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The Wall has fallen. so to speak, No Neck's a scaredy cat and my allergies are about to kill me. What a week this has been. Oh, well..it’s all good as I have an old LA pal visiting me in a couple, I’m getting ready to kick back and put my feet up this quiet evening but more importantly...my Max is back on Dancing With The Stars! Yep, Mama’s little Russky is shakin’it and bakin’ it this season and I couldn’t be happier! Hey, it’s no secret. I have nothing to hide. My husband is more than aware that I’d have no choice but to leave him if my ballroom stud mambo-ed his way across the Ozark mountains to shimmy me off into the gold lame' sunset. Short of the two kiddos and my black cohosh, I’d be good to go.

Finally..Fall is ever so slightly on its way and after a lovely visit from our Afi (Icelandic for grand-pappy), we are settling into the new school year quite nicely. My oldest munchkin is experiencing kindergarten to the hilt, the two nerves I have left are in utter bliss caring for only uno offspring and..who knew?..I have fallen in love with my youngest one all over again. I have never really spent time with the girls separately as it’s always been a three-peas-in-a-pod type of deal with us, but the last few weeks have just been lovely. The T-Meister has finally acclimated to losing sissy an extra three and a half hours a day and we are discovering all kinds of fun things to do..just the two of us. After reading the news and getting my Huffington fix this morning, well, needless to say, I was just as verklempt as ever over the sitch this country is in..the haywire, meltdown craziness of it all. Besides budgeting the hell outta my fuel and eating a lot of pasta, I have to just hunker down, try not to clinch my mandible into powder at night & focus on keeping Big Daddy well this winter since he's already gobbled up half of his lifetime maximum...and for God's sake, I gotta VOTE! Vote is the key word here, people. So must we all. I mean, Magna Cum Laude and two J.D.'s have gotta trump a half dozen dead moose and a couple semesters of journalism, right? Mama must put aside her bitterness and wholeheartedly jump right up on that bandwagon of hope and change. It can't get any worse. Oh, yeah, that's right. It can. Oy..on to better things...

I spent probably the best 27 minutes of my day today watching T. eat an ice cream cone. Chocolate. Extra drippy. After driving straight on toward the most beautiful sky this morning. My favorite kind, too..big puffy swabs of cumulus back lit with that ethereal golden morning sun..well, heck..the day had already sized itself up to be almost perfect and it was only 7:30am even though the amount of histamine in my body could choke Godzilla. It's like the universe knows just when to give Mama a little something good when my shoulders are up around my ears. That’s what I love about my kids, too..no matter what I got hammering down on me, I can always take a moment to bathe in their grace..their soft, cushy joy, and within that precious snap of the fingers, I’m able to let everything else slide. I consider myself to be about the luckiest gal around when it comes to those welcome showers of pure unalduterated goodness- those sacred albeit fleeting moments that will before too long, whether I'm ready for it or not..turn into ones between my two punkies and their children. I pray that I will never ever forget a single moment and that my healthy heart can hold every last ounce of it all for as long as possible.

Thank you, T, for the music of your whispers, for turning on the light and for loving me just as I am. It is within your sunshine curls my soul will forever hunker.