i have missed you! I was confiding in a friend the other day, and I thought of you — you were a wonderful confidante when we were young (now that I am so old). I remember telling you things that I couldn’t otherwise share, and after I had expressed myself to you, I was able to be more honest with myself and others. Thanks!

Funny on the parenthetical statements. I usually go back over my first drafts and have to take out at least 10 parens (i think that’s the plural). I also overuse semicolons; I love semicolons, and dashes. I’m trying to branch out into the occasional colon. Right now I’m also resisting the temptation to start using the construction “I love me some ..” or “I love me my …”

I’m so glad you visited. I feel quite evangelical about blogging. Everyone should have a blog of her own. I’d love to read yours. Sometimes I feel like Emily Dickinson: not the genius part, but the sending my letters to the world while stuck at home part.

on your points:

1. I wouldn’t say “kidding;” it was more like “confessing” or “reverse bragging” or something. You don’t really expect me to admit in public that I am often 20 (or more) minutes late to church deliberately, do you? It usually just happens, and then the fact that it makes time go by so much faster is just a really nice (but guilt-inducing) benefit. i do need to stop doing it (i mean “letting it happen”) because the other day when we were on time, Avery said to me, “Church sure is better when we’re really late, isn’t it?” Life was much easier before my kids were watching my every move.

2. it’s good to get a definitive answer on this. Lucy seemed fine (well, she looked at me like “are you crazy?” when I made her suck on the broken tablet as she nursed that day). I was pretty disappointed that BG didn’t sell children’s ibuprofen (what? you think her mom should have brought some medicine just in case? what?)

I hope to hear from you more, and to see you in Utah when we come visit shortly!

I have a couple comments on good cop/bad cop article.

1. Admitting you are sometimes late for church? I understood being 20 minutes late to be a deliberate coping strategy as described in your Christmas card. I have been using this strategy to get through numerous events, meetings, and Disney movies. Now am I to understand you were kidding?

2. A medication question embedded in the blog brings out the sleeping giant of a pharmacist in me. (You should see all my interventions in the cough and cold aisle at Walmart, I just can’t help myself). The correct dose of ibuprofen for a 8 month old is 5-10 mg/kg every 6 to 8 hours. So if Lucy weighs, say, 22 lbs (10 kg) (just guessing), then the dose would be 50 to 100 mg or 1/4 to 1/2 half of a 200 mg adult ibuprofen tablet. The dosage form (tablet vs. suspension) is irrelevent as long as it gets swallowed.

As you can see, I still overuse parenthetical statements. Also, I feel very self-conscious writing to a writer. Like my brother told me, I “sure don’t talk smart for a smart girl”. I think he meant it as a compliment. Anyway, I miss you, and I feel like I found you again here. I don’t know why I didn’t visit your blog earlier.

but the other point he made (to me), that i often let Avery skip school (which wasn’t true this past year, but was true the year before that for pre-k) is not relevant at all, i think. i could homeschool quite legitimately, but i am not for home-churching.