Back In The Saddle

We just went from a family of 4 to a family of 8 to a family of 12 and back to a family of 7 in 2 weeks. Wanna know how we did it? This is how:

Once we were 4 - myself (AKA No-Knee, Irish Banshee Mother, Book Mother, and Kitchen Bitch), Rev. Mr. Larry (The Patriarch), Bubby (17 year old future Harvard student AKA "Little Harvard", sort of after his coach, who is "Big Harvard"), and Robert the German exchange student (AKA Hans). Daughter Goddess of Purple and her hubby SIL (son-in-law) "came home" to San Anto after SIL lost his job, bringing Molly (the 8 year old Banshee-in-training), and Sam (the randomly OCD 5 year-old who only Molly can really understand). Then Hans' family came from Germany to pick him up, since he, very oddly, didn't want to leave this zoo. So we had Daddy Hans (Herr Doktor Engineer), Mama Hans (Kinder Therapist, AKA Die Renate), Christian (AKA Afrikamann), und Die Esther (15 years old, blonde of Aryan proportions, AKA Brunhilde).

We showed them the glories of a South Texas Summer with tubing on the Guadalupe, obeisance to the Alamo, a River Walk Thing, lots of BBQ and pinto beans, enchiladas and chicken-fried steak (it's really German, you know), and dancing to Two Tons of Steel at the Gruene Hall (including the 110 degree temperature inside at 9 PM). They took Hans and left last Wednesday, probably with great relief.

I spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at DemocracyFest in Austin, of which I will write more later. I spent the last two days cleaning the kitchen. Rev. Mr. Larry told me plaintively upon my return Sunday night (Yes, I know it was Father's Day) "I did dishes every night, but it was a loooooong weekend!". I am now determined to blog every few days. I know you don't believe me, but DemFest converted me. After having breakfast with Jerome and Kos, and spending quality time with other cool political blogers, I am going to have my say, too. I am especially grateful to Roses and Othniel from TexasKos for their good example, as well as all the other committed bloggers who keep me informed.

Stay tuned for more. I hate doing HTML, and must learn to do it here on Blogger before I can actually give good Source. Please be patient with me. Oh! Some good news - the A/c Guy told me last Thursday that he thinks he can keep Big Mama (The Condenser) goin' another summer! Godde is good.