How does S & S, Short and Sweet, sound for tonight? Right about my regular blogging time, the electricity snapped off. I got to play Pioneer Woman and wash the dishes by flashlight. Let me tell you something, it is very difficult to roll hairs off the bed by flashlights. That's right, I was wielding two flashlights PLUS the masking take roll. Hmmm. ROLL is the Word of Late. We've been rolling off roofs, rolling hair, rolling in shame and other applications of the word, but I do not have time to go play word seek with past posts right now.

Today was exciting. The dishwasher repair man came. What it cost us to fix the dishwasher door FOR THE SECOND TIME, could have been better spent going to hear Yo-Yo Ma play his cello tomorrow night. SUPER RATS! Yeah, our dishwasher door is HEAVY. Every once in a while the cable mechanism that supports the door goes SNAP! It's a DREADFUL sound, and you have NO IDEA what it is or from whence it came. But then suddenly the dish door weighs in at about 500 pounds. It's our model, the door is heavy to start with and if the cables are defunct, well, just forget it. One morning I FORGOT about the cables and nongingerly opened the door and it slipped out of my hand and crashed down with a thud, like a body falling off a roof. Well, that kindness made the door not want to close at all, so I had to hoist and jiggle it into place and hope for the best. We'll see how long the repair lasts THIS TIME.

I'm so glad I saved all the cute cards and letters from long ago. HOWEVER, I didn't save everything and I'm just sicker than sick that I threw out three friends' letters, bundles of them. One girl I knew in school starting in about 4th grade. Actually, our parents had been friends forever. Her mother was a bridesmaid in my mother's wedding. She was one hilarious person. HILARIOUS. Why I EVER parted with those letters I'll never know. I even remember when and where. Standing in the carport of my first little house, overwhelmed with JUNK. My husband's great aunt had given us all kinds of her old stuff and we simply had nowhere to keep it and wouldn't have wanted to keep it if we were in the storage business. Probably I was trying to apply decluttering principles and just look where it got me. I threw the baby out with the bath water. A HUGE loss. The other two people were former boys who liked me. One young man I met as a counselor at camp, and the other boy was from college. They were funny beyond words. My mother and I used to reread some of the letters and simply exhaust ourselves with laughter. In a weak moment I must have thought, Well, they aren't in the picture anymore. BIG MISTAKE to throw those out. BIG. But hey, what's done is MORE than done. Maybe one day I'll write about all the funny people who have graced my life.

Okay, so in view of my opening sentence, I'll just share a few funnies. My nephew made a birthday card for me one time. It was a work of art, he drew waterfalls, trees, mountains. Dinosaur stickers were climbing the mountain, which I believe was an errupting volcano as red sparks were spewing out the top, despite a dinosaur with spikes decorating the ridge of his back and tail standing squarely on the peak of the mountain. He seems quite unconcerned, casual even. Maybe he is up there to extinguish the fire by pure body mass?? The whole mountain is red, actually, and dinosaurs are climbing up it anyway, undeterred. Another couple of dinos are climbing a tree, one is even climbing the waterfall. There are prehistoric animals of every description roaming the earth, and no repetition, either. On the front of the card, To Aunt Kathy. Love, Nephew. A different scary beast sits atop each word. Inside is all the glorious colorful artwork with the words, Hope You have a DINOMITE Birthday! I THINK SO, how could I NOT, after loving this card. Oh, I just now see a green heart, a rhinoceros creature is sniffing it. There are a couple of mystery things. Two little red boxes with black strings. Not sure about those, one is up in the tree. And a similar brown box with yellow stuff coming out the top. Actually, that appears to be sitting on top of a big toothy lizard-dino, a crown? Another reptile is perched on a . . . I don't know what . . . it looks like a black . . . I don't know what. I need to consult my nephew right away.

DTD used to write me lovely little things. One note says, Dear momy, I wove you. Your the best. Thank you for me! Kiss kiss. Kiss kiss. It's decorated with a beautiful flower, hand-colored, you know, pink petals coming out of a yellow center, with a vivid green stem and leaves. It reminds me of a kindergarten program I was in. Some of us had to dress up as flowers, our faces were the yellow center, which I don't know what's that called, I've blocked it permanently from my memory because of association. The costumes were elaborate with green petals (you heard me) winging out from our headgear. And we had to wear green tulle skirts and green tights. Green tee shirts, too. Just a ball of green. It was humiliating. It was torturous. I look like one little cross flower in the pictures.

DTD also writes, Dear Mommy or tooth fairy, I can't find my tooth so I'm putting a different one. I hope that's o.k. Love, DTD. She tapes a baby tooth to the paper and draws an arrow. Save it, she says. Well, she probably figures if she could lose, really LOSE, as in can't find, one tooth, she might could very well lose, as in can't find, a second tooth, so it might be prudent to have a spare on hand for emergencies. Well, I saved it, the tooth is sitting right in front of me.

Bee was DTD'S very close childhood friend. DTD to Bee: Bee, please play with me today. It hurt my feeling win you did not want to play with me in p.e. And played with Kirsten and Casey. And did not pick me for the game in p.e. And would not take me to the offcie. But I will for give you if you are sorry. From: DTD. Bee sends the note back with an "I will" and an "I am." Meaning, I'm sure, she WOULD play with DTD and she WAS sorry. I like how DTD communicates, very forthright.

KEM, who has never figured out how to pack light, how do you think she is going to blog S & S?