inside the house, including mopping up the floors.  It looked really good.

Amanda’s mom, Karen (Nana to Milly) came today.  She had to pick something up downtown, but of course she wanted to see Milly too.  We ate at Cracker Barrel, where Milly enjoyed orange slices, eggs, a little bit of bacon, some French toast and blueberry pancakes.  While we were there, both walking in and walking out, she go a lot of attention from people who talked about how precious she was.  She was wearing a thin little dress with a onesie underneath and some tights.  She was very cute.  One lady told me that Milly (the name) really suited her.

After that we went by Belk’s to look for some Strideright shoes.  Karen was concerned that Milly needed more support to help make sure she walks well and said she wanted to buy her some.  They didn’t have any in her size, so we went to Rack Room and got her some Keds and Converse.

Milly and I were dropped off at the house where she took a nap and I cleaned a little (okay, I cleaned a casserole dish) then took a little nap myself on the love seat with Cobb.  Amanda and Karen went downtown for something or other and ended up walking around a craft fair.

Milly and I both got up when they got back and Karen took off shortly after.  We weren’t along long though, as Amanda started cooking white chili and Amy, Eli and Amber Warkentien showed up, with Nick, who had been at work, trailing a little after.  Milly seemed to try interacting with Eli more than I’d really seen before.  She was trying to show him her Sweet Pea doll, possibly, I thought, trying to get him to kiss it.

Blake and Stephanie Konny arrived a little after 6:00 and we all ate dinner which, aside from the white chili, included salad and a beer bread that Amber tossed in the oven.  It was really good.  Amber took off after dinner while the rest of us put kids to bed, ate some brownies that Blake had made and played Settlers of Catan.

I was the last person to pick my spots, which meant that most of the prime places had already been taken.  I told Stephanie, who hadn’t played since she first played the game on New Year’s Eve a couple years ago with me and Amanda and didn’t remember much about it, that I was going to come in second-to-last place next to her.  Surprisingly, she won and I came in second place.  She really killed it though.  She ended up with 11 points, I had six and I think just about everyone else had five, though someone, Blake maybe, had less.

Everyone took off after the game and Amanda and I watched a few episodes of Arrested Development.  We’re on the second season now, and it seems to have even more little things slipped into each episode, like throwaway lines and small details in the background that make it even funnier.

Duke lost to Wake Forest today.  The score was 54-48.  Apparently the Blue Devil defense was just not very good.

Tomorrow should be interesting.  I was asked to run a camera at the evening services at church and I said I would.  Amanda and I usually go to the 9:00 service because it is the best fit for Milly’s usual nap schedule.  On top of that, we can’t drive separately because we’ve only got one working car right now.  There’s also a song at the end of the services, which means I can’t leave after the beginning of the final (6:00) service of the day.  If we could then Amanda would just hang out with Milly and feed her (as her dinner is at 6:00) in the green room backstage until I finished those and we’d leave.  As it is, it presents some logistical issues for us.

As it stands, the plan is to try to get the Olds jumped tomorrow then go and get a new battery.  The issue with it is that it requires super-duper jumper cables, and the only person we know who has those is Dave, across the street, so we’re going to have to enlist his help if he’s around.  Once it’s jumped, I can take the car to go get a new battery, which should fix the problem.  I guess otherwise we’ll just be doing a lot of driving back and forth between church and the house tomorrow evening.

If we’d thought it through more earlier in the day, I might have just said I can do the morning services, but not the evening services.  Ah well.  I’m glad to help, of course.  We just need to work a few things out.  I’ve been meaning to get a new battery for the car anyway.  You know, since I haven’t driven it much in over a year, I can’t remember if it’s got its current tags and all.  I’m sure it’s overdue for an inspection.  Hmm.

So, today was the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.  I really didn’t see much about it this year, but then again we didn’t really have the TV or radio on much at all.  I did wonder at what point we’d start moving on as a nation.  I mean, “never forget,” of course, but I wondered at what point everyone would stop making much of a deal about it.  Think about Pearl Harbor.  How many years passed before it became historical trivia?  “Oh hey, it’s December 7, Pearl Harbor Day.”  I don’t mean to trivialize the tragedy of 9/11 at all; these are just some things I thought about.

Zach Dotsey