the story of your gypsy uncle.

A list of good things:

-Last.fm radio is really quite good when you tell them that you want to listen to things that sound like the Avett Brothers. Lots of bluegrass and banjo and Old Crow Medicine Show and Neko Case. It's nice to have music at work. Finally.

-I took the Somalis swimming last night @ an indoor heated pool. I tried to take them last week but was "bad mom" and got the open swim time wrong, so I consoled the girls with McDonalds and a trip to my parent's house for cartoon-watching. My favorite moment last night was when Betulah - who is 19, breathtakingly beautiful, recently married, just had the CUTEST baby in the world, and wonderful - discovered that the waterslide was not open. In utter dismay, she walked up to the nearest life-guard and asked why the slide was closed. Mind you, Betulah is swimming in long pants, a long sleeved t shirt, a head wrap/scarf, mass amounts of gold jewelry, and she still manages to look stunning. The life guard kindly told Betulah that there weren't enough people on staff to man the slide. I could tell she didn't understand, so I walked over and tried to put it in Somali terms: "There aren't enough people working at the pool. They have no one to help you with the slide." But, this was not a satisfactory answer. Betulah looked at the life guard and said simply, "I want the slide open." He explained again, that this was not possible. I can't tell if she wasn't understanding or if she simply was being demanding...but after a few minutes of Betulah's pestering the nice young life guard offered to go ask his boss if he could leave his pool-side position and open the slide. His boss said yes, the slide was opened, and Betulah was thrilled. I love watching the girls go down the slide in all of their awkward Somali glory. They are fully clothed, sitting upright, looking slightly terrified and gleeful with huge white smiles. I loved every minute of it.

-The eggo waffles I stole from Krispin and Danielle's freezer before they left. Honestly, they are the only thing that got me out of bed this morning.

-Having Candyce in Portland all week!

Ok, there are lots more good things but I'm running out of time and steam.
Happy (almost) Friday. Lets just pretend its the weekend already.