It all began on Wednesday. It was a beautiful day and Jeff was driving with his truck window rolled down when -ZAP!- out of no where a bee flew in and stung him on the lip! Not only was it a rude gesture, but the sting-site became a giant swollen lump of lip for a couple of days. OUCH! (Jeff wondered if that's how it feels to have colajen injections?)
By Friday the swelling had gone down considerably and we decided to go on our Friday night date. We were on our way to Logan and then decided we'd just grab a bite to eat here in town instead and head back home to catch up on the smooching we'd been missing. Before our meal was even served we got a phone call from a nearly histerical Quincy to "Come quick!" Stilman and Walker had been riding home from soccer practice (so at least they were close to home) when Stilman popped a "wheelie" and his front bike tire fell off ("quick release" tire- the clamp of which had been messed with by who-knows-who, but most likely little sisters or neighbor kids just wondering what it was for.) and he hit the street face first. It took some time to get him cleaned up and dig all the gravel out of his cheek and neck, but we were grateful that, aside from lots of scrapes, some bruises and a few chunks of skin off here and there, he was in pretty good shape! It certainly could have been a lot worse. He was feeling pretty beat up of course and couldn't help wondering aloud, "Why does this stuff always happen to ME?" (-Honestly, I'm beginning to wonder that myself.)
As if that weren't enough to keep us busy for a while, Sunday night Tevya was playing outside without any shoes on (Which of course she's been warned about 746,893 times - if you include the 17 that particular day.) and stepped on something that hurt her really bad. Being the kind and compassionate mother that I am, I brushed her foot off, pulled something off that looked like it might have been a stinger, and said, "Well, I'm sorry, but that's what you get." She whined about it all night and I finally had Jeff look at it before she went to bed to make sure there wasn't something else in there like a sliver or something I'd missed in my haste to be so compassionate. Nothing.
But 1:00 a.m. she came flying down the stairs screaming her head off and I was up with her every hour for the rest of the night trying everything I could think of to make the pain stop. Next morning her foot was swollen
so fat and was
so red and she was SO miserable it was certain my instincts had been wrong. She wasn't just being dramatic after all. The doctor confirmed she's been stung -probably by some mean yellow jacket, had an allergic reaction, AND gotten an infection! She missed 2 days of school and we both missed a lot of sleep, but she's better after a bout of antibiotics, lots of Benadryl, and alternating doses of Tylenol and Ibuprofen for 3 days (and nights). Whew!
I could do without another week like this for a
looooong time.
Suddenly, over the last month or so I have felt inspired, even driven maybe, to bake cakes. Yummy ones. With delicious fillings and delectable frostings and something akin to lovely decorations. (Obviously I'm about as far from professional as a person can get. Like my little plastic decorating tube?) 
Happy birthday to Jeff! I saw this "Beard Beanie" and thought it was the perfect answer. Now he can have facial hair whenever he wants AND he can stay warm in the freezing winter weather, AND he can hide from people he doesn't want to talk to! It's pure genious! (We've named it the Bishop Beard.)
