Yesterday afternoon as I was sitting around my house moping a bit after eating a frozen pizza for lunch, Kim called to invite me to dinner. Nevermind she was regifting her dinner initially intended for her neighbor, Jack and I were in the car faster than you can say boo. (Ok, that's an outright lie. We don't do anything fast around here.)

I was particularly looking forward to spending some time with Gemma. She's my new political rival and I enjoy our repartee. At dinner last week she looked at me and said "John Kerry didn't win." As a joke, and really to rile up her mother a little bit, I responded with "Yes, I know, and it's very fortunate, because he would have come to your house to take all your money if he had won." In true form for the miniature liberal democrat that she is, she didn't bother with the issue any longer. She simply smiled and said "You're bad." This about sums up every conversation I've had with a democrat in the past 20 years.

Here is Gemma trying to convert Jack to the dark side:



He scared her away though:



Dinner was fantastic – fancy salad (you can see the balsamic dressing on Gemma's face above. Mmmmm), grilled London Broil and vegetables, and grilled pineapple for dessert. It was so nice of Kim to feed me, I am not good at feeding myself without Joe. I wonder what I ate before I met him?

The rest of yesterday was very calm – we didn't get out of our pajamas except to go to the post office. Jack is starting to like the swing a little more, although only in small doses. I took the plastic noise making toys off the tray – they only frustrated him and made him cry, which I think is the opposite of what a toy should do, and he seems happier.



Today we had lunch with PJS, Jeff, and my mom. Jack is starting to get teeth – you can feel the little bump on his bottom gum. Unfortunately this makes him a difficult dining companion. There was a bit of screaming in the restaurant. But in the end I was able to buy my mother lunch, something I rarely get to do.

Joe gets home tonight thank goodness. It's tough managing the little guy by myself.