Remember my deleted year old MIL, Betty? The one with a blog? (see blog roll in sidebar) She has now invited me to join Facebook.

Join. Facebook.

This is so awesome and crazy it blows my mind.

And then there was one.

Lucky #2 went to the big fishbowl in the sky last night.

Dex's awesome new skill is a complete mastery of pushing a little button. He had a grand time at Keelie's yesterday playing with their giant slug toy. It's a Halloween decoration, but it lives in their den as it never fails to crack her up, and now Dex as well. Keelie said he spent twenty minutes just pressing the button over and over, making the slug light up and growl.

He's now going through all his toys, pressing buttons and having a grand time. He was up EARLY this morning, refused to go back to sleep, and so we came out to the living room and he has been very busily playing with his toys for almost an hour. He hasn't even eaten yet.

And now it is mid-February.

I"m half way through the run of "After School Specials" over at ACME, and very much enjoying playing the villainous Nancy DePaula. Besides the performance, her "PTA mom" haircut and spiffy white sneakers have been getting the most comments from audiences members after the show. I love evoking memories like that for people.

Dexter is finally starting to ingest actual foodstuffs. I can usually get a small but reasonable amount of baby cereal and apple sauce into him in the morning, with soft fresh mozzarella cheese, bits of cooked meat, rice cakes, yogurt, and random spoonfuls of baby fruits and veggies sort of rounding it out. Not enough to live on alone, but pretty good in combo with his formula. Considering where I was two weeks ago with him, I'll take it.

He would still much rather eat paper, as evidenced by the large piece of the paperback cover of "Ping the Duck" I found in his diaper last week. He didn't put it there, it took the long road. And yesterday, my darling boy was found trying to eat cat barf. Not sure if it made it in his mouth, but he certainly enjoyed smearing it around on the floor.

We came home yesterday to a puddle of cat barf in the middle of the living room floor. I cleaned it right up, but did not see the smaller satellite puddle a few feet away. Eagle Eye Johnson was up to the task though. Our neighbor Ben said it was a comment on my cooking that the child prefers paper and barf. Ha ha.

In the annual Time to Do My Taxes Procrastination Projects file, I have borrowed Ben's amazing Dyson vacuum cleaner to do a gigantic house cleaning, which then prompted me to move the two bookcases from behind the couch to the dining room. They fit perfectly in the dead space that has never been properly utilized, and it opens up the living room so much.

I was contacted by Dress My Nest last week, and the idea that my house could be a candidate for a makeover show is just the motivation I needed to fix it up myself. After talking it over with Steve, Ben and Helen, I might still submit to get the free furniture, but Ben's concern that the front steps are an insurance risk outweighs it all. Helen said we should still try.

The keys were found under Steve's desk. We had both looked there numerous times, but they were UNDER the power strip that is loaded up with all the computer plugs. How the keys got under such a mass of wires and bulk, we don't know. The likely scenario is that they fell off the desk sometime on Saturday, and the he cleaned up his desk area on Sunday, shoving the strip, plug and wires against the wall under the desk, thus burying them. The key fob is the same matte black plastic as all of the big blocky plugs.

Car was fixed by Tuesday afternoon. Washer now works like a charm. Vagina costume has been reworked, looked awesome and was delivered. All hats and flowers also finished and delivered to Marcy, who was fresh off the plane from the Miss America pageant.

Dex and I were finally able to go up to Santa Barbara and hang out with Nana and his beloved cousin Claire. Carolyn, Dana and Finn were there as well, but Dex is starting to play favorites with family, though he gives gummy grins to them all.

I had beautiful weather for the whole trip, and it was nice to see rich green sprouting on the hillsides, even in the burn areas. The land around here has been gray and brown for so long, I had forgotten how pretty it is.

While we were gone one of the Luckies died. And then there were two.

I can tell you the 80's are officially over. I went on an audition yesterday for the Time/Life series of 80's pop music late night infomercial (didn't book it) and I drove past Killer Shrimp this morning, and it has finally closed.

Killer Shrimp was an LA institution in the 80's. Strong drinks and only three items on the menu, all variations of spicy shrimp in gigantic white bowls. The decor was cement, the waiters wore all black, and loud techno blared. The few times I've eaten there, it was not very crowded, but I'm sure it had lines out the door back in '87. It looks like you could have done lines of coke off of every surface. I'm reminded of the two club guy characters on SNL. If it could have held on a little longer, it might have rode the 80's revival wave, but hopefully that will crest with all of this oversized fashion and new wave haircuts and just roll back out to sea.

The LA Consignment woman keeps sending emails reminding us to "start tagging!" I appreciate the reminder, and know that things can get hectic and left to the last minute, but I'm organized and it's starting to get on my nerves. She must have been the totally annoying person in college who got all of her papers done early and was president of her sorority. Susie La Monica is coming to mind. I should google her. Or just open the latest issue of The Emersonian. She is one of those who always remembers to send in an announcement.

I shouldn't bitch about the Consignment lady. This thing is a GIGANTIC undertaking, and it is amazing that it gets off the ground at all, never mind twice a year and now with another in Santa Clarita. Moms need a reminder jolt. Our tax appointment is first, so after I buy the special 67lb paper for the tags, and dig my tag gun out of the closet, I doubt too much more will happen until after March 1st. Perhaps i'll devote one evening or nap time to get started. You know, get all the research together, make the outline, write 1/4 of the 1st draft and leave it until there is two weeks left in the semester.